☕️ Family Politics

Good morning.

If you miss Succession as much as the next Wall Street wannabe and the Murdochs just aren’t delivering the level of heated familial schadenfreude you crave, it’s time to turn your attention to the Arnault clan’s succession scheme.

While the richest man in the world, Bernard Arnault, still sits firmly at the helm of his €400 billion empire LVMH, it’s clear that he has been carefully moulding his five offspring into ‘protegees-de-luxe’ to step into various leadership roles at the company. Of course, with a company that size there is objectively enough power, prestige and powder to go around. Yet, anyone with a taste of big family drama or the slightest exposure to estate planning understands that the Arnault legacy will become the ideal inspiration for a Succession spin-off.

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Market movers

Shares in DroneShield rocketed over 11% on Monday to close at $0.95, following the company's latest business update and March quarterly figures. The drone defence company announced its first quarter revenues of $16.4 million were 10 times higher year on year. At the end of March, the company had a cash balance of $56.4 million with no debt or convertibles. It noted it had a committed supply chain payment for inventory of $35.4 million over the next nine months. DRO also said it had $27 million in contracted backlog and a pipeline of $519 million in sales. 

The quick sync

• ASIC is scrutinising Sanlam’s Australian arm over its licensing arrangements used by firms including Stake and Pearler. (Capital Brief)  

• Tesla to axe around 14,000 staff in new round of layoffs as EV slowdown hits the carmaker. (Wall Street Journal)

• News Corp taps PwC to manage restructure tied to the loss of Meta’s news funding deals which it refused to renew in March. (AFR)

• Goldman Sachs posts surprise 28% profit for the first quarter. (Capital Brief)

• The Bell inquiry has found that Star Entertainment spied on special casino manager Nicholas Weeks as part of its ‘war’ on the casino regulator. (The Australian)

• UK fintech Revolut notches 45% increase on last valuation with Schroders writeup. (Bloomberg)

M&A

• Roc Partners wins Asia-Pacific deal of the year for Pace Farms acquisition, also named top agribusiness fund manager. (AFR)

• FirstCape seeks Fisher Funds stake via Toi Foundation. (The Australian)

• Keybridge Capital gains majority stake in Yowie Group despite board recommendation. (BNA)

• Big Screen Video seeks backer to invest $27m at a $50m valuation for a controlling stake. (AFR)

• Allianz Australia’s plans to acquire ClearView fell through. ClearView now plans to scale up, eyeing a potential exit in 2026. (AFR)

• Accolade Wines offers buyout to 540 grape growers to address grape glut. (AFR)

Capital Markets

• Coventry Group to raise capital for Steelmasters acquisition through placement and share purchase plan. (AFR | AFR)

• NEXTDC raises $937m from institutional investors to expand data centres. (BNA)

• National Group seeks $250m refinancing to cut borrowing costs, considering offers from Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Wingate, and Balmain. (AFR)

VC

• Former Canva, Eucalyptus exec launches Oodle media strategy startup. (Startup Daily)

• Investible CEO secures US$150m ($232.88m) funding for climate-focused technology start-up investments Southeast Asia. (AFR)

• VC firm Andreesen Horowitz has completed a US$7.2b fundraise. (The Information)

People moves

• Michael Lovett, ex-Vanguard, is now CEO at Bell Asset Management. (AFR)

• Warren Day, corporate regulator CEO, moves to CDPP. (Capital Brief)

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