The Monthly Recap – May

The Monthly Recap – May

As we round out May, the overall mood in Australian markets remains tempered, with participants treading carefully as the year progresses. The RBA’s expected rate cut has done little to shake the prevailing conservatism, even though the market has remained active. While smaller IPOs have launched, the highly anticipated Virgin Australia IPO has yet to materialise, and major deals like Healthscope and I-Med have faltered. May also saw plans for widespread corporate layoffs, signalling that underlying economic pressures are taking their toll. 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

• Nomura-backed AUSIEX expands into Australia’s fixed income market with FIIG Securities acquisition (AFR).

• IAG outbids Allianz to acquire Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia for a $1.35b (AFR).

• Future Fund acquires 10% of Transgrid for $1.2b, taking over OMERS stake in major infrastructure deal (AFR).

• COG Financial Services offloads 19.9% stake in Earlypay to Solvar (AFR) days after AWAG acquires COG’s Centrepoint Alliance stake, increasing its holding to 15% (AFR).

• WiseTech to acquire U.S. software firm E2open for $4b (WiseTech Global), secures a $4.7b debt facility from 9 major banks (AFR).

Other Activity

• Aussie global equity funds GCQ, Hyperion, and Aoris outperform amid Trump’s wild market swings (AFR).

• MA Financial joins forces with SMBC and Monroe Capital for $2.63b private credit push into US mid-market (AFR).

• Prime Value’s micro-cap fund opens to retail investors, targeting $150m in new assets (AFR).

• Family offices overtake superfunds as top investor group in Australia’s $65b private capital sector (AFR).

• Healthscope secures $100m funding lifeline (AFR) as HMC defers rent (AFR) amid receivership and an uncertain future.

• Quadrant’s My Muscle Chef takes over competitor Chefgood in a strategic acquisition (AFR).

• Brisbane’s Alvia Asset Partners acquires majority stake in Altimate, Australia’s largest ice-cream cone manufacturer (AFR).

• KKR named preferred bidder for ProTen, set to acquire Aware-owned chicken producer with a $1.3b bid (AFR).

• Ironbark strengthens private wealth division with acquisition of Mercury Private (The Australian).

Investment Banking News & Debt Markets

• Apax Partners is nearing a $NZ2b debt refinancing for Trade Me, signalling a potential exit on the horizon (AFR).

• Consulting growth slowed to 1.8% in 2024, but Trump era uncertainty may spur recovery for the big four (AFR).

• Major workforce reductions across Australian firms: Brookfield mulls job cuts at Multiplex (The Australian), Transurban to cut 7% of workforce (AFR), ASX to slash 100 jobs (AFR), Microsoft cuts 100 Australian jobs as part of global layoffs (AFR), Immutable slashes workforce by a third (AFR) and Westpac cuts over 1500 employees in largest redundancy round in 10 years (AFR).

• QIC’s Pacific Energy secures $1.6b debt package with 15 Banks for growth capital (AFR).

• Greenhill Australia records $1.4m loss in 2024 amid Mizuho acquisition related expenses (The Australian).

• EQT refinances Fitness Passport with a $500m loan (AFR).

• KKR secures $1.2b refinancing deal for MYOB, bringing in global lenders (AFR).

Market Moves

• Blackstone real estate MD Issa Chehab exits after a decade to join Wentworth Capital (AFR).

• Moelis healthcare banker Jamie Glanz (AFR) and Rothschild’s Sam Prentice (AFR) join Jarden, bolstering the industrials and corporate finance team respectively.

• Dean Fremder and Matthew Thomson exit equity manager Firetrail after short tenures (AFR).

• John Clifford hands over the reins as CEO, capping off a 32-year legacy at Morgans (AFR).

• Nomura snaps up JPMorgan’s head of financial sponsors, Cameron Nicholls (AFR).

• Macquarie Capital’s APAC head, Tim Joyce names David Mustow as his Deputy; Laura Golis takes over private equity (AFR).

• Juan Manas, head of real estate equity and debt, resigns from Goldman Sachs Asset Management as firm struggles to retain top talent (AFR).

• Deutsche Bank strengthens its ANZ coverage with UBS hire Jonathon Platt to head infrastructure and utilities (AFR).

• Daniel Kearns joins KKR from Blackstone as the firm strengthens its local team (AFR).

• Zenith Investment Partners loses key executives David Wright and Jason Huddy amid a strategic reset by its PE owner (AFR).

• Citi taps Canaccord’s Paul Buys as head of research following Paul McTaggart’s retirement (AFR).

• Veteran Goldman Sachs banker Andrew Barclay to exit after a 26 year career (AFR).  

• Michael Clancy takes the helm as Chief Investment Officer at Rest Super (Rest Media Release).

• Affinity Equity Partners poaches CPE Capital’s Fred Macdonald as vice president (AFR).

• Brett Paton steps down from Escala Partners to shift focus to family investing (AFR).

• ANZ hires Santander’s Stephen White in its first major leadership change under the new CEO (AFR).

• Anchorage Capital Partners’ COO Ben Ware steps down to join Cambooya Family Office (AFR).

• Mark Wilson joins RBC as head of equity research for Australia and New Zealand (The Australian).

• Greg Braddy joins Clayton Utz as CFO after departing NAB (AFR).