Jul 16, 2026 – 3.08pmA three-headed monster of a consortium, powered by the $267 billion Future Fund’s coffers, has emerged as the auction favourite at poles-and-wires giant Ausgrid’s Plus Es, the country’s biggest owner of smart meters for utilities.Street Talk can reveal Swedish private capital giant EQT Partners has walked away from the auction ahead of binding bids, leaving the RBC Capital Markets-run sale process down to two bidder groups: Future Fund, Morrison and Aware Super, and – in the opposite corner – NYSE-listed DigitalBridge.Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.Angira Bharadwaj is a co-editor of Street Talk. She covers IPOs, capital raises, mergers and acquisitions and other breaking news in Australia’s capital markets. Previously, she covered financial services, state, and federal politics. Send tips to @angirab.60 on encrypted messaging platform Signal.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?