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EY manager claims he was sacked for complaining about 80-hour week

Author

Maren Ishak
May 20, 2024

Good Morning,

Equity markets had mixed results with Sony stock surging despite missing estimates, while economic news included rising food prices, net migration loss in New Zealand, and accidentally released US inflation data. Today's headlines also feature Fonterra's potential $2.5b consumer business sale and increased private equity interest in Colinton's Dimeo.

Let’s jump in!

Before The Bell

Markets

  • April's CPI rose 0.3%, lower than expected, with core inflation at 0.3% (as expected) and transportation services costs surging 0.9% monthly and 11.2% annually. (TRP)

  • European stocks ended mixed, with the STOXX 600 gaining slightly but major indexes like DAX and CAC falling, as ECB comments tempered hopes of looser monetary policy. (TRP)

  • Japanese stocks rose this week, with the Nikkei 225 up 1.5% and the TOPIX up 0.6%, despite economic weakness, a flat yen, and a potentially hawkish Bank of Japan. (TRP)

Earnings & Data

  • Sony Group Corp. predicted sales in the year to March that missed analysts’ estimates, citing waning demand for PlayStation 5 hardware (BBG)

  • Chinese tech company Baidu said Wednesday its Apollo Go robotaxi arm expects to turn profitable next year. (CNBC)

  • Sony Group Corp.’s stock surged its most in about 18 months after games like Helldivers 2 helped lift net income past estimates during the March quarter. (BBG)

  • India's Mahindra and Mahindra's Q4 profit beats estimates (RT)

  • The Dow's climb to a record 40,000 points (RT)

  • Reddit shares surge 15% in after-hours training as OpenAI content deal confirmed (Herald)

News Summary

Monday

  • Food prices rise for first time in three months (Stuff)

  • Macquarie dominated on-market block trades in April; Goldies dips (AFR)

  • Britain faces its ‘most dangerous’ years in history (CNBC)

Tuesday

  • Stats NZ on Tuesday revealed a net migration loss of 52,500 New Zealand citizens in the year to March, for every arrival of a New Zealand citizen there were three departures. (NH).

  • EY manager claims he was sacked for complaining about 80-hour week (AFR).

  • OpenAI unveils new ChatGPT that listens, looks and talks. (Herald).

Wednesday

  • Auckland Transport has pushed back the start of charging for overnight parking in the city centre to October 1 and publicly apologised to Mayor Wayne Brown. (Stuff)

  • A new steel-making furnace will reduce emissions so much that environment officials have floated the idea of reducing the whole country's supply of carbon credits to compensate. (RNZ)

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China this week is the latest sign of deepening strategic ties between both sides. (CNBC)

Thursday

  • Christchurch company charged over alleged illegal lotteries (Stuff)

  • New misconduct allegations at EY, investigation launched (Stuff)

  • US Inflation Data Was Accidentally Released 30 Minutes Early (BBG)

Friday

  • The Warehouse boss Nick Grayston abruptly quits (RNZ)

  • SkyCity agrees to A$67m Austrac penalty (NBR)

  • Goldman Sachs hires from rivals to expand in mid-market deals (RT)

Weekend

  • The industry where insolvencies are up 136% (Stuff)

  • Why a rubbish collector is the ASX’s most vulnerable big company (AFR)

  • WikiLeaks' Julian Assange faces U.S. extradition judgment day (RT)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

Australia & New Zealand

  • Queensland Airports Limited auction revs up for take-off ... yet again (AFR)

  • Daisy Lab, a NZ company creating cow-less dairy products, given green light to expand (RNZ)

  • The board of Carnarvon Energy, the $402 million oil and gas explorer whose crown jewel is a 10 per cent stake in the Dorado project alongside Santos, has given its bankers the go-ahead to seek bids for the company or its assets. (AFR)

  • Adamanetem signs $70 million debt deal for Legend Corp (AFR)

Key Global

  • Schumer urges FTC to hit the brakes on $53 billion Chevron-Hess merger (RT)

  • Russian consortium announces terms for $5.2 bln Yandex cash and share deal (RT)

  • Fonterra’s consumer business could fetch more than $2.5b (NBR)

  • Ingram Micro Ready to Move on Plan for $1 Billion-Plus IPO (BBG)

  • GSK Plc to sell its remaining stake in Haleon Plc for £1.25 billion (US$1.6 billion) (BBG)

  • GSK Plc to sell its remaining stake in Haleon Plc for £1.25 billion (US$1.6 billion) (BBG)

  • UK infrastructure and construction giant John Laing shops interest in Sunraysia solar farm; $400m deal mooted (AFR)

Other Global

  • East coast’s No.1 equipment hire biz Orange Hire set to change hands (AFR)

  • Fonterra to sell global consumer, Oceania, Sri Lanka, businesses (NBR)

  • Real Estate Mogul Frank McCourt Readying US TikTok Bid (BBG)

  • Plan B in the works as ARN-Anchorage bid collapses (AFR)

  • Cleaning up! Private equity shoot-out tipped for Colinton’s Dimeo (AFR)

  • KKR’s MYOB refinancing drags while bolt-on payday looms (AFR)

  • The French President signals he’d be open to cross-border bank M&A as he sets out the case for a transformative shift in the continent’s economic model. (RT).

  • KKR Strikes Four Deals in a Week to Boost M&A Spirits in Asia. (BBG).

  • Health-care investment banker Steve Lanese is joining JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a managing director for mid-cap mergers and acquisitions. (BBG).

  • ChrysCapital Management Co. recently used a so-called continuation fund to raise $700 million from investors to maintain its minority stake in National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (BBG)

  • Living Gems has struck a deal to sell eight land-lease communities to Avid Property Group, a residential developer owned by US-based Proprium Capital Partners. (AFR)

  • Flare HR-controlled fund, which put its exit plans into gear in 2023, has turned the process over to the trustee, which is expected to complete the transfer imminently. (AFR)

  • Novavax shares soar on license deal with Sanofi at lofty valuation (RT)

Equity Raises

Key Global

  • Waystar Holding Corp. is seeking to raise as much as $1 billion in its US initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter. (BBG)

Other Global

  • Shares of Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd. rose 35% after an expanded initial public offering that’s the biggest US listing by a China-based company since 2021. (BBG)

  • The recovery in the US initial public offerings market is underway, with deal volumes growing year-on-year and sentiment improving. Yet one key element of an enduring upswing is noticeably absent: mid-sized deals. (BBG)

  • Shein steps up London IPO preparations amid U.S. hurdles to listing (RT)

Debt, Restructuring & Bankruptcy

  • Almond Breeze has been discontinued in Australia and New Zealand, and will no longer be sold by Woolworths, Coles, and other retailers. (9 News)

  • Novo Nordisk (Ozempic) A/S is selling bonds for the first time in more than two years to fund plans to ramp up production of its blockbuster drugs. (BBG)

  • BlackRock Inc, the world's largest fund manager, is looking to raise its share in India's $500 billion pool of fully investible government bonds via recently launched exchange traded funds (ETFs), a fixed income strategist at the firm said. (RT)

The Daily Deck is sponsored by Industrial Equity, LLC

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