☕️Lendlease Listens

Good morning.

Lendlease will offload overseas construction divisions and terminate all international property development as it launches a significant overhaul, according to the Australian Financial Review. 

The board has reportedly already signed-off on the plans, which will see the real estate giant sell over $4 billion worth of overseas projects, funnelling the sales proceeds toward paying down debt and returning capital to shareholders.

The plans are set to be presented to shareholders this morning during the company’s ‘strategy update’, and may bring respite from a brutal activist campaign waged by investors including Tanarra Capital, HMC Capital and Allan Gray in recent months.

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Market movers

Shares in Appen inched up 2.54% during trading on Friday to close at $0.61, despite a grilling from shareholders on the troubled company's terminated Google contract and its poor share price at its annual general meeting. Shares in Appen plunged 40% in January, after Google terminated a contract with the Sydney firm worth $126 million, representing 26% of its gross revenue in the 2023 financial year. During Appen’s AGM on Friday, recently appointed CEO Ryan Kolln noted that its cost-cutting initiatives were supporting the company to reach its cash positivity target for the early second-half of the financial year.

The quick sync

• Melbourne robotics startup, Andromeda, is on the brink of announcing a seed round. (Capital Brief)

• Proxy advisor Glass Lewis urges Tesla shareholders to reject Elon Musk’s US$56b ($84.44b) pay package. (Bloomberg)

• Why ASX-listed water treatment company SciDev is at the forefront of the ‘forever chemicals’ cleanup wave. (Capital Brief)

• Key Anglo American shareholders including BlackRock pressured the miner to extend talks with BHP over its proposed takeover. (Financial Times)

• Nine Network CEO Mike Sneesby cuts holiday short as new allegations against the company’s former news boss, Darren Wicks, deepen crisis. (Capital Brief)

M&A

• Healius to sell its $800m diagnostic imaging unit, attracting interest from PE firms including Quadrant, Adamantem and Bain. (The Australian)

• Allegro Funds eyes Fletcher's Tradelink, makes hires for NZ growth. (AFR)

• Adriatic Metals plans an equity raise as major shareholder Orion sells part of its stake. (AFR)

• HMC Capital is buying Payton Capital to enter the private credit market as it expands its business. (BNA)

• Bonza's administrators seek more time to sell the company as its owner deals with legal issues. (AFR)

• PlaySide Studios is creating a Game of Thrones strategy game for PC, based on a deal with Warner Bros. (BNA)

• Goldman Sachs hopes Webjet's WebBeds demerger coincides with Hotel Beds' $1b IPO, expected in late 2024/early 2025. (The Australian)

Capital Markets

• AMCI's Fitzroy seeks debt deal for asset, targeting $50m. (AFR)

VC

• Humii raised $300,000 to improve customer experience tracking for online retail using mystery shoppers. (Startup Daily)

People moves

• None

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