About

History

On 10 December 1969, Macquarie’s predecessor organisation, Hill Samuel Australia, opened its doors with three staff and an ambition to provide advisory and investment banking services of an international standard to the Australian market.

Today, we are a diverse, global business operating in 34 markets and our breadth of expertise covers asset management, retail and business banking, wealth management, leasing and asset financing, market access, commodity trading, renewables development, specialist advice, access to capital and principal investment.

Since its inception, Macquarie has differentiated itself by focusing on new opportunities, both in product and geography, progressively building expertise in these disciplines and expanding into adjacent areas.

Here are some of the key events that have shaped our evolution into a uniquely diversified business

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1969 Established Hill Samuel Australia Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UK merchant bank Hill Samuel & Co Limited.
1985 Obtained an Australian Banking licence as Macquarie Bank Limited.
1988 Acquired Chemical Australia Ltd (Australia).
1989 London and Munich offices opened (institutional stockbroking).
1990 Acquired Boston Australia Ltd (Australia).
1992 Acquired Security Pacific (Australia).
1994 New York and Hong Kong office opened.
1996 Macquarie Bank Ltd publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
1999 Acquired the Australian assets of Bankers Trust (Australia, US, Brazil).
2004 Acquired the Asian cash equities business of ING Group (Asia, Europe, US).
2005 Acquired Cook Inlet Energy Supply (US).
2006 Acquired Corona Energy (UK).
2007 Established Macquarie Group Limited as a Non-Operating Holding Company.
Acquired Giuliani Capital Advisors LLC (US).
Acquired Orion Financial Inc. (Canada).
2008 Established a UK bank, Macquarie Bank International Limited.
Acquired CIT Systems Leasing (US).
2009 Acquired Constellation Energy's downstream natural gas trading operations (North America).
2010 Acquired Tristone Global Capital Inc (Americas and Europe).
Acquired Delaware Investments (US).
Acquired Fox Pitt-Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller (North America and Europe).
2012 Acquired Onstream (UK).
2013 Received Hong Kong banking licence.
2015 Acquired aircraft operating lease portfolio from AWAS Aviation Capital Limited.
2016 Entered into an agreement to acquire Esanda dealer finance portfolio from ANZ Banking Group.
2017 Macquarie-led consortium acquired the UK Green Investment Bank plc from HM Government and rebranded as the Green Investment Group (GIG).
Acquired Cargill Petroleum and Cargill North America Power and Gas businesses
2018 Entered into binding agreements with the New South Wales Government to design and deliver the Martin Metro Place railway station in Sydney.
Shemara Wikramanayake appointed as Macquarie Group’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.  
2019 Macquarie Group celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Announced the five winners of the Macquarie 50th Anniversary Award, a $A50 million philanthropic commitment to address bold ideas and social needs.
2020 Macquarie Group allocated $A20 million to the Macquarie Group Foundation to support non-profit organisations working to combat COVID-19 and provide relief to affected communities.
2021 Acquired Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc (US).
2022 Acquired AMP Capital’s Global Equities and Fixed Income business, which saw the transfer of ~$A47 billion of assets under management from AMP to Macquarie Asset Management.1
2024
Opened our new global headquarters at 1 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, bringing together teams previously based across four offices in the city in one campus for the first time in more than 25 years.
  1. Estimate based on 31 December 2021 values.