Toll road owner Macquarie Atlas Roads Group is seeking an equity injection via an institutional placement to fund managers. 

Fund managers expect an offer worth $185 million at $4.85 a share, and were awaiting formal terms on Thursday morning. 

The company's shares last closed at $5.10. 

Macquarie Capital and its equities desk is expected to handle the deal, with proceeds to fund an acquisition to take full control of the Dulles Greenway tollroad in the United States.

The acquisition is worth $US445 million. 

Macquarie Atlas shares went into a trading halt ahead of the raising. 

It comes as the $2.7 billion company also prepares to hand down its results for the year to December 31. 

• Share
• Share via Email
• Share on Google Plus
• Post on facebook wall
• Share on twitter
• Post to Linkedin
• Share on Reddit

Australia's giant annuities provider Challenger is set to be the next large issuer in local debt capital markets. 

Street Talk understands Challenger is putting the finishing touches on a $350 million raising, the details of which are scheduled to be announced to investors early next week.

Challenger this month flagged that it was planning a new offer of subordinated convertible securities, to be known as Challenger Capital Notes 2, during the March quarter. The company gave no further details on the timing.

UBS is close to Challenger and several of the Big Four banks - National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corp - are also said to have a role in managing the issuance. 

How Challenger and its banks price the securities will be key, particularly after Commonwealth Bank of Australia and NAB this month hit the market with hybrid and subordinated debt issues respectively.

This column understands investors have underpinned heavy demand for the CommBank PERLS IX after the lender kicked off the offer on Monday.

NAB's latest offer, revealed by this column, aims to raise at least $800 million at a margin of 2.2 per cent over the bank bill swap rate.

Challenger's pricing next week will likely be at a greater margin given the relative rating of the financial services group compared to the major banks. 

In an investor update the company noted its life business was continuing to grow strongly and the new securities would help it prepare for "future growth"

Challenger's earlier tranche of capital notes, which were issued in 2014, saw UBS get the gig as structuring adviser while the joint lead managers were JPMorgan, NAB, UBS and Westpac.

Earlier this month, Challenger reported that normalised net profit rose 8 per cent to $197 million for the half year ended December 31, 2016.

The company also said it was adding new distribution partners and setting its sights on global markets.

Elsewhere in capital markets, brokers Macquarie Capital and Argonaut Securities were in the market on Wednesday with an equity raising for Dacian Gold. 

The brokers contacted potential investors as the company's shares were placed into a trading halt. 
Dacian - which struggled to execute an equity raising with Canaccord Genuity and Euroz Securities late last year - was seeking to raise $110 million in a fully underwritten raising. 

It was split into a $15.4 million placement and a $94.4 million entitlement offer. 
Macquarie was underwriter and lead manager, according to terms sent to potential investors. Argonaut was a co-lead manager. 
 

• Share
• Share via Email
• Share on Google Plus
• Post on facebook wall
• Share on twitter
• Post to Linkedin
• Share on Reddit

There's never a dull moment in the investment platform and administration industry.

Street Talk understands listed companies HUB24 and Praemium are weighing final bids for Melbourne-based firm Powerwrap.

They are among three companies circling Powerwrap, which has about $5 billion on its platform. The trade sale has entered the due diligence stage ahead of binding bids being called for next month.

Powerwrap is also keeping the option of an ASX listing on the table if the offers lobbed do not meet the expectations of its more than 150 shareholders.

A HUB24 spokeswoman said the company continued to look for strategic opportunities to "grow the business," but declined to comment on interest in Powerwrap.

HUB24 was itself in the crosshairs of a takeover offer in 2015 when it rebuffed overtures from financial services group IOOF Holdings.

Praemium already owns about 8 per cent of Powerwrap giving it a small leg up against HUB24.

The company does, however, have other immediate priorities.On Wednesday, Praemium told investors it had terminated the employment of chief executive Michael Ohanessian and commenced a search for a successor.

Powerwrap has also endured a tumultuous period including an overhaul of its board and the departure of boss Cormac Heffernan, all in the past six months.

