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Good morning.

While Capital Brief reports on the potential launch of e-commerce business ‘TikTok Shop’ in Australia by ByteDance-owned TikTok, details about the social media giant’s bungled money-laundering probe in Ireland have turned out to be thornier than previously imagined.

The Information found that in early 2023, ByteDance misled the Central Bank of Ireland when asked why HSBC had been shutting down ByteDance accounts. ByteDance said that it had been moving significant sums out of its HSBC bank accounts for “liquidity management purposes,” when in fact, the bank shuttered accounts after discovering anti-money laundering failures at ByteDance’s payments division.  

🏆 LOI Subscriber #TBD

Market movers

Shares in Perseus Mining Ltd fell 2.58% during trading yesterday, closing at $2.27, after Silvercorp accepted its takeover bid of African gold explorer OreCorp. WA-based Perseus, which operates three gold mines in Africa, said that Canadian miner Silvercorp accepted the offer for a total of around 73.9 million shares, representing 15.61% of issued OreCorp shares. Perseus now holds a 74.98% stake in Orecorp.

The quick sync

• US inflation data for March came in hotter than expected on Wednesday at 3.5%, leading markets to slash bets that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting rates from July. (Financial Times)

• EY Oceania preparing to cut 100 roles in latest round of severances. (The Australian)

• Why QVG Capital bought in to Guzman y Gomez at $1.7b. (Capital Brief)

• KPMG Netherlands has been slapped with a US$25 million ($38.31 million) fine by the US’ audit regulator over claims of exam cheating and misinforming investigators. (Capital Brief)

• The Federal Court has ordered forex platform, Prospero Markets, to be wound up, with $19m still owed to clients. (The Australian)

M&A

• UBS' Sujit Dey raises concerns about delays in FIRB approvals for the $1.7b Azure Minerals-Sociedad Quimica y Minera/Hancock Prospecting takeover. (AFR)

• Betr is set to merge with Michael Sullivan's BlueBet and list on the ASX in an all-scrip deal. (AFR)

• Tanarra Capital may be depending on a Lendlease rescue over Milligan Group’s Hunter and Pitt Street project. (AFR)

• Centuria Capital Group is increasing its stake in real estate finance joint venture, Centuria Bass Credit. (BNA)

• Macquarie Capital slashed its investment in troubled Indian education platform Byju’s by 80%. (AFR)

• Australian market is struggling to secure buyers for over $5b in renewable energy assets. (The Australian)

• Major global strategic data centre operators like AirTrunk and Next DC have been excluded from the bidding process for the Global Switch Australian assets. (The Australian)

Capital Markets

• Dubber Corporation initiated a $24m cash call to address financial losses after firing CEO, Steve McGovern, following an internal investigation. (Capital Brief)

• Sydney Zoo is reported to be seeking new investors to diversify its ownership and enhance its operations. (AFR)

VC

• Wave Swell Energy is seeking $4m to finance its market launch, scale its operations, and establish a worldwide project pipeline. (AFR)

People moves

• JPMorgan has named ex Jarden Australia MD, Julien Dyon to head financial institutions coverage in Australia and New Zealand. (AFR)

• Former Vanguard executive Johanna Platt has been named Equity Trustees' new CFO, commencing her role on July 22. (Capital Brief)

• Tabcorp is preparing to start the hunt for a new CEO. (The Australian)

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