IPOs give new meaning to Down Under
02/06/2021 07:58
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are their own.)
MELBOURNE, June 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - It’s a good time
to be an M&A banker in Australia – contested tie-ups
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2NC07Y are surging. Colleagues in equity capital markets
are having a rougher time. Deals get done, but performance is
wanting.
Keypath Education KED.AX became the latest disappointment
on Wednesday. The online-lesson provider’s shares tumbled more
than 8% at one point. More than half the 13 companies listing on
the Australian Stock Exchange this year with a market value
above A$100 million ($78 million) now trade at or below the
offer price against an 8% rise in the benchmark index. They
include Australian Clinical Labs ACL.AX , meal-kit deliverer My
Food Bag MFB.NZ and KKR-backed non-bank lenders Pepper Money
PPM.AX and Latitude Financial LFS.AX urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2LT2AF.
That should make the M&A route more appealing. Not at
mortgage-settlement firm PEXA IPO-PRO.AX , though. Backer Link
Administration leveraged bids from KKR and others to get a
better deal from stock-market investors. Whether the A$3.3
billion valuation holds up once shares start trading will be
another matter. (By Antony Currie)
On Twitter http://twitter.com/breakingviews
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| Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Katrina Hamlin)