Meta Skyrockets

Good Morning, 

Sharesies has begun consulting with its staff on a proposed restructuring that will result in job losses, Meta shares soar almost 20% on a fourth-quarter revenue beat. The consumer price index for the 20 countries that use the euro currency reached 8.5%, and Adani's businesses have lost $108 billion in a week, one of the biggest wipeouts in India’s history.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• The NZX50 advanced +0.5% to 12,152.16 and the ASX200 edged +0.1% higher to 7,511.60

• The S&P500 (+1.0%) and the Nasdaq (+2.0%) moved sharply higher after positive reactions to the Federal Reserves monetary policy announcement (RTT)

• The STOXX 600 saw a +0.5% increase ahead of the ECB's expected 50 basis point rate hike.

Earnings and Data

• The Covid pandemic drives Pfizer’s 2022 revenue to a record $100 billion (CNBC)

• January's CoreLogic House Price Index saw residential property values fall 7.2 percent over the year earlier, which was the biggest 12-month decline since May 2009's drop of 7.9 percent (RNZ)

• The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.4% in the December quarter, according to the latest figures from Stats NZ (1News)

• The consumer price index for the 20 countries that use the euro currency reached 8.5% in January compared with a year earlier, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Wednesday. That's down from the annual rate of 9.2% in December. (ABC)

• Meta shares soar almost 20% on fourth-quarter revenue beat (CNBC)

• Shell (SHEL.L) delivered a record $40 billion profit in 2022, the energy giant said on Thursday, capping a tumultuous year in which a surge in energy prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine allowed it to hand shareholders unprecedented returns (Reuters)

News Summary

• Popular investment platform Sharesies has begun consulting with its staff on a proposed restructure which will result in job losses (NBR)

• The country’s smallest lines network Buller Electricity (BEL) has lodged a legal challenge in the Wellington High Court opposing a 427% price increase in Transpower’s transmission charges due to come into effect on April 1 (NBR)

• The liquidator of the failed outsourced sales and marketing firm, WhiteLabel NZ, has accused the company’s sole director and its largest shareholder of deliberately “misrepresenting” values in the firm’s ledger (NBR)

• ‘We don’t want to become an insurer by default’ – PM The floods that ripped through the top of the North Island have revealed many firms were underinsured (NBR)

• The personal information of 140 people who worked for Guardian Australia, including tax file numbers, bank account and superannuation details, salary and addresses, has been exposed in a ransomware attack that crippled key internal systems in the UK, US and Australia (AFR)

• 5B, the modular solar panel pioneer backed by Malcolm Turnbull and Simon Holmes à Court, is weeks away from commissioning new manufacturing capacity that will enable it to make and roll out prefabricated solar arrays 10 to 20 times faster than existing processes (AFR)

• Gautam Adani’s businesses have lost $108 billion in a week, one of the biggest wipeouts in India’s history, after an explosive report by short-seller Hindenburg Research forced him to pull a stock sale at the 11th hour and led some lenders to reject his securities as collateral for client trades (BBG)

• Superdry Commits to Staying Public, for Now (BBG)

• Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Wednesday rolled out a premium Teams messaging offering powered by ChatGPT to simplify meetings using the AI chatbot that has taken Silicon Valley by storm (Reuters)

• Airbus (AIR.PA) and Qatar Airways have settled a dispute over grounded A350 jets, the companies said on Wednesday, averting a potentially damaging UK court trial after a blistering 18-month feud that tore the lid off the global jet market (Reuters)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

• The risk that Queensland’s LNG producers will be forced to sacrifice exports to avoid shortages among local customers as a result of the federal gas price intervention has emerged as a threat to the proposed $18.4 billion takeover of Origin Energy (AFR)

• Fresh off a huge 2022 - where Fortitude returned $140 million to investors at more than four times money - the group’s reloaded its portfolio with a controlling stake in Aged Care Decisions, investing alongside founders and management (AFR)

• Fresh from losing Clough to Italy’s Webuild, Murray & Roberts has Houlihan Lokey’s bankers shopping RUC to trade players and private equity groups in an effort to get a $200 million-odd bid (AFR)

• KKR & Co. has made a non-binding bid for a stake in Telecom Italia SpA’s multi-billion-euro network, the Italian carrier said on Thursday, as Chief Executive Officer Pietro Labriola seeks to turn the business around (BBG)

• Australian billionaire James Packer is considering an investment in Argentina’s energy or mining sectors, according to people familiar with the matter (BBG)

• Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA and Teract SA, a challenger backed by billionaire Xavier Niel, said they are in talks to combine their French retail operations, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report (BBG)

VC & Fundraising

• Healthcare-focused Patient SquareCapital, founded by former KKR & Co. dealmaker Jim Momtazee, raised $3.9 billion for its debut fund, surpassing a $3 billion target (BBG)

Equity Raises

• Sydney-based alternatives investments platform iPartners, which is chaired by former Telstra chair Bob Mansfield, is bucking the trend in the tech sector with a $20 million raising underway via stockbroker Wilsons (AFR)

• West Australian copper explorer Cyprium Metals had three brokers launch a $25 million two-tranche placement after market close on Thursday, to help it get senior debt for a mine restart (AFR)

• Citi’s equities desk was seeking buyers for a $91.2 million stake in Paladin Energy on Thursday night (AFR)

• African gold explorer Ricca Resources, which is chaired by the Lake Resources’ chair Stuart Crow, is asking investors to chip into its pre-IPO round as it aims for a listing by June (AFR)

• Bells, Peloton rattle tin for DroneShield; Euroz for 88 Energy (AFR)

• Solar energy technology provider Nextracker Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $535 million in what could be one of the first major US initial public offerings of the year (BBG)

Debt 

• Grupo Mexico SAB is close to lining up financing to back a more-than $7 billion bid for Citigroup Inc.’s Mexican retail bank Banamex, according to people familiar with the talks (BBG)

Daily Picks

• Microsoft Corp. received a formal list of concerns from the European Commission about its proposed $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc., marking an escalation in the regulatory body’s probe of the deal (BBG)

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