RPData has been talked about as the most obvious buyer of the NSW and Victoria land titles office assets should they come up for sale by the state governments.
But the country’s largest private real estate information and analysis provider has denied it is considering a purchase.
Sources said the information provider had taken a detailed look at the NSW land tiles office for a potential acquisition.
The clear appeal of such assets for a group like RPData is the opportunity to expand its database.
Some have also wondered whether it would look at the Australian Securities Investment Commission, under consideration by the federal government for privatisation, although RPData has indicated it is not on its radar.
Other groups mentioned in the discussion as potential suitors for ASIC and the land titles businesses include credit reference agency Veda, or the standards compliance business SAI Global, which has a property conveyancing and information services.
Sales of the Victoria and NSW and titles offices have been mooted by state governments in the past year, but any deals to offload assets will be at the discretion of the newly elected governments for both states.
Boutique advisory firm Greenhill has been conducting a scoping study on ASIC to determine whether a sale would happen and how it would be achieved.
The study is being assessed by the federal government.
A scoping study for the NSW land titles office was undertaken by JPMorgan. The federal government is also assessing options outlined in scoping studies for Defence Housing Australia, which is being undertaken by Lazard, and the Royal Australian Mint, carried out by CIMB.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has been conducting the scoping study for Australian Hearing.
For ASIC, a sales price for the entity is unclear, with some suggesting that the company registry arm of the corporate watchdog could be sold separately.
Some have questioned whether the Royal Australian Mint business would be sold, with a trend away from the use of cash and with more consumers using debit and credit cards for transactions.
This article first appeared in The Australian Business Review.