A strong market for Australian M&A

Last night, I accepted on behalf of PwC Australia the award for Mid-Market M&A Financial Adviser of the Year 2018. The Mergermarket Australia M&A Awards were a great celebration of some iconic deals and a showcase of how high quality advisers can truly add real value to their clients through a transaction. I’d like to thank our clients for their ongoing support and the PwC M&A team and broader PwC Deals and Private Client teams for all their hard work and dedication throughout the year.

With a robust domestic economy and other supportive macro factors, we are clearly in a strong deals market. We expect these drivers, together with those outlined below, to continue to drive transactional activity in FY19:

Continuing intergenerational succession in the private client market: Australia continues to experience change in the private business ownership landscape as baby boomers seek to transfer their businesses to the next generation or exit. With a strong contingent of willing and funded financial and trade buyers seeking growth and investment opportunities, private businesses have certainly been in the ‘driver’s seat’ of the Australian M&A market over the past financial year, and we expect will continue to be in the next 12 months.

Inbound activity from global investors:  While the Australian economy remains robust, it continues to be an attractive inbound investment destination. In FY18, over half of the transactions we advised on were cross border and we see that trend continuing into FY19.

Private equity continues to be a key player: With record levels of ‘dry powder’ (money raised, but not yet committed) ready to be put to work, private equity remains focused on identifying quality investment opportunities. AVCAL estimates that there is more than $7.5bn of this ‘dry powder’ in the Australian market ready to be deployed. 

Congratulations to all of the winners, especially those who won the PwC Private Equity awards: The Riverside Company for the mid-cap PE firm, and Pacific Equity Partners for the large-cap firm. I’m also delighted to acknowledge the Darrell Lea and Quadrant Private Equity teams who received the Consumer Deal of the Year award. Our PwC team were pleased to work with the Darrell Lea team and the Quinn family on this incredible success story.  

To find out more about the Australian M&A Market in FY19, or any of the deals we advised on in FY18 - feel free to reach out to myself or one of the team.