UBS has dominated Australasian equities for about a decade and this year was no exception. Not only did it lead in terms of volumes, but it also continued to innovate.
Twice during the review period, UBS priced block trades at a premium to the market level. In March, a block of A$806m (US$756m) in coal-freight operator Aurizon priced at a 0.4% premium to the five-day weighted average. The clean-up trade was a repeat selldown for the Queensland government, and UBS managed every trade.
The extra value UBS brings to the Australian market was especially clear in its trade on August 14. Earlier that day, Sydney Airports priced a placement at A$3.60 per share. An hour later, sole bookrunner UBS managed Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s selldown in the same stock at A$3.67.
In March, it helped Westfield Retail Trust’s largest shareholder, the Lowy family, cut its stake in a tightly priced A$663.7m sole-led trade.
UBS also helped reopen the Australian IPO market, after a prolonged lull, as joint bookrunner on the A$339m offering of Virtus Health in June. Private-equity exits have been treated with suspicion in Australia in recent years, but the deal met with a strong response from investors and, importantly, made them money, jumping 9.2% on the first day of trading.
The offering priced at the top of guidance and was increased on strong demand, allowing the vendor, Quadrant Private Equity, to exit fully and remove any potential overhang on the stock. It was the first Australian IPO to raise more than US$100m in nearly two years, and its success was critical to restoring market confidence
UBS was also sole bookrunner for an audacious A$553m equity raising by stock exchange operator ASX, which used a pro-rata structure introduced a few years ago to make entitlement offers fairer for retail investors.
The bank showed itself to be comfortable and capable of raising equity for issuers of all sizes and in all sectors from property to infrastructure, to energy and to pharma.
It earned its stripes in the New Zealand market, which returned to life in the past 12 months. In February, it was sole bookrunner for the New Zealand Superannuation Fund’s NZ$277.4m (US$229.2m) block trade in Auckland International Airport.
UBS was one of two underwriters for pharmaceutical and medical products group Ebos’ two-part equity raising of NZ$239m to help fund the NZ$1.1bn acquisition of Zuellig Healthcare Holdings Australia. This was particularly impressive because Ebos had a market capitalisation of just NZ$515m before the transaction.
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