King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is pleased to announce it has supported financial technology company Iress on its acquisition of OneVue, and concurrent capital raising.
The acquisition of OneVue is understood to be among the very first post-COVID public M&A transactions in Australia and is a significant milestone for the market.
The capital raising comprises a $150 million institutional placement and share purchase plan expected to raise approximately $20 million. The funds will be used to further strengthen Iress' balance sheet and also to partially fund the OneVue acquisition.
The KWM team was led by Corporate and M&A Partners Joe Muraca and Rob Kelly, with senior associate Jack Hill assisting on the capital raising.
"Executing a capital raising or a public M&A negotiation is always challenging. To do both at the same time is even more difficult. Doing them simultaneously while working from home during a pandemic is an enormous accomplishment by all involved," said Joe Muraca.
"I'm very proud of our team and the trust Iress placed in us to help them once again with a strategic acquisition. This deal should give us all confidence – amid the challenges global markets currently face, it's possible for buyers and sellers to find value and agree deal terms."
Rob Kelly said achieving such a satisfying result for a valued client was enabled by exceptional collaboration between Iress, its other advisers and KWM's transactional, capital markets, commercial and regulatory teams.
"It has been a great effort across our Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane offices.
"Remote collaboration on this scale is possible because we've invested in technology which allows our people to work together effectively with clients and other advisers, and to link up with the other side, wherever those parties may be – it was very much a transaction negotiated from living rooms and studies across the country," Mr Kelly said.
KWM has helped many other ASX and NZX listed clients raise capital during the COVID-19 crisis, including NAB, Incitec Pivot, Flight Centre, Macquarie, Charter Hall Retail REIT, oOh!media and Auckland Airport among others. KWM also advised the lead managers on the Lendlease, Oil Search, Credit Corp, Megaport and Australian Finance Group capital raisings during this time.
Since late March, the firm has assisted clients to raise over A$10billion.
