A$2.857bn commercialisation of the Victorian Land Titles Office

The Victorian Government has privatised part of the Victorian Land Titles and Registry office granting a 40-year concession to First State Superannuation to provide Victorian land registry services.

We were delighted to advise the Victorian Government on the deal –  which took over a year – through both the scoping study phase and commercialisation.

What it means for Victoria

This outcome is the highest price received for a land titles office in Australia, and all without material change to the State's preferred risk allocation. The transaction model means that Victoria will keep control over prices for statutory land registry services. The current statutory role of the Registrar of Titles is part of the State retained functions and the Registrar will have an oversight role over the private operator. The State plans to use the transaction proceeds to invest in Victorian infrastructure, aiming to grow the economy and create jobs.

The Victorian Treasurer and Premier were delighted with the outcome.

"This is an outstanding result and another vote of confidence in the Victorian economy, one that will deliver a major boost to our already unprecedented investment in schools, hospitals, road and rail," Treasurer Mr Tim Pallas said.

Our involvement

The commercialisation follows the 50-year lease of the Port of Melbourne by the Andrews Government raising nearly A$10bn, in which MinterEllison also acted.
The MinterEllison land titles team included many people across the MinterEllison network. We were proud to provide a seamless end-to-end solution to the Victorian Government by providing them with corporate, finance, competition, property and employment services with an infrastructure and Government-focused lens.

MinterEllison assisted the State to develop and implement a unique transaction structure that worked within the complex land registry services regulatory framework and allowed the State to complete the transaction within its preferred timetable.

"It's been great to work on a project of this magnitude, which improves productivity and unlocks value for the people of Victoria”, said co-lead partners, Peter Block and Andrew Rentoul.