The Monthly Recap – July & August
Despite policy uncertainty, major deals like CC Capital’s $3.3b Insignia bid and GemLife’s IPO went ahead. With Q3 underway, both M&A and debt markets reported a strong start to 2025.
The past two months brought contrasting moves in monetary policy. The RBA surprised by holding rates steady in July, then cut for the third time this year in August, taking the cash rate to a two-year low of 3.6%. Despite policy uncertainty, major deals like CC Capital’s $3.3b Insignia bid and GemLife’s IPO went ahead. With Q3 underway, both M&A and debt markets reported a strong start to 2025. 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 moves.
• CVC to take 45% stake in $2.1b pub group Australian Venue Co (AFR).
• CC Capital seals $3.3b Insignia deal (AFR) with $1.9b debt package (AFR).
• DBG Health valued at $7b in $1.6b stake sale to BDT & MSD (AFR).
• Ampol eyes bigger slice of retail market with $1.1b acquisition of EG’s Aussie business (AFR).
• Accenture makes its biggest Australian acquisition, buys CyberCX Cybersecurity Firm for over $1b (AFR).
• Canaccord Genuity to acquire Wilsons Advisory to create a $41.8b wealth manager (AFR).
• PEP set to acquire up to 75% of Spark NZ’s $550m+ data centre platform (AFR).
• Metrics Credit Partners expands private credit reach with Taurus and BC Invest acquisitions (Metrics Press Release).
• GemLife’s ASX debut attracts strong investor demand, raises $750m (AFR).
• Barings accelerates Australia commercial property push with Swift Storage acquisition (AFR).
• Salter Brothers buys Causeway Asset Management, adds $600m to AUM (AFR).
• Chemist Warehouse offloads $481m in Sigma shares to Macquarie (AFR).
• Oaktree sells GenesisCare’s US clinics sold at a fraction of former valuation (AFR).
• Jarden Australia’s profit falls to $1.9m despite revenue surge amid rising costs (The Australian).
• Australia’s debt market hits $US199.3b, best year in a decade (The Australian).
• Santos $36.4b mega deal behind the 97% surge in Aussie deal-making in comparison to H1 2024 (AFR).
• HSBC restructures Australian corporate lending unit, signals job cuts (AFR).
• CBA delivers a record annual profit of $10.3b (AFR).
• Foresight secures $700m debt deal to back 787mw clean energy assets (AFR).
• Aurizon to cut 50 more jobs amid profit drop (AFR).
• AirTrunk secures a $16b sustainability-linked debt deal backed by 60 global banks (AFR).
• Former Kooyong candidate takes analyst role at Ord Minnett (AFR).
• Mike Culhane moves to Blackstone after stepping down from Pepper (The Australian).
• Managing director, Simon Nicholls exits Pacific Partnerships amid bid for New England Renewable Energy Zone (AFR).
• Future Fund’s head of energy and infrastructure Peter McCosker returns to ADIA (AFR).
• Wingate hires ex-Goldman real estate boss, Juan Manas to bolster private credit (AFR).
• Goldman Sachs rehires Apollo principal Samuel Green to lead Australian real estate strategy (AFR).
• Craig Newman returns to Charter Hall after stint at Blackstone (AFR).
• Wentworth Capital poaches JPMorgan’s Josh Peel as head of capital (AFR).
• APA’s Kay Stuart to join Future Fund as head of energy transition (AFR).
• Seasoned CFO, Nimesh Shah joins Potentia to steer Storypark expansion (AFR).
• Volatility Group hires James Whelan to lead new wealth division (AFR).
• Omnia Capital Partners appoints former Qantas Super CIO Andrew Spence as new chief investment officer (AFR).
• UBS hires BofA veteran James Hogan to strengthen sales trading team (AFR).
• Citi’s ex-head of ECM, Rob Jahrling joins Bell Potter as a corporate finance director (AFR).
• Paul Howes to lead rebranded Sayers Group after exiting KPMG (AFR).
• Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s risk head, Jaan Piirlaid departs for Alceon (AFR).
• UBS loses veteran equity sales trader Richard Weekes (AFR).
• Jefferies’ broker Sam Speer heads to boutique advisory Aitken Mount (AFR).
