Google Fined for Refusal to Store Russian Data on Russian Servers

Good Morning,

Food prices fall almost 1% in October, ANZ reports fall in net profit, Luxon and Seymour fly back to Auckland after plans to meet with Peters in Wellington fell over. One dead, one hospitalized in Auckland car collision. Commerce Commission has received 23 inquiries regarding New World’s MasterChef cookware promotion.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Food prices fell almost 1% in October compared to the month earlier, Stats NZ says. (Stuff)

• Wages in Britain grew slightly less fast in the three months to September after rising at a record pace previously, according to official data that will leave the Bank of England on alert for inflation pressures. (RT)

• Electric-vehicle sales are seeing continued strength globally with China reporting record monthly sales in October despite the end of subsidies, according to market research firm Rho Motion. (RT)

• The euro zone economy contracted marginally quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter, a new estimate confirmed on Tuesday underlining expectations of a technical recession if the fourth quarter turns out equally weak, but employment still rose. (RT)

Earnings and Data

• ANZ has reported a slight drop in its annual net profit and expects tough economic conditions to linger as households and businesses roll on to higher interest rates. The country’s largest bank reported that statutory net profit in the year ended September 30 fell 7% to $2.1 billion, compared with $2.3b the previous year. (NBR)

• NZX-listed fishing company Sanford’s full-year results published today showed a revenue increase of 4% to $553 million, although after-tax profit was down on the back of an unusually high take last year. (NBR)

News Summary

• The leaders of National and ACT have had to fly back to Auckland, returning to meet Winston Peters after plans for the three leaders to meet in Wellington fell over. (Stuff)

• A sperm donor who helped a Pākehā woman have what she described as a “half-caste” baby, has been appointed as a guardian of the child after taking the matter to court. (Stuff)

• One person has died and another has been taken to hospital in a serious condition after a two-vehicle crash in Auckland’s Western Springs on Tuesday afternoon. (Stuff)

• Tropical Cyclone Mal is now likely to intensify into a Category 3 as it approaches Fiji late on Tuesday, local time, metservice said. (Stuff)

• Red paint has been thrown across the entrance to Auckland’s United States Consulate and New Zealand’s foreign affairs building by a group of pro-Palestine protesters. (Stuff)

• The Commerce Commission has received 23 inquiries about New World’s MasterChef cookware promotion. (Stuff)

• The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has struggled to stop a hyper-aggressive cybercrime gang that's been tormenting corporate America over the last two years, according to nine cybersecurity responders, digital crime experts and victims. (RT)

• Israeli forces bombarded southern Gaza on Tuesday after tanks advanced to the gates of the enclave's biggest hospital in the north where health officials say dozens of patients, including babies, have died due a lack of power and the heavy fighting. (RT)

• Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google will not challenge an EU law that would require them to make it easier for people to move between competing services – such as social media platforms and internet browsers, the companies said. (RT)

• China has ordered its local governments to halt public-private partnership projects identified as "problematic" and replaced a 10% budget spending allowance for these ventures with a vetting mechanism by Beijing as it tries to curb municipal debt risks. (RT)

• Emirates ruled out an immediate deal to buy Airbus A350-1000 jets on Tuesday, blaming a dispute with engine maker Rolls-Royce over the durability of its engines and leaving the European planemaker without a major showcase order at the Dubai Airshow. (RT)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

• Despite a backdrop of ongoing inflation pressures, tighter monetary conditions, and global economic uncertainty, Napier Port’s management is brimming with optimism about the year ahead. (NBR)

• The executive director of NZX-listed Geo has blamed a global downturn in software as a service (SaaS) business valuations for the company’s stock market slide, but also acknowledged it has slumped even lower than its peers. (NBR)

• Gresham Partners’ growing property investment business, with some $3.5 billion in funds under management, is signalling big plans for Queensland, hiring its first staffer in Brisbane. (AFR)

• Street Talk understands Canadian payments processor Nuvei is set to buy the struggling payments processor – once one of Australia’s hottest start-ups, valued at $500 million – for $47 million. (AFR)

• AustralianSuper had a good night. Street Talk understands the superannuation fund giant – Origin Energy’s largest shareholder – picked up stock at $8.65 a piece. Origin closed Monday’s trading day at $8.78. (AFR)

• Medibank Private is the $9.6 billion gorilla giving London-listed buyout giant Intermediate Capital Group and Switzerland’s Partners Group a major headache in their quest to acquire Cura Day Hospitals. (AFR)

VC & Fundraising

• Private windfarm developer Ventus Energy is planning a $24 million capital raise for a 32MW wind farm project south of Kawhia Harbour, 18 years after its initial application for resource consent. (NBR)

• Trust-owned infrastructure company Eastland Group has sold a half share of its electricity generation business to Japanese construction conglomerate Obayashi Corporation. (NBR)

• Local buyout firms Anchorage Capital Partners and Allegro Funds were recognised for their dealmaking efforts at the Asian Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards 2023 awards ceremony in Hong Kong on Monday night. (AFR)

Equity Raises

• Hospital operator Wyvern Health has called in Wyuna Partners to round up investors for a $25 million equity raise, Street Talk can reveal. (AFR)

Debt

• Is it last drinks for Jon Adgemis’ Public Hospitality Group, the pub and hotel roll-up that has been attempting to refinance $450 million in debt for months? The former KPMG dealmaker is considering splitting the portfolio, which includes Sydney’s The Strand Hotel and others, sources said. (AFR)

Daily Picks

• Google (GOOGL.O) was fined 15 million roubles ($164,000) on Tuesday for repeated refusal to store Russian users' data on servers inside Russia, a Moscow court said. Read more here.

• Orphaned during a coup in his homeland Guinea, teenager Moussa Camara took to sea in a wooden boat with 240 other migrants, enduring an 11-day voyage, half of it without food and fresh water, before reaching the Canary Islands. See this article for more.

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