☕️ M&A chess

Good morning.

Andrea Orcel’s UniCredit latest chess move in European banking is a €10.1 billion ($16 billion) lowball bid for domestic peer Banco BPM, a play some think is unlikely to succeed but crafted for maximum strategic flexibility.

With tanks already parked on Commerzbank’s lawn, Orcel is now disrupting BPM’s plans – the lender this month bought a stake in Monte dei Paschi and bid for asset manager Anima.

Orcel is keeping his options open while ruffling feathers across the continent, his tactics muddying the waters across Europe’s M&A landscape. But UniCredit’s 5% share price drop is also showing a tougher sell to its own investors, who must now be scrutinising the maths behind potential returns and Orcel’s endgame.

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Market movers

Novonix shares popped Monday after the battery technology company signed a binding supply deal with Volkswagen’s PowerCo for 32,000 tonnes of synthetic graphite starting 2027.

The five-year agreement secures demand for its Tennessee plant, set to produce 20,000 tonnes of synthetic graphite per year.

The quick sync

• Scale Investors targets Australia's venture gender gap with a $100m fund to back women-led startups, promising top-tier returns. (Capital Brief)

• Figma founder Dylan Field on Adobe deal fallout, Aussie expansion and IPO plans. (Capital Brief)

• Mitsui battles Regal in court, claiming $21m Altus liquidation payout priority. (Capital Brief)

• Klarna reports US$20m Q3 profit, driven by US growth and Apple Pay tie-ups, as it preps for US$15b IPO. (FT)

• Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Capital is acquiring Canada’s CI Financial for C$12.1b ($13.32b) expanding its NA footprint in a push for high-value asset management investments. (FT)

Trading floor

M&A

• Figma founder Dylan Field discusses the challenges faced after Adobe's failed acquisition bid and outlines the company's expansion plans. (Capital Brief)

• Several companies, including Iress, Anchorage Capital Partners, and Bravura, are considering selling their superannuation administration services. (The Australian)

• UniCredit launches a hostile takeover bid for Banco BPM while pursuing a potential merger with Commerzbank. (Capital Brief)

• Anglo American sells its Queensland coal mines to Peabody Energy and BUMA for up to $5.8bn. (AFR)

• Bigtincan supports Vector Capital's revised takeover bid over Investcorp's offer. (Capital Brief)

• Yancoal is prioritizing the acquisition of the Kestrel mine over paying dividends to shareholders. (The Australian)

• Harvest Lane and Christine Christian resurface in Selfwealth bidding war as Bell Financial raises its offer. (AFR)

• Novonix has signed a deal with Volkswagen's battery cell subsidiary, PowerCo, to supply battery materials. (Capital Brief)

• Singapore's CapitaLand is in talks to acquire Wingate Group. (AFR)

• VGI Partners Global Investments is seeking shareholder approval to expand its share buyback program to enhance capital management. (Capital Brief)

• Natixis in talks with Generali over asset management tie-up. (FT)

Capital Markets

• Macy's delays earnings report due to a significant accounting error by a single employee. (Capital Brief)

• Cuscal's shares fell on their market debut, raising questions about the role of scale in IPO performance. (The Australian)

• Bis Industries is seeking a new round of financing to refinance its existing debt. (AFR)

• APRA maintains tight lending standards due to high household debt and rising credit growth. (Capital Brief)

• Blackstone strikes $3.5b financing deal with energy group EQT. (FT)

• Biotechs test IPO market despite concerns over Kennedy’s health role. (FT)

• Music revenues overtake cinema’s pre-pandemic peak on back of streaming boom. (FT)

VC

• Scale Investors is raising a $100m fund to address the gender funding gap in Australian venture capital. (Capital Brief)

• A group of Australian athletes is launching a venture capital fund, Athletic Ventures, to invest in early-stage companies. (AFR)

• Biotech company Colossal has donated $2.3m to the University of Melbourne for avian conservation genomics research. (Startup Daily)

• Digital estate planning platform Safewill raises $17m in a Series B funding to expand its services. (Capital Brief)

• Kapture, a Melbourne-based climate tech startup, is developing a method to sequester carbon in concrete. (Startup Daily)

People moves

• Joshua Hartz, a prominent dealmaker, has resigned from Bain Capital Credit. (AFR)

• Canva has appointed Kelly Steckelberg as its new CFO. (AFR)

The watercooler