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Australia is a stand-out among the OECD economies in its response and significant economic recovery from COVID-19. While it has not avoided the severe economic impact, financial market volatility and investment uncertainty that has afflicted global economies and financial markets, Australia’s economy and M&A activity has recovered strongly. Mergermarket data shows Australia’s M&A value in Q4 2020 amounted to nearly USD 23.8bn over 169 deals, more than double the figures recorded in Q2 and Q3. Meanwhile, New Zealand M&A value in Q1 2021 has totaled USD 3.9bn, surpassing the combined value of the previous three quarters.
Expectations are fairly united that the economy will remain buoyant and M&A activity will be busy over 2021, well ahead of most other major economies that are still in the midst of severe health crises while their vaccination programmes get underway in earnest.
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10:45
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11:00
Live Virtual Briefing starts
In this live panel, we take stock of M&A activity in Australia and New Zealand, including:
- Overview of M&A Q1 2021 activity and insights, which sectors of the M&A landscape will present most opportunities in H2 and what is the impact for domestic M&A?
- The impact of stakeholder capitalism on M&A activity, particularly with due diligence and regulatory processes assuming a greater stakeholder risk focus as opposed to a focus on shareholders and value
- The difficulty of valuations in highly uncertain and volatile times, is this a competitive advantage for any party (including advisors)?
- Despite travel bubbles being explored between countries, how are cross-border M&A transactions being conducted where travel bans might not be lifted soon?
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11:50
Live Q&A
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12:00
Closing remarks
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Fiona is the Chief Corporate Development Officer at Computershare Limited where she is responsible for corporate strategy and transaction activity for the business. Fiona has been with Computershare since 2019, where prior to this she was an Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division of J.P. Morgan for 6 years. Fiona has also held roles at Flagstaff Partners and E&Y in Melbourne, Australia.
Macquarie Capital
- John has 10+ years of corporate advisory experience
- John has advised on over A$20 billion in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions in Australia and internationally, including:
- Demerger of United Malt from GrainCorp (~A$2 billion)
- Private equity investor on its bid to acquire IFCO (unsuccessful)
- Demerger of South32 from BHP Billiton (~A$12 billion)
- Asciano’s potential divestment of a minority stake in Patrick to China Merchants (~A$2 billion, withdrawn)
- Barrick Gold acquisition of Equinox (~A$7.5 billion)
Brad Lynch is a Partner at Advent Partners, a mid-market focused private equity firm based in Melbourne Australia. Brad has over 18 years principal investing experience across the Asia Pacific region with sector expertise in Software, Healthcare, Education & Training, and Business & Consumer Services. Brad is currently a Board member of SILK Laser Clinics Australia, Mandoe Media, Junior Adventures Group and Flintfox International. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from FINSIA. Brad is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and has completed graduate programs with the Australian Restructuring, Insolvency & Turnaround Association and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Rebecca is one of Australia’s leading M&A lawyers and has recently been elected global Chair and Senior Partner of Herbert Smith Freehills with effect from 1 May 2021. She has led numerous deals including TPG Telecom’s merger with Vodafone Hutchison Australia and David Jones’ acquisition by Woolworths South Africa. Rebecca is a repeat “Australian Dealmaker of the Year” winner, former Chair of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia and a member of the Takeovers Panel.
As a Partner in the Corporate Finance team of Pitcher Partners Melbourne, Michael assists many clients, from a range of industries, with their transaction pursuits with specialist services including: lead mergers and acquisitions advice, financial analysis, due diligence investigations and valuations.
Michael leads the Global Corporate Finance group for Baker Tilly International a top 10 accounting network globally.
Clients benefit significantly from Michael’s astute business acumen and persuasive negotiating skills. Clients seeking growth through divestment and acquisition strategies draw on Michael’s networks and knowledge to maximise their business and financial results. He works with many public and private businesses on their buy and sell side mandates.
Iwen Chen is Datasite’s Head of ANZ, responsible for driving growth and innovation for Datasite clients in Australia and New Zealand 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.
Prior to joining Datasite, Iwen worked with companies such as Apple, Ascender, and Macquarie Bank. His knowledge of M&A and Financial Services clubbed with rich experience in corporate and cloud-based software solutions, enabled him to be instrumental in the launch of Datasite’s local data hosting capabilities in Australia most recently, to further support our clients.
Find Iwen on LinkedIn.
AboutDatasite
Datasite, is a leading SaaS provider for the M&A industry, empowering dealmakers around the world with the tools they need to succeed across the entire deal lifecycle. For more information, visit www.datasite.com