Welcome to the March 2026 edition of It's Public
Your go-to publication and podcast for Australian public M&A.
In this edition
- The public M&A rollercoaster rips into 2026
- Mayne Pharma: Act 3
- Pricing it right in public M&A: contingent consideration and downside price protection
- Dealmaking: the new cartography
- The (global) deal stage: Glencore/Rio and Warner Bros/Paramount
- ACCC merger clearance: letters from the front
- Retail voting programs: why they matter now
Australian public M&A has wasted no time in putting 2026 on the map. If 2025 set the rollercoaster in motion, this year has already delivered another round of twists – from global mega-deal speculation to contested bids, shifting regulation and increasingly vocal shareholders. As our lead article explores, volatility, contests and regulation remain the defining forces shaping the market.
In this edition of It’s Public, we unpack some of the developments already testing dealmakers this year. We revisit the continuing fallout from the Mayne/Cosette saga, examine the growing use of contingent consideration and downside price protection in public deals, and consider how geopolitics is reshaping cross-border M&A strategy. We also step onto the global deal stage with a look at headline combinations such as Glencore/Rio and Warner Bros/Paramount, and explore what Australia’s new merger control regime could mean for future transactions.
Closer to home, we turn to the increasing importance of retail voting programs in contested deals and provide our regular Market on a Page snapshot of the last six months in Australian public M&A.
As always, the aim of It’s Public is simple - to highlight the themes shaping public dealmaking and offer practical insights for boards, investors and advisers navigating the ride ahead.
In This Edition
The public M&A rollercoaster rips into 2026
Here we go again! Public M&A in 2026 has continued where it left off in 2025.
12 March 2026
Mayne Pharma: Act 3
The Mayne Pharma saga continues. In this chapter of the trilogy (we are treating the Court and Takeovers Panel proceedings as Act 1 and the FIRB assessment as Act 2), Mayne Pharma has commenced proceedings against not only the bidder (Cosette) but also Avista Healthcare Partners (Avista) and David Burgstahler (the Managing Partner and CEO of Avista).
12 March 2026
Pricing it right in public M&A: contingent consideration and downside price protection
Risk allocation in Australian public M&A is a constant tension in transactions - bidders seek to shield themselves from future performance risks, while targets are reluctant to sacrifice upside in deals struck at lower valuations.
12 March 2026
Dealmaking: the new cartography
Geopolitics has transformed dealmaking, shaping and influencing transactions. Deals are now as much a reflection of political geography as they are a business opportunity.
12 March 2026
The (global) deal stage: Glencore/Rio and Warner Bros/Paramount
The surge in global mega-deals in 2025 looks set to continue into 2026 as companies take advantage of the global interest rate-cutting cycle, an abundance in capital and shifts toward more permissive regulatory stances in some markets (most notably the US).
12 March 2026
ACCC Merger Clearance: letters from the front
1 January 2026 brought with it the most fundamental and sweeping changes to Australia’s competition merger control regime since the Trade Practices Act was introduced by the Whitlam Government in 1974.
12 March 2026
Retail voting programs: why they matter now
A recent US development has put retail voting back on the board agenda: the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has granted ExxonMobil no‑action relief for a program that lets retail shareholders give standing instructions for their shares to be voted in line with the ExxonMobil board’s recommendations, with opt‑in, opt‑out and case‑by‑case override protections preserved for investors.
12 March 2026
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A reminder, It’s Public supersedes M&A in the City, part of a refreshed suite of KWM M&A and corporate focussed publications, with clear, concise titles designed to help our readers easily identify the subjects which are interesting and important to them - and so you know it comes from KWM. Alongside this publication, you can access:
