No Ransom Payment

November 08, 2022

Good Morning,

Jacinda Arden has taken aim at the huge profits banks have made, Medibank is refusing to pay the ransom after it faced a cyber attack, Rishi Sunak has urged for a global push for clean growth at COP27, Apple iPhone shipments have been delayed, Chinese trade has unexpectedly dropped & Elon Musk has said Twitter will ban all unlabelled parody accounts.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

  • The NZ market finished up despite the weakness in major banking sector stocks.

  • The Aussie markets marched up after rumours that China is preparing for life with COVID. Mining stocks performed the best. (AFR)

  • Saudi oilfield services firm Arabian Drilling surged 20% on its first day of trading after raising $170m (USD) in an IPO in Riyadh. (BBG)

Earnings

  • Eroad increased its revenue guidance to between $154m and $164m (NZD) after winning a five-year contract with North American food service transport provider Sysco. (NBR)

  • Westpac reported a $5.267B (AUD) cash profit, a 1% decrease from last year and stated that costs would increase. Additionally, it flagged a slowdown in the economy which would hurt growth. Its shares dropped 3.94% on the ASX. Its New Zealand Business made a $1.17B (NZD) cash profit, up 17% from last year. Its shares dropped 2.9% on the NZX. (AFR & NBR)

News Summary

  • Jacinda Arden has taken aim at the huge profits banks have made. (Stuff)

  • A Ministry of Justice report has found that AML compliance is harder and more expensive than it needs to be. (NBR)

  • New Zealand supermarkets have faced a 10% increase in prices from suppliers. (Stuff)

  • Crown Melbourne has been fined $120m (AUD) over failings associated with gambling law. (9 News)

  • Medibank is refusing to pay the ransom after it faced a cyber attack that left 9.7m people's details exposed. (9 News)

  • Rishi Sunak has urged for a global push for clean growth at COP27. (BBC)

  • Apple iPhone shipments have been delayed due to lockdowns in China. (BBC)

  • Chinese trade has unexpectedly dropped. (BBG)

  • Investor Corp, an alternative asset manager, expects to have $5B (USD) of Indian assets in the next five years, up from the $600m they currently have. (BBG)

  • In a world-first, lab-grown blood has been given to people as part of a clinical trial. (BBC)

  • Elon Musk has said Twitter will ban all unlabelled parody accounts. (BBC)

Deal Flow

Investments/ M&A

  • Elliott Investment Management, the biggest shareholder in nicotine pouch maker Swedish Match, has approved Philip Morris International's $16B (USD) bid. (BBG)

  • Coronado Global Resources and Peabody Energy call off $9B (AUD) merger talks. (AFR)

  • Gold Fields has said it won't raise its bid for fellow gold mine Yamana Gold after two Canadian rivals, Pan American Silver Corp and Agnico Eagle Mines, teamed up to make a $4.8B (USD) bid. (BBG)

  • Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Canada's Dream Industrial REIT have partnered to buy Canada's Summit Industrial Income REIT for ~$3.3B (USD). (RT)

  • Exxon Mobil, an oil and gas corporation, will take up to a $2B (USD) loss on the sale of its troubled California offshore gas field, which has been shut since an oil leak in 2015. (RT)

  • State-owned Malaysian energy utility Tenaga Nasional is exploring selling a minority stake in its planned renewable energy unit. It could raise between $300m and $1B (USD). (BBG)

  • Chinese property group Evergrande has lost $770m (USD) on a Hong Kong Property they owned after receivers sold it. (BBG)

  • Crypto exchange Binance is selling $529m (USD) of Bankman-Fried's FTT token. (BBG)

  • Pathology & Clinical Laboratory (Pathlab), a Southeast Asian medical testing company, is considering selling its Malaysian business for which it could get $200m (USD). (BBG)

  • Hamish Douglass, the co-founder of Magellan Financial Group, has sold two-thirds of his shares in the funds' manager for $118.3m (AUD) via Barrenjoey. (AFR)

  • Two parcels of Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group's perpetual preference shares worth $50m (AUD) at face value have been offloaded for a price in the low 90s. (AFR)

  • UK high-street giants Next and Frasers are among the bidders for collapsed online furniture store Made.com. (BBG)

  • Leonardo, an Italian multinational company, focusing on aerospace, defence & security, has sold its US Selex ES' Air Traffic Control Management business to Indra Air Traffic which is controlled by Spanish information technology and defence company Indra Sistemas. (RT)

  • Turquoise Hill, a Canadian mining company, has delayed a shareholders meeting to vote on the prosper buyout by global mining company Rio Tinto another week. (RT)

  • Lockup periods for four Indian consumer-focused tech companies are up this month. Which will allow billionaire backers, including Warren Buffet and Masayoshi Son, to sell. (BBG)

VC & Fundraising

  • ACC's climate impact fund has taken a 1.2% stake in Lodestone Energy, a solar farm developer and a 1.3% stake in Leaft Foods. (NBR)

Equity Raises

  • China hotel chain Atour Lifestyle is planning to start taking orders for its US IPO as early as next week as it looks to raise less than $100m (USD). (BBG)

  • Australian and South African gas producer Renergen is seeking to raise $20m (AUD) via a share placement on the ASX. (AFR)

  • The IPO of North Sea oil and gas producer Ithaca Energy is set to price between 250 and 270 pence per share. This is at the lower end of the guided range. Books are over-subscribed at this price and will close on the 8th of November. (RT)

Debt

  • Westpac has raised $2.8B (AUD) via three and five-year bond sales. (AFR)

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