NASA to the Moon like UK Inflation 🚀

November 18, 2022

Good Morning,

Jacinda Ardern to meet Xi Jinping at APEC this week, NASA's mightiest rocket lifts off 50 years after Apollo, Hong Kong to ease covid testing requirement for arrivals, European stocks gain as investors assess policy and growth risks, US futures signal recovery after sober Fed speech and China asks banks to report on liquidity after bond slump.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

  • Big drop in Wellington house prices.  Wellington's property prices fell by a record-breaking 7% over the year to October, Trade Me Property says. (Stuff)

  • ASX grip on clearing shaken by blockchain disaster. An Accenture report says the plan to replace the CHESS settlement and clearing system with a distributed ledger was too complex and plagued with uncertainties. (AFR)

Earnings

  • Nvidia's revenue fell 17%, but data centre growth remains strong. Nvidia reported fiscal third-quarter results on Wednesday for the period ending in October, with sales beating analyst expectations but earnings per share coming in light. (CNBC)

  • Cisco Shares jumped 4.8% after the maker of computer networking equipment beat expectations for its first-quarter earnings per share and revenue, according to StreetAccount. (CNBC)

  • UK inflation hits 41-year high as Hunt readies tough budget. UK consumer prices are up 11.1%, the highest since 1981. Food and drink price inflation is the highest since 1977. Government energy bill support caps increase in CPI. Pre-budget, finance minister says will tackle inflation. (RT)

  • U.S. retail sales rise solidly; fourth-quarter GDP estimates raised. U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in October as households stepped up purchases of motor vehicles and a range of other goods, suggesting consumer spending picked up early in the fourth quarter, which could help to support the economy. (RT)

  • Australia's unemployment returned to a near-five-decade low of 3.4 per cent in October after 32,200 people found work. While the results were stronger than market expectations, there are tentative signs that the pace of gains is slowing as the economy operates at full capacity. (AFR)

News Summary

  • An Auckland businessman has been arrested over a tobacco smuggling operation from Tonga, which Customs says has dodged almost $2 million in taxes. (RNZ)

  • Auckland ferries services were cancelled after Fullers was awarded a $350 million contract by Auckland Transport. The contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Auckland ferry services is under scrutiny from city councillors amid reports of vessel breakdowns and cancellations this week.  (Herald)

  • Australia Post apologises for the 'inexcusable', offensive sign in its Adelaide office.  (9 News)

  • Painkiller debate sparked after TGA considers paracetamol sale restrictions. (9 News)

  • UK-based food delivery firm Deliveroo is quitting Australia. (BBC)

  • Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has launched a $25B (USD) fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine. (BBC)

  • Hong Kong will cut in half the number of laboratory Covid-19 tests new arrivals must undergo starting next week. (BBG)

  • The Republicans have gained control of the House of Representatives. (BBC)

  • Lab-grown chicken meat certified safe to eat in the US by FDA. The US Food & Drug Administration has, for the first time, given the green light to meat grown from cells.  (BBG)

Deal Flow

Investments/ M&A

  • Chinese conglomerate Tencent will distribute a $20B (USD) stake in meal delivery giant Meituan as a dividend. (BBG)

  • Novartis, a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical company, is weighing the sale of non-core assets. One of these is its ophthalmology unit which could fetch $5B (USD), and another is the respiratory unit. (BBG)

  • Texas-based Oil producer Diamondback to buy Lario Permian (a unit of Lario Oil & Gas Company) for $1.5 billion (USD). (RT)

  • American alternative investment management company Blackstone will buy a majority stake in Indian IT firm R Systems for $359 million (USD). (RT)

  • Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala Investment will buy at least a 20% stake in the carbon-trading exchange, the AirCarbon Exchange. (BBG)

  • Softbank, a Japanese multinational conglomerate, has sold a 4.5% stake in Indian fintech firm One 97 Communications.

  • Anchorage, a PE firm, is pitching to Woolworth's for a takeover of retailer David Jones. (AFR)

  • Teoh Capital, the family office of TPG telecom founder David Teoh, is in due diligence to buy retailer David Jones. (AFR)

  • General Atlantic, a PE firm, is looking at ways to expand its stake in the Norwegian educational technology company Kahoot!. (BBG)

  • Ermenegildo Zegna will take control of Tom Ford's fashion operations as part of the Estée Lauder acquisition of the company. (BBG)

  • Sika has narrowed the number of bidders for its admixture assets after competition authorities frowned on some bidders. (BBG)

  • Disney has acquired a half-finished cruise ship. (BBG)

  • Sydney private equity investor Five V is making a tilt for art installations business Grande Experiences, which called in the bankers and hung up the for-sale sign earlier this year. (AFR)

  • The UK Government has ordered the overturning of Nexperia, a Dutch technology company which is a subsidy of Shanghai-listed Wingtech's takeover of Britain's largest chip manufacturing plant Newport Wafer Fab. (BBG)

  • AMP is set to acquire Nano Digital Home Loans' loan book for its banking arm AMP Bank. (AFR)

VC and Fundraising 

  • Advanced Navigation, an Aussie robotics company, has raised $108m (AUD). Its investors included PE fund KKR. (AFR)

  • Uluu, a climate tech startup, has closed an $8m (AUD) seed round led by Main Sequence and CSIRO's VC arm. (AFR)

  • AutoGrab, a pricing tool startup, has received $5m (AUD) from Melbourne-based PE firm Nash Advisory and Steve Baxter's Brisbane-based VC firm TEN13. (AFR)

Equity Raises

  • SpaceX is in funding talks that would value the company at over $150B (USD). (BBG)

  • Fairfax India, an investment company, is considering the IPO of Bangalore International Airport, which could value it at $3.7B (USD). (BBG)

  • Growatt Technology, a Chinese solar energy device maker, has received approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for an IPO. It could seek as much as $1B (USD). (BBG)

  • Iceland's main tourist attraction, the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal seawater spa, is planning to IPO on the Nasdaq Iceland Exchange. It has previously been valued at $400m to $430m (USD). (BBG)

  • Legend Logistics, a logistics firm, is considering an IPO in Singapore to raise as much as $146m (USD). (BBG)

  • Australian-owned, online luxury fashion retail platform Cettire founder Dean Mintz is selling a $60 million stake in the online shopping platform owner on Thursday night. (AFR)

  • Nova Minerals, an Alaskan gold explorer, was seeking to raise $20m (AUD). (AFR)

  • Far East Gold is seeking to raise between $8m and $12m (AUD) via a share placement and a further $2m (AUD) via a share purchase plan. (AFR)

  • Desert Earth, a rare earth company, was seeking $1.5m (AUD) via a share placement. (AFR)

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