Australia M&A: Foreign capital targets platforms

Activity in the Australian deal flow persisted in the second half of July. This fortnight, Teaser Australia brings to you 30 deals advancing across the region, with Materials leading activity and international capital continuing to target established Australian platforms and operating assets.

Inbound buyers focused on businesses with scale, specialist capabilities or recurring cash flows, while Australian acquirers looking offshore concentrated on mineral projects, processing capacity and exposure to critical commoditie

This edition’s highlights are:

• Genesis Minerals and Vault Minerals agreed an A$12.6 billion combination that would create Australia’s third-largest listed gold producer. Vault shareholders would receive cash and Genesis shares, and hold 40.2% of the combined group.
• EQT returned with a third proposal for Perpetual, valuing the asset manager at approximately A$2.55 billion. The revised, non-binding approach remains conditional on the separation and sale of Perpetual’s wealth-management business.
• Australia-based American Tungsten & Antimony agreed to acquire the Del Sol refinery in Nevada and the White Spar antimony mine in Arizona. The outbound deal would give the Australian buyer an integrated US mine-to-processing platform for a strategically important critical mineral.

For more insights and conversations about the market, connect with me on LinkedIn.

Enjoy the read.

---

---

Week Summary | From July 14 to 28, 2026

Australia recorded 30 deals between 14 and 28 July, with 17 already completed or agreed. Materials was the busiest sector, accounting for 12 transactions. Eight of the 12 Materials deals involved individual projects, assets or portfolios, while another involved a minority stake rather than a change of control.

The direction of capital showed two distinct acquisition strategies. Six of the seven domestic Materials deals consolidated gold or copper-gold exposure. The exception was Global Lithium’s acquisition of the Nova nickel operation and infrastructure, which it plans to repurpose for the Manna lithium project.

All three outbound deals were resource-related, adding antimony, silver-gold and tin-tantalum-niobium exposure, as well as mineral-processing capacity in the United States and Spain.

---

Foreign capital targets platforms as Australian buyers look offshore

Once the weekly totals are set aside, the clearest signal in this late-July Australia M&A sample is the type of exposure different buyers were seeking. Inbound activity was dominated by established platforms and operating assets, while Australian buyers going offshore concentrated on mineral projects, exploration rights and processing capacity.

On the inbound side, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners agreed to acquire Epic Energy, BGO and Investa bought three CBD office assets from Dexus, and EQT returned with a revised proposal for Perpetual. Equans’ investment in CV Services and the completed Russell Mineral Equipment buyout added technical-services and mining-automation capabilities to the mix.

The transactions span several industries, but most offered access to operating scale, established infrastructure, specialist capabilities or recurring cash flows. Of course, we’re talking about a small frame of July’s deal flow, but it points to a reading where international capital was generally pursuing businesses and assets already positioned to generate value within Australia.

Australian outbound buyers followed a different route. Sun Silver expanded its land position around Maverick Springs in Nevada, Energy Transition Minerals completed the acquisition of the Penouta mine in Spain, and American Tungsten & Antimony announced a proposed US mine-to-processing platform. Its more future optionality through mineral resources, exploration ground or processing capacity rather than through a mature Australian operating business.

That distinction is consistent with the Australian Government’s latest Resources and Energy Quarterly, released in July. The report forecasts Australian gold export earnings to peak at A$73bn in 2026-27 and real critical-minerals export earnings to reach A$19bn by 2030-31. It also identifies data centres and robotics as emerging sources of demand for critical minerals. 

Value adds another layer to the picture. Some of the transactions caught in our fortnight curation, such as the EQT–Perpetual, Morgan Stanley–Epic Energy, BGO/Investa–Dexus and Emeco–National Group, together represented approximately A$4.8bn. That was roughly 91% of the brute disclosed value in our curation (but several deals did not disclose).

That concentration is not limited to Australian borders, but its consistent with the global M&A environment. Reuters reported that announced deal value reached a record US$2.8tn in the first half of 2026, even as the number of transactions fell 9%. Cross-border M&A increased 62% to US$893bn, while a relatively small group of transactions above US$10bn accounted for nearly half of global value. The trend is present in other individual regions as well, of course with its particularities, such as the Middle East. 

Across different markets, transaction activity remains broad while value clusters around a smaller number of larger strategic bets. For Australia M&A, the momentum points to a scenario where resources remained active, but if buyers choosing to select different forms of certainty: international investors pursued established Australian platforms, while local groups used targeted overseas acquisitions to secure future resource and processing options.

---