☕️Trump Card

Good morning.

Biotech HaemaLogiX will be ready to hit play on its ASX listing as soon as next week after years of setbacks — that is unless Trump gets in the way.

Chief executive Chris Baldwin told Capital Brief that the company (and prospectus) will be ready for the market in about a week, “The question only becomes — is the market ready for the company, or any company that’s doing anything slightly novel right now?”

The immunotherapy developer is looking to raise between $20 million and $25 million and has hired Ord Minnett and Canaccord Genuity to lead the initial public offering, which was previously slated for this time last year.

🏆 LOI Subscriber #TBD

Market movers

Shares in Bendigo and Adelaide Bank surged on Thursday after the regional lender reported a better-than-expected cash profit of $138 million for the March quarter and announced outsourcing partnerships with tech firms Infosys and Genpact that would save it up to $75 million per year but that the Finance Sector Union warned could mean up to 1,000 jobs lost.

The quick sync

• Albanese's gambling reforms ignore Indigenous communities despite disproportionate harm, landmark inquiry found. (Capital Brief)

• Bendigo Bank's AI-driven job cuts could be a harbinger of what's coming for Australia's white-collar workforce. (Capital Brief)

• Australia's on-premise compute boom is just getting started, IBM and Oracle say. (Capital Brief)

• Ben Roberts-Smith's war crimes murder trial just got its prosecution team. It looks formidable. (Capital Brief)

• Australian companies have already built the fertiliser and fuel solutions the country needs. The government just won't back them, writes Olympia Yarger. (Capital Brief)

• Conferences deliver better ROI with unknown practitioners than polished executives, write Kayla Medica and Axel Sukianto. (Capital Brief)

Trading floor

M&A

• CoreWeave expands its AI computing deal with Meta to USD21b. (Capital Brief)

• Ampol to sell 37 stations to ease ACCC concerns on $1.1b EG deal, still below 54-site threshold. (AFR)

• Ares to buy Whitestone REIT for USD1.7b, offering 12% premium. (WSJ)

• BlueScope considers selling its lucrative US operations amid takeover offers. (The Australian)

• ISS backs Warner Bros. sale to Paramount, advises rejecting CEO’s USD500M+ pay package. (Bloomberg)

• OMERS is preparing to bid for $4b Victorian land titles registry. (AFR)

• Unilever buys Grüns to boost wellbeing focus post food spin-off. (Reuters)

• Australian M&A hit $28.4b in Q1 2026, boosted by mega-deals; Goldman Sachs led advisory market. (The Australian)

• Amazon is considering selling its in-house chips to other companies as demand for AI-capable processors grows. (Bloomberg)

• Paraway Pastoral attracts multiple bids from domestic and international investors; vendors reviewing offers. (The Australian)

• Sazerac eyes Brown-Forman deal as Jack Daniel’s maker talks with Pernod Ricard. (WSJ)

• ACCC approves 90% of mergers within 20 days under new rules. (AFR)

Capital Markets

• Bendigo Bank flags workforce shake-up after Infosys, Genpact deals. (Capital Brief)

• Element 25 and BluGlass prepare capital raise. (AFR)

• Australia fast-tracks renewable and hydrogen projects under new pilot. (Capital Brief)

• Corporate Travel misses March deadline for KPMG review. (AFR)

• Charter Hall secures $1.2b property mandate. (Capital Brief)

• Kia to roll out software-defined car by 2027 and deploy humanoid robots in US factories by 2029. (Bloomberg)

• Sydney private credit firm Keyview adds Berkshire Global Advisors and sees its CEO exit after five months. (AFR)

• TPG skips Qscan, eyes higher-growth Everlight Radiology instead. (The Australian)

• Orora lowers FY26 outlook amid Middle East disruption. (Capital Brief)

• Seven & i delays US convenience-store IPO to strengthen performance and boost valuation. (Bloomberg)

• MSA National seeks private equity backing for expansion. (AFR)

• Australia exposed by fuel and fertiliser supply dependence. (Capital Brief)

• OpenAI pauses UK Stargate AI project amid cost and regulatory concerns. (AFR)

• Mercedes-Benz sales drop 6% globally, hit hardest by 27% decline in China. (Bloomberg)

• Electro Optic Systems shares fall after $4M disclosure breach fine. (Capital Brief)

• DroneShield’s sales pipeline drops $100m to $2.2b amid executive shake-up. (AFR)

• IBM and Oracle highlight resilient demand for on-premise compute. (Capital Brief)

• Racing NSW gets $58m grant with no deadline or checks. (AFR)

• Google commits to future Intel chips for AI data centres. (Capital Brief)

• Sydney biotech HaemaLogiX readies $30m IPO for blood cancer therapies. (Capital Brief)

• Ackman in talks to launch fund to bet on investor complacency. (FT)

• OpenAI tells investors it has computing advantage over Anthropic. (Bloomberg)

• The war pushed gold reserves past central bank dollar holdings for the first time in decades, adding to signs of the dollar's declining dominance. (Bloomberg)

• Carlyle private credit fund hit with redemption requests totaling 15.7%. (WSJ)

• Investors sought to pull USD20b from private credit funds in first quarter. (FT)

• Private markets’ software pain is about to get a lot worse. (Bloomberg)

• North American pension funds stick with private credit bets. (Reuters)

VC 

• None

People moves

• Bendigo & Adelaide Bank plans workforce cuts to reduce costs and stay competitive against larger banks. (Capital Brief)

• Apollo’s Dennis Cornell leaves as part of multiple executive departures from the firm. (Bloomberg)

• Swyftx has ousted CEO Jason Titman and cut 15% of staff, with cofounder Alex Harper and CFO Andrea Yuen appointed as acting co-CEOs. (Startup Daily)

• Dolce & Gabbana co-founder resigns as chair, mulls stake options. (Bloomberg)

• BDO axes 31 partner roles as AI pressure grows and profits fall. (FT)

The watercooler