Australia/New Zealand Equity House: JP Morgan
All-rounder
Well-rounded product coverage, strong capabilities in tailor-making complex solutions for clients and a swift response to regulatory changes allowed JP Morgan to stand out in the Australasian equity capital market in 2025, trumping rivals domestically and globally.
Raising A$4.4bn (US$2.9bn) from eight transactions, JP Morgan topped the Australia/New Zealand equity and equity-linked league table, according to LSEG data.
The US bank led the pack in follow-ons, convertible bonds and blocks, and arranged four of the five largest ECM deals in Australia this year.
JP Morgan had a flying start to the year by helping industrial property giant Goodman Group raise a whopping A$4bn through a fully underwritten placement in February.
The follow-on was also the largest placement this year and the second-largest placement in the country.
Another sizable transaction was ASX-listed Xero’s A$1.85bn underwritten placement. Leveraging its global capabilities, JP Morgan helped the New Zealand accounting software provider raise funds to part-fund its acquisition of US bill payment platform Melio.
The bank also handled the largest IPO and the largest block of the year.
JP Morgan, as joint lead manager, arranged the A$750m ASX IPO of over-50s resorts operator GemLife Communities Group. The bank adopted the newly introduced streamlined listing process that shortened the regulatory review period for IPOs.
The IPO attracted decent demand, enabling an upsize to A$750m from A$675m–$700m. The stock rose 4.1% on its trading debut on July 3 and was up 26% at the end of IFR’s awards review period.
A A$1.09bn block trade in Australian gold mining company Northern Star Resources showcased JP Morgan’s expertise in structuring a bespoke solution for clients in the middle of an M&A transaction.
South African mining giant Gold Fields was in the process of acquiring its 50% Australian joint venture partner Gold Road Resources, which owned a stake in Northern Star.
JP Morgan entered in a share forward transaction with Gold Fields and on September 25 launched a selldown in Northern Star to hedge its position. The move allowed Gold Fields to monetise its stake in Northern Star before the shares were delivered and also reduce its exposure to the price volatility in Northern Star.
JP Morgan’s breadth of businesses was perfectly demonstrated by two equity-linked deals: a US$500m convertible bond from Australia-based, Nasdaq-listed bitcoin miner-turned AI hyperscaler Iren in June and CIP Funding’s A$325m exchangeable bond with Centuria Industrial REIT as the underlying in August. The US bank was joint bookrunner on both transactions.
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