AB'S Smoke Italy 🏉

Author

Barker Carroll
October 02, 2023

Good Morning,

The latest poll in New Zealand has National and Act needing NZ First, UFC star Israel Adesanya has appeared at the Auckland District Court where he pleaded guilty to a charge of drink-driving, BNZ has increased its home loan rates again, and E-scooters will be able to operate for another five years at least in New Zealand.

Let’s jump in!

Before The Bell

Markets

  • The US markets had a rough week. Higher oil prices lead to fears inflation would prove more difficult for central banks to contain and the likelihood of a US government shut down was also cause for concern (TRP)

  • This US story had similar affects on all the other markets.

Earnings & Data

  • Synlait has reported a loss of $4.3m (NZD) (NBR)

  • Qantas faces a 30% increase in fuel costs (9 News)

  • British Business Bank has made a loss of £147m (BBC)

  • Saudi Arabia’s Lumi Rental has jumped as much 30% on it trading debut after a $290m (USD) IPO (BBG)

  • Brickworks posted a 54% drop in net profit after tax to $395 million (AFR)

  • The Warehouse Group reported that annual profits had plunged 66% as margins declined 180 basis points (Stuff)

  • Clothing retailer Hallenstein Glasson reported a 25% lift in profit last year but warned sales had softened this year as cost-of-living pressures impacted spending (Stuff)

  • China’s economy showed signs of a stronger recovery in September, according to several early indicators and a firm analyzing the global economy using satellite data (BBG)

  • Inflation in the euro zone fell to its lowest level in two years in September, suggesting the European Central Bank's steady diet of interest rate hikes was succeeding in curbing runaway prices albeit at a growing cost for economic growth (RT)

  • Air New Zealand, which last month reported a return to profit after three years of losses during the Covid-19 pandemic, warned it is facing multiple challenges this year. (Stuff)

  • Australians are raking in $9 billion a year in profit harnessing digital tools to export social media content to the world. (AFR)

News Summary

Monday

  • The latest poll in New Zealand has National and Act needing NZ First (Stuff)

  • Foreign interest in New Zealand homes has spiked (Stuff)

  • Westpac and Kiwibank have lifted interest rates in New Zealand (Stuff)

Tuesday

  • UFC star Israel Adesanya has appeared at the Auckland District Court where he pleaded guilty to a charge of drink-driving. (Stuff)

  • Auckland Transport has dismissed a claim by a global hacker group that it will release data at 8pm Tuesday from the agency’s ticketing system, which is still recovering after being crashed in a cyber attack. (Stuff)

  • Joe Biden and Donald Trump will speak to striking auto workers in rare back-to-back events in Michigan this week, highlighting how important unions are to the 2024 presidential election, even though they represent a tiny fraction of U.S. workers. (RT)

Wednesday

  • Customers will be refunded nearly $480k (NZD) by Vocus Group (Stuff)

  • BNZ has increased its home loan rates again (Stuff)

  • Employment confidence in NZ hit its lowest point since December 2020 (GR)

Thursday

  • Whittaker’s Christmas special candy cane flavour has been leaked before its planned launch (Stuff)

  • E-scooters will be able to operate for another five years at least in New Zealand (NBR)

  • A report into the governance at the Australian arm of global giant PwC has been released. It slammed the revenue is king culture and made 23 recommendations (NBR)

Friday

  • A "brain drain” of young New Zealanders offshore could become more of a problem as migration into the country slows, economists say (Stuff)

  • Huawei Takes Revenge as China Catches Up on Semiconductors (BBG)

  • Sam Bankman-Fried's upcoming trial on fraud charges marks a major test for a broader crackdown on white collar crime led by Manhattan's top federal prosecutor: Damian Williams (RT)

Weekend

  • All Blacks player assessments: Ardie Savea takes the lead in the Rugby World Cup dismantling of Italy (STUFF)

  • Act pledges to simplify AML compliance (NBR)

