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Australia’s M&A still strong despite global outlook
Sunday, 15 January 2012 13:32
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‘The shadow cast over global equity markets by concerns in Europe over the past 6 months has not stopped deal flow here. The Thomson Reuters league tables released today show that Australian M&A activity actually increased in 2011. 'Asia Pacific is seen as a safer investment bet - and a better market in which to sell assets - than Europe at the moment. As long as the debt markets hold reasonably well, we expect to see contiunued activity across a range of sectors in this region over the coming 6 months,' said Ms Maslen-Stannage. According to Thomson Reuters M&A league tables for 2011, M&A activity in Australia increased 11.9% to US$173 billion from US$154.7 billion the year before. Cross border activity reached US$86.5 billion, which showed an increase of 9.9% from last year. ‘We saw the Australian market perform extremely well in the first half of the year. In fact, M&A activity rose to almost on par with pre GFC levels before concerns about European Debt reined the market in again. ,' added Ms Maslen-Stannage. Australian companies participated in the following large M&A deals this year: BHP Billiton's acquisition of Petrohawk (the largest US-based target takeover by an Asia Pacific company on record); Peabody Energy's joint bid with ArcelorMittal for Macarthur Coal; SABMiller's takeover of Fosters Group; Centro's sale of US assets to BRE; and Barrick Gold's acquisition of Equinox Minerals. ‘We expect that the Australian market will continue to fare well despite the possibility of challenging economic times ahead. Our strong economy and booming resources sector remains an attractive investment destination for global companies. We expect that in 2012 Australian M&A activity will still be largely driven by resources, but also financial services, agriculture, and property,' said Ms Maslen-Stannage. Top-tier Australian based international law firm Freehills has a strong history leading the market in M&A. The firm again topped the Thomson Reuters League Table with the highest value deals for both completed and announced transactions this year. Freehills Corporate Group has acted on some of the market's most strategic and market defining deals so far in 2011, illustrating the strength, flexibility and diversity of Freehills' capabilities. These included 5 of the top ten largest deals for the year. In the last few months alone, Freehills has advised a number of M&A deals including: Aston Resources merger with Whitehaven Coal; Yanzhou Coal's merger with Gloucester Coal; Centro's restructure; Peabody Energy's joint bid with ArcelorMittal for Macarthur Coal; Austar's proposed merger with Foxtel; Rebel Sport's takeover by Super Retail; CBA's acquisition of Count Financial; as well as AXA SA's joint bid with AMP to acquire AXA Asia Pacific holdings; and Seven Group's sale of Seven Media Group earlier this year. |
Despite the current global economic concerns M&A activity is still strong in Asia Pacific with a cautiously optimistic outlook for 2012, according to Freehills Partner Rebecca Maslen-Stannage.