☕️Legal ‘Loophole’

Good morning.

Founder of ‘Solo Capital Partners’ Sanjay Shah, who is on trial for orchestrating a tax scam that cost Denmark $2.55 billion, has claimed that his creative ‘Cum-Ex’ trades were lawful and that any rumours of wrongdoing in the industry were merely borne out of jealousy.

In fact, the self-acclaimed rainmaker said that because competitors didn’t believe he would make money, when he “made a lot of money,” he treated himself to a Ferrari for his 38^th birthday. Shah asserted that “the rumours and the bad mouthing was due to jealousy and nothing else.”

Around 1,800 people are under investigation in Germany for the tax-driven trading strategy, nine have already been charged in Denmark for the ploy.

🏆 LOI Subscriber #TBD

Market movers

Shares in James Hardie plunged almost 15% to close at $46.67 on Tuesday, as the building materials manufacturer's FY25 guidance came in below analysts' consensus. While the building materials manufacturer posted a record result for the fourth quarter, and full-year adjusted EBITDA which rose 18% year on year to US$1.125 billion, the company warned of an "uncertain" global housing market.

The quick sync

• Canva co-founder’s family office, Wedgetail, is pioneering ‘venture conservationism’ to channel funding toward improving biodiversity. (Capital Brief)

• Lead contractor on ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy’s US$10b Texas LNG development, Zachry Holdings, filed for bankruptcy, creating new delays for the major US export project. (Financial Times)

• Australia's big banks have all raised wholesale funding in recent weeks as capital flees China. (Capital Brief)

• WSJ ranks the highest paid CEOs of 2023, as stock awards push median package to a record US$15.7m. (Wall Street Journal)

• How Schroders is leveraging AI to assist portfolio managers and build investment teams. (Capital Brief)

M&A

• Hard Rock denies interest in Star takeover, despite Star's stock jump on takeover rumors. (Capital Brief)

• Data centre operators Next DC and EQT weren't invited to bid on Global Switch's Australian assets. (The Australian)

  • Only Stonepeak and QIC remain in the bidding for Global Switch's Australian data centres (AFR)

• Speculation swirls about SkyCity Entertainment's commitment to Australia, with Delaware North seen as a potential buyer for its Adelaide casino (The Australian)

• Alternate asset manager Carlyle Group has raised ¥430b for its fifth Japan buyout fund, the largest Japan-focused buyout fund ever raised. (Bloomberg)

• Guardian Childcare's owner, Partners Group, boosted earnings forecasts to attract buyers ahead of an auction. (AFR)

• Australian Unity Office Fund is in final stages of reviewing a bid for its St Kilda Road property. (AFR)

• APM seeks financing from CBA and HSBC as potential buyer Madison Dearborn conducts due diligence on a $1.3b acquisition. (The Australian)

Capital Markets

• JPMorgan sold $187m of ASX stock for unnamed sellers on Tuesday. (AFR)

VC

• LaunchVic invested $900,000 in Melbourne VC firm Skalata. (Startup Daily)

• Sydney’s CIA-backed startup Visionary Machines has won a $2.5 million Department of Defence contract. (Capital Brief)

• CLT Toolbox secures $1m to expand globally after a successful seed funding round last year. (Smart Company)

People moves

• Zip Co appoints Joe Heck as new US CEO, replacing founder who will become US chair. (Capital Brief)

• John Mulcahy emerges as frontrunner for Lendlease chairman role, with potential backing from major shareholders. (The Australian)

• Anthropic has hired Airbnb veteran Krishna Rao as its first chief financial officer. (The Information)

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The watercooler