  • Automakers claim they anticipate $14 billion in penalties due to what they consider 'impractical' fuel regulations under Biden (RT)

  • The US has avoided a government shut down after a last minute deal (BBC)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

Australia & New Zealand

  • The PE arm IFM Investors has agreed to sell its stake in NDIS business My Plan Manager for several hundred millions. The most likely buyer is Arthur J. Gallagher & Co an NYSE listed insurance company (AFR)

  • Red 5, a WA gold miner, has appointed Gresham Partners as a defence advisor. After PE firm Silver Lake bought an 11% stake earlier this month (AFR)

  • European infrastructure investor DIF Capital Partners wants to sell its Australian renewables portfolio (AFR)

  • Lithium Power International, an ASX-listed South American explorer, has retained Canaccord Genuity to play defence as Codelco, the Chilean government’s mining group circles (AFR)

  • Syft Technologies, a scientific equipment supplier, has mandated EC M&A to undertake a review of the full range of strategic options (NBR)

  • Stockbroker Euroz Hartleys traded 35.2 million shares in Liontown Resources after the market closed at $3 (AUD) a share. The trade was valued at $105.5m (AUD). Fingers are pointing to Gina Rinehart as the buyer (AFR)

  • Premier Investments will open Smiggle stores in the Middle East as it reignites offshore growth plans (AFR)

  • Mining giants Glencore and Anglo American are among the parties bidding for Nickel explorer Chalice Mining’s Gonneville project (AFR)

  • Short interest has spiked to 9.4% in mining company Genesis Minerals. It is up 3 times what it was two weeks ago (AFR)

  • Singapore Power, a subsidiary of Singapore investment fund Temasek, is looking to exit its 40% stake in gas and electricity distribution giant Jemena(AFR)

  • 2 Cheap Cars shareholders have approved co-founder David Sena’s purchase of a 30% stake held by disgruntled co-founder Eugene Williams (NBR)

  • 2.18m shares in Pacific Current were traded after market close on Friday for $10.10 (AUD) per share for total size of $22m (AUD)(AFR)

Key Global

  • The Golden State Warriors could be valued at as much as $7B (USD) in a potential stake sale (BBG)

  • Booking Holdings an online travel company, who’s brands include Booking.com have had their €1.6B (USD) takeover of Swedish online travel company Etraveli Group blocked by the EU (BBG)

  • Enovis, a US maker of orthopaedic bracing and shoe inserts has agreed to purchase Italian surgical implant manufacturer LimaCorporate for $850m (RT)

  • Aviva has acquired AIG’s UK protection business for £460m (BBG)

  • PE firms GTCR and Apex Partners are exploring options, including a full or partial sale of insurance broker AssuredPartners. A deal could value the business at up to $16 billion (USD) (BBG)

  • Italian pharmaceutical company Alfasigma has agreed to buy US liver disease drugmaker Interceptfor $794m (USD) (RT)

  • PE firm CVC is considering the sale of its controlling stake in Indian hospital chain HealthCare Global. Its stake is worth ~$358m (USD), and they could seek a 20% premium (BBG)

  • CoreWeave, a cloud computing provider, is nearing a stake sale to Fidelity, JPMorgan & Goanna Capital that would value the business at $7B (USD) (BBG)

  • Jonathan Milner, the founder of Abcam, a UK life sciences firm, is fighting off a $5.7B (USD) takeover offer from Danhar Corp (BBG)

  • Kereis, a French insurance broker, has started the sales process. It could fetch around €2B. Interested parties include PAI, Warburg & Aon (BBG)

  • Australian investment firm QIC is exploring a sale of CampusParc, the long-term owner of Ohio State University’s parking lease, which could be valued at over $850M (USD) (BBG)

  • Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plcshares jumped after Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll’s Yew Tree Consortium agreed to boost its stake in the carmaker to 26.2% (BBG)

  • Cellnex Telecom SA agreed to sell a stake in its businesses in Denmark and Sweden for about €730 million (USD$772 million) in a drive to cut debt (BBG)

