The Market Recap - September 2024

The Monthly Recap – September

September kicked off with a bang reigniting optimism amongst the Investment Banks with a few deals continuing to close throughout the month. As we enter Q4 advisors & investors alike are keen to close lingering deals and bulk out the pipeline for 2025. The potential of a rebounding market and even a rate cut this side of Christmas gives the banks hope for a strong end to 2024. This report outlines select M&A deals, general market activity and significant news amongst private equity, investment banking & debt markets. We also include a short section on recent notable market movers.

M&A

• Blackstone wins this year’s hottest auction, buys AirTrunk for a price close to $23.5bn (AFR), founder Robin Khuda predicts the business could become a $100bn company (AFR)
• GIP set to acquire 40% stake in Jemena following missing out on AirTrunk (AFR) appears to be hitting the breaks on Pacific National sale (Australian)
• KKR & Skip Capital beat out AustralianSuper in $3bn Queensland Airports deal (AFR)
• AustralianSuper still got in on the airport action set to increase stake in Perth Airport by 15% (AFR)
• Affinity Equity Partners wins $900m+ buy for Healius’ Lumus Imaging beating out TPG & PEP (Australian)
• Qatar Airways will buy 25% of Virgin Australia from Bain Capital for an undisclosed fee (AFR)

Other Activity

• Macquarie’s infrastructure arm turns attention to New Zealand (Australian)
• GIC potential bidder for part of CDPQ’s stake in the $10bn+ TransGrid (Australian)
• Premier Capital Partners enters the Australian private equity scene, targeting a $30-50m initial fund (AFR) they invested in InDebted’s $60m funding (AFR)
• E&P Financial delisting plans attract the attention of rivals (AFR)
• Ex-Regal portfolio manager setting up healthcare fund, secures $70m check from overseas institutional investor (AFR)
• Canberra Data Centres set to test market for capital raise following AirTrunk sale (AFR)
• John Laing secures 95% stake in Sydney Light Rail after acquiring Aware Super's 62.5% share (AFR)
• Fletcher Building plans up to NZ$700m equity raise despite earlier reassurances through Jarden (Australian)
• Five V begun pitching $325m fund to investors, targeting lower end mid-market opportunities (AFR)
• Southern Asian Carbon Limited kicks off $3.7bn raise to build biofuel refineries across VIC/NSW/QLD (AFR)

Investment Banking & Debt Markets

• September got off to a bang with AirTrunk, REA Group & Orora deals sparking optimism for Investment Banking teams (AFR)
• Unlikely IPO’s will play any role in Investment Bank’s agenda until 2025 as we approach Christmas with minimal companies targeting Q4 IPO’s (Australian)
• PEP, OPTrust contacted RBC & Azure Capital to begin refinance for Zenith before sale process next year (AFR)
• Barrenjoey bonuses announced, with top performers well rewarded (The Australian)
• JP Morgan set to cap junior banker’s to 13 hours a day following scrutiny and health fears (AFR)
• Three big themes from 2024’s M&A market: Time, Value & Regulatory Risk (AFR)
• NZX/ASX-Listed Synlait secured NZ$450m in debt refinance (CapitalBrief)
• Coronado hired Goldman Sachs, Bank of America & Deutsche Bank for $585m bond (AFR)
• Elanor Investor Group set to secure $75 million lending from Keyview Financial Group (AFR)
• Woolworths cashes out altogether as it sold its remaining stake in Endeavour for $383m in a deal handled by Goldman Sachs (AFR)
• Auckland Airport book covered for $1.3bn raise, with Jarden and Macquarie Capital being joint underwriters on the raise (AFR)
• National Storage REIT taps Citi, JP Morgan & Jefferies for $300m convertibles deal (AFR)

Notable Market Movers

There have been plenty of Notable Market Movers in September including:

• Ex-RBA governor, Philip Lowe joined the Barrenjoey board (AFR)
• Jefferies’ Paul Griffiths moved to Deutsche Bank to head their Industrials & Financial Sponsors coverage (AFR)
• Goldman Sachs hires Joe Mahony to lead Equities Sales & Execution as GS are keen to expand their Melbourne footprint (AFR)
• E&P Financial reshuffles with four departures, including Manoj Jampala, co-head of advisory (AFR)
• Veteran private equity dealmaker Matthew Millar departs PwC Australia after nearly 30 years, set to launch boutique advisory (AFR)
• Citi makes three major hires: Dan Birch joins as the new head of markets sales NZ while Melanie Vandervord and Ankit Khandelwal join the Access Strategies and the G10 rates trading team respectively (Australian)
• Anthony Miller named the new Westpac CEO, beating rival Jason Yetton (AFR)
• Ord Minnett picked up Matt Storey from Bell Potter to head up their Corporate Finance team (AFR)
• Magellan Financial Group reshuffled some PMs, with head of strategy exiting (AFR)