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Rishi & Joe crack down
Good Morning,
Smarter banking technologies are coming to New Zealand, Australian businesses have said housing costs are a major factor behind the worker shortage, the RBA is expected to increase the cash rate on Tuesday to 3.6%, UK PM Rishi Sunak has vowed to end asylum claims from small boat arrivals, Joe Biden is closing in on order to restrict US companies' investment in Chinese tech & the UN has finalised a global deal to protect marine biodiversity.
Before The Bell
Markets
The NZX & ASX ended lower. It was the the fourth consecutive week loss for the ASX
It was a better week for the US markets last week with stocks regaining some of the ground lost in the previous week. Energy and materials shares performed particularly well. The large amount of economic updates provided mix signals (TRP)
European shares rose on the back of improved economic outlooks. There was however concerns as eurozone core inflation increased and the ECB indicated it was likely another 0.5% hike would occur in March. In the UK home loan approvals were the lowest since 2009 in January and house prices declined by the most in 10 years in February (TRP)
The Japanese stock market traded up, as investors welcomed an emphasis on monetary policy by the BoJ governor nominee Kazuo Ueda and signs of China's economy improving (TRP)
Earnings
The Australian economy grew 0.5% in the last three months of the year, below expectations of 0.8% (AFR)
Australian monthly inflation was down to 7.4% from 8.4% and below the expected 8% (AFR)
Avance Gas Holding Ltd today reports unaudited results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022. Net profit of $34.7 million compared to $11.6 million for the third quarter 2022, or earnings per share of 45 cents compared to 15 cents for the third quarter. Net profit year to date is $89.0 million and this is the best result Avance Gas has delivered in seven years since 2015 (MS)
David Jones announced that adjusted operating profit grew 245.8% to $106.5m (AUD) in the December half (AFR)
Power company Genesis Energy reported a 42 per cent lift in its operating earnings for the first half - boosted by increased hydro-power generation - and raised its earnings outlook for the year to June. The company delivered earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and financial instruments of $298 million NZD, up from $210m in the previous comparative period (NZ Herald)
Meridian Energy announced that net profit for the half year was $201m (NZD), up 51% and that an interim dividend of 6c a share would be paid (NBR)
Jeweller Michael Hill has reported a net rise in profits of 1.2 per cent from $37.1 million NZD to $37.6 million NZD despite crime impacting earnings (NZ Herald)
Rocket Lab's annual revenue was up 239% to $211m (USD), and said it expected growth margin growth this year (NBR)
Vista announced that revenue was up across the board to $135.1m (NZD), beating guidance. EBITDA was up 63% to $10.6m (NZD), but net profit after tax was down 111% to a loss of $20.9m (NZD) (NBR)
News Summary
Monday
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins launched an international appeal and Lotto fundraiser for the Cyclone Gabrielle recovery (Stuff)
Wall Street is clamping down on ChatGPT as a slew of global investment banks impose restrictions on the fast-growing technology that generates text in response to a short prompt (BBG)
Tesla's plant in Brandenburg, Germany is now producing 4,000 cars per week, three weeks ahead of schedule (RT)
Tuesday
Health NZ chairperson Rob Campbell was fired over politicised comments by his boss, the newly appointed Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall (RNZ)
The Australian Labor party has announced a 30 per cent tax rate on superannuation earnings for balances above $3 million, but not until 2025, after voters have gone to the polls (AFR)
The UK and European Union reached a new deal on Northern Ireland’s trading arrangements aimed at ending years of often acrimonious wrangling and paving the way for warmer relations more than half a decade after Britons voted for Brexit (BBG)
Wednesday
Thursday
China sent the most warplanes near Taiwan in nearly two months, a move that comes as the US approved the sale of $619 million worth of arms to the democratically run island (BBG)
