Good morning,

Deal makers will be streaming into the CBD on Thursday night to toast ambitious newcomer Alvarez & Marsal. Street Talk understands the global consulting group is hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony to christen its new Bond St offices.

Flying in for the occasion will be bigwig Bryan Marsal, a former Lehman Brothers chief executive who co-founded A&M in the 1980s. Managing director Paul Aversano is also expected to make an appearance. He is a keen golf player whose previous trips to Sydney have featured a breakfast with harbour views at Shangri-La’s Altitude restaurant and a stop-off at Bondi Icebergs, his globe-trotting Instagram showcases.

A&M has made quite a splash since announcing its arrival on the scene late last year. Its recruitment drive has not gone unnoticed, pillaging a team from KPMG to target private equity transactions, including well-known adviser David Willis.

KPMG’s Doug Houston, David Savage, Steven Shirtliff and Mark Schiavello have also joined their former colleague as A&M bid to win a share of private equity deal making.

Poaching season was turned up to 11 by June, adding four EY tax partners − Sean Keegan, Andrew Sharp, Edward Consett and Adam Woodward. Two former BCG staffers also moved, along with ex-Deloitte M&A tax partner James Head.

A&M has opened offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth as part of a wider South-East Asia growth plan. Timing is everything and PwC’s tax scandal and EY’s failed restructure will almost certainly help it compete.

Happy reading,

• Meet the $108 billion Japanese giant vying with Telstra for Versent
• Oatley family eyes Hamilton Island sale in a deal that could be worth $1 billion
• Fashion empire: Solomon Lew has Myer on the mind in Premier Investments shake-up
• After four years and a polish, private equity outfit Adamantem puts Legend Corp on the block
• Affinity takes on EQT at up-for-grabs veterinary chain VetPartners

• SoftBank’s $US50 billion ($78 billion) Arm IPO more than five times oversubscribed, the Financial Times reports.
• Saudi Arabia-backed oil and gas driller ADES wants up to $US1.2 billion in IPO, Bloomberg says.
• Little-known US lender Deerpath Capital hits Australian shores for $3.1 billion fund raise, Aaron Weinman writes.

Retail billionaire Solly Lew upped his stake in Myer to just under 29 per cent in August, shortly after he hired UBS to work through a potential shake-up of Premier Investments.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.