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Australia, often described as the lucky country, is widely lauded for its COVID-19 response that has seen the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions ahead of most other countries. Nonetheless, it has not avoided the severe economic impact, financial market volatility and investment uncertainty that has afflicted global economies and financial markets.
In line with the global plunge in M&A activity amid the pandemic, M&A deal value in Australia and New Zealand dropped 53% year on year in Q1 to US$5.4bn and deal volume fell 26% to 114 deals. April’s M&A activity plummeted 89% in value (US$588m) and 70% in deal count (12 deals) compared to April 2019. There were some signs of a recovery starting in May. Deal value fell 55% (to US$2bn) and deal count dropped 47% (to 24 deals) compared to May 2019.
Opinions are mixed about the strength and timing of a recovery of Australia’s M&A market, but the expectation for when the volatility in global financial markets subsides is a fairly unified one of staggered activity and a focus on underlying business strengths. The key to any M&A recovery is a more certain investment environment. Big corporates with strong balance sheets and well-funded private equity buyers are best positioned to be at the forefront of recovering M&A activity.
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In this live panel, we take stock of M&A activity in Australia & New Zealand and consider the areas where financial stress is of greatest concern, including:
- Overview of M&A H1 activity and insights
- Which sectors of the M&A landscape will present most opportunities?
- What is the impact of Australia’s new planned foreign investment regulations on M&A?
- How are M&A transactions being transformed in an era of work from home and social distancing?
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14:45
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15:00
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Nick is a Managing Director and co-head of Mergers and Acquisitions for UBS in Australasia, and was previously co-head of UBS’s industrials investment banking coverage in the region. In over 15 years at UBS, Nick has acted on some of Australia’s largest and most complicated M+A and funding transactions for a wide range of clients.
Simon B. Feiglin joined Riverside in 2007. leads the RAF transacting and operating teams in the acquisition, growth and sale of portfolio companies, as well as the development of the strategic direction of the fund. Prior to Riverside, he was a founding Partner of Silver Oak Services Partners, a private equity fund focused on investing in the services sector. He also served as the Vice President of Corporate Development at CBIZ Inc., where he managed the merger, acquisition and divestiture effort for a $600 million publicly traded company. His earlier career includes four years at Morgenthaler Partners, a private equity firm. He holds a BBA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Manoj Jampala has worked in Investment banking since February 2006 and at J.P, Morgan since 2007. He worked primarily across General Industrials and Metals & Mining through to 2017, across both Australia and North America. Since mid-2017, Manoj has been an Executive Director in the M&A team for J.P. Morgan Australia.
Manoj holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) and a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Software) from the University of Melbourne.
Selected M&A transactions:
- Newcrest on its sale of 75% interest in Gosowong
- OZ Minerals on its strategic partnership and agreements with Vale re copper assets in Brazil
- Blackstone on its sale of DCI Data Centers to Brookfield
- OZ Minerals on its A$418mm takeover of Avanco Resources
- Speedcast on its US$160mm acquisition of Globecomm
- Equinix on its A$1.0bn acquisition of Metronode
- Yancoal on its US$2.7bn acquisition of Coal & Allied
- Banpu pcl in relation to its A$427mm takeover of Hunnu Coal
- Macarthur Coal as sole financial advisor in response to the A$4.9bn offer from Peabody Energy
- Banpu pcl on its A$2.4bn acquisition of Centennial Coal
Kam is a public and private M&A lawyer in Herbert Smith Freehills’ Melbourne office. Kam specialises in private equity, and has acted for some of Australia’s leading funds on both public and private transactions. Having in excess of 12 years’ experience in M&A, Kam has advised on some of the largest and most complex public and private acquisitions and divestments. Legal 500 has recently identified Kam as a ‘Key Lawyer’ for mergers & acquisitions at Herbert Smith Freehills. In addition to his time at Herbert Smith Freehills, Kam previously worked as an investment banker in Goldman Sach’s industrials team.
Peter has in excess of 18 years of M&A experience with KPMG Corporate Finance, across a broad range of transactions and sectors. Peter has worked as a trusted adviser with his clients closing a significant number of engagements including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, equity and debt capital formation, international/cross-border a strategic advisory assignments.
Peter works with a range of clients from large multi-nationals to small entrepreneurial innovators.
Desmond Chua is Head of APAC, who joined Datasite (formerly Merrill Corporation) in 2014.
Desmond is responsible for business development including driving growth and innovation for Datasite clients through the implementation of Datasite solutions that power thousands of deals in more than 170 countries. Datasite’s products are used by professionals across banking, capital markets, insurance, legal, healthcare, energy, and other global sectors and markets.
Desmond has strong relationships with C-suite executives across APAC and is passionate about understanding why clients place their trust in Datasite to complete their most important transactions.
Prior to joining Datasite, Desmond led a team that provided bespoke, top-tier liquidity solutions for banks, brokers, funds and trading desks. He has been regularly featured on Channel News Asia, BBC and ET Now, discussing market outlook and trading strategies. He has also been quoted in the media and newswires – CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, AFP, Straits Times and Today.
Find Desmond on Linkedin.
Currently editorial consultant to Dealreporter, Simon established the Australian bureau of Mergermarket in 2005 where he was bureau chief and Asian editor of Dealreporter (2006-2009).
He is also a PhD candidate at Macquarie University researching the relationship between stakeholders and M&A, co-hosts the weekly Dealbook on Sky Business channel and contributes M&A commentary to The Australian.
He has some 30 years experience in researching, editing, writing and commenting on financial issues, specialising in M&A since 2005.