The third quarter of calendar 2010 saw a return of momentum to corporate deal flow, with Private Equity, M&A and IPO activity improving, according to Freehills Corporate Practice Group Head Richard Loveridge.
‘Freehills has been participating in improved deal flow across the Corporate spectrum, driven by the return of private equity activity, issuers accessing the IPO market and increased M&A action in a variety of areas.
‘Freehills has a strong history leading the legal market in corporate transactions. We have once again performed strongly in the Thomson-Reuters and Bloomberg M&A Legal Advisor League Tables for Australia & New Zealand, advising on the most completed M&A deals for the year so far, according to Thomson.
‘Re-energised M&A activity is flowing from a number of themes. Australia is viewed by international acquirers as ripe for investment in strategic high quality assets, such as Agrium’s bid for AWB. Opportunities have also emerged for Australian companies looking to invest offshore, given the strengthening Australian dollar. Also, infrastructure assets that were over levered in the pre-GFC environment have been targeted for acquisition, such as Prime Infrastructure’s A$1.6 billion merger with Brookfield Infrastructure.’
The Freehills private equity and equity capital markets teams have also performed strongly during 2010, ranking number one in the Bloomberg Australia/NZ Equity IPO Issuer Adviser League Tables and the Asia Pacific Private Equity League Tables for the third quarter.
‘The Aston Resources IPO was the largest IPO since the Myer float and private equity has returned with strength, with the TPG/Carlyle buy-out of Healthscope the largest leveraged buy-out in the Australian market since Coates Hire, just before the financial crisis. There have also been other significant transactions in private equity during the last quarter and there are more in the pipeline.’
‘Reflecting on the renewed momentum in deal flow, it looks like there is more activity emerging across a broad range of corporate themes’, Loveridge said.
‘Freehills Corporate Group has acted on some of the market’s most strategic and market defining deals so far in 2010, illustrating the strength, flexibility and diversity of Freehills’ capabilities,’ Loveridge noted. Recent Freehills deals include advising on:
- TPG and Carlyle Group’s A$2.7 billion takeover of Healthscope.
- Aston Resources’ A$1.2 billion IPO. This represents the largest IPO by both amount raised and listed since the Myer IPO in 2009, which Freehills also acted on.
- Seven Network Limited’s A$3 billion merger with WesTrac.
- Prime Infrastructure’s A$1.6 billion merger with Brookfield Infrastructure.
- Orica’s successful A$1 billion demerger and ASX listing of the DuluxGroup business.
ENDS.
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