☕️Pay Punch-up

Good morning.

If you ever need a confidence boost about negotiating salary, just take a leaf out of Elon Musk’s playbook. In a letter titled “What Glass Lewis Got Wrong About Tesla,” Tesla savages the proxy-advisory firm’s recent recommendation that shareholders vote against Musk’s proposed eyewatering US$46 billion ($70 billion) pay package. In what has become a saga that could see the EV maker reincorporate in Texas from Delaware, the campaign ahead of Tesla’s 13 June annual meeting continues to escalate. Tesla argues that Glass Lewis’ report: “omits key considerations, uses faulty logic, and relies on speculation and hypotheticals.”

If Musk’s bravado isn’t your cup of tea, may you also be aware that Walmart store managers are negotiating US$500k pay packets. Keep that little morsel of info up your sleeve when sitting down for your next annual review.

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Market movers

Shares in BHP Group slid on Thursday’s opening, falling 1.73% to close at $44.3 after the mining heavyweight abandoned its $74 billion takeover pursuit of Anglo American on the brink of the ‘put-up-or-shut-up’ (PUSU) deadline. According to the Financial Times, BHP’s decision to walk away has been welcomed by some of its investors in Australia as the spotlight shifts to whether its UK-listed target can deliver on its restructuring plan.

The quick sync

• KKR gains EU approval for US$23b acquisition of Telecom Italia’s broadband network. (Wall Street Journal)

• Noumi's court battle with ASIC hits a document discovery battle that could shape what information companies choose to hand over during regulatory probes. (Capital Brief)

• Palantir secures US$480m contract with the US Department of Defense for work on its AI computer vision prototype. (Bloomberg)

• Skydance has sweetened the deal with a new bid in Paramount takeover efforts. (Wall Street Journal)

• Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan anticipates investment banking fees will rise 10-15% in Q2 from a year earlier. (Reuters)

M&A

• Anacacia Capital has initiated an auction for its Force Fire Group, engaging Greenstone to manage the process. (AFR)

• HMC Capital has made an offer to buy a stake in Symphony Infrastructure Partners. (AFR)

• Brookfield is in exclusive talks to buy a majority stake in French renewable energy company Neoen. (Capital Brief)

• Sigma, merging with Chemist Warehouse, faces shareholder revolt over executive pay. (AFR)

• Macquarie is under pressure to support Bingo Industries as its debt is sold to secondary lenders. (The Australian)

Capital Markets

• ZircoDATA seeks $110m refinancing after a data breach. (AFR)

• Miniso Australia files for administration a second time due to declining customer spending. (SMH)

• ProForm, maker of "Meet" brand, enters voluntary administration despite billionaire backing. (Startup Daily)

• Tower Insurance is focusing on cost cuts and profit until conditions improve. (The Australian)

VC

• None

People moves

• Jefferies' equities boss Andrew Norman will leave the bank on Thursday after 36 years in the industry. (AFR)

• UBS shakes up its executive ranks ahead of CEO Sergio Ermotti’s departure. Wealth management head Iqbal Khan will move to Asia and become head of Asia-Pacific, while investment bank head Rob Karofsky will become head of the Americas. (Financial Times)

• Citi debt capital market leaders Ollie Williams and Keith Mitchell have left the bank, leaving a vacancy on one of Australia’s top DCM desks. (AFR)

• Argonaut hires Macquarie's Jon Scholtz to boost its resources research team. (AFR)

• Crescent Capital hires PwC's Russell Sinclair to launch new venture debt fund. (AFR)

• Grant Samuel hires ex-Goldman Sachs banker to lead new Hong Kong office. (AFR)

Watercooler