Private equity operative Mark Chudek is set to re-join pan-Asian buyout group Affinity Equity Partners after a nearly two-year stint with Australian firm Quadrant (AFR)
Car manufacturers acquiring mining companies to secure raw materials needed for electric vehicle batteries will end badly if history is any guide, according to Goldman Sachs Group’s head of commodities (BBG)
Friday
Teachers in New Zealand have ‘overwhelmingly” rejected their latest pay offer and will now vote on industrial action, with a possible strike in two weeks (Stuff)
Biden to meet with EU’s von der Leyen; U.S. says China has not given Russia weapons (CNBC)
India’s supreme court has set up an independent panel to investigate if there were regulatory failures related to allegations against the Adani Group (CNBC)
Weekend
Costal seawalls are taking on a new urgency in Auckland (Stuff)
Smarter banking technologies are coming to New Zealand (Stuff)
Dan Collins has stepped down as CEO and left of GenesisCare (AFR)
Australian businesses have said housing costs are a major factor behind the worker shortage (9 News)
Healius has cut 500 jobs (AFR)
The RBA are expected to increase the cash rate on Tuesday to 3.6% (AFR)
The media industry in Australia is bracing as 33% of top businesses are slashing their marketing spend (AFR)
Leaked messages from former UK health secretary Matthew Hancock suggest fear was key to the UK government's Covid messaging (BBC)
UK PM Rishi Sunak has vowed to end asylum claims from small boat arrivals (BBC)
Joe Biden is closing in on order to restrict US companies' investment in Chinese tech (BBG)
The UN has finalised a global deal to protect marine biodiversity (BBG)
Deal Flow
Investments / M&A
The $15B (USD) buyout of Toshiba Corp. is increasingly looking like a purely Japanese affair as most international buyout firms are poised to drop out from the deal. As talks about bringing Blackstone Inc. and CVC Capital Partners on as equity investors have stalled (BBG)
Toronto-Dominion Bank’s $13.4 billion acquisition of First Horizon Corp. may be delayed even more than the Canadian lender projected last month. Shares of the Memphis, Tennessee-based bank slumped (BBG)
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is expected to challenge Intercontinental Exchange Inc's $13B (USD) deal for mortgage software company Black Knight (RT)
The potential sale of Subway is attracting interest from Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs asset management arm along with PE firms TDR Capital and TPG. It is believed to be worth $10B (USD) (BBG)
Independent expert Grant Samual has said BHP's $9.6B (AUD) bid for OZ Minerals is both fair and reasonable (AFR)
Geelong battery-making start-up Recharge Industries has closed the deal to buy Britishvolt, the struggling owner of a massive $6.7B (AUD) gigafactory scheme in northern England (AFR)
Euronext has withdrawn its $5.8B (USD) offer for investment-platform Allfunds as both sides were unable to agree on a takeover (BBG)
Australian investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd is at the early stages of exploring a takeover bid of over 5B pounds ($6B USD) for British money manager M&G (RT)
Viasat's $4B (USD) takeover of Inmarsat Group to create the world's largest geostationary satellite company has been provisionally cleared by the UK's antitrust watchdog (BBG)
Canada's Baytex Energy announced it will buy US peer Range Oil Corp for $2.5B (USD) in a cash and stock deal (RT)
Canada's EnbridgeInc (ENB.TO) on Wednesday set out plans to invest C$3.3 billion ($2.4 billion) in natural gas and liquids infrastructure and renewable power this year, and said there were better investment opportunities in the U.S. due to green energy subsidies (RT)
Belgium has raised $2.31B (USD) from cutting its stake by 33m shares in BNP Paribas (RT)
China has pledged to invest an additional $1.9B (USD) in the country’s biggest maker of memory chips, a deal that may herald a renewed influx of government capital into an industry hemmed in by US sanctions (BBG)
Adani shares surged on Friday after a $1.87 billion USD investment in the group by GQGPartnersInc eased concerns about the group's ability to attract funding, while the conglomerate lined up more road shows to shore up investor confidence (RT)
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF is in talks to buy a stake in luxury hotel group Rocco Forte Hotels. The deal could value the business at $1.4B (USD) (BBG)
