☕️ Joey No More

Good morning.

Barrenjoey chief executive Brian Benari told Capital Brief its proposed merger with Magellan Financial Group will help the upstart investment bank retain its top dealmakers and attract other talent as it looks to deepen its push into private markets.

Benari, who is set to lead the merged entity, told Capital Brief the merged entity would be in a stronger position to retain talent, in part due to career opportunities.

The company would be able to pay its staff bonuses in listed shares, which are much easier to sell and value than equity in a private company. As part of the deal, Barrenjoey employees will join Magellan’s staff equity scheme and the companies expect that equity to be part of its compensation structures going forward.

🏆 LOI Subscriber #TBD

Market movers

Shares in oil producer Karoon Energy jumped on Monday as the US-Israeli strikes on Iran sent crude prices jumping and pushed the broader energy sector sharply higher, with Woodside Energy, Santos and Beach Energy all posting strong gains. That was not enough to lift an otherwise subdued ASX though, which ended the day virtually unchanged as a tech selloff offset the energy rally.

The quick sync

• Santos won the landmark greenwashing case but experts warn corporate Australia's climate legal battles are far from over. (Capital Brief)

• Taylor's Liberals are back in the fight after a sharp question time debut, but cutting through is the harder test still to come. (Capital Brief)

• CBA's suspected billion-dollar loan fraud has brought in police and AUSTRAC, while the rest of the banking sector watches to see who gets caught in the net. (Capital Brief)

• Canva flatly denies reports of imminent job cuts at its Leonardo AI unit, saying The Australian story is categorically false and that the restructure is an acceleration of its AI ambitions, not a retreat. (Capital Brief)

• The US and Israel killed Iran's Supreme Leader without warning Australia, and now Canberra must figure out its place in the dangerous world that follows. (Capital Brief)

Trading floor

M&A

• Magellan will merge with Barrenjoey in a $1.6b deal, taking full ownership by 2026. (Capital Brief) (Capital Brief)

• Firmus lands multi-billion-dollar hyperscale AI deal for 18,400 Nvidia GPUs in Melbourne. (Capital Brief)

• Blackstone taps Goldman Sachs to oversee $1b Nucleus Network sale. (AFR)

• MA Financial to make $20m gain from Infinite Care sale to Anglicare Sydney. (Capital Brief)

• Vinyl Group buys Val Morgan Digital for $10.5m, lifting revenue and ad reach. (Startup Daily)

• Ampol stays confident as ACCC deepens review of its $1b EG Australia takeover. (Capital Brief)

• Fletcher Building eyed for $3.2b deal by Heidelberg and CRH after restructuring. (AFR)

• IGO finalises sale of Forrestania Nickel to Medallion, keeping a 1.5% gold royalty. (Capital Brief)

• BlackRock’s GIP and EQT to buy AES for $10.7b amid rising AI-driven power demand. (Capital Brief)

Capital Markets

• Lynas wins 10-year Malaysian licence renewal, backing rare earth expansion. (Capital Brief)

• Electro Optic Systems jumps on $100m loan and new Middle East, India defence orders. (Capital Brief)

• Unified Capital manages Wagner family $4.40 block trade to fund managers. (AFR)

• Canva denies job cuts at Leonardo.AI, says restructure is part of integration. (Capital Brief)

• Canva’s gender pay gap jumps to 27% after $1.6b employee stock sale. (AFR)

• Permira hires board for I-MED IPO as healthcare assets like Greencross and Nucleus Network eye sales. (The Australian)

• Gold miners rally as war tensions push gold prices higher. (Capital Brief)

• ING halts super sign-ups over suspicious activity and cybersecurity concerns. (AFR)

• CBA faces police and AUSTRAC scrutiny over suspected fraudulent loans and money laundering. (Capital Brief)

• Sendle enters liquidation after $100m raise and failed US expansion. (Startup Daily)

• Job ads climb 3.2% in February, extending labour market rebound. (Capital Brief)

• Apple’s touchscreen Macs to feature iPhone-style dynamic island. (AFR)

• Energy stocks rally on crude hitting USD70 amid Hormuz disruptions. (Capital Brief)

• Iran conflict creates mixed pressure on RBA, with higher oil inflation but slower growth. (Capital Brief)

• Upgrading market tech could add $24b a year, research finds. (AFR)

• The Business Council of Australia urges reforms to lift Australia into top 10 for global investment. (Capital Brief)

• PwC Australia tops Big Four on gender pay equity, 6% gap in favour of men. (AFR)

• Anthropic’s Claude chatbot suffers outages amid Pentagon dispute and user surge. (Capital Brief)

• Westpac begins migrating business clients from St George, BankSA, and Bank of Melbourne. (AFR)

• Santos wins greenwashing case, but climate lawsuits remain a risk for corporates. (Capital Brief)

• Paramount to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ to challenge Netflix. (Bloomberg)

• Apple debuts iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air, starting product wave. (Bloomberg)

VC 

• Firmable raises $14m Series A led by Airtree to expand AI sales platform. (Capital Brief)

• Logistics startup Veyor raises $10.5M Series A to accelerate US expansion. (Smart Company)

People moves

• Web Travel CFO Tony Ristevski reverses resignation and won’t join PEXA. (Capital Brief)

• Ex-Novomatic CEO Neumann charged with bribery; Ainsworth Game Technology could be impacted. (AFR)

• Eric Morris named Litecard chairman, guiding its retail tech and mobile wallet marketing platform. (The Australian)

• Final Tyndall fund managers resign as Yarra Capital winds up Small Cap Fund. (AFR)

The watercooler