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Mergers & acquisitions

Today

ProTen is among Australia’s top chicken producers.

US giant KKR named preferred bidder at Aware’s $1b-plus chicken grower ProTen

Street Talk understands the private capital juggernaut, led by Andrew Jennings, ruled the roost with a bid around $1.3 billion.

Stonepeak CEO and founder Mike Dorrell.

Global buyout firm steamrolls auction for Permira’s $4b I-MED

While it is not known if Stonepeak has secured exclusivity over the asset, negotiations are said to be well-advanced. 

A vintage Trade Me homepage from 2006.

Kiwi classifieds juggernaut Trade Me in $2b refinancing; sale next

New Zealand’s biggest online classifieds and auctions player makes more than $NZ350 million in annual earnings and is expected to be worth about $4 billion.

Australia’s second biggest storage business is jammed between a controlling shareholder and a bid to take full control.

The billionaire, his $80b gorilla mate and Storage King’s clean-up job

An offshore giant is trying to use structural issues at the No.2 self-storage player to get set in Australia. The local leader is pushing back. Who will win?

This Month

WiseTech founder Richard White appears o be back calling the shots as the company plots its biggest ever buyout.

WiseTech faces investor scepticism on $3.5b plan to buy American rival

The logistics software giant is considering its largest acquisition yet at the same time as it confronts significant shareholder unrest over its governance.

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Denise Coates is the richest self-made British woman.

UK’s richest self-made woman plots $18b sale of gambling empire

Denise Coates, the owner of the Bet365 betting empire, is reportedly looking to sell the business amid a booming market for gaming in the United States.

Sydney Airport departures sign and passenger wheeling luggage

Nasdaq-listed engineering services giant swoops on Adelaide’s SAGE

Nasdaq-listed Tetra Tech will acquire 100 per cent of founder and employee-owned SAGE Group Holdings.

Labs need more specific infrastructure than commercial buildings can offer.

Wentworth buys $200m asset for $1.5b BlackRock life sciences JV

The North Ryde deal comes after Wentworth in 2023 struck a deal with Sydney University to develop a $500 million life sciences hub.

L1 Capital’s Raphael Lamm and Mark Landau 

Only one thing matters in L1 Capital’s Platinum merger

Unitholders have been pulling funds out of Platinum’s strategies at a rate of knots. L1 Capital founders Mark Landau and Raphael Lamm will be looking to fix that.

WiseTech founder Richard White.

WiseTech sets aside controversy as it plots $3.5b M&A play

The logistics software giant is mired in investor unrest but has been working on the biggest deal in its three-decade history, eyeing a New York-listed rival.

David Dubner, global head of M&A at Goldman Sachs.

How Goldman Sachs will keep deals ticking over in volatile times

The beauty of M&A is that it comes in all shapes and sizes – and Goldman Sachs’ bankers are not afraid to pivot.

L1’s Raphael Lamm and Mark Landau.

L1 taps MacCap for Platinum Asset Management merger

Macquarie Capital’s head of financial institutions group, Laura Golis, is advising the Melbourne-based hedge fund.

Kerr Neilson retired from Platinum in 2022. He founded the firm in 1994.

L1 Capital buys Kerr Neilson’s Platinum stake, proposes merger

The future of the global equities investment house had been up in the air after rival firm Regal Partners pulled its own takeover offer late last year.

AUSIEX wants to make trading bonds as easy as buying BHP shares.

FIIG Securities sold to Nomura Research’s AUSIEX

FIIG made $25.7 million revenue in the 2024 financial year, and two years ago was subject of a circa $27 million hostile bid from Income Asset Management.

April

Raphael Geminder and his wife Fiona  at the 2023 Melbourne Cup.

Billionaire Raphael Geminder faces backlash on Pact delisting plan

Minority shareholders including activist investor Jeremy Raper, a former Goldman Sachs banker, oppose the plan to remove the packaging group from the ASX boards

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The New York Stock Exchange in the rain. The bourse has attracted some of Australia’s biggest companies.

The ASX’s dual-listed giants are increasingly disappearing overseas

From Westfield to Amcor, investors fret that secondary local listings are “like a pre-paid funeral” and will inevitably go the way of Singtel with a delisting.

(left to right) John Shin, founder of Attalis Capital and now Chairman of LBNCo , with CEO of LBNCo, Steve Picton. Monday 27th August 2018 AFR photo Louie Douvis .

Attalis tows Vic Business Growth Fund into industrial parts biz Kinder

The deal was equity funded, and Kinder is understood to be reserving its debt capacity for bolt-on acquisitions. 

Expert360 CEO Bridget Loudon is the youngest director in the ASX 50.

Project Hawke: Bridget Loudon’s Expert360 hunts capital partner

Bridget Loudon’s online jobs platform is gearing up to make a major acquisition.

Abacus Storage King’s manager calls in bankers as board vets $1.9b bid

On Tuesday evening, the smart money was betting Abacus Storage King is far more likely to extract a price bump out of its present suitor than drum up a new one.

Stripe founders and brothers Patrick and John Collison.

Silicon Valley’s Stripe eyeballs Tyro’s languishing share price

Investors have become increasingly sceptical the ASX-listed payments group can compete against massive international rivals and the country’s major banks.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/mergers---acquisitions-1mpf