Q1 has come and gone and the general optimism for 2024 still lingers. The past two months has certainly seen an uptick in potential deals, fundraising and the beginning of sale processes. There still however is a lack of large-ticket closes with BHP & AirTrunk providing some optimism for the back-end of 24. Plenty of funds are reporting dry powder and assets to offload and bankers are claiming a tangible pick-up in activity. The next few months will be interesting as to how this year will unfold, with rates seemingly going nowhere and big profit dips amongst some of the largest banks testing the nerves of investors. This report outlines selected M&A deals, general market activity and significant news among the private equity, investment banking & debt markets. We have also expanded our “notable market movers” section.
M&A
- AirTrunk $15 billion sale process set to kick off: Blackstone & IFM amongst potential buyers engaging advisers (AFR)
- BHP considering one of its largest acquisitions: they have hired UBS & Barclays as preliminary discussions get underway with Anglo American, capitalised at A$56bn on the LSE (AFR)
- KKR sheds 40% stake in Findex: Mercury Capital and Findex staff now majority owners (ID) KKR also in pole position for buyout of Perpetual corporate trust & wealth management units (AFR)
- Future Fund buys 19.8pc stake in EastLink (AFR)
- The Growth Fund close to securing Fitness Passport exit: EQT set to buy at $750mn (AFR)
- Abu Dhabi’s ADQ buys 49% stake in Plenary: Highbury Partnership ran the sale process which valued Plenary at $1bn (Australian)
- Allegro buys Nutun Australia for $120m (Australian)
- Besen-backed Arcus Partners acquire majority stake in software start-up Sesimi (AFR)
- Alceon agree terms to acquire 50% stake in Boss Engineering: valuation comes to $175m (AFR) Citi provided the debt for the acquisition (AFR)
Other Activity
- The Riverside Company in advanced talks to acquire Virtual IT Group (AFR)
- Possible largest block trade of the year occurred: Goldman Sachs & Citi involved in $1.4bn, 19% stake offload in Worley (Australian)
- ROC Partners to raise $500m: the buyout fund will be split across local & overseas investors (AFR), PEP hits $1.5bn in buyout fund VII: with a target of $3bn, giving investors re-investment opportunities (AFR)
- Student accommodation provide CLV selling $1bn of assets: Morrison, Mapletree & Greystar among likely buyers (Australian)
- Another large deal falls apart: Singtel & Brookfield couldn't agree terms on Optus (Australian)
- Cyan Renewables $1bn bid for MMA Offshore described as knock-out price (Australian)
- Big US Tech on the hunt for Australian deals: a weak $AUD has inspired the increased interest (Australian) Vista Equity Partners approaching CriticalArc being a prime example (AFR)
- Colonial First State & Fortlake Asset Management agree strategic partnership (AFR)
- Dexus on the road: they are looking to secure $600m-$1bn for opportunistic equity or debt investments (AFR)
- Adamantem Capital ready to sell some of its oldest assets (AFR)
Investment Banking & Debt Markets
- Jarden turns profit following difficult period: headcount and costs were slashed in the past 12 months (AFR) it is a different story with Jefferies’ Australia arm with substantial falls in annual net profit (Australian)
- Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley’s Australian arms also amongst the banks to report significant dives in profit (Australian) again, a similar story for Macquarie, with their asset management arm halving profits in year to March 31 (AFR) Citi banked heavy losses for 2023 as global headcount slashing begins (AFR)
- Goldman Sachs considering local banking license: interested in targeting UHNW clients (AFR)
- $1bn debt financing for Twiggy’s Windlab: ICA Partners mandated to arrange debt funding for the project (AFR)
- Kordamentha (333 Capital) tapped for WICET refinancing: $2.5bn of debt needs to be refinanced (Australian)
- National Group’s refinance in talks: Barclays & Deutsche Bank are in discussion to get involved with the debt stack (AFR) Blackrock has been linked with $200m refinance (Australian)
- CSL gears up to print 10-year & 30-year unsecured bonds: BofA, JPMorgan & HSBC working on the deal (AFR)
- Kinetic Group finalises $1.6 billion refinancing: Macquarie Capital led the refinancing as debt adviser (AFR)
- Healthscope adds McGrathNicol to $1.6bn debt restructuring (AFR)
- CVC Capital Markets testing appetite: they would need $1.8bn to bankroll APM bid (AFR)
- Pac Energy lining up $1.2bn debt facility: NAB & Metric Credit Partners join nine existing lenders (AFR)
Notable Market Movers
There have been plenty of Notable Market Movers across March & April including:
- Goldman Sachs’ trader Nicolas Thompson joins Jefferies along with Mario Argyrides who was Head of Equities with GS. Will Allott and Aaron Piercy among others equity operatives leaving the American bank.
- Goldman Sachs also lost Michael Ginzburg who is heading to Morgan Stanley
- James Love leaves Bank of America, where he was Co-Head of M&A
- Infra banker Richard Jones heads to Gresham following 15 years with Citi
- Jarden’s Chris Tolj resigned as he heads to Greencape Capital, FIG Banker Julien Dyon also exited the bank, set to join JPMorgan
- Rothschild lost Marc Rubinstein, who heads to Luminis Partners
- JP Morgan Managing Director Andrew Sutherland resigned
- Jason Phillips leaves Anchorage after two years
- EQT’s Patrick Rodden resigned in early March
- Grant Smith retires from Macquarie after 28 years
*all of the above have been reported in either the AFR or the Australian over March/April.
