DealZone

Highlights from this week’s Thomson Reuters Investment Banking scorecard:

ASIA PACIFIC IPOs UP 65%
Malaysian telecommunications provider, Maxis Bhd, raised $3.3 billion in an initial public offering this week, the biggest IPO from a Malaysian issuer on record.  Asia Pacific offerings account for 59% of global IPO activity this year and total $49.2 billion for year-to-date 2009, a 65% increase over last year at this time.
In Asia, China International Capital Co, CITIC and UBS account for nearly 35% of overall IPO activity, by proceeds, this year while Morgan Stanley has lead managed the most offerings in the region, with 14.

AUSTRALIAN M&A TOTALS $130.9 BILLION
Australian target M&A activity totals $130.9 billion for year-to-date 2009, a 58% increase over the year ago period.  Deal activity in the materials, financial and industrial sectors accounts for nearly 80% of overall activity.
A bid for Melbourne-based Transurban Group, an operator and developer of electronic tolling systems by an investor group comprised of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan for $8.9 billion topped the list of biggest deals this week.

HIGH TECH CORPORATE DEBT UP 34%
This week’s $4.9 billion bond offering from Cisco Systems brings year-to-date corporate debt volume in the high tech sector to $56.9 billion, a 34% increase over last year.  Ranking as the largest US high tech bond for year-to-date 2009, it also marks Cisco’s second debt offering this year.
As the global credit markets have rebounded this year, a number of high technology names have stepped into the bond market with multi-billion offerings including Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Microsoft and IBM.