Don't Burb You Might Get Taxed

October 12, 2022

Good Morning,

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts has gone into voluntary administration, hundreds of thousands of kiwis face steep increases in their gas and electricity bills, farmers in New Zealand might be up for a tax bill based on how much their animals' burp and urinate, Australians are itching to get overseas, with international flight searches up 164%, the Bank of England has warned of material risk to financial stability and made fresh emergency moves to stabilise the market, the European energy crisis could see European car output cut by nearly 40% JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has warned of a recession in the US in 6-9 months & Credit Suisse may face an $8B (USD) capital shortfall in 2024.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

  • The global bond sell-off continued and gathered pace, with the Australian 10Y Yield hitting over 4%. (AFR)

  • The AUD hit a new 2-and-a-half-year low on the back of escalating war in Ukraine and heightened global worries of a recession. (AFR)

  • The pound slipped for the fifth day, and JP Morgan analysts think the UK budget blunder might permanently scar the gilt market as it is still in turmoil. (RT & BBG)

  • The Nasdaq closed at its lowest level since July 2020 as US investor sentiment was influenced by the prospect of policy tightening.

  • Japan, South Korea and Taiwan's markets fell after the US announced tough new measures to restrict technology sales to China which caused Asian chipmaker shares to slide. (BBC)

  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped below 17,000 points for the first time since May 2009. (AFR)

Earnings and Data

  • What are we watching this week in the US:

    • Wednesday: PepsiCo, September's PPI

    • Thursday: Delta Air Lines, BlackRock, Taiwan Semiconductor, September's CPI

    • Friday: JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup

Days are in the US timezone.

News Summary

  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, which operates the Whakapapa and Tūroa skifields, has gone into voluntary administration. (Stuff)

  • Hundreds of thousands of kiwis face steep increases in their gas and electricity bills. Contact Energy is lifting energy prices by an average of 8%, and Genesis and Contact will raise gas prices by 11%. (Stuff)

  • An error has made ASB customers' KiwiSaver balances display as zero. (Stuff)

  • Westpac has lifted its New Zealand home loan rates. (Stuff)

  • The serious fraud office has dropped its investigation into the accounting scandal at Fuji Xerox NZ. (Herald)

  • Australian payment platform provider Zepto has just launched in New Zealand. (NBR)

  • PwC has resigned as Laybuy's auditor, and BDO has taken over. (NBR)

  • Auckland's Stamford Plaza Hotel has sold for $170m (NZD), making it the largest single hotel sale in New Zealand. (Herald)

  • Farmers in New Zealand might be up for a tax bill based on how much their animals burp and urinate as part of a new agriculture emission scheme. (BBC)

  • The Australian Government watchdog OAIC is launching an investigation into Optus's handling of its cyber attack. (9 News)

  • Australians are itching to get overseas, with international flight searches up 164% compared to the same period in 2019. (9 News)

  • The GCHQ says there are no signs Russia will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. (BBC)

  • The Bank of England has warned of material risk to financial stability and made fresh emergency moves to stabilise the market. This includes buying more bonds. (BBC)

  • The UK courts have permitted US-based hedge funds Elliott Associates and Jane Street to sue the London Metal Exchange over cancelled nickel trades. (RT)

  • The European energy crisis could cut European car output by nearly 40%. (RT)

  • Amazon will invest over one billion euros in European van and truck EV fleets. (RT)

  • JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has warned of a recession in the US in 6-9 months. (CNBC)

  • Ark's Cathie Woods has penned an open to the Fed criticising their latest rate hikes; her Ark fund is down 78% from its peak. (CNBC)

  • Credit Suisse may face an $8B (USD) capital shortfall in 2024, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. (BBG)

Deal Flow

Investments/ M&A

  • California-based diagnostics firm Bio-Rad is in talks to merge with German testing company Qiagen in a deal that could be worth more than $10B (USD). (RT)

  • Insight Partners, an investment firm, will acquire a stake in the $3.6B (USD) enterprise software development firm Aptean. (BBG)

  • Todd Boehly's Horizon Acquisition Corp II, a blank check company, is interested in merging with Flexjet, which offers subscription-based private jet services. The merger would value the SPAC at $3.1B (USD). (BBG)

  • Viatris, a US drug maker, is considering the sale of its consumer health assets in Europe in a deal that could bring in $2.9B (USD). (BBG)

  • Prime Australian leather-maker AI Topper is set to be up for sale with an expected $300m + (AUD) price tag. (AFR)

  • Australian logistics company Shippit has acquired Singaporean startup Luwjistik in a deal worth almost $18m (AUD). (AFR)

  • Cathie Wood's Ark Investments bought 23,605 shares in Adobe. (BBG)

  • Brookfield Asset Management and DigitalBridge Group have expressed joint interest in purchasing a stake in Vodafone's wireless tower unit. (BBG)

  • Exxon Mobile is said to be weighing a takeover of oil recovery specialist Denbury. (BBG)

  • Turkish delivery startup Getir is in advanced talks to buy Berlin-based rivals Gorillas. (RT)

  • A conglomerate of European clean-tech entrepreneurs, including Porsche Ventures and the founder of Tesla's European operation, has acquired a controlling stake in Australia's largest Tesla battery installer Natural Solar. It is their first investment in their $100m (AUD) spending spree. (AFR)

  • Nissan confirmed it is in talks to invest in Renault's EV unit. (WSJ)

  • Sequoia Capital and Binance have stood by their previous commitment to partially equity fund the Twitter deal. (TI)

VC & Fundraising

  • Tencent-backed payment platform startup Airwallex has raised $100m (USD) in an extension on its series E funding round at a $5.5B (USD) valuation. (BBG)

  • Serna Williams' VC firm Serna Ventures, is backing Nigerian data insights firm Stears in a $3.3m (USD) seed round that MaC Venture Capital led. (BBG)

  • Delta Air Lines has invested $60m (USD) in air taxi startup Joby Aviation for a 2% equity stake with the potential for up to $200m (USD) in the future. The partnership will initially offer passengers air taxi transport to and from the airports in New York and Los Angeles. (RT)

  • Curve Beam AI, a medical imaging company, is trying to raise $15m (AUD) via a convertible note before it IPOs in 2023. (AFR)

  • Livestock management software company AgriWebb has raised $10m (AUD) and pushed its next major capital raise due to the tight funding environment. (AFR)

  • Sydney-based vitamin subscription startup Vitable is looking to extend its $5m (AUD) convertible note raise to $6m (AUD). (AFR)

  • Wellington-based Peoples Coffee will launch a $1.5m (NZD) capital raise on Friday via PledgeMe, with the minimum investment being $250 (NZD). (NBR)

Equity Raises

  • Magrabi Medical Group, a leading optical retailer & operator of eye clinics in the Middle East, is considering an IPO for its hospital business on the Saudi stock exchange as soon as next year. The IPO could raise as much as $200m (USD). (BBG)

Debt

  • ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia have provided $120m (AUD) in funding for Pacific Equities Partners' new traffic management group Altus Group. (AFR)

  • The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is expected to launch a $750m (AUD) PERLS XIV capital notes that could raise as much as $1.5B (AUD). (AFR)

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