☕ Activist reports

Good morning. It's pretty rare to see activists target ASX companies, but they had a field day yesterday, with one dropping a report on Santos and another on Piedmont Lithium. Links to reports in the Quick Sync below — the Santos report is particularly clinical 👌.

Also, it's the final day to enter the Alliance Advisors Mergermarket M&A conference giveaway...

We'll make it super easy for you. Just send your business card/contact details to Brendan Henry on [email protected]. It'll take you about 5 seconds to do.

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ps. if this was fowarded to you, sign up here > letterofintent.com.au 

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MARKET MOVERS

*Stock data as of the market close. Commodities and crypto data in USD.

Market news: Xero added over $1bn to their market cap by announcing they're cutting up to 800 roles. This basically takes their headcount back to where it was last year.

They also snuck in the announcement that they're also shutting down Waddle — the lending platform they acquired a bit over 2yrs ago for ~$30m.

THE QUICK SYNC

• Read the activist investor reports on Santos here and Piedmont Lithium here.

  • Snowcap slams Santos’ growth plans as ‘misguided, reckless’. (SMH)

• Hillsong accused of misusing church funds to pay for private jets, luxury retreats. (SMH)

• Credit Suisse to delay its 2022 annual report after a ‘late call’ from the SEC. (CNBC)

• EY split paused amid partner infighting over fate of tax experts. (FT | AFR)

• Jarden and a female employee who was a victim of alleged bullying have parted ways. (The Australian)

• Crypto bank Silvergate to shut down in face of FTX market turmoil. (Techcrunch)

• Australia to buy as many as five nuclear subs from United States. (ALJ)

TRADING FLOOR

M&A:

• Sequoia Financial Group has signed a binding deal to sell 80% of Morrison Securities to New Quantum. (AFR)

• TPG Capital hires Jarden alongside UBS to help secure InvoCare. (AFR)

• Brookfield and EIG are on track to sign a binding $18.2bn takeover for Origin by next week. (AFR)

• 24-7 Healthcare hires Rothschild after attracting unsolicited inbound interest. (AFR)

• IFM is mulling a sale of its $30m EBITDA a year NDIS plan management company My Plan Manager. (The Australian)

• Platinum is expected to pay ~$600-700m for the Australasian arm of Jeld-Wen. (The Australian)

Capital Markets:

• BluGlass Limited is raising $11m. (AFR)

• Goldman Sachs and UBS are seeking buyers for 1m shares left over from Carsales rights issue. (AFR)

• JPMorgan’s equities desk nabbed a$300m trade of CSL shares. (AFR)

• Tough IPO market not all bad for growth companies, according to Perennial. (AFR)

• Lloyds Bank had brokers seeking indications of interest for a 6yr bond (AFR)

VC:

• SimConverse, a healthcare simulation startup, has raised $1.5m in Seed funding led by Folklore Ventures. (StartupDaily)

• Kitea Health, a Kiwi remote care medtech, raises NZ$6m for brain implant monitor. (StartupDaily)

Others:

• Daniel Kleijn is set to spearhead MST Financial’s M&A deals arm, MST Advisory. (AFR)

• Aware Super CIO Damian Graham restructures team including two new reports. (AFR)

• Amart Furniture is firing for Quadrant after shrinking the size of its stores. (The Australian)

TOGETHER WITH ALLIANCE ADVISORS

Alliance Advisors is an independent advisory firm that supports public & private companies with strategic shareholder & investor advisory services through our global network.

We Go Beyond, from development to execution of bold, client-first strategies, resulting in winning outcomes.

Join us at the Mergermarket M&A Conference in Sydney on Thursday 16th March, where we have a pair of tickets to give away!

📢 To enter the draw:

• Send your business card/contact details to Brendan Henry on [email protected].

The winner will be drawn on Friday 10th March.

THE WATERCOOLER

THE TRADE

• Investment Associate, Ventures — IAG (Learn More)

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