TMT Deal of the Year Asia shortlist announced featuring 30 billion dollars of most significant mergers and acquisitions for 2013

HONG KONG, Nov. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The shortlist for the TMT Deal of the Year for Asia has been announced by TMT Finance, the global news and events business, and includes almost 30 billion dollars (U.S.) worth of mergers and acquisitions.

Six deals feature on the shortlist, including transformational transactions from Malaysian telecom operator XL Axiata, Focus Media Holdings of mainland China, Japanese telecom giant SoftBank Corp, Bharti Airtel of India, Citic Telecom of Hong Kong and NextGen Networks of Australia. Investment banking advisers featured on the list include Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsch Bank, Goldman Sachs, Macquarie and the Raine Group.

The winners, along with 8 other TMT Finance Asia Awards for telecom, media and technology corporates, and their investment banking and advisory partners, will be presented at the fifth TMT Finance & Investment Asia 2014 Conference and Awards at the Intercontinental in Hong Kong on January 16. http://www.tmtfinance.com/asia

"The quality of the deals on this shortlist demonstrates what an exciting and transformational year it has been for telecom, media and technology companies and their advisers across the region," said Dominic Lowndes, Managing Director, TMT Finance. "The appetite for large scale transactions is back and the range of transactions on the list -- from private equity led buyouts to new market entries, and consolidatory moves, provides a telling insight into the trends and corporations driving change across TMT globally."

The TMT Deal of the Year Asia 2013 shortlist is:

• Carlyle-led consortium's acquisition of Focus Media Holdings (US$3.7bn)
  Citi and Credit Suisse advised Carlyle
• Citic Telecom's acquisition of Macau Telecom (US$1.16bn)
  Barclays Capital advised Citic Telecom
• Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's acquisition of Nextgen Network assets (US$641.2m)
  Macquarie advised Leighton Holdings (seller)
• Qatar Foundations Endowment's 5.0% stake acquisition of Bharti Airtel (US$1.26bn)
  Goldman Sachs advised Qatar Foundation Endowment
• SoftBank Corp's acquisition of Sprint Corp (US$21.6bn)
  The Raine Group, Mizuho & Deutsche Bank advised SoftBank
• XL Axiata's acquisition of PT Axis Telekom (US$865m)
  Bank of America Merrill Lynch was exclusive financial adviser to XL Axiata
• (Subject to closing)

The shortlists for the other TMT Finance Asia Awards categories will be announced in December, including: TMT Operator of the Year, M&A Adviser, TMT Leadership Award, Growth Story of the Year, Financing Bank, TMT Innovation Award and TMT Law Firm.

The TMT Finance Awards are nominated by readers of TMT Finance News, the leading source of news for global telecom financing activity. The winners are assessed against specially designed criteria and selected by an expert Judging Panel featuring leading industry experts, advisers, and bankers. For more details go to http://www.tmtfinance.com/asia/awards.

For more information on the TMT Finance Asia Conference and Awards go to http://www.tmtfinance.com/asia or contact us at enquiries@tmtfinance.com.

Media Contact:

Samantha Yeung
samanthant.yeung@mslgroup.com
+852-2804-8133

Eric Abelev
Eric.Abelev@mslgroup.com
+852-2804-8107