Today
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Director ‘exertion’ payments to back deals a serious slippery slope
Special exertion payments are legal, but we would argue they don’t befit a blue-chip company. Fund managers and governance experts also have concerns.
- Anthony Macdonald
Crescent Capital’s 1¢ Pacific Smiles bid increase leads to chagrin
The skinny increase, which Crescent declared was their best and highest, sees the scheme consideration increase by 0.5 per cent to $1.91.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Updated
- Gas
Woodside says investors back $1.4b US buy, but some have questions
Meg O’Neill says no investors have questioned investing in US LNG, but Aware Super queried the impact on climate targets and shares fell further on Tuesday.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Google’s biggest acquisition falls over as $35b offer rejected
Cybersecurity firm Wiz has turned down a mammoth takeover bid from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, sticking with an IPO plan.
- Lynn Doan and Julia Love
Bin way too long! Affinity Equity hires bank for Waste Services sale
You’d be forgiven for thinking Affinity has a leg-up in the UBS-run auction, given its ANZ boss’s history with the asset.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
AustralianSuper, Hesta look to supercharge housing investment
The industry super fund giants have taken shared ownership of Assemble, which develops affordable rental and for-sale housing.
- Michael Bleby
Yesterday
Quadrant’s erstwhile top dealmaker returns armed with Packer cash
It’s taken a very sweet opportunity to bring him back to dealmaking – namely Everest Ice Cream, a major manufacturer of wholesale frozen desserts.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Crescent tries to pull off the near impossible at Pacific Smiles
But the private equity firm has another ace up its sleeve. Influential proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services has thrown its support behind the bid.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Updated
- Woodside Energy Group
Woodside splashes $1.35b in the US to become ‘global LNG powerhouse’
The acquisition of Tellurian will give the ASX-listed oil and gas company a foothold to develop exports in the booming US market for shipping natural gas.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
What it’s like to sell your tech start-up for $180m
For Frank Greeff, selling his real estate marketing company to Domain was the hardest thing he’s ever done, and after it happened he just went to bed.
- Yolanda Redrup
M&A arb fund Harvest Lane keeps a ‘blacklist’ of boards to avoid
Investor Luke Cummings has made a name for himself (and money) by trading M&A activity. But one deal that he’s steering clear of is the $8.8 billion Chemist Warehouse and Sigma merger.
- Joanne Tran
Suitors scramble to get across Anglo’s $7.5b Queensland coal auction
Sharp-nosed suitors are expected to push for the company to take a chunk of the bid value as deferred consideration, tied to Grosvenor’s performance.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
This Month
It’s a banker bonanza as Permira eyes its $4b I-MED payday
The firm’s dealmakers have tapped Jefferies to join their sell-side advisory lineup, alongside Morgan Stanley – which has kept close to the company for years.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
M&A forecast? It’s about to rain private capital deals
Private capital hunters – domestic superannuation funds, offshore pension funds and asset managers such as KKR and Brookfield – have their chequebooks out and are trying to get their hands on $50 billion of Australian targets.
- Anthony Macdonald
QIC coy on Thames Water stake as utility drowns in debt
The state-backed asset manager has not marked down its valuation of the embattled London investment, despite its largest shareholder writing it off entirely.
- Updated
- Aaron Weinman
PE-owned Netlogix hunts capital partner; calls in MacCap
The Pencarrow Bridge Fund owns 51.6 per cent of Netlogix Group Holdings Limited, according to the New Zealand Companies Register.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Duncan Saville’s Somers eyes investment in Magellan-backed FinClear
It comes as FinClear, on Thursday, quietly opened a share sale to match buyers and sellers on its register, including employees and external investors.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
New Quantum’s US backer prepares to call in receivers; sale tipped
The US-based VC investor is New Quantum’s primary financier and is in discussions with McGrathNicol, sources said.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Blackstone pays $300m for minority stake in Symphony Infra Partners
The private capital giant is understood to have squared off against HMC Capital’s Julia Gillard-chaired Energy Transition Fund in the auction’s final round.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
LNG export purse crunched 25pc as prices drop
Australia’s LNG revenue fell in 2023-24 despite flat export volumes, with Santos’ sales broadly reflecting the wider picture as prices softened.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