  • Cinven agreed to buy out Synlab AG for about €1.27 billion (USD$1.3 billion) two years after listing the German laboratory operator, which has been suffering from reduced demand for its testing facilities (BBG)

  • Fenway Sports Group has ended its search for new investment in Liverpool FC by selling a minority stake in the English football club to New York-based private equity firm Dynasty Equity (BBG)

  • Microsoft Corp. discussed selling its Bing search engine to Apple Inc. around 2020, a deal that would have replaced Google as the default option on the iPhone maker’s devices, according to people with knowledge of the matter (BBG)

  • Cisco Systems' $28 billion deal for Splunk is likely to prompt other technology giants to splash out on similar acquisitions of software vendors with predictable subscription revenue, investment bankers and analysts say. (RT)

VC & Fundraising

  • Amazon will invest as much as $4B (USD) into AI startup Anthropic (BBG)

  • Startup MadeComfy, which operates a letting manager platform, is trying to raise $5m + (AUD) (AFR)

  • William Wu is trying to raise $5m (USD) for a generative AI photography business called Artisse (AFR)

  • Melbourne-based fund manager Datt Capital has raised $25m (AUD) for its Small Companies fund and is now looking to initiate a wider raise (AFR)

  • Blackstone Inc. is looking to raise over USD$10 billion across two private loan funds in Europe and the US, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as the firm seeks to further capitalize on the growth of private credit (BBG)

Equity Raises

Australia & New Zealand

  • Casino operator Star Entertainment Group has launched a $750m (AUD) equity raise at 60c a share (AFR)

  • AirTrunk is preparing to IPO with a potential valuation of $20B +(AUD) (AFR)

  • Star Entertainment’s largest shareholder, Bruce Mathieson, has passed in its latest capital raise. The institutional leg comprised $565m (AUD) of the $750m (AUD) total (AFR)

  • Eroad has completed its ~$50m (NZD) capital raise, but 20m shares have gone to underwriters Goldman Sachs and Cannacord Genuity (NBR)

  • De Grey Mining is attempting to raise $300m (AUD) (AFR)

  • CDSA, a recycling infrastructure outfit, were looking to raise $16.8m (AUD) (AFR)

Key Global

  • German defence contractor Renk is targeting a market capitlsaition of up to €1.8B for its IPO (RT)

  • SoftBank is aiming to raise $808m (USD) by selling stocks that are like bonds (BBG)

  • SAL, a Saudi based cargo firm is looking to IPO and raise $678m (USD) (BBG)

  • OpenAI is seeking a new valuation, which could be as great as $90B (USD), as it looks to sell shares (WSJ)

  • Birkenstock is gearing up for an IPO roadshow. It could be seeking a valuation of $10B (USD) (BBG)

  • German glass company Schott’s IPO of its medical glass unit has raised €813m after being priced at €27 per share (BBG)

  • Ant’s consumer finance arm will raise $616m (USD) to resurrect growth (BBG)

Debt, Restructuring & Bankruptcy

  • Citibank has raised $5B (USD) selling fixed- and floating-rate notes in three parts (BBG)

  • Banks and private lenders are competing for a $4.2B (USD) debt deal to finance a potential take-private of European classifieds company Adevinta (BBG)

  • ASX-listed Mineral Resources were looking to raises $1.3B (AUD) via a high-yield bond deal. JPMorgan was running the deal (AFR)

  • Direct lending funds are working to provide £1.25B for the potential buyer of UK company Iris Software(BBG)

  • Private lenders and banks are working on financing a €1B deal to back the buyout of Kereis (BBG)

  • Rugby Australia will take on up to $60m (AUD) in debt as it puts 20% equity sale on hold until 2026 (NBR)

  • Some offshore creditors of China Evergrande Group are planning to join a winding-up court petition filed against the cash-strapped developer if it doesn't submit a new debt revamp plan by next month, two sources familiar with the matter said. (RT)

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