The ructions are said to be among reasons clients including Koda Capital are re-thinking their options.

Koda - which has $3.5 billion of funds under advice on several platforms - is understood to have started opening accounts with other providers for the between $1 billion and $2 billion sitting with Powerwrap.

Sources suggested Powerwrap would retain some Koda funds. Other Powerwrap clients include Escala Partners, Bennelong and KordaMentha.

In December, Powerwrap tapped existing investors for almost $5 million to ensure it maintained regulatory capital and cash flow.

• Share
• Share via Email
• Share on Google Plus
• Post on facebook wall
• Share on twitter
• Post to Linkedin
• Share on Reddit

The heat is on in the property sector as the scramble to bag funds under management picks up pace.

Among those shaking a leg is one of the country's most venerable investment managers, AMP Capital.

Still embroiled with a blockbuster bid - in conjunction with UK investor Arlington - for the $2 billion student accommodation giant Campus Living Villages, AMP has landed a fresh source of European capital to place into the local real estate market.

The powerful manager has a institutional mandate to invest in office and industrial properties from Swiss Re, the world's second largest reinsurer.

The Zurich-based institution ran a process in the middle of last year to identify a local manager. AMP has won the confidence of the Swiss and is now tasked with steering anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion into the property sector.

The extent of that mandate may be enough to tempt some landlords to offer up a trophy office tower or two or a chunky industrial portfolio as commercial prices head toward a peak.

The toppy market is pushing veteran property players into new sectors, such as healthcare property where yields have been tightening.

The nation's largest office landlord, Dexus, has been moving cautiously into sector with a recent acquisition in Adelaide and a development in Sydney.

Dexus's healthcare strategy, led by CIO Ross Du Vernet and aimed at improving its growth profile and gaining critical mass, appears set to gain momentum with several hospital portfolios coming up for grabs.

• Share
• Share via Email
• Share on Google Plus
• Post on facebook wall
• Share on twitter
• Post to Linkedin
• Share on Reddit

If there is one thing reporting season has missed so far, it's block trades.

Amid the beats and misses in recent earnings periods, fund managers were shown a post IPO-escrow block most afternoons as another private equity vendor headed for the exit.

This year has been different. The post-IPO escrows have just about dried up and equities desks are having to find other ways to beat each other.

Things, though, may be about to change.

Hedge funds will be on high alert on Thursday afternoon, with equities desks readying pitches for stakes in recently-listed Costa Group and MYOB.

Costa is the smaller of the two, but seen as the more likely. Pre-IPO investors the Costa family's Costa AFR Pty Ltd and Paine & Partners own 10.33 per cent and 9.16 per cent of the company respectively, worth $115 million and $102 million at Wednesday's close.

Both investors' shares were out of escrow in August, when the stock was trading at sub-$3.

With the stock up near record highs, equities desks will try and wrangle it free on Thursday afternoon. Goldman Sachs and UBS did the float and are expected to be pitching, while Wilsons and APP analysts also cover the stock.

The bigger one is Bain Capital's stake in MYOB Group, worth $1.27 billion, which has been out of escrow for six months.

In reality, it is hard for Bain to sell anytime other than results with Bain's dealmakers still taking pride of place on MYOB's board.

Only a small handful of people know whether Bain will sell on Thursday or not. But that will not stop equities desks from making an offer. Citi, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS worked on MYOB's float in 2015, while Macquarie is also keeping a close eye on the situation.

Reunion Capital Partners acted as financial adviser on the float and will no doubt get a few phone calls on Thursday, just in case.

For what it is worth, fundies reckon close to half of the stake could be traded at a single digit discount to the last close. Although the real test will be MYOB's results, due out on Thursday morning. Analysts expect the company to report about a $90 million profit for the year to December 31, up from $86 million last year.

• Share
• Share via Email
• Share on Google Plus
• Post on facebook wall
• Share on twitter
• Post to Linkedin
• Share on Reddit