Funding sought for $180m Broome port

The private developer of a Broome port project has gone to market seeking $90 million in equity, roughly half the value of the challenging project that has been delayed several years due to the pandemic.

Kimberley Marine Support Base won the right to build the new wharf in 2019 at an announced cost of $110 million. The new wharf was expected to be operational in 2022.

The company, headed by engineer Andrew Natta and development consultant Michael Hollett, is understood to have used the delay created by COVID to conduct extensive testing of the design required to cope with 10-metre tides and cyclonic conditions.

The new wharf will include a 9,000 square metre floating structure linked to the shore by a 300-metre causeway and 85-metre linkspan bridge, which will provide far better amenity than the existing fixed jetty.

Kimberley Ports Authority has previously stated that global trade uncertainties brought on by the pandemic caused some minor delays in the project, which had been granted an extension to its commitment period.

Having secured contractors for the project, KMSB is in the process of raising up to $90 million in equity on top of an estimated $96 million in debt funding, giving the group a $10 million working capital upon forecast completion in two years’ time.

“It is a $180 million project, and we are in the process of finalising the debt and equity financing at the moment,” Mr Hollett said.

KMSB is understood to have received the backing of Fiftyone Capital, a WA-based fund manager and family office adviser that backed the Onslow Marine Support Base completed in 2019.

The port developer has office space in a Cottesloe building in which Fiftyone Capital is headquartered.