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SYDNEY - Macquarie Bank Ltd, Australia's top listed investment bank, reported a 60 per cent jump in 2006 profit to a record, beating analysts' forecasts, boosted by strong deal flows and robust equity markets.
It did not give a specific earnings growth forecast but said it had enjoyed a strong start to the new financial year.
The bank also plans to raise slightly more than A$700 million ($798.5 million) to fund international growth, a source told Reuters earlier on Tuesday. Its shares are on a trading halt pending details of the capital raising.
"We are planning for continued strong growth with international income expected to continue to make an increasingly important contribution," Chief Executive Office Allan Moss said in a statement on Tuesday.
Macquarie, part of a consortium which earlier this month failed in a takeover bid for Qantas Airways Ltd, earned A$1.463 billion in net profit for fiscal year ended March.
Eight analysts on average had forecast profit of A$1.394 billion. Estimates ranged from A$1.31-A$1.430 billion.
International income rose to A$3.5 billion, a jump of 70 per cent over the last year, with offshore staff up 39 per cent to 3501.
The bank, which manages A$197 billion in assets globally, buys toll roads, airports, power and water utilities and bundles them into listed and unlisted funds and charges fee for managing them.
Macquarie was Australia's second-biggest corporate advisor in 2006 having helped in deals worth about US$38 billion ($52.2 billion). But it has slipped to fifth this year, according to data compiler Dealogic.
In February, the bank flagged a strong increase in fiscal 2007 earnings, boosted by booming stock markets and a surge in private-equity driven takeovers in Australia over the past 12 months.
But it is facing growing competition from smaller rivals such as Babcock & Brown Ltd, which last week won approval to buy Australia's largest energy infrastructure firm Alinta Ltd, beating out a bid from Macquarie.
Despite the recent setbacks, Macquarie has announced deals worth about A$20 billion in 2007, according to ABN AMRO, and also raised US$10.3 billion for an infrastructure fund, emphasising its desire to keep the momentum going.
Shares in Macquarie Bank have risen 13.9 per cent so far in 2007, outpacing a 11.9 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index in the same period.
- REUTERS
