Macquarie Bank Sets Sights on U.S. –

Macquarie Corporate Finance (USA) Inc., a subsidiary of Australian investment bank Macquarie Bank Limited, last month announced that it has formed the principal transactions group (PTG), which will be based out of New York.

The new group was designed “to identify, originate and structure principal transactions financed by Macquarie or its specialized funds, particularly assets whose cash flow profile may favor securitization as a form of acquisitions finance,” said Robert Young, co-director of the group, in a written response to Buyouts‘ inquiries.

Tom Capasse, who was a founding member, along with Young, of Merrill Lynch‘s asset-backed securitization group, is also a co-director of PTG. Young and Capasse join Macquarie from their most recent stint at Nomura Securities, where they originated North America investments and transactions with Nomura’s London principal finance group.

A company press release stated that the “creation of the principal transactions group signals Macquarie’s intention to expand its U.S. presence.” Currently 80% of the Australian bank’s revenue is derived from domestic business.

Prior to the formation of PTG, Macquarie’s investment banking group was responsible for sourcing the bank’s deal flow. “PTG hopes to supplement this effort by sourcing new asset classes directly and through contact with Street firms,” said Young.

The group plans to invest up to $50 million in equity per deal, while affiliated funds within the bank will invest up to $150 million in equity per deal, said Young, in order to take ownership stakes of between 15% and 100%. Currently, much of the firm’s deal flow is focused on, but not limited to, infrastructure sectors.