41st Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (after lunch)

January 25, 2023

Good Morning,

Chris Hipkins will officially be sworn in as New Zealand's 41st Prime Minister as Jacinda Ardern tenders her resignation to the Governor General later today, Japan is recognising a crisis as their Prime Minister exclaims it is 'now or never' to reverse an aging population, King Charles is suing Elon Musk's Twitter over alleged unpaid rent, At least 7 dead, 1 injured and suspect in custody after horrific shootings in Half Moon Bay, California.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

  • Property data company, CoreLogic has released its latest Property Market & Economic Update, and it showed prices fell by 2.1% in the last three months of last year (Stuff)

  • The Australian dollar climbed to US70.5¢ after a 0.9% gain on Tuesday. As Risk assets including stocks and the commodity-linked Australian dollar extended their new year rally as optimism about China’s economy and a less hawkish US Federal Reserve (AFR)

  • European equities wavered Tuesday in the wake of tech-stock fuelled gains on Wall Street and bets for less-aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve (BBG)

  • Economies in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will grow this year at half the rate of 2022 as oil revenues take a hit from an expected mild global slowdown, according to the median view from a Reuters poll of economists (RT)

Earnings and Data

  • Zip, a buy now pay later company reported revenue of 188 million Australian dollars (US$132 million) for the three months through December, which it said was a record. It said the volume of transactions on its platform rose 22% on quarter to A$2.7 billion, with the number of transactions rising 15% on quarter to 22.6 million (MW)

News Summary

  • Vic Books has shut after 48 years (Stuff)

  • MediaWorks announced 90 staff will lose their jobs in a cost-cutting move (Stuff)

  • Grog bans have been put in place in Alice Springs to try and tackle the deteriorating law and order situation (AFR)

  • Two days after a gunman killed 11 people at a Los Angeles-area dance studio, seven more victims were shot dead in an agricultural area near San Francisco, as California suffered one of its bloodiest spates of mass gun violence in decades (RT)

  • Japan’s prime minister issued a dire warning about the country’s population crisis on Monday, saying it was “on the brink of not being able to maintain social functions” due to the falling birth rate (CNN)

  • The Crown Estate, a British commercial property portfolio historically belonging to the monarch, began court proceedings against Twitter over the tech giant’s alleged non-payment of rent in its London office (CNN)

  • Sweden applied to join Nato after Russia invaded Ukraine - but needs Turkey, already a member, to approve. "Sweden should not expect support from us for Nato," Erdogan said in response (BBC)

  • JPMorgan is expecting more Thai IPO's as Baht rallies. The currency rally will likely reverse the IPO slump in the Thai market (BBG)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

  •  Xylem is set to acquire Evoqua in a $7.5B (USD) all-stock deal to tap demand for water (BBG)

  • Activist investor Elliot management Corp makes multi-billion dollar investment into Salesforce Inc (RT)

  • Gas explorer Norwest Energy has accepted a revised offer from Mineral Resources, ending a bitter battle between the joint venture partners. Under the revised offer, Mineral Resources offered one of its shares for every 1300 Norwest shares, valuing the smaller company’s stock at about 7.41¢ (AUD) a share, equating to $497m (AUD). Norwest shares had been trading at about 4.7¢ in the preceding three months (AFR)

  • Provider of global productivity software, Nitro Software’s proposed takeover is on, after the Takeovers Panel opted against acting on complaints from spurned suitor Potentia Capital (AFR)

  • Westpac and Colonial First State are at an impasse over terms surrounding the bank’s sale of wealth management platform BT Panorama, as a fair price for the asset apparently remains a sticking point (AFR)

  • Spanish power company Iberdrola is considering the sale of its stake in its US renewables business (RT)

  • Brookfield and EIG's exclusivity period has lapsed with Origin Energy meaning their is the possibility of rival bids or other restructuring options to be pitched (AFR)

  • Hedge funds have further backed off Breville after a rating upgrade and strong sales numbers at Myer (AFR)

  • NZX-listed recruitment firm Accordant Group has purchased executive search firm Hobson Leavy (NZX)

  • Auckland Real Estate Trust has announced plans to delist from the NZX and ASX. It will pay out minority investors at net asset value (NBR)

Equity Raises

  • The Market Herald, which owns online stock forum HotCopper, will issue new stock to raise $15m (AUD) (AFR)

  • Pakistan's biggest cooking oil manufacturer Dalda Foods Limited looks to raise $14m (USD) in 2023 IPO (BBG)

  • Virgin Australia is set to return to public markets in 2023 via an IPO and will start interviewing banks from the end of next week (BBG)

  • The lithium rally has added weight to Mineral Resources spinning off their lithium assets (AFR)

VC & Fundraising

  • Start up founders turn to equity crowdfunding as venture capital poses a tighter funding market (AFR)

  • Venture capital fund Square Peg Capital increases it's holdings by 7%, taking it's total assets to $US2.6 billion (AFR)

Debt & Restructuring

  • Mattress maker Serta Simmons files for chapter 11 bankruptcy as it seeks to cut debt down to $300 million (BBG)

  • Sun Cable announces short term $65 million funding package to help pay it's bills until a new owner is found (AFR)

Daily Picks

  • As the final hours of Jacinda Ardern's premiership wraps up... Did she inspire or fail to deliver? Most praised her for the handling of crises, while others criticised her domestic policy record and out of touch agenda (TG)

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