☕ Cheques bouncing

Good morning. RIP cheques. The long battle between tap & go vs. write & cash is coming to an end, with the Treasurer to announce that cheques will be bouncing from the Aussie banking system and be phased out by 2030.

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MARKET MOVERS

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

Market News: Sigma signed up a deal to take over the $3bn a year wholesale supply contract with Chemist Warehouse.

As part of the deal, Sigma agreed to hand Chemist Warehouse an 11% stake in the company.

The news added about $150m to Sigma’s market cap. Meanwhile, EBOS who used to handle the contract, lost $900m in market cap.

THE QUICK SYNC

• Cheque-mate: Chalmers makes final move on dying payment network. (SMH)

• PGA Tour and LIV Golf agree merger to end split in golf. (SMH)

• PwC’s name game a distraction as its business unravels. (SMH)

• Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has sold $17m worth of shares. (AFR)

• Binance, US affiliate hit by net outflows of $790 mln in last 24 hours. (RT)

• How Blackstone made billions betting on sheds. (AFR)

• Ukraine war: What we know about Nova Kakhovka dam attack. (BBC)

TRADING FLOOR

M&A:

• Sigma has won the Chemist Warehouse wholesale pharmaceuticals contract worth $2bn annually. (AFR)

  • Sigma will give Chemist Warehouse a 10.7% stake in the business in return. (AFR)

• Arlington Capital Partners is among the suitors circling Austal. (AFR)

• BUMA lobbed an indicative bid for BHP and Mitsubishi’s Queensland coal mines Blackwater and Daunia. (AFR)

• ANZ argues ACCC would be wrong to oppose its purchase of Suncorp’s banking arm. (AFR)

• Anchorage Capital is understood to have staged an exit from the contest to buy Hoyts. (The Australian)

• Incitec boss steps down amid questions about a planned company split. (SMH)

  • Incitec investors are believed to be keen to see the return of former CFO Nick Stratford. (The Australian)

Capital Markets:

• Redox IPO bookbuild was priced at 13.75x earnings for the 2024 financial year. (AFR | The Australian)

• ANZ has priced a $US1.35bn ($2bn) three-year covered bond. (AFR)

VC:

• Linktree announced a 27% reduction to its staff, with the majority being in Australia and New Zealand. (SmartCompany | StartupDaily | AFR)

• Sequoia splits China and India arms from US mothership. (TC)

Others:

• Grok’s global equities punk-rock portfolio manager, Armina “Arms” Rosenberg, is seeking new opportunities. (AFR)

• A2 Milk’s contract supplier, Synlait Milk, was approved by China’s market regulator to continue selling its China-label infant milk formula product. (SMH)

• Brand Collective has hired former Country Road and David Jones boss David Thomas to take over as chief executive. (The Australian)

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THE WATERCOOLER

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