In today’s briefing:
- Iress (IRE AU): Blackstone Mulling a Privatisation Bid
- Liontown Resources Placement: Continued Cost Overruns and past Placements Didn’t Do Well
- Soul Patts/Brickworks: 10th September Vote To Collapse Circularity
- Fluence Corp Ltd – The story is coming together
- REA Group (REA AU) Vs. News Corp (NWS AU): Earnings Catalyst Drives Mean-Reversion Win
Iress (IRE AU): Blackstone Mulling a Privatisation Bid
- The AFR reports that Blackstone (BX US) is considering a privatisation bid which could value Iress Ltd (IRE AU) at about A$1.9 billion (more than A$10 per share).
- Iress is no stranger to privatisation interest. In 2021, EQT (EQT SS) bid against itself thrice to offer A$15.91, before failing to table a binding proposal.
- The shareholder structure facilitates an offer. The rumoured offer is a good starting point, but it is far from a knockout bid.
Liontown Resources Placement: Continued Cost Overruns and past Placements Didn’t Do Well
- Liontown Resources (LTR AU) is looking to raise around US$173m from a primary placement.
- The deal is a large one, representing 23.3 days of the stock’s three month ADV, and 13.0% of total shares outstanding.
- In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.
Soul Patts/Brickworks: 10th September Vote To Collapse Circularity
- Back on the 2 June 2025, Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (SOL AU) and 42.92%-held Brickworks Ltd (BKW AU) announced that, via inter-conditional Schemes, they would merge.
- TopCo, a new ASX-listed company, will acquire all of the shares in SOL and BKW via the issuance of TopCo shares: 1:1 for SOL and 0.82:1 for BKW.
- The Scheme Booklet is now out, with Scheme Meetings on the 10th September, and expected implementation on or before the 23 September. The IE Kroll) says “fair & reasonable“.
Fluence Corp Ltd – The story is coming together
- Fluence Corporation (ASX:FLC) specialises in the delivery of water and wastewater solutions in industrial, municipal and commercial industries across the globe.
- The company has released its quarterly 4C cashflow statement and a Q2FY25 financial and operating update (December year-end) containing some key H125 data points.
- The H125 result was a significantly positive turnaround with growth driven by the Ivory Coast Addendum project and improved performance across most business units.
REA Group (REA AU) Vs. News Corp (NWS AU): Earnings Catalyst Drives Mean-Reversion Win
- This is a follow-up on the pair trade between REA Group (REA AU) and News Corp (NWS AU), originally flagged due to a significant deviation in their price ratio.
- Highlight: The pair hit its profit target as REA Group outperformed its parent post-earnings, pushing the price ratio back across the one-standard-deviation line.
- Why Read: This Insights shows how catalysts such as earnings events can accelerate mean-reversion trades and deliver above-target returns.
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