Putin told war must end

Good Morning,

Binance exits the Netherlands and is being investigated in France, Antony Blinken has begun his talks in China, Virgin Galactic commercial space flights will start later this month & South African president Ramaphosa tells Putin the war must end.

Let’s jump in!

Before The Bell

Markets

• The S&P500 has now had its longest run of daily gains since November as favourable inflation and growth signals helped stocks rally (TRP)

• European stocks also rallied with the pan-European STOXX 600 Stock Index up 1.47%. Germany, France, Italy and the UK also all saw their individual indexs finish higher (TRP)

• Japan’s market joined in on the rally with Nikkei 225 Index finishing up 4.5% (TRP)

• Both the New Zealand and Australian markets followed this trend finishing the week in the green

Earnings & Data

• Retail spending dropped for the first time this year in May, showing the growing pressure on households’ finances. Total retail card spending fell $113 million (1.7%) in May 2023 compared with April 2023, when adjusted for seasonal effects, according to Stats NZ (Stuff)

• Oracle Corp. said the company’s cloud-computing business will continue its rapid growth in the coming fiscal year, sending shares to a record high at the close. The stock gained another 4% in premarket trading. Cloud sales gained 54% in the fiscal fourth quarter to $4.4 billion, after a 45% jump in the previous period, Oracle said Monday in a statement. In the fiscal year ending May 2024, cloud revenue should increase at least as much as in the year that just ended (BBG)

• Gross domestic product (GDP) data released on Thursday showed the economy has hit a technical recession – and households are bearing the brunt of the pain. Stats NZ data for the March quarter showed the economy contracted by 0.1%, making two consecutive quarters of falling GDP (Stuff)

• Chemicals group DGL has lowered its full-year earnings guidance to be flat year-on-year, citing increased costs which have eroded margins. The New Zealand-founded, ASX-listed company said today it now expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation to be in the range of A$64 million to A$66m, down from a previously guided range of A$71.5m to $A$73.5m (NBR)

• About 75,900 people found work in May, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday, countering economists’ expectations for modest employment gains of 17,500 (AFR)

News Summary

Monday

• Oil prices declined on Monday ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting (RT)

• New Zealand’s largest home loan lender is increasing the interest rate charged on a number of its home loan rates (Stuff)

• Nio said it would lower prices for all its models and end free battery swapping services to new buyers (RT)

Tuesday

• HSBC has stopped taking on new retail banking customers, saying it will focus solely on commercial banking in New Zealand (Stuff)

• Brett Andrew Button, the driver of the bus which crashed in the Hunter Valley, killing 10 people, has been released from custody after being granted bail earlier today (9 News)

• Former U.S. President Donald Trump was due to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday to face criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national-security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them (RT)

Wednesday

• Federal Reserve set to pause rate hikes, maintains option for July increase (BBG)

• Qantas launches a direct flight from Auckland to New York (AFR)

• The NZ government allocated $18m (NZD) for a state-of-the-art facility to measure methane emissions (NBR)

Thursday

• European Central Bank (ECB) raised borrowing costs as expected and signalled more policy tightening in its fight against sticky inflation (RT)

• Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament over Partygate and was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him, according to a damning official inquiry that threatens to further tear apart the Conservative party (Guardian)

• A bipartisan group of six senators and two members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday introduced legislation to protect Americans’ data from being used by U.S. adversaries (RT)

Friday

• Eftpos provider Smartpay says criminals stole customer data in a ransomware attack (Herald)

• Russia accused Australia of “Russophobic hysteria” for cancelling the lease on the land where Moscow wanted to build its new embassy (Stuff)

• Sweden's government is ready to step in to stem the fallout from a property rout if tumbling prices cause a wider crisis (RT)

Weekend

• Westpac has axed 400 contractors (AFR)

• A glitch that maxed out customers of Kiwibank and BNZ’s credit cards has now be fixed (Stuff)

• National has pledged tougher sentences for gang members (Stuff)

• Antony Blinken has begun his talks in China (BBC)

• South African president Ramaphosa tells Putin the war must end (BBC)

• Binance exits the Netherlands and is being investigated in France (BBC)

• Virgin Galactic commercial space flights will start later this month (BBC)

Deal Flow

As always for the full list head to our website!

