Herbert Smith Freehills Australian Public M&A Report 2017 – coming soon

Herbert Smith Freehills is pleased to announce that the ninth edition of our Australian Public M&A Report will be released in October 2017. 

In brief

The ninth edition of the Herbert Smith Freehills Australian Public M&A Report will be released in the coming weeks.

The 2017 Report examines the 59 control transactions involving Australian targets listed on the ASX that were conducted by way of takeover or scheme of arrangement in the 2017 financial year. The Report provides detailed analysis of, among other things:

• the structure and key terms of public M&A transactions in FY2017; and
• trends and developments in market activity, sectors and M&A deal technology.

A brief overview of some of the findings of the 2017 Report is set out below.

Activity levels

Public M&A activity was relatively subdued in FY2017. There were 59 deals announced, representing an increase in the number of public M&A transactions compared to FY2016. However, total deal value was significantly lower in FY2017 at just over $23 billion.

Sector overview

The consumer and industrials sectors featured strongly in FY2017, contributing $8.68 billion and $9.44 billion to total deal value respectively. There was a notable increase in activity in the information technology and software and services sectors in FY2017 compared to previous years. On the other hand, FY2017 proved to be another challenging year for the energy and resources sectors, which only accounted for around one third of deals by number and less than 5% of total deal value.

Other key findings

• Schemes remained the favoured transaction structure in large deals. Cheung Kong’s $7.03 billion acquisition of energy infrastructure company DUET Group by way of scheme of arrangement was the largest deal of FY2017. Other large schemes included Tabcorp’s proposed acquisition of Tatts Group and the acquisition of SAI Global by Baring Private Equity Asia.
• Foreign bidders accounted for more than half of deal value in FY2017 .
• Cash remained the dominant form of consideration.
• Regulatory bodies, in particular the ACCC and FIRB, were active in FY2017.
• Schemes and takeovers generally completed in a quicker timeframe than in previous years.
• Deal protection mechanisms and break fees were used less frequently than in previous years.

To place your request to receive a full copy of the Report upon its release, please contact Shaye Graham at Shaye.Graham@hsf.com .