TPG's $5.25B revived deal 🏆

G’day.  

Welcome to Point Blank – How was your Monday morning coffee? 

 💼 Practice Points

• Despite not disclosing material information to the Federal Court, Fortescue won its IP dispute against Element Zero over allegations that former executives used confidential data to launch a competing company.

• ACCC claims 80% of mergers will be cleared within 20 business days under new merger reforms.

 📢 Talking Points

• Australian universities are experiencing reputational decline thanks to utilitarian culture focused on job outcomes, a corporate mindset, ineffective use of international student funding and high executive pay.

• Novak Djokovic's quest for a 100 singles title was thwarted by Jannik Sinner, who triumphed 7-6(4) 6-3 in the Shanghai Masters final, marking him the youngest Shanghai champion.

• While support for Dutton and Albanese remains more divided, Australians have settled on Kamala Harris as their preferred candidate for US president, with 52% backing her compared to just 21% for Trump. The US election is just 21 days out.

• ASX-listed wine producer Australian Vintage rehires the CEO it sacked for ‘lack of judgement’. No hard feelings, right?

 🏦 The Treasury

 🤝 Deal Room

• TPG to sell its fibre and fixed assets to Vocus (the Macquarie and Aware Super-backed Telco) for $5.25bn under freshly inked Share Purchase Agreement. The deal phoenixed from previous negotiations that had a $6.3bn price tag but broke down in late 2023.

• Siren Gold's recent share price surge positions it as a key target for consolidation in New Zealand’s gold sector, attracting interest from potential suitors like Santana Minerals and Federation Mining.

• Woodside is courting partners like Saudi Aramco and other Japanese LNG giants to offload up to a 50% share in its $15.6b Louisiana LNG project.

• Bain Capital bids 9,450 yen per share for Fuji Soft Inc. outpacing KKR’s 8,800 yen offer, signalling an uptick M&A activity in Japan driven by a weaker yen.

• Major players like Gold Fields, Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti, and Fortescue Metals are set to lead consolidation in the Cobar Basin by acquiring smaller companies to optimise resources and cut costs.

🏛 Policy Watch

• Australia's business leaders demand a robust economic agenda from political parties to tackle weak productivity and persistent inflation ahead of the upcoming federal election.

• Australia aims to impose hefty fines on social media companies for allowing underage users access, shifting the responsibility of digital babysitting from parents to the platforms.

🏗 Sector Specific

Diggers

• Fortescue calls for restructuring the diesel fuel tax credit, suggesting that top-tier fossil fuel users should earn their rebates by investing in meaningful decarbonisation programs.

• Environmental activists are ramping up their campaign against Black Mountain Energy's gas drilling plans in the Canning Basin, seeing the company's withdrawal of federal approval as a temporary victory.

Telco & Tech

• Tesla's flashy "We, Robot" event dazzled but left investors craving real substance behind Musk's ambitious promises for autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots.

• Amazon gears up to slash delivery times by 25% as the great replacement gets underway. The ~US$2 trillion giant reveals its AI and robot-powered warehouse.

Retail

• Coles and Woolies attribute rising grocery prices to over 10% price hike requests from large multinational suppliers.

• Tabcorp is feeling the heat from shareholders for an urgent turnaround - having ousted two directors, shareholders now demand reforms from new CEO amidst ongoing concerns over underperformance and escalating costs

🙉 Hearsay 

• Time to go abroad? US law firm, Davis Polk sets record for entry level London salaries, offering trainee solicitors starting salaries of at least A$135k, plus a A$193k bump upon qualification and sponsorship through law school.

• Johnson Winter Slattery (Melbourne) adds new project finance partner, Charlie Detmold, who was previously at Baker McKenzie.