Investments / M&A

Key Australia & New Zealand

• Cerberus Capital Management, the $US60 billion ($88 billion) alternative asset investor, has tapped bankers at Citi as it considers a bid for ASX-listed shipbuilder Austal (AFR)

• SapuraOMV is understood to be working with JPMorgan to run its mooted selldown of New Zealand and Malaysian assets, which are together expected to be worth more than $US1 billion ($1.47 billion) (AFR)

• Citi has won the mandate to sell German company Fresenius Medical Care’s Queensland-headquartered Cura Day Hospitals, which is worth around ~$500m (AUD) (AFR)

• France’s Thales lobs $176m AUD offer for cyber firm Tesserent (AFR)

• Wesfarmers has bought InstantScripts, an online medical prescriptions company, for $135m (AUD) (AFR)

• Global liquor giant Pernod Ricard has taken a stake in Auckland non-alcoholic drinks firm AF Drinks (Stuff)

Key Global

• UBS Group AG completed the acquisition of former rival Credit Suisse Group AG, sealing the biggest merger in banking since the 2008 financial crisis and creating a global wealth-management titan (BBG)

• A Federal Judge in California temporarily halted Microsoft's $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard (BBG)

• U.S. chipmaker Broadcom is set to gain conditional EU antitrust approval for its $61B (USD) proposed acquisition of cloud computing firm VMware (RT)

• odafone and CK Hutchison unveiled the long-awaited 15B pound ($19B) merger of their British mobile operations, saying the creation of a new market leader would help drive competition and investment (RT)

• Exchange operator Nasdaq has agreed to buy financial software firm Adenza from private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.5B (USD) in a cash and stock deal (RT)

• US agribusiness Bunge Ltd. agreed to buy Glencore Plc-backed Viterra for $8.2B (USD) in stock and cash, creating a trading giant capable of competing with the world’s biggest agricultural players (BBG)

• Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment has signed a $5.6B (USD) deal with Chinese electric car maker Human Horizons to collaborate on the development, manufacture and sale of vehicles (RT)

• Intel is to invest up to $4.6 billion in a new semiconductor assembly and test facility near Wrocław, Poland, as part of a multi-billion-dollar investment drive across Europe to build chip capacity (RT)

• Novartis has agreed to acquire Seattle-based biotech firm Chinook Therapeutics for up to $3.5B (USD) to boost its late-stage drug development line-up with a new treatment for a rare severe kidney disease (RT)

• Brookfield Renewable agreed to buy a big portfolio of wind and solar farms from Duke Energy Corp. for $2.8B (USD) in a move intended to boost cash reserves (BBG)

• Britain's competition regulator on Friday cleared Amazon.com Inc's planned $1.7B (USD) acquisition of iRobot Corp, maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner (RT)

• Gibson Energy said it will buy South Texas Gateway oil terminal from Buckeye Partners and its partners for $1.1B (USD) as the Canadian energy infrastructure firm looks to expand into U.S. crude oil export markets (RT)

SPAC

VC & Fundraising

• Hysata Pty Ltd., an Australian clean energy technology startup, is working with Morgan Stanley to help raise as much as $100m (AUD) ($68 million) in a series B round (BBG)

• Tauranga-based Enterprise Angels has raised $2m (NZD) in the first close of its fourth fund where it’s targeting between $5m (NZD) and $10m (NZD) to invest in high growth startups (NBR)

• Australian household cleaning business Pleasant State is looking to raise $1.1m (AUD). It so far has rasied 700k (AUD) (AFR)

• Mid-market private debt investor, Epsilon Direct Lending, is asking potential investors to think about 10 per cent annual returns as it looks to raise its new fund (AFR)

Equity Raises

Australia & New Zealand

• Listed telco, computing and data centre services provider Macquarie Technology Group was raising $130m (AUD) on Tuesday morning, in its first chunky capital raising since it listed nearly 24 years ago (AFR)

• Barrenjoey and Morgan Stanley began taking bids into a variable price bookbuild for Abacus Property King’s Storage King spin off on Wednesday morning at a $1.41 floor price, which was a 10.2 per cent discount to the NTA (AFR)

• Navigator Global Investments is expected to launch an equity raise. UBS and Jarden are joint advisers on the mooted deal, which is expected to comprise an entitlement offer and placement (AFR)

• Jarden and UBS prepare IPO roadshow for Mondiale VGL (AFR)

• Healthcare AI business Enlitic is looking at listing on the ASX (AFR)

Key Global

• Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava Group notched a valuation of $4.7B in a stellar market debut on Thursday, signaling the IPO market was gaining momentum after a lull in 2022 (RT)

• JP Morgan has estimated the value of Thyssenkrupp Nucera’s IPO at approximately $3.2 billion (RT)

• Arm Ltd., the chip designer backed by SoftBank Group Corp., is in talks with potential strategic investors, including Intel Corp., to anchor what will be one of the largest initial public offerings of the year (BBG)

• WE Soda CEO frustrated by London investor approach as IPO Pulled (BBG)

Debt, Restructuring & Bankruptcy

• Adani Group is currently engaged in discussions to refinance a debt amount of up to $3.8 billion, which was utilized for the acquisition of Ambuja Cements (RT)

• Nasdaq Inc. has locked in debt financing for its acquisition of financial-software maker Adenza, proving that banks are still willing to lend to certain companies (BBG)

• Resimax has locked in refinancing of its Eynesbury development (AFR)

Job Board

New Zealand

• Waterman Capital investment analyst - Apply here

Australia

• Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Intern - Apply here

• IMC graduate and intern roles - Apply here

• Jarden

  • Graduate role - Apply here

  • Summer internships - Apply here

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