The Monthly Recap - August

August has been a busy month for public and private markets, with reporting season coming towards a close. There have been plenty of moves amongst bankers, with Credit Suisse almost completing its wind down and senior bankers jumping around. A few closely watched and long-process M&A deals have also come to a close. With Lowe’s last rate decision on the horizon, solid inflation prints in the US and Australia, and the end of a long European & American summer, will we see a sharp pickup in deal activity? 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

· Bain Capital complete Estia Health deal: the bid of $3.20 a share was accepted earlier this month (Bain  Capital) (AFR)  

· PAG complete $1.4bn purchase of Australian Venue Co: the purchase from KKR included $900  million borrowed across a two-tranche facility (AFR)

· ROC Partners snap up Pace Farm: the country’s second largest egg producer was purchased in a deal worth $350 million (AFR)

· Healthia board agrees to $252 million PEP buyout: the $1.80 per share offer was supported unanimously (BNA)

· Morrison & Co purchases 50% stake in Pact Group Holding’s create pooling business: the $380m deal was advised by RBC (AFR)

· Igneo inks deal with Victoria’s Karadoc Solar Farm: price was not disclosed but expectations around $200m, purchased from BayWa r.e. (AFR)

· TPG wins out five-month pursuit for InvoCare: the $1.8bn deal finally came to a close this month (AFR)

· Patrizia and Macquarie agree $150m Active Utilities deal (AFR)

· APA Group clinch deal for $1.8bn remote power assets in Pilbara: the firm asked investors for $750m to help bankroll the acquisition (AFR)

Other Activity

· MA Financial inks $20m raise in Upstream: the energy start up received support from MA’s growth ventures business (AFR)  

· Chris Mackay offloaded his 6.6% stake in Magellan: Regal snapped up through Barrenjoey desk (AFR)

· Carlyle Group saw its revenue roughly halved: the listed private equity giant reported a quarterly loss for Q2 (WSJ)

· NAB preparing job cuts for 10% of  markets staff: comes with a company-wide headcount rethink (AFR)

· Qualitas received an additional $700 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority: this brings their total investment to $1.4bn and Qualitas FUM to $7.5bn (BNA)

· Orora begins preparations for $1bn+ equity raising: for the acquisition of bottle manufacturer Saverglass (AFR) (AFR)

· Journey Beyond sees significant interest from private equity: Affinity, BGH and Carlyle are all believed to be in talks with the cruise & ferry operator Hornblower (Australian)

· QIC wins $500m mandate from Danish pension fund PenSam: the mandate covers fund commitments & co-investments (AFR)

· PEP snaps up a significant stake in unlisted retirement funding provider, Household Capital: this signals a targeting into the reverse mortgage market (AFR)

· Tribeca Investment Partners set to expand dominance towards infrastructure names: comes after a $1bn cheque from an unnamed deep-pocketed sovereign wealth fund (AFR)

Investment Banking News

· Nomura Australia appoints Andrew Macgonigal to CEO: he has been sole head of Investment Banking since 2017 and will retain that title (AFR)

· Bruce MacDiarmid hangs up his boots: the chairman of corporate advisory for Goldman Sachs has called time on his 30+ year banking career (AFR)

· Hamish Kelly heading to CBA: the former head of Financial Institutions Group with Credit Suisse as the firm continues its wind down (Australian)

·  Jon Gidney calls time on Investment Banking career: the Vice Chairman of Citi announced on LinkedIn as he seeks to pursue something different (Australian)

· Investment Bankers preparing for another year of weakened bonuses: projections of 25% slump globally for M&A (AFR)

· JP Morgan hires Joel Chalhoub & Luka Gvozdenovic to join former boss Tim Foy (AFR)

· Deutsche Bank set to make a comeback to M&A scene in Australia: David Geddes joins the bank from Credit Suisse to head up M&A (AFR)

· JP Morgan senior banker Adam Penny returning to Westpac (AFR)

· MA Moelis lures real estate banker from JP Morgan: Chris Slater joins as an Executive Director in November (AFR) they also lost 3 bankers to Jefferies in Melbourne (Australian)

· Credit Suisse’s head of ECM joins E&P Capital: Hamish Whitehead joins the firm as head of capital markets (Australian)

Debt Markets

· Macquarie sounding out investors for $2bn mortgage-backed deal, Lloyds raising $660 million through Kangaroo Bonds (AFR)

· PEP-owned Zenith Energy locks in $320m debt from a mix of lenders (AFR)

· NAB gathered $1.45bn for latest hybrid issuance: this outstripped the $1bn expected deal size (AFR)

· Oaktree & Bain Capital considering a joint proposal for Star Refinancing: Oaktree has repeatedly tried to enter Australia’s wagering industry (AFR)

· Wingate closes fundraising efforts for $50 million debt portfolio after two days (AFR)

· NBN launched green bond with indicative 5.3% yield: the $850m close attracted strong investor interest (AFR)