Good evening,

Hoyts’ auction is turning into a two-horse race.

Street Talk can reveal buyout firm Anchorage Capital Partners has submitted a bid for Hoyts, as has the cinema chain’s previous owner Pacific Equity Partners.

All other mooted bid candidates – BGH Capital’s Village Roadshow, Quadrant PE’s QMS Media and ASX-listed HT&E – have