The Monthly Recap - July

The Monthly Recap – July

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A new financial year, fresh M&A deals and no shortage of ambition, the second half of 2026 is already proving to be anything but quiet. Dealmaking gathered pace, with private equity remaining a key force while real assets continued to attract strong interest. A wave of CEO appointments also signaled a changing of the guard bringing a new cohort of leaders in the spotlight. 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.

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M&A

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·       Novartis acquires Myricx Bio in a $2b-plus deal, delivering major win Australian Super Funds (AFR).

·       HSBC exists Australian retail banking with $36b loan book sale to Blackstone (AFR).

·       Janus Henderson doubles Australian FUM to $66.6b with Antares and Fairview deals (AFR).

·       Genesis wins $5.6b battle for Vault (AFR).

·       Morrison secures exclusivity for $2b-plus Optus stake deal (AFR).

Other Activity  

·       Warburg Pincus acquires CreditorWatch from ATI Global in $700m deal (AFR).

·       Five V Capital exits Orikan in $475m sale to EQT (AFR).

·       Allegro secures $550m for fifth buyout fund, nears $800m goal (AFR).

·       Firmus targets $2.9b raise ahead of ASX float with Nvidia among major backers (AFR).

Investment Banking News & Debt Markets

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·       AustralianSuper to double private credit exposure to $20b as retirement shift drives strategy (AFR).

·       Ord Minnett reshapes corporate finance team after M&A exodus, turning the focus to ECM (AFR).

·       Barrenjoey’s NZ expansion sparks talent war with Jarden, as almost two dozen jump ship (AFR).

·       AirTrunk secures $4.3b financing for western Sydney data centre (AFR).

Market Moves

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·       Anthony Aboud departs perpetual to launch Millennium-backed fund (AFR).

·       Preethi Visweswara leaves Deutsche to join HSBC as head of structured finance (AFR).

·       KPMG promotes insider John Sams to CEO (AFR).

·       Greg Ward takes helm from Wikramanayake as Macquarie’s new CEO (AFR).

·       Jeff Peters set to join Apostle as CEO after Platinum exit (AFR).

·        Citi adds Goldman banker Cristina Mascanzoni to lead Australian tech banking (The Australian).

·       Jarden taps CLSA’s Nick Basile to lead data centre research push (AFR).