The announcement of a capital raise brings out various emotions in investors. Sometimes there’s excitement that a company can make its vision a reality. For others, there’s frustration that existing shareholders are being diluted as their company is forced to rattle the tin to keep the doors open.
But to one group in the markets, capital raises are always a good thing – the advisory firms that raise capital for them.
Stockhead has been running the numbers on which rainmakers have been performing well this year. As of May 7, $944 million has been raised across 154 deals in small cap land comprising of IPOs, placements and rights issues. This time last year $1.6 billion had been raised across 162 deals.
The top performers
In 2019 the biggest deal-maker flying out the traps by capital raised has been broker Bell Potter. As of May 7, it has captured nearly 20 per cent of the market raising $195m across 13 deals. This time last year it had only raised $135 million, so it is fair to say 2019 has been a very busy year for Bell Potter.
Most of Bell Potter’s deals were placements. Its biggest deal was a $51.6 million placement for Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals (ASX: PAR), which was complemented with a $26.3 million rights issue.
Its only IPO was the $13m listing of wireless internet provider Uniti Wireless (ASX: UWL).
Retail broker Morgans held the second highest market share with $102.5 million, representing 11 per cent of the market. Among Morgan’s notable deals was a $22 million placement for Dubber Corp (ASX: DUB) and a $31 million rights issue and placement for Otto Energy (ASX: OEL).
Third on the list was Macquarie Bank, despite only doing two deals – Readytech (ASX: RDY) and Amaysim (AYS), both raising $50 million.
The broker that did the most deals was Hartleys, comprising mostly of micro cap mining companies.
Patersons was another high-volume deal maker although it did run the $35 million IPO of biotech Next Science (ASX: NXS).
The deal that has shaken the ASX was buy now pay later stock Splitit (ASX: SPT). That offer was completed by corporate advisory firm Armada Capital.
Armada’s only other deal this year was a $7 million placement for Ausmex Mining Group (ASX: AMG).
The biggest decliner in market share, compared to last year, was Shaw & Partners, which raised $128 million in the small cap market last year and was one of the biggest dealmakers. This year it has only done one deal – a $4 million placement for Spirit Telecom (ASX: ST1).
Perhaps Shaw has been distracted by the recent 51 per cent sale of their business to Swiss private banking group EFG International.
Here is a table of all ASX small cap equity capital market rainmakers and their year to date performance
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
Firm Capital raised Year to date ($M) Deals Market Share (%) Market share Change from last year (%) Bell Potter Securities Ltd 192.2 13 0.202486846046 0.12411955312 Morgans 102.5 10 0.108410412127 0.0371603522971 Macquarie 75.6 2 0.0795431734067 0.0350403141616 Canaccord Genuity 66.9 6 0.0705521909915 0.0410484579866 Patersons Securities Ltd 53.3 10 0.0565045445684 -0.000785968121121 Hartleys Ltd 50.3 16 0.0533745091269 0.0172976132652 Argonaut Ltd 39.4 5 0.0415693825955 0.0302366771853 Wilsons Corporate Finance Ltd 34.1 2 0.0362254547019 0.01313257003 Euroz Securities 31.8 2 0.0337788084795 -0.0230462079121 Blue Ocean Equities Pty Ltd 29.5 6 0.0311584732001 0.0197828174762 Petra Capital Pty Ltd 27.9 3 0.0294653941434 -0.0214230392968 Ashanti Capital Ltd 23.5 3 0.0249982288628 0.0249982288628 Cenkos Securities 21.8 1 0.0229673373694 0.0106093494819 PAC Partners Pty Ltd 17.9 4 0.0189975250392 0.00498334559877 Bridge Street Capital Partners Pty Ltd 16.7 4 0.0176905867562 0.0162680951851 Taylor Collison Ltd 16.2 9 0.0171400461783 -0.0125085522717 Armada Capital Ltd 15.5 2 0.0164666149473 0.0164666149473 Citi 15.3 1 0.0160775600279 0.0160775600279 Curran & Co 14.4 2 0.015216209295 0.015216209295 CPS Capital Group Pty Ltd 10.7 7 0.0112960012873 0.00154069602527 Jett Capital Advisors LLC 9.0 1 0.0095529251641 0.0095529251641 RM Capital Pty Ltd 6.5 3 0.00686010771917 0.00136066185265 Peak Asset Management 5.7 2 0.00606789244658 0.00513856137502 Everblu Capital Pty Ltd 4.3 3 0.00459221971207 -0.00031201006561 Shore Capital Group Ltd 4.1 2 0.0043183387026 0.0043183387026 Barclay Wells Ltd 4.0 1 0.00427219789533 0.00337169752813 Shaw & Partners Ltd 3.9 1 0.00416101204163 -0.0441989100514 Baker Young Ltd 3.7 2 0.00392976524561 0.00255896599448 Foster Stockbroking Pty Ltd 3.5 1 0.00370974162029 -0.00140001284334 Aurenda Partners 3.5 1 0.00365605487579 0.00365605487579 Azure Capital Pty Ltd 3.3 1 0.00350980521953 0.00350980521953 Wentworth Global Capital Partners Pty Ltd 3.3 1 0.00341434597984 0.00341434597984 Baillieu Holst Ltd 2.6 1 0.00275809340317 0.00163493377358 Discovery Capital Partners 2.6 1 0.0027276338447 0.0027276338447 708 Capital Pty Ltd 2.5 1 0.00268481099189 0.000187935737668 Brandon Hill Capital Ltd 2.5 1 0.00268481099189 0.00268481099189 Ironside Capital Group LLC 2.5 1 0.00263347461593 0.00263347461593 Blackwood Capital Ltd 2.3 1 0.00238638670381 -0.00378047290574 Moelis & Co 2.0 1 0.00213388915763 -0.0175216542501 JP Equity Partners 1.8 1 0.00194853078043 0.00194853078043 XEC Partners 1.6 1 0.00168676472069 0.00133732244972 EAS Advisors LLC 1.4 1 0.00149777560231 0.00149777560231 Chieftain Securities Pty Ltd 1.3 1 0.00131926340808 -0.00320627854608 Diamond Capital Partners Pty Ltd 1.0 1 0.00108887813372 0.00108887813372 Empire Capital Partners Pty Ltd 1.0 2 0.001067620294 -0.00560691336611 WH Ireland Ltd 1 1 0.00103138338559 0.00103138338559 Henslow Pty Ltd 0.9 1 0.000976953935733 -0.00300892717861 Lodge Partners 0.9 1 0.000976953935733 0.000976953935733 DJ Carmichael Pty Ltd 0.7 1 0.000760838382172 -0.00665058008831 Melbourne Capital Ltd 0.7 1 0.000757847195065 0.000757847195065 Alto Capital 0.7 1 0.000729644600654 0.000729644600654 LeMessurier Securities Pty Ltd 0.7 1 0.000694387423614 0.000694387423614 Thundering Herd Pty Ltd 0.7 1 0.000694387423614 0.000694387423614 Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd 0.6 1 0.000663788680473 -0.00575757334697 GTT Ventures Pty Ltd 0.5 1 0.000527343229487 -0.00580295499355 Red Leaf Securities Pty Ltd 0.5 1 0.000526660225383 -0.00235083969458 Adelaide Equity Partners Ltd 0.4 1 0.000380090472119 0.000380090472119 Moore Stephens 0.4 1 0.000380090472119 0.000380090472119