The Monthly Recap - November & December

The Monthly Recap – November & December

A tumultuous 2023 has come to a close with frantic activity before pens down for the holiday period. The tough year has been highlighted with overall lower deal flow, near non-existent equity market activity and, more recently, multiple large transactions falling through. 2024 however promises a resurgence in market activity with a positive outlook & economic news out of the US and locally there is seemingly a hint of cautious optimism bubbling. This report outlines selected M&A deals, general market activity and significant news among the investment bank & private equity firms, plus any significant news across debt markets.

M&A

• Chemist Warehouse set to merge with Sigma Healthcare: the reverse takeover will value the group at $8.8bn (AFR)(SMH)

• Another large deal fell over with EBOS pulling out of $4bn Greencross deal: comes after multiple large deals have failed to close this year (Australian)

• 7-Eleven sold for $1.7bn to Japanese parent company (NEWS)

• Pemba Capital Partners take 40% stake in Rennie Advisory: the independent consultants purchase signals the deepening tie between PE and professional services sectors (AFR)

• Intermediate Capital Group set to buy Cura Day Hospitals: the deal was hotly contested, pulling over $500m at auction (AFR)

Other Activity

• Soul Patts lob $3bn bid for Perpetual, settles with lifting ownership to 14.99% (Australian)(AFR)

• Platinum Equity drumming up interest in $18bn buyout fund: Whiteoak rounding up Australian investors (AFR)

• Origin Energy increased stake in Octopus Energy, investing $530m (Origin)

• ACCC blocks proposed acquisition of Healius by Australian Clinical Labs: the competition regulator determined the deal would be anti-competitive, leading ACL to withdraw (CB)

• OneVentures notches up $116.2m return in its second growth fund following Employment Hero transaction (CB)

• Palisade kicks off meetings to raise $1bn for Intera renewables platform (AFR)

• GMA Garnet hire Morgan Stanley for its $500m sale (Australian)

• KKR locks in Skip Capital family office: the tag team bid for Queensland Airports helps KKR with 51% Australian ownership required (AFR)

• Anchorage Capital Partners stock up on $500m for buyout fund IV: books shut last week, oversubscribed (AFR)

Investment Banking News

• Barrenjoey Head of Emerging Companies ECM & Private Capital heads to buy-side: Dean Fremder joins Firetrail Investments in the new year (AFR) Principal in the Sponsors team, Kevin Chong, also exits the firm (AFR)

• Deutsche Bank using the quiet dealmaking period to revive M&A team: comes after falling to 32nd in the M&A table in 2022 (AFR) Emma-Jane Newton set to head its ANZ team (AFR)

• UBS topped the table in a quiet 12 months for equity desk teams (AFR)

• Barclays looking to cut costs cutting as many as 2000 jobs: unlikely to trickle down to their Australian branch (AFR) the firm is also looking to drop thousands of clients (AFR)

• Equities teams faced a bumper October as Q4 rebound hit (AFR)

• Lower bonus expectations for the second year running (AFR)

Debt Markets

• Seven West Media aiming to refinance $600m worth of debt: Grant Samuel and Ashurst hired to assist (Australian)

• Soul Patts are a potential lender for Whitehaven Coal’s debt stack: for the $6.2bn acquisition of BHP’s coal mines in QLD (AFR)

• Ticketek-owner Silver Lake secures $1.1bn debt refinancing: KKR, CPPIB involved as lenders (AFR)

• Quadrant PE lock in refinance for Junior Adventure Group: existing lender Barings came in for large portion of the debt (AFR)

• Rugby Australia seeking $60m, seven parties down to three with PEP in the running (AFR)