13 Mar 2025
Insight
Australia
2024 in review
IPO activity in 2024 continued to be very low, affected by persistent elevated interest rates, high inflation, geopolitical events and ongoing economic uncertainty, as well as simply downbeat market sentiment, without the change of mindset that a series of successful IPOs would have provided. The downturn in IPOs has now persisted for three years in a row, with the total number of IPOs remaining below long-term averages at 26 for the year.
However, the volume of capital raised presented a happier picture, with more than $1.1 billion in capital raised through the 2024 IPOs, the highest volume of IPO capital raised since 2021, both per IPO and in aggregate1. In particular, the significant listings of Guzman y Gomez and DigiCo Infrastructure REIT (each with market capitalisation exceeding $2 billion), and the $30 billion ‘reverse takeover’ of Chemist Warehouse by Sigma Healthcare, provided some hope for and excitement about a return of listings at scale.
|
|
Secondary raisings
Following the expansion of our remit to the Australian ECM Review (formerly the Australian IPO Review), we have again examined secondary raisings of ASX-listed issuers in our ‘Secondary raisings by the numbers’ section. This year, to capture a larger segment of the market and broader underlying trends, we have lowered the threshold for inclusion in our data set to all secondary raisings of $10 million or more. Of course, when making comparisons against 2023 transactions, we have only compared transactions over the $50 million threshold used in 2024 to ensure an ‘apples with apples’ comparison.
In 2024, the standalone placement was the most commonly utilised offer structure for deals exceeding $50 million (33%), followed by the combined placement and SPP (32%) and the combined placement and rights issue (23%).
The largest secondary raising for the year was NEXTDC’s $1.32 billion ANREO, reflective of the popularity of data centre and other AI-thematic industries in 2024. The offer proceeds were used to accelerate the development and fit out of NEXTDC’s leading digital infrastructure platform in its core Sydney and Melbourne markets. Remarkably, NEXTDC followed up this first raise in October (having first raised in May) with a second large raise – this time an institutional placement and share purchase plan to raise up to $750 million. Herbert Smith Freehills acted for NEXTDC on both these raisings.
Secondary raisings over $50 million in the past year were often undertaken for M&A reasons, with 22% of transactions in 2024 being used to fund M&A activity (an increase from 17% in 2023).
Click here for further details of secondary raisings in 2024.
Key regulatory updates
In 2024, Australian regulators have reinforced a number of matters as areas of focus in the Australian ECM landscape.
Consistent with ASIC’s focus in previous years, ASIC remains vigilant in its use of enforcement powers to address greenwashing claims and secure significant penalties. In 2024, ASIC was successful in securing considerable civil penalties against Mercer ($11.3 million), Vanguard ($12.9 million) and Active Super2 in the Federal Court.
Entities covered by the financial reporting provisions in Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act (and certain companies limited by guarantee) are now required to include climate-related financial information and disclosure in a sustainability report. This includes a climate statement about the entity’s material financial risks and opportunities relating to climate, its emissions metrics and targets, and its governance and strategy in respect of those risks, opportunities, metrics and targets.
The ASX has signalled a potential shift to T+1 trading to follow the approach taken in 2024 by a number of global securities markets, including the US, Canadian, Indian, Mexican, Argentinian and Jamaican markets. These markets have shifted to T+1 settlement to compress corporate action timeframes, so that the ex-date and record date can occur on the same business day.
The year also marked the beginning of the end for hybrid Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital instruments with APRA confirming its intention to replace AT1 in the prudential framework.
Click here for further details of the regulatory developments affecting ECM in 2024.
 News FlashOn 26 February 2025, ASIC released a discussion paper titled Australia’s evolving capital markets, addressing the shifting dynamics between public and private markets in Australia. The paper covers:
ASIC is seeking feedback by April 28, 2025, and will provide an update on the feedback and ASIC's future priorities which they will release in late-2025. |
- Consistent with past practice, our data does not include REIT, ETF or LIT transactions. If these transactions were included, the figure would be significantly higher, in particular because of the DigiCo Infrastructure REIT IPO which raised just short of $2 billion.
- As of 31 January 2025, no formal orders in relation to penalties for Active Super have been handed down so the penalties payable by Active Super are not yet known.
Key contacts
Chapters
Global Bank Review 2023
Beyond the hype – Will new laws win trust in banks’ AI tools?
Legal Notice
The contents of this publication are for reference purposes only and may not be current as at the date of accessing this publication. They do not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Specific legal advice about your specific circumstances should always be sought separately before taking any action based on this publication.
© Herbert Smith Freehills 2025
Stay in the know
We’ll send you the latest insights and briefings tailored to your needs