☕ Just beat it

Good morning. Meta beat, Microsoft beat, Google beat... maybe it's not so bad after all. Collectively these three have now added US$350bn+ to their market caps since reporting. Not a bad way to end the week.

Good morning. Meta beat, Microsoft beat, Google beat... maybe things aren't so bad after all?

Collectively these three have now added US$350bn+ to their market caps since reporting. Not a bad way to end the week.

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MARKET MOVERS

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

Market news: After multiple rumours over the last week, Blacmore's revealed that Kirin (of beer fame) has made a $95/sh bid for the company.

Blackmore's was all the rage ~5yrs ago when its vitamins were being cleared from shelves, dumped into suitcases and sent off to China — sending its shares to over $200 a piece. But it's struggled to regain that hype ever since the pandemic shut down borders — trading mostly in the $60-80/sh range.

THE QUICK SYNC

  • Airtasker makes 20pc of employees redundant. (BNA)

  • Moccona’s $22b maker sues Australia’s Vittoria over glass jar. (SMH)

  • The $105b call: Microsoft seething as biggest tech deal in history is blocked. (SMH)

  • Meta shares pop 12% after company reports first sales increase in four quarters. (CNBC)

  • Deutsche Bank logs 11th straight quarterly profit, reveals job cuts. (CNBC)

  • BP braces itself for shareholder revolt after scaling back its climate targets. (CNBC)

TRADING FLOOR

M&A:

  • Japan's Kirin lobbed an acquisition bid for Blackmores (AFR | BNA)

    • Marcus Blackmore left the door open for a competing bidder to walk in. (AFR)

    • Marcus Blackmore will sell his 18% stake into a $1.9bn takeover by Kirin. (AFR)

  • Fortescue is set to acquire Western Australia’s Rawlinna Station from Jumbuck Pastoral. (AFR)

  • Our Cow purchases Brisbane Valley Farm Direct's online business for an undisclosed sum. (BNA)

  • The NSW government has picked the Endeavour Energy consortium as its preferred bidder for the first Renewable Energy Zone in Central-West Orana. (AFR)

  • British antitrust regulators blocked Microsoft’s $US69bn ($105bn) purchase of Activision Blizzard. (SMH)

  • Large-scale M&A could be off the table at Rio Tinto for now. (The Australian)

Capital Markets:

  • AMA Group is understood to have hired Grant Samuel to assist with its plan to refinance its debt. (The Australian)

VC:

  • Eucalyptus, the brand builder of health tech startups, has raised another $50m at a $560m post-money valuation. (AFR)

  • Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) tips an additional $100m into the ACT-based renewables financing firm Infradebt. (StartupDaily)

Others:

  • Dan Ritchie will step aside to become Macquarie Capital Equities’ chairman. (AFR)

  • Perpetual says its Pendal acquisition would generate an additional $20m in annual savings by cutting even more jobs across the combined entity. (AFR)

  • UBS is believed to have started making a play for the Credit Suisse investment banking talent. (The Australian)

THE WATERCOOLER

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