Yesterday
Pub landlord HPI rejects consortium’s $710m bid
The ASX-listed owner of 58 pubs told investors the bid undervalued its portfolio, which would only grow more in value as rates fell.
- Michael Bleby
This Month
Credit score agencies combine, creating Australia’s newest duopoly
Experian has completed its $820 million acquisition of Illion, which Experian’s CEO says will help banks assess credit risk more dynamically.
- James Eyers
News Corp chief says higher Rightmove bid would have been ‘foolhardy’
The Murdoch family-controlled giant owns 61 per cent of REA, which had lobbed a $12 billion takeover bid for its British rival. But the offer was rebuffed.
- Hans van Leeuwen
September
- Updated
- Mergers & acquisitions
REA abandons $12b pursuit of Britain’s Rightmove
REA Group chairman Hamish McLennan’s personal touch was not enough to get the deal, which Rightmove rejected on Monday, over the line.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
REA lobs $12b fourth bid at UK’s resistant Rightmove
The Murdoch-backed REA has just days left to win over the British online property listing behemoth, as a “put-up-or-shut-up” deadline looms on Monday.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Platinum rejects Regal’s takeover on value grounds
Regal Funds offered 0.274 of its own shares for every Platinum Asset Management share plus a special dividend. But that wasn’t enough.
- Jonathan Shapiro
UK property site Rightmove knocks back REA again
Pressure is increasing on the Murdoch-owned REA’s $11 billion-plus foray, with just five days left to get a deal across the line.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Will the Rightmove ‘fortress’ fall to REA’s siege?
Rightmove so dominates the UK market that its own CEO calls it ‘unassailable’. REA is hoping to seize the keys to the castle, but without tarnishing the prize.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Nick Scali wants to conquer Britain. Does it stand a chance?
The ASX-listed furniture retailer has made a big bet on the United Kingdom, where plenty of big Australian companies have come unstuck.
- Hans van Leeuwen and Carrie LaFrenz
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Big AGM voter Vanguard ready to wield its proxies to challenge boards
One of the biggest voices at the upcoming AGM season outlines its thinking: don’t expect ideological stances, but do expect a strict focus on skills and pay.
- Anthony Macdonald
Morgan Stanley’s Tim Church awaits real estate M&A’s ‘big thaw’
The investment bank’s veteran real estate operator says expectations of impending interest rate cuts and a desire to deploy capital is getting deals going.
- Jemima Whyte
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Get ready for haymakers at the ASX’s last listed pubs owner
A bid at a 10 per cent discount to asset-backing? Welcome to deals in 2024.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Raising the bar against mergers will rob everyone of benefits
Why clamp down on mergers with less than maximum benefits when the public would still gain from seeing them go through?
- Bran Black
August
Debt deal makers prepare to lend big for winner of $20b-plus AirTrunk
Both sides have arranged their own debt packages on top of the OpCo slice, where IFM and Blackstone are understood to be using different structures.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Perpetual takes ‘embarrassing’ $547m write-down on Pendal funds
The firm, which is in the midst of selling a large part of itself to KKR, disclosed the write-down just four days before it delivers a full-year financial update.
- Jonathan Shapiro
Credit and payments fintech Shift raises $35m
The Funded blog is the home for news on the tech deals that are done in Australia, as soon as we hear about them.
- Updated
- Paul Smith
- Exclusive
- Mergers & acquisitions
M&A crackdown: corporates protest in Canberra
Executives from large companies who are worried about planned tougher laws to block corporate mergers have taken their concerns to Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
- John Kehoe and Aaron Weinman
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Bidders having it both ways with ‘best and final’ threats
You’ve got to give it to the top investment bankers and lawyers – they’ve perfected the art of driving a truck through a two-inch gap.
- Anthony Macdonald
July
ANZ can finally get under the hood of Suncorp Bank
ANZ chief Shayne Elliott said the $4.9 billion deal, which formally completed on Wednesday, will allow it to “compete more effectively across the Australian market”.
- James Eyers
Dealmakers face tougher ‘public benefit’ test on mergers
Businesses using public interest grounds such as climate change action or financial stability to get takeover approvals will face a stricter hurdle from the ACCC.
- Updated
- John Kehoe