Mega presence
In a sluggish year for the Australasian loan market, MUFG faced off intense competition, arranging long-tenor, event-driven and ESG financings, including several on a sole basis, and distributing them widely.
MUFG excelled in long-tenor loans, which were the flavour of the year for Australian borrowers, by leveraging its distribution network, particularly in Japan.
“The Asian term loan market and its relevance to Australian and New Zealand borrowers has continued to grow,” said James Poulos, head of loan markets and syndications for Australia and New Zealand at MUFG. “Both Asian and Japanese investors are a key focus of MUFG as we have looked to introduce new sectors and structures to this very important investor base.”
The Japanese mega-bank clinched the most mandated lead arranger and bookrunner roles for long-dated loans with maturities of up to 12 years in Australasia in 2023, including five on a sole basis. Among them Powerco’s NZ$308.7m-equivalent (US$184m) borrowing marked the first time a New Zealand corporate accessed a 10-year maturity in a syndicated loan format.
Other borrowers raising long-tenor loans for the first time included property specialist Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund, rail operator Pacific National Holdings and TPG Telecom, which tapped the market twice in as many months.
Another repeat borrower was AirTrunk, which raised a yen-denominated SLL of around A$650m-equivalent in March, the first such financing for a data centre in Japan. MUFG was one of the three sustainability coordinators on the deal and also among seven MLABs and underwriters on a A$4.62bn-equivalent (US$3.02bn) SLL in September, which attracted over 30 lenders in syndication.
While Brookfield’s US$10.6bn bid for Australia’s Origin Energy eventually fell through, MUFG, which held the sole debt advisory mandate, was a steadfast financier throughout with its key roles on three of the four debt financings – a A$3.2bn backstop facility for potential change of control of Origin in March, its takeout financing of around A$2.5bn and a US$3.483bn acquisition loan for Brookfield’s bidding partner, EIG Asset Management-backed MidOcean Energy.
Other high-profile M&A financings included a A$2.096bn green loan supporting Squadron Energy’s purchase of CWP Renewables, which was a rare instance of a stapled financing for an acquisition in Asia Pacific, as well as the syndications of a A$560m loan for the acquisition of Geelongport and a A$430m leveraged buyout loan for PRP Diagnostics.
The Japanese mega-bank also won coordinator roles on Blackstone Real Estate’s debut A$1.45bn SLL for its portfolio of industrial and logistics assets, green financings of NZ$1.84bn and A$852m for Vector Metering and Atmos Renewables, respectively, as well as for Royal North Shore Hospital’s A$450m social loan.
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