PE firm CVC is considering buying a minority stake in Kuala Lumpur-listed hospital operator KPJ Healthcare. KPJ has a market value of over $1B (USD) (BBG)
Tata Group, an Indian Conglomerate, has paused talks to buy a majority stake for $1B (USD) in Bisleri International, one of India's largest bottled water makers, over valuation concerns (BBG)
Hong Kong telecommunications provider HKBN Ltd has received a takeover offer from HGC Global Communications Ltd that could value the company at more than $1B (USD) (BBG)
Norwegian company Equinor has acquired Suncor Energy UK for $850m (USD) (BBG)
Chinese lithium batteries group CATL is $800m (AUD) richer thanks to a 3½ year stay at Australia’s Pilbara Minerals (AFR)
One-time IPO candidate and equipment rental bigwig Onsite Rental Group has sold for $635m (AUD) to Malaysia’s Sime Darby Berhad, implying 5.2-times on an EV to EBITDA basis (AFR)
Chinese battery developer Contemporary Amperex Technology has banked a giant profit in Australian lithium group Pilbara Minerals, selling its stake for $601m (AUD) overnight (AFR)
IHS, a New York-listed telecommunication infrastructure business, is considering buying Telkom SA's tower unit. It could be worth $472m (USD) (BBG)
StellantisNV agreed to sell its distribution business in Turkey to its local partner for €400 million euros ($425 million) to help bundle vehicle sales and services in the country (BBG)
Bruce Mathieson has crept up the Star Entertainment register to hold a 9.97% stake, having paid $141.7m (AUD) at an average price of $1.49 a share (AFR)
PE firm TAG has lobbed a 14c a share bid ($49.1m) for ASX-listed IntelliHR, beating rival bidder Humanforce's 11c a share bid (AFR)
NZX-listed Allied Farmers will pay $8.3 million to buy out the other shareholders of NZ Rural Land Management and take full control over the running investment company NZ Rural Land Co. (NBR)
Metals logistics platform MineHub to acquire Waybridge for $2.5m (USD) in shares (RT)
Solomon Lew's Premier Investments has snaffled another 3 per cent stake in the department store chain Myer Holdings to take its holding towards 26 per cent (AFR)
PE firm Apollo Global Management is in talks to acquire Arconic Corp, an equipment and parts manufacturer in the aerospace industry. A deal could value the company in the high $20-a-share range (USD) (BBG)
Pushpay Holdings has published proxy voting results on the takeover proposal by BGH and Sixth Street Capital, showing independent shareholders’ support for the $1.34 (NZD) a share takeover offer is currently under the minimum required for the deal to progress (NBR)
Zip Co. expects “significant” capital inflows from asset sales as it prepares to exit most of its markets, unwinding a years-long expansion after a slump in the once red-hot “buy now, pay later” industry (BBG)
London’s Southend Airport is seeking a new owner after struggling to establish itself as a hub serving the UK capital (BBG)
Downer EDI, an integrated service company in Australia and New Zealand, has added its Mineral Technology business to the sales heap. It is expected to be worth tens of millions of Australian dollars (AFR)
Questions are mounting about just how much PE Firm Potentia will increase its bid for fintech Tryo as the banking business that is being dubbed key to growth is likely to be of no interest to a PE firm (AFR)
KordaMentha is calling for indicative bids by Friday for Scott's Refrigerated business (AFR)
Goldman Sachs is considering a sale of GreenSky, the instalment lending platform (BBG)
Pfizer Inc is in early talks to acquire drugmaker Seagen Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter (RT)
VC & Fundraising
Bain Capital Ventures has raised $1.9B (USD) across two new venture funds that will target investments across fintech, infrastructure, apps and commerce technology (BBG)
E-waste miner Mint Innovation will start producing gold and copper from its Sydney plant next month following a $60m (NZD) injection from the impact investing arm of Australian PE firm Liverpool Partners (AFR)
Medical technology start-up SpeeDX has banked $26m (AUD). $5m (AUD) was from Andrew Forrest's Tenmile health tech fund,whilst other investors included the Platinum International Healthcare Fund and Northpond Ventures (AFR)
KMD Storage Trust, a recently founded investment vehicle, was seeking to raise $12.15m (AUD) to help pay for its first three assets (AFR)
Equity Raises
SoftBank's chip designer Arm is reading for an IPO on the Nasdaq, with banks pitching an IPO at a valuation between $30B and $70B (USD). It is believed to have picked Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Barclays and Mizuho to lead the deal (BBG & AFR)
True Corporation, which was created via a merger the number 2 and 3 mobile phone operators in Thailand, was valued at almost $9B (USD) when it started trading in Bangkok Friday (BBG)
OpenAI rival Stable Diffusion parent company Stability AI is seeking to raise funds at a $4B (USD) valuation (BBG)
Abu Dhabi’s main energy company raised $2.5B (USD) from the initial public offering of its gas business, pulling off the year’s biggest listing and continuing a trend that saw the Middle East emerge as a bright spot for share sales in 2022 (BBG)
Self-driving firm iMotion is weighing an IPO that could raise $200-$300m (USD) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (BBG)
South Australian copper and gold explorer Hillgrove Resources was asking fundies to chip in $35 million AUD on Monday morning, with expectations of a US commodity trader popping up with a 19.9 per cent shareholding via the raise (AFR)
Retail Food Group, an ASX-listed global food and beverage company, is raising $25m (AUD) via an equity placement at a 12% discount to the last close (AFR)
ASX-listed material microcap Matrix Composites & Engineering is attempting to raise $20.2m (AUD) via a $6.3m (AUD) institutional placement and a $13.9m (AUD) rights issue on a one-for-2.95 basis (AFR)
WA gas play the Talon Energy launched a $12 million placement on Thursday morning to fund its share of the development costs of the Walyering gas project which it owns with Strike Energy (AFR)
Australia ed-tech company Cluey is raising $10.6m (AUD) via a $2.6m (AUD) placement and $8m (AUD) rights issue on a one-for-2.6 basis (AFR)
McEwan Copper is now expected to IPO in the second half of the year after it received injections of capital from Stellantis and a unit of Rio Tinto in exchange for 14.2% stakes (BBG)
NZX-listed farmland investor NZ Rural Land Company has listed its shares on the Frankfurt stock exchange as it seeks further equity from cornerstone European investors (NBR)
EQT AB is reviving plans to take skincare business Galderma public, people with knowledge of the matter said, in what’s expected to be another key test for Europe’s market for initial public offerings (BBG)
The UK’s capital market suffered another hit as Europe’s largest building materials company and a jewel of Britain’s technology industry picked New York for their main listings (BBG)
New York-based investor New Holland, which is best known for running Dutch pension manager APG's hedge fund kitty, is getting ready for meets and greets with deep-pocketed Aussies. New Holland is understood to have hired Sydney's Channel Capital to show its Tactical Alpha strategy to local investors (AFR)
Debt and restructuring
NAB has raised $1.25B (AUD) from its 10-year Tier 2 note. The deal price at a 6.16% coupon rate for $950m (AUD) worth of fixed-to-floating notes and at 217 basis points above the three-month bank bill swap rate for $300m worth of floating notes (AFR)
Blackstone Inc. has defaulted on a €531 million ($562 million) bond backed by a portfolio of offices and stores owned by Sponda Oy, a Finnish landlord it acquired in 2018 (BBG)
Non-bank lender Mortgage House has joined the early year raisers, putting a $400m (AUD) RMBS deal to investors on Tuesday morning (AFR)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has kicked off syndication of a $225 million AUD debt facility to fund Retail Zoo's buyout, and will make its first pitch to banks and other potential lenders this week (AFR)
Dual-listed Heartland Group’s New Zealand banking entity, Heartland Bank, is considering an offer of up to $75 million – with the right to accept oversubscriptions of up to an additional $50m – of unsecured subordinated notes to New Zealand investors and some overseas institutional investors (NBR)
Retail Food Group, an ASX-listed global food and beverage company, has raised a $20m (AUD) long-term long facility via shareholder Washington H Soul Pattison (AFR)
Non-bank lender La Trobe Financial has told investors to get ready for an Australian dollar-dominated residential mortgage-backed security deal (AFR)
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