☕️ Clean slate

Another (financial) year over, and a new one just begun.

July 03, 2023

Good morning.

Another (financial) year over, and a new one just begun. The ASX eked out a slight gain on Friday, the last day of the financial year, meaning the benchmark index was up 10% for FY2023.

That’s nothing to shirk at given the challenges the market faced over the past 12 months, including geopolitical instability, financial system stress in the US, rising interest rates and persistent fears of a recession.

ps. if this was forwarded to you, you can sign up for LOI at letterofintent.com.au

LOI Subscriber #TBD

MARKET MOVERS

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

Market News: Link Administration Holdings was savaged on Friday after it lost a key contract with super fund giant HESTA.

It’s been a rough couple of years for the financial administration business, which was embroiled in a scandal in the UK and has also suffered through the collapse of a series of takeover deals for all or parts of its operations. The most recent of those, a near two year dalliance with Canada’s Dye & Durham, fell apart in December 2022.

With Link shares sinking to fresh lows, the drums about strategic interest in the business have already begun to beat again.

THE QUICK SYNC

  • Tesla posted another record quarter, with 466,140 vehicles delivered in Q2. (CNBC)

  • Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is pushing for an EV battery partnership with Australia. (SMH)

  • A growing chorus of experts believe the US will avoid a downturn this year, before sinking into a recession in 2024. (CNN)

  • Has Australia’s resources export boom peaked? One government department thinks so. (ABC)

TRADING FLOOR

M&A:

  • Blackstone and KKR-Qantas Loyalty lobbed indicative offers for Ticketek. (AFR)

  • Malteries Soufflet signs a binding deal to buy United Malt at $5 a share. (AFR)

  • Queensland Investment Corporation is planning to enter the EastLink auction. (The Australian)

    • Despite the ACCC's warning to Transurban, RBC Capital Markets is prepared to begin the EastLink sale process. (AFR)

  • Is Brookfield Asset Management-MidOcean Energy's $18.7bn offer to acquire Origin Energy beginning to seem underwhelming? (AFR)

  • Luye has hired UBS to find a buyer for Aurora Healthcare. (AFR |The Australian)

  • Private equity firms are lining up for the childcare business Affinity Education. (The Australian)

  • PointsBet has officially sold its US division to Fanatics after shareholders endorsed the $333m sale on Friday. (SMH)

Capital Markets:

  • None

VC:

  • Pet Circle received a $75m cash injection from its US investors. (AFR)

  • Upstock, a B2B marketplace for the hospitality and food service industry, raised $5.5m from Icehouse Ventures among others. (StartupDaily)

Others:

  • Zip Co has reportedly cut 20% of its 1500-strong workforce. (The Australian)

  • RBC Capital Markets has hired Andrea Sartore as a director from Morgan Stanley. (AFR)

  • Macquarie Asset Management is gearing up to launch a range of actively managed ETFs. (AFR)

  • :Different has called in voluntary administrators after it failed to secure a cash injection. (AFR | BNA | SmartCompany)

THE WATERCOOLER