- Letter of Intent
- Posts
- ☕️ Power outage
☕️ Power outage
AGL's sharemarket surge has run out of gas..for now
Good morning.
One of the biggest investment institutions in Australia has a new chief investor. And he seems like a pretty interesting guy.
Ben Samlid, a former footy scout and hedge fund trader, is taking the reins at the Future Fund, its fourth CIO since it was set up in 2006. He will have the final say on how the $250 billion behemoth deploys its enormous warchest, and crucially for the investment community, which managers it chooses to use to generate returns.
It’s a big job. The Future Fund has beaten its benchmark since inception but significantly underperformed its 1-year target in its latest update, citing inflation, which is making reliable returns harder to come by.
ps. if this was forwarded to you, you can sign up for LOI at letterofintent.com.au
LOI Subscriber #TBD
MARKET MOVERS
*Stock data as of the market close. Commodities and crypto data in USD.
Market News: Not a great day for the Aussie equity market yesterday, and AGL shares led the way down. A downgrade from analysts Macquarie triggered the decline. The energy gentailer’s shares have been on a tear lately, rising 37% over the past year and recently touching their highest levels since early 2021. So its reasonable to see some people taking chips off the table now.
Despite yesterday’s selloff, its been quite a turnaround this year for the energy gentailer which has been one of the worst performing stocks in the market over the past decade. Last year it was at the centre of an activist campaign by its largest shareholder, Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures, which pushed the company to speed up its transition to renewables, derailed its plan to de-merge its coal fired power stations and secured fresh blood on the board
Most observers attribute AGL’s gains this year to surging power prices, and operational improvements at its power plants which suffered repeated outages last year. But stability at the top of its shareholder register and within its management ranks, as well as a more credible plan to decarbonise, probably aren’t hurting.
THE QUICK SYNC
Fitch says political polarisation in the US was a factor in its decision to downgrade the country’s credit rating. (Reuters)
Global markets slide after US debt downgrade. (CNN)
Carlyle Group’s quarterly profits were hit by a slowdown in dealmaking. (FT | WSJ)
Standard Chartered has lost several key executives in India, with some moving to rival firms. (Bloomberg)
Tiger Woods joined the board of the PGA Tour as talks with Saudi-backed LIV Golf continue. (CNBC)
TRADING FLOOR
M&A:
Potentia Capital’s $900m sale of Micromine to Aspen Technology was officially called off. (AFR)
Analysts are cautioning TPG Telecom about gaining “too much exuberance” over Vocus Group’s offer (The Australian)
Seafolly has been sold by L Catterton to Bondi Brands Group. (AFR)
Twenty parties are believed to have lined up to take a look at Cura Group. (The Australian)
Superloop has proposed a $243m acquisition of Symbio. (BNA)
Brookfield is testing buyer appetite for Linx Cargo Care Group. (AFR)
Platinum Equity is said to be considering a move on Carlyle Group’s Accolade Wines. (AFR)
Dexus is reportedly lining up to assess Perth Airport, Queensland Airport Limited, and Brisbane Airport. (The Australian)
Incitec Pivot has tapped Pupuk Kaltim as the preferred buyer of its big Australian fertilisers business. (AFR)
Capital Markets:
VC:
Others:
Jefferies has poached three bankers from the MA Moelis Melbourne team. (The Australian)
Adam Penny is leaving JPMorgan to return to Westpac. (AFR)
IJ Capital has swooped on the $450m The Aviary Toowong development. (BNA)
THE WATERCOOLER
