☕️ Bizzarri Business

Good morning.

Former CEO of Gucci, Marco Bizzarri, has set up his own investment shop, after leaving the Kering-owned brand last year. According to documents filed with the Italian Chamber of Commerce, ‘Nessifashion’ will invest in and provide strategic advice to companies. Bizzarri helped the luxury label more than double its sales between 2015 and 2022 from just under €4 billion ($6.61 billion) in 2015 to €10.5 billion in 2022. Last year, however, was a reckoning for Gucci, with the company seeing $13.8 billion wiped off its market cap as Chinese sales plummeted.

🏆 LOI Subscriber #TBD

Market movers

Orora Limited was an ASX-200 bottom performer on Tuesday, with shares falling 14.7% during trading to close at $2.32. The plunge came after the packaging company downgraded its full-year earnings expectations citing softer demand and volumes across its business. Excluding the contribution from its September 2023 acquisition of French premium bottle maker Saverglass, Orora now expects full-year earnings before interest and tax to be in the range of $307 million to $317 million compared to $320.5 million in FY23.

The quick sync

• Complaints involving financial difficulty, especially lenders’ handling of customer requests for hardship assistance rose by 25% in 2023, according to AFCA. (Capital Brief)

• Endeavor Group has agreed to be acquired by PE giant Silver Lake Management in a US$13b buyout. (Bloomberg)

• WA synthbio startup Uluu seeks funding for factory to turn seaweed into plastic. (Capital Brief)

• APM is reportedly in a standoff with its private equity suitor CVC. (The Australian)

• The US FDIC is examining whether investment firms like Vanguard, State Street and BlackRock are keeping to their passive-investing mandate in with respect to their large stakes in US banks. (Wall Street Journal)

M&A

• Barrenjoey's sell-side research desk dropped coverage on Platinum Asset Management. (AFR)

• Macquarie Asset Management and PSP Investments are open to bids for the entirety of their AirTrunk holdings. (AFR)

• Northwest Healthcare, the landlord of Healthscope, is reportedly selling assets in South America and Europe. (The Australian)

• EIG has obtained a minority stake in three major LNG projects. (AFR)

• Australia's major banks and retailers are devising contingency plans in the case of an Armaguard collapse. (AFR)

• Artrya seals first Australian commercial deal for its AI-driven heart disease-detection technology with The Cardiac Centre NSW. (BNA)

Capital Markets

• MaxCap is seeking to finance a $75.9m first mortgage for Landream. (AFR)

• Wilson Asset Management's WAM Microcap hopes to raise $75m after outperforming the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index in 2023. (BNA)

VC

• None

People moves

• Andrew Sutherland has recently departed JPMorgan. (The Australian)

• John Rothwell mulls stepping down after leading Austal for 36 years. (AFR)

• Brickworks managing director Lindsay Partridge retires after nearly four decades. (BNA)

• Touch Ventures' CFO and investor director, Gerard Pais, will depart the listed venture capital fund on April 15. (Capital Brief)

• Andrew Blakely, vice president of strategy and business development, has retired from Santos, signalling a pause in major acquisitions. (The Australian)

Together with Blackbird

Blackbird’s startup festival, Sunrise Australia is back! 1-2 May, Carriageworks Sydney

🌅 The Capital Brief team is heading to Sunrise at Carriageworks Sydney this 1 & 2 May - join us?

Sunrise is a startup festival by our friends at Blackbird. Over two days of ideas and innovation, the program includes:

📣 Three programs across three stages, check it out here
🌍 Big ideas + debates & provocations + personal growth workshops
🤝 Networking & facilitated 1:1 meetings
🥇 Founders live pitching
🌚 Music + art + performances 

Grab your tix here before they sell out!

The watercooler