It has been a buoyant May according to IFLR1000's selection of deal announcements, with a host of deals across M&A and capital markets—especially on the debt side—in a range of sectors. In the past month there has been diverse activity with government and public policy, banking, and financial services entering the fray, and landmark deals in the transport industry.
As Hong Kong's IPO market continues to struggle, it has been displaced by US IPO activity that continues to rise with 25 companies going public in the first quarter, compared to last year's eight. More recently, Gardner Denver Holdings—an industrial machinery maker—undertook a $826 million IPO on the NYSE offering 47,495,000 shares of common stock; and across the pond in the UK, nationalised lender Allied Irish Banks (AIB) is undertaking its IPO on the Irish and London stock exchanges (LSE) in a deal which could raise as much as €3 billion—the biggest on the LSE since Glencore's in 2011.
M&A deal values have levelled out this May at well over $50 billion at the top end of the market, with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton averaging close to $6 billion per deal. Italian firm Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners (GOGCP) made a notable entry in third place, no doubt propelled by its part in Atlantia's €16.3 billion acquisition of Abertis Infraestructuras—the largest Spanish M&A deal in 10 years making the merged company the largest operator of toll roads. With 28 deals last month, Latham & Watkins upended Kirkland & Ellis at the top of the deal volume table for only the second time in the last 11 months.
Elsewhere, there has been a spate of debt capital markets deals in the government and public policy sector as Maldives issued its debut $200 million sovereign bond, which was its first ever US dollar bond issue and the first time that a Chinese investment bank, BoCom International, acted as sole lead bookrunner of an international sovereign bond; also Sri Lanka issued a $1.5 billion sovereign bond which was its 11th US dollar issue since 2007; and the province of Buenos Aires issued ARS15.1 billion ($941 million) notes due 2022, which is Buenos Aires' first issue of Argentina-peso denominated bonds governed by Argentine law that are sold in the international capital markets.
Moreover, Autopistas del Sol, which operates the Ruta 27 toll road concession, issued $351 million in international and local project bonds, which was the first offering of project bonds out of a high-yield grade in a Central American country; Neptune Oil & Gas acquired a majority stake in Engie's exploration and production business for $3.9 billion, which was the latest in a string of North Sea deals completed in the past few months as a consequence of stress in the oil service sector; and Qualcomm issued an aggregate of $11 billion in notes to fund a portion of the purchase price of its planned $38 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors.
If you have any public deal announcements you would like us to take into account for our reports please send them to - amajeed@iflr1000.com
The EMEA launch of IFLR1000 Deal Data—a fully searchable database whose BETA version went live in May last year—has arrived with other regions coming soon. This database of significant deal records from over 120 countries will include searchable and filterable data on the most significant legal transactions from around the globe, and all of our featured monthly deals will be included along with many more garnered from the IFLR1000's own research, press releases and other deal announcements.
Below you can access our top picks for May 2017 linked to their record in the new deals database.
Adam Majeed - Asia-Editor
Mergermarket table 1 - Law firms by global M&A deal value
Mergermarket table 2 - Law firms by global M&A deal volume
Deal 1: Allied Irish Banks ISE/LSE IPO
Jurisdictions: Ireland, United Kingdom
Deal type: IPO
Industry sectors: Banking
Deal 2: Apax Partners acquisition of Safetykleen Europe
Jurisdictions: United Kingdom
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Industrials and manufacturing
Deal 3: Atlantia €16.3 billion acquisition of Abertis Infraestructuras
Jurisdictions: Italy, Spain
Deal type: Public acquisition
Industry sectors: Transport
Deal 4: Autopistas del Sol $350.75 million project bond issue
Jurisdictions: Costa Rica
Deal type: High-yield bond/note issue
Industry sectors: Transport
Deal 5: AXA Investment Managers €1 billion acquisition of Gramercy Property Europe logistics portfolio
Jurisdictions: France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Poland
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Real estate, Logistics
Deal 6: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka $1.5 billion 6.2% sovereign bond issue
Jurisdictions: Sri Lanka
Deal type: High-yield bond/note issue
Industry sectors: Government and public policy
Deal 7: Gardner Denver Holdings NYSE IPO
Jurisdictions: United States
Deal type: IPO
Industry sectors: Pharmaceuticals and life sciences, Automotive, Oil and gas
Deal 8: London Stock Exchange $685 million acquisition of Citigroup's Yield Book and Fixed-Income indices
Jurisdictions: United States, United Kingdom
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Banking, Financial services
Deal 9: Melco Resorts & Entertainment $987 million share buyback
Jurisdictions: Australia
Deal type: Public acquisition, Share buyback
Industry sectors: Gaming, Entertainment
Deal 10: Moody's €3 billion acquisition of Bureau van Dijk
Jurisdictions: Netherlands
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Banking, Financial services
Deal 11: Multilease SFr297 million auto lease securitisation
Jurisdictions: Switzerland
Deal type: Asset Backed Securities (ABS), Securatisation
Industry sectors: Automotive
Deal 12: Neptune Oil & Gas $3.9 billion acquisition of majority stake in Engie exploration and production business
Jurisdictions: France, United Kingdom
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Oil and gas
Deal 13: OCBC $4.75 billion acquisition of NAB's private wealth business
Jurisdictions: Singapore
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Banking
Deal 14: Province of Buenos Aires ARS15.1 billion notes offer
Jurisdictions: Argentina
Deal type: Sovereign bond issue
Industry sectors: Government and public policy
Deal 15: Republic of Maldives $200 million 7% debut sovereign bond issue
Jurisdictions: Maldives
Deal type: High-yield bond/note issue, Sovereign bond issue
Industry sectors: Government and public policy
Deal 16: Qualcomm $11 billion notes issues
Jurisdictions: United States
Deal type: Acquisition finance, High-yield bond/note issue
Industry sectors: Technology and telecommunications
Deal 17: Thermo Fisher Scientific $7.2 billion acquisition of Patheon
Jurisdictions: Netherlands
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and life sciences
Reporters
Sam Duke - Editor
Adam Majeed - Asia-Pacific Editor
Ben Naylor - EMEA Editor
Jon Moore - Journalist EMEA
Anna Kozakova - Journalist EMEA
Wai Yee Tsang - Journalist Asia-Pacific
Rani Mehta - Journalist Latin America
Kurt Stumpo - Journalist - North America and the Caribbean
Katrin Kostadinova - Data Analyst - Global