DRIVE NOW August 2022

Singapore’s ComfortDelGro
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
AT A2B by Anthony Macdonald, Sara Thompson and Kanika Sood | Street Talk
If you believe every dog has its
day, it could be worth taking
a fresh look at A2B in light of
moves by substantial investor
ComfortDelGro.
Singapore-listed ComfortDelGro,
which has a big Australian
transport business, last
week added Sydney-based
businessman Russell Balding as
the first ever overseas-based
director to get a seat around its
boardroom table.
ComfortDelGro said Balding
would bring “extensive
government, stakeholder,
community and customer
engagement experience having
held numerous directorships and
senior executive positions in a
number of major organisations”.
Indeed, one of those
directorships was at A2B (then
called Cabcharge), where Balding
was chairman until 2016.
During his tenure, ComfortDelGro
and Cabcharge were co-investors
in a NSW buses joint venture,
running contracted bus routes
in Sydney and Newcastle,
before ComfortDelGro acquired
Cabcharge’s 49 per cent stake in
2017.
While the joint venture’s over,
ComfortDelGro has quietly sat on
its 7.5 per cent A2B equity stake,
watching the company’s value
shrink as it all but disappeared
from most Australian fund
managers and stockbroking
teams’ radars.
In hiring Balding to its board,