☕️ Lion's share

Gina Rinehart gets what she wants.

Good morning.

Gina Rinehart appears to have scared off Albemarle as the US battery giant withdrew its bid for Liontown Resources on Monday.

It leaves Australia’s richest person with a ~20% stake in the lithium producer and no clear indication as to what she intends to do with it.

It has sent Liontown back to capital markets fund its flagship Kathleen Valley project. Should another suitor try to wrestle control of the ASX-listed company, they better bring courage and a very large chequebook.

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

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MARKET MOVERS

Market News: Times are tough but cashed-up punters aren’t putting down their prize plonk, according to Treasury Wine Estates.

The company says strong high-end sales show it has the right strategy in going after the premium wine market. But it didn’t stop shareholders delivering a strike against its rem report, upset the impact of Chinese tariffs hadn’t been factored into exec pay.

Together with Stake | Invest on Wall St and the ASX

THE QUICK SYNC

  • The chair of Ford says worker strikes are boosting Tesla, Toyota and Chinese automakers. (New York Times)

  • Italy has unveiled €24bn in tax cuts and pay rises to combat faltering economic growth. (Financial Times)

  • Apple is struggling to appeal to China as new iPhone sales disappoint. (Bloomberg)

  • The future growth of Netflix might be in games. (WSJ)

  • A Citibank analyst has been fired for sharing meal expenses with their partner. (Financial Times)

  • Analysts predict Ozempic and Wegovy will hurt food sales (Financial Times)

  • Remington signed product-placement deal with Activision to reach young gamers. (WSJ)

TRADING FLOOR

M&A:

  • Private equity firms are lining up to buy waste business JR Richards. (AFR)

  • Vocus Group has initiated discussions to assemble a debt syndicate for its $6.3bn proposal to separate TPG Telecom's fibre assets. (AFR)

  • InDebted has acquired Reminda, marking the conclusion of a recent cost-saving initiative. (AFR)

Capital Markets:

  • There's a growing industry cynicism about new ASX listings, with most post-2020 companies trading below their IPO prices. (The Australian)

  • Mathew Edwards quietly returned to the ASX with the listing of his latest venture, Nido Education. (BNA)

  • Jon Adgemis aims to acquire a portion of the debt currently held by senior lenders in the pubs and hotels consolidation, as the extended $450m refinancing process continues. (AFR)

VC:

  • Skykraft secures $120m in funding to support its ambitious satellite vision in the aviation industry. (AFR)

  • The Martec secured $8m in a funding round led by the multi-family investment office AS1. (Startup Daily | BNA)

  • Startmate gave the startups in its recent winter cohort an unusual directive: “No talking to VCs.” (Capital Brief)

Others:

  • Australia could play a leading role in green steel and even reignite onshore manufacturing. But the window of opportunity is narrowing. (Capital Brief)

  • Nick Bolton will persist with his campaign at Magellan, regardless of the company’s plans to investigate the conversion of the $2.65 billion global closed-end fund into an open-ended exchange-traded fund in H1 2024. (AFR)

  • An increase in homebuyer defaults has overshadowed an otherwise strong first-quarter performance for the property group Stockland. (BNA)

  • King Living is on the brink of unveiling its inaugural retail showroom in the US and has intentions to expand its footprint further across North America. (BNA)

  • Olivia Wirth of Qantas has tendered her resignation and will leave the position in February to "explore other opportunities.". (SMH)

  • Michael Ahearne, the CEO of SkyCity Entertainment, will step down from his position early next year. (Capital Brief)

  • Westpac has announced that Steven Gregg will assume the role of its new chairman. (Capital Brief)

  • Fletcher Building's shares dropped by 9% as analysts began to express their views on the company's challenges with Iplex pipes. (The Australian)

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