☕ Rate day

Good morning. It's rate date today, so as always, we've got the trusty LOI LinkedIn poll taking Australia's pulse on whether the RBA will increase rates or keep them flat for the month.

Good morning. It's rate date, so as always, we've got the trusty LOI LinkedIn poll taking Australia's pulse on whether the RBA will increase rates or keep them flat for the month.

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ps. if this was forwarded to you, you can sign up for LOI at letterofintent.com.au

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MARKET MOVERS

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

Market news: Just two years after Best & Less listed at $2.16 per share, they're now the target of a $1.89/sh takeover offer by speciality retail don Brett Blundy.

The bid came in lower than where it closed on Friday at $1.985/sh (odd!), but Blundy's offer is only conditional on securing 55% of shares.

Conveniently Blundy already owns 17% + has Allegro willing to tip in their 32% and support from the Chairman and his 8% stake — that adds to 57%.

THE QUICK SYNC

  • Macquarie household deposits surge as major banks jockey for savings. (AFR)

  • HWL Ebsworth suffers Russian cyber attack: client, employee data stolen. (Australian)

  • JPMorgan takes over First Republic after U.S. seizure of ailing bank. (CNBC)

  • EY: Firm’s leaders still sought a split but EY is now focused on damage repair. (WSJ)

  • Deutsche Bank plans to beef up investment bank advisory team. (FT)

  • Jack Dorsey says Twitter ‘went south’ after company’s sale to Elon Musk. (IN)

TRADING FLOOR

M&A:

  • Quadrant’s TSA Management inks deal to acquire UK consultancy, Henry Riley. (AFR)

  • Abdul Latif Jameel has lobbed an $800m bid for car importer Ateco. (AFR)

  • Azure Capital and Ashurst advise 7-Eleven as it kick-starts its sale process. (AFR)

    • Brookfield and Blackstone are expected to participate in the $2bn 7-Eleven sale. (The Australian)

  • Best & Less is primed for a facelift as Brett Blundy and Ray Itaoui make an offer for the company. (SMH | BNA)

    • Allegro has agreed to sell its 32.4% stake in Best & Less. (AFR)

  • Mystery bidder seeks to go up against Albemarle's $2.50/sh offer for Liontown Resources. (AFR)

  • Alinta Energy’s generation and transmission assets come up for sale with APA keen. (AFR)

  • Qube Holdings has secured a 50% stake in shipping company Pinnacle. (BNA)

  • Quadrant is understood to have put forward an offer to buy Hoyts. (The Australian)

  • BP is said to have paid ~$US160m for Shell's Browse gas field. (The Australian)

  • ACTA Capital is understood to be running the ruler over Seafolly after the business was placed up for sale. (The Australian)

Capital Markets:

  • Aura Energy and IperionX both entered trading halts, chasing $10m and $18m in fresh captial, respectively. (AFR)

  • Molycop's owners call in Goldman Sachs as they prepare to IPO the steel business. (AFR)

  • Barrenjoey crosses a 5.5% stake in Judo with UniSuper pointed as the likely seller. (AFR)

VC:

  • Fresh Equities, a stakeholder engagement platform, has raised $4m in a round led by EVP. (AFR | StartupDaily)

  • OpenAI closes $300M share sale at $27B-29B valuation. (Techcrunch)

Others:

  • Jack Collopy is the latest Perpetual portfolio manager to resign. (AFR)

  • Price caps on coal and gas have helped drive a big increase in earnings at Origin. (AFR)

  • Southern Cross Austereo’s CEO, Grant Blackley, will step down before the end of the financial year. (SMH)

  • Potentum Partners raised $300m for its inaugural global PE fund. (AFR)

TOGETHER WITH ALLIANCE ADVISORS

Alliance Advisors is an independent corporate advisory firm that supports public and private companies with strategic shareholder & Investor advisory services through our global network.

We go beyond, from development to execution of bold, client-first strategies, resulting in winning outcomes.

For more information, please contact Brendan Henry on [email protected]

THE WATERCOOLER

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