☕ Top of the tables

Good morning. To round out the investment bank quarterly reports, Morgan Stanley came in overnight with a Q1'23 drop in IB revenue of 32% vs last year. That puts them at the top of the league tables among bulge-bracket US banks... if you're looking at YoY IB revenue declines.

Good morning. To round out the investment bank quarterly reports, Morgan Stanley came in overnight with a Q1'23 drop in IB revenue of 32% vs last year. That puts them at the top of the league tables among bulge-bracket US banks... if you're looking at YoY total IB revenue declines.

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MARKET MOVERS

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

Market news: A couple of days after dropping its CEO and announcing a strategic review — to explore a full or partial sale — EML Payments is now up 42% in 2 days.

The company is still a long way from its $5.70ish high in 2021. EML was tracking to annualized revenue of $230m and underlying EBITDA of $26m based on its last half-yearly results.

THE QUICK SYNC

  • Star Entertainment to cut 500 jobs following ‘rapid deterioration’. (SMH)

  • UK inflation rate surprises again with March figure holding above 10%. (CNBC)

  • British tycoon to sell palace-like $138m mansion. (AFR)

  • Rupert Murdoch's Fox agrees $787.5mn settlement in Dominion defamation case. (Politico)

  • Netflix delays its password-sharing crackdown to sometime before July. (Verge)

TRADING FLOOR

M&A:

  • FTI Consulting gives Sun Cable suitors another 3 weeks to firm up their final bids. (AFR)

  • Grant Samuel is understood to have been in talks with Spanish investment bank Alantra about a sale of the business. (The Australian)

  • Michael Hill has paid $45m to acquire the jewellery business, Bevilles, with Mawson on the sell-side. (Source | AFR)

  • Wesfarmers has lobbed a $170m bid for Silk Laser Clinics. (AFR | The Australian)

  • Connecting Plots has acquired fellow independent agency Two Gs. (BNA)

  • CBA hires Gresham as it weighs an acquisition of debt and trade finance specialist ScotPac. (The Australian)

  • Orora is believed to be eyeing about acquisition opportunities in the US. (The Australian)

Capital Markets:

  • Rugby Australia is seeking a target capital raise range of $150m to $300m, with an indicative target level of $250m. (AFR)

  • AGL Energy sparks up debt deal with CBA and Bank of America operatives in tow. (AFR)

  • CPPIB launches Kangaroo bond and hires Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities, and UBS as the joint lead managers. (AFR)

  • Galena Mining has launched an $18m placement split into two tranches. (AFR)

  • Quadrant pitches a new strategic equity fund, looking for $300m. (AFR)

VC:

  • Cortical Labs, a synthetic biology startup, banks $US10m ($15m) in a Series A capital raising round led by Horizon Ventures. (AFR | Startupdaily)

  • Waave, open banking payments fintech, has raised $4.7m in a Seed round. (StartupDaily)

  • Edtech-focused VC fund, Five Sigma adds HBS Professor Boris Groysberg as a new partner. (Yahoo)

Others:

  • Future Fund hires Carlyle Group's former country head David Bluff. (AFR)

  • Credit Suisse's Jessica Toomey is heading to rival Jefferies. (AFR)

  • Morgan Stanley Private Wealth’s Nathan Lim farewells after seven years. (AFR)

  • David Jones' landlords appear concerned about the company’s new owner, Anchorage Capital Partners. (AFR)

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THE WATERCOOLER

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