Trump Allowed to Stay on Election Ballot

March 06, 2024

Good Morning,

Donald Trump supporters are targeting black voters with disinformation, including AI-generated fake images of the former president, campaigners have warned, The Australian government will establish a $2 billion finance facility to help fund green energy and infrastructure investment in South-East Asia, to tap into spiralling demand for renewable power in the region between now and 2050, and Christopher Luxon is facing heightened pressure to upgrade the country’s ageing military equipment - including from his own deputy prime minister - as he seeks to balance the books with tax and spending cuts.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

  • Auckland is in the midst of the largest buyer’s market for housing since 2011, the city’s biggest real estate agency says. (Stuff)

  • Bitcoin continues to rise, reaching over $100,000NZD.

Earnings and Data

  • ASB will drop its one-year rate by 10 basis points, to 7.29%. (Stuff)

  • A specialist in Taranaki geoscience is casting doubt on the benefits of a new gas well drilled in the Kupe field, 46% owned by Genesis Energy, saying remaining revenue from the field is unlikely to cover decommissioning costs. (NBR)

  • NZX-listed recruitment firm Accordant says its revenue from public sector contracting and permanent placements has fallen 15% year-on-year after the Coalition Government asked public sector agencies to cut back. (NBR)

News Summary

  • Super Rugby Aupiki side the Hurricanes Poua look set to apologise to the government over a controversial haka that is overshadowing the opening round of the competition. (Stuff)

  • Christopher Luxon is facing heightened pressure to upgrade the country’s ageing military equipment - including from his own deputy prime minister - as he seeks to balance the books with tax and spending cuts. (Stuff)

  • A man with a long history of driving offences has been sent to jail for his role in a high speed race that killed his cousin and a family friend. (Stuff)

  • Far from home, yet so much at home. Frankfurt-born Anton Segner has had no hesitation in making Auckland his base for the next three years as he chases some pretty serious rugby ambitions. (Stuff)

  • Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully has branded the threat of increased charges at Auckland Airport as “ridiculous”. (Stuff)

  • The 49-year-old Auckland man who was arrested last week after he travelled to the Auckland Domain to allegedly meet up with a 14-year-old girl has pleaded not guilty. (Stuff)

  • Three men have been arrested and charged following a violent assault on a man at a workplace in the Wellington suburb of Taitā last week. (Stuff)

  • The UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict said in a new report that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7. (Stuff)

  • Donald Trump supporters are targeting black voters with disinformation, including AI-generated fake images of the former president, campaigners have warned. (Stuff)

  • The US Supreme Court has unanimously sided with Donald Trump, allowing the former president to remain on the election ballot and reversing a Colorado ruling that disqualified him from returning to office because of his conduct around the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. (Stuff)

  • ‘Industry turning on itself’: Banks’ anti-scam response ‘archaic’. As the government fires a shot across the sector’s bows, an anti-scam commentator accuses the banks of victim-blaming and being a decade behind. (NBR)

  • Former PwC Australia acting chief executive Kristin Stubbins says she is as frustrated as the politicians examining the firm’s tax leaks scandal that its international leaders refuse to release details of the involvement of overseas partners (AFR)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

  • Creditors of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia are unlikely to receive a distribution until mid-2025, a High Court judgment says. (NBR)

  • The competition watchdog has admitted defeat in its efforts to stop ANZ’s $4.9 billion purchase of Suncorp’s banking business, and won’t appeal a decision to unblock the deal, ending one of the longest-running merger battles in decades. (AFR)

  • Less than 18 months after wrapping up its $1 billion take-private of aerial technology outfit Nearmap, San Francisco private equity outfit Thoma Bravo is back in Australia, setting its sights on financial software group and perennial underperformer Iress. (AFR)

  • After mulling over a sale for seven months, Global Infrastructure Partners is ready to pull the trigger at Pacific National, the country’s largest privately owned rail freight business. (AFR)

  • Embattled smash repairer AMA Group has fielded an approach from a syndicate led by Jim Vais and Mark Milliner, the businessmen who built its Capital SMART business under Suncorp’s ownership, and are keen to buy it back. (AFR)

VC & Fundraising

  • Whether Dubber Corp lives or dies is up in the air, with the cloud-based call recording software group weighing a capital raising with the help of Unified Capital Partners. (AFR)

Equity Raises

  • Dicker Data’s co-founder, David Dicker, was seeking to offload 10.2 per cent of the company in a $200 million block trade launched after Tuesday’s closing bell. (AFR)

Daily Picks

  • The Australian government will establish a $2 billion finance facility to help fund green energy and infrastructure investment in South-East Asia, to tap into spiralling demand for renewable power in the region between now and 2050. (AFR)

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