Barrenjoey named 2022 top capital raising firm

Barrenjoey has topped the 2022 best capital raising firm ranking complied by fintech Fresh Amplify aiming to measure “the true impact” of each raise including deals’ pricing and aftermarket performance.

According to Fresh, which based its ranking on a detailed analysis of over 670 placements between September 2021 and August 2022, the overall number of A-grade deals in 2022 fell to 64 from 94 in the prior year.

Following this, the winner was closely followed by Moelis Australia, which secured a mix of A and B-grade capital raises across seven transactions, including Cleanway’s $350 million placement and EQT Holdings’ $40 million placement.

However, the data showed integrated investment house Barrenjoey scored higher in the ranking for leading more deals over the assessment period.

Company/Investor Led landed in the third place, with 77% of the 62 deals scoring an A-grade or B-grade and with deals including Metallica Minerals Limited’s $3.3 million as well as IODM Limited’s $2.13 million placements.

The fintech said the dates chosen for analysis allowed for an assessment of a three-month post placement analysis period, which was described as a “high-risk period for market selloffs”.

The overriding goal of the ranking was to capture criteria such as the firm ability to maximise shareholder value and long-term outcomes while setting new standards for capital raising in Australia.

“This is the first ranking of its kind that not only looks at the deal itself, but both its after-market performance and the volume of raises undertaken by each firm. We wanted to assess the true impact of each raise on the business and its shareholders, and that usually isn’t seen until months after the deal is done,” co-founder and chief executive of Fresh, Ben Williamson, said.

“In our experience, successful outcomes are more likely to occur when a raise isn’t treated as a 2-week process, which this data shows. Successful capital raises occur over a period of years, not days, and it is no surprise to see that those firms with strong reputations are also the firms that consistently performed the best throughout 2022.”

According to the ranking, the best placement of the year was the $4.75m capital raise by The Environmental Group Limited, led by financial services firm Taylor Collison who ranked eighth overall across the 2022 period.

Other placements that scored A’s in the ranking included Dreadnought Resources’ $12m placement (led by Canaccord Genuity) and Peel Mining’s $21m placement (led by Ashanti Capital).

Of the 64 A-Grade placements, 45% were for sub-$50m nano caps, 36% micro caps, 11% small caps, and 8% mid caps.

The full list of the top ten brokers and investment banks in Australia included:

1. Barrenjoey Advisory Pty Ptd
2. Moelis Australia
3. Company/Investor Led
4. JP Morgan
5. Curran & Co.
6. Fresh Equities
7. Westar Capital
8. Argonout
9. Aitken Murray Capital Partners
10. Taylor Collison