Macquarie Shares in Trading Halt Pending Deal Announcement

   By Robb M. Stewart

MELBOURNE, Australia--Trading in Macquarie Group Ltd.'s (MQG.AU) shares has been halted ahead of news from the investment bank on an undisclosed planned transaction and an update on the its short-term outlook.

Patrick Upfold, the bank's chief financial officer, said Thursday the halt had been requested until an announcement is made to the market no later than Monday.

Macquarie has been in the running to buy Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.'s (ANZ.AU) Esanda automotive dealer finance business, a proposed deal the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last month said it wouldn't oppose. Some analysts, including at Morgan Stanley, have speculated the acquisition could be funded through a capital raising.

Among recent assets acquired by Macquarie, the bank in April teamed up with Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM) to buy Apache Corp.'s (APA) Western Australian oil and has assets for US$2.1 billion. In May, Macquarie struck a deal to buy a portfolio of 90 commercial airliners for US$4 billion, bolstering its aircraft-leasing business and further diversifying away from its investment-banking roots.

Macquarie in mid-September forecast a roughly 40% jump in its first-half profit compared with the same period a year earlier, helped by a weakening local currency and strong performance fees. At the time, it also reiterated guidance for an improvement in its net profit for the full year through March thanks to improved trading conditions across most of its businesses, including its securities and asset management divisions.

The bank has benefited in recent years from a shift to more reliable annuities-style investments to balance its cyclical investment-banking and trading businesses. With more than two-thirds of Macquarie's income coming from outside Australia, the bank also gets a tailwind from a falling Australian dollar against the U.S. currency.

-Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 07, 2015 19:32 ET (23:32 GMT)

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