Link Group ASX IPO

Overview:

• Link Group—an Australian pension services company—listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on 27 October 2015 and raised A$950 million at a market capitalisation of A$2.2 billion.
• It was the largest IPO on the ASX in 2015 and highlighted that investors are still receptive to quality issuers with well-structured offers, despite current volatility in the Australian market.
• Link Group was previously owned by a number of funds including Pacific Equity Partners, Intermediate Capital Group and Macquarie Bank—the IPO was an opportunity for these investors to partially realise their investments.
• As with many recent Australian IPOs with private equity owners, the transaction was structured to include voluntary lock-up arrangements with key shareholders to give the market greater certainty and security on trading in the secondary market.
• Rothschild acted as Link Group’s independent financial adviser; and Citi, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie Capital and UBS acted as joint lead managers.
• KPMG acted as investigating accountants for Link Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers acted as its tax advisers.

Adam Majeed - Asia Editor