UBS
UBS is regarded as a yardstick for foreign banks in Australia, and this year simply confirmed it. Local chief executive Matthew Grounds’ team ended the review period top of the league table for mergers and acquisitions, as well as in equity capital markets.
UBS announced 28 deals this year, 15 less than ubiquitous home-grown rival Macquarie, but A$10 billion bigger ($7.2 billion) in overall wallet size.
That’s because UBS played a central role in the largest M&A deal ever involving an Australian company, the A$33 billion acquisition of shopping centre giant Westfield by France’s Unibail-Rodamco.
In ECM, UBS was in the middle of the five biggest deals of the year; two for infrastructure operator Transurban totalling more than A$6 billion, the A$2.65 billion IPO of oil refiner VIVA Energy, an A$3.5 billion sale of Royal Dutch Shell’s stake in Woodside Petroleum and, soon after, raising A$2.5 billion for Woodside.