☕️ Spooked Canvanauts

Good morning.

Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht caused major panic among Canvanauts last week, writing in a Slack message viewed by Capital Brief. “If we are not working at this velocity we are not going to be competitive.”

Obrecht linked to a viral social media post highlighting AI market leader Anthropic’s rapid product development velocity. He attached a screenshot of a Google search showing the company behind Claude employs between 2,300 and 2,500 people, with the figure highlighted. Canva’s workforce is roughly double Anthropic’s.

Staff took the note to imply that half the workforce could be doing the same job, taking their panic onto the anonymous workplace platform Blind, where posts reflected widespread alarm about redundancies.

Obrecht’s post was swiftly deleted, following staff feedback, and Canva has since confirmed it has no plans to lay off staff.

🏆 LOI Subscriber #TBD

Market movers

Shares in diversified miner South32 surged over 9% after Iranian attacks over the weekend destroyed two Middle Eastern aluminium smelters with a combined annual capacity of about three million tonnes, sending LME aluminium prices up 6% to near a four-year high and driving investors into producers able to fill the supply gap.

The quick sync

• Janus Henderson-owned Kapstream raises $205m floating new fixed income LIT on the ASX in the biggest IPO of the year. (Capital Brief)

• RBA says big banks are slow on digital money but second-mover advantage awaits. (Capital Brief)

• Navigator bets USD100m on Canadian AI firm Georgian to shake off its Blue Owl drag. (Capital Brief)

• Albanese halves fuel excise and underwrites supply deliveries in $2.55b bid to keep Australia moving over Easter. (Capital Brief)

• Economists warn Labor's fuel excise cut risks worsening inflation and the shortages it aims to fix. (Capital Brief)

• Hastie torches Liberal orthodoxy by backing a 25% gas tax, splitting the Coalition. (Capital Brief)

Trading floor

M&A

• Navigator Global Investments invests $145m to acquire a 4.5% stake in Canadian AI firm Georgian. (Capital Brief)

• Made Group auction narrows to Temasek, Danone, and Chinese consortium. (AFR)

• Sysco will acquire catering supplier Restaurant Depot for USD29b. (Reuters)(WSJ)

• Raphael Geminder nears full ownership of Pact Group to nearly 96% after buying shares from Jeremy Raper. (AFR)

• Boardwalk Pipelines acquires Spire Marketing to expand marketing reach. (Boardwalk)

• Rio Tinto taps Morgan Stanley for Pilbara power sale. (AFR)

• Blackstone acquires Napa resort, betting on AI-driven Bay Area real estate growth. (Bloomberg)

• Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. buys International Insurance Brokers to grow Australian operations. (AJG)

• Advanced Innergy targets Matrix Composites & Engineering with 40¢ cash bid. (AFR)

• Uber Technologies will acquire chauffeur booking app Blacklane to expand services for high-end riders and business executives. (Bloomberg)

• Citi seeks lenders to fund Ecolab’s USD4.8b CoolIT buy. (Bloomberg)

Capital Markets

• KMD Brands delays trading resumption pending capital raise details. (Capital Brief)

• DroneShield opens EU HQ in Amsterdam to boost regional growth. (Capital Brief)

• Dateline Resources seeks cash to develop ex-Barrick mine. (AFR)

• WIN Group raises stake in Nine Entertainment. (Capital Brief)

• NZ launches S&P/NZX 20 futures to strengthen equity derivatives and market liquidity. (Bloomberg)

• Star Entertainment signs $550m refinancing deal with WhiteHawk Capital Partners. (Capital Brief)

• Colonial First State leans on floating-rate and inflation-linked debt to hedge inflation and slow growth. (Bloomberg)

• Australia reports $2.18b scam losses in 2025. (Capital Brief)

• IP Group and Clean Energy Finance Corporation launch $50m Climate Catalyst Fund. (AFR)

• Australian banks lag in digital money adoption but are starting to engage. (Capital Brief)

• Australia cuts fuel excise and heavy vehicle charges to reduce costs. (Capital Brief)

• Blackstone raises USD6.3b life-sciences fund to fund late-stage clinical trials. (Bloomberg)

• Economists warn Australia fuel excise cut may worsen inflation and shortages. (Capital Brief)

• Microsoft’s Copilot now uses GPT and Claude together to improve AI output accuracy. (Reuters)

• Westpac CEO Anthony Miller is targeting big clients to regain a top banking position and challenge rivals. (AFR)

• Westpac forecasts three RBA hikes to 4.85% peak. (Capital Brief)

• David Jones nears $150m refinancing to secure financial stability amid retail pressures. (The Australian)

• Kapstream Capital launches $200m ASX “sleep-at-night” trust. (Capital Brief)

• Merck’s enlicitide pill cuts cholesterol more than older drugs, aiming for FDA approval and USD5b sales. (Bloomberg)

• Rio Tinto keeps 2026 Pilbara iron ore guidance after cyclone damage. (Capital Brief)

• Pharmaceutical companies target late-stage biotech assets via M&A to offset 2026 patent cliff. (Reuters)

• Telstra reduces coverage map by 1m sq km under new government limits. (Capital Brief)

• Canva quells job cut fears after co-founder Cliff Obrecht’s Slack note. (Capital Brief)

• Nike struggles in China amid operational flaws and rising domestic competition. (Reuters)

• JPMorgan faces Wells Fargo lawsuit over USD481m defaulted real estate loan. (Reuters)

• PE firms are increasingly using secret side deals with individual lenders to divide and conquer debt restructurings, leaving minority creditors with less than 40c in the dollar recoveries. (Bloomberg)

• Distressed-debt funds target private credit downturn as ‘greatest opportunity’ since 2008. (FT)

• Trump to take first steps in opening retirement funds to private markets. (FT)

• Insurers give Emirates ‘outrageously’ cheap war insurance cover. (FT)

VC 

• Tim Doyle says AI helps Australian healthcare startups scale globally after $1.6b Hims & Hers sale. (AFR)

• Matt Guest uses elite sport and ICU experience to scale his startup, Clearwater Wellness. (Smart Company)

• Steve Smith’s $100k Koala bet is now worth $8.5m at ASX debut. (Startup Daily)

People moves

• Webjet Group CEO Katrina Barry resigns; successor search begins. (Capital Brief)

• Anders Svensson leaves Morgan Stanley to become head of natural resources at Citi. (AFR)

• BlueScope names Robin Davies as ANZ CEO. (Capital Brief)

• Starbucks directors reelected despite shareholder protests on labor oversight. (Reuters)

• Air Canada CEO quits after furore over English-only crash condolence video. (Bloomberg)

• Lawyer billed client more than 30 hours a day in $10m fees dispute. (AFR)

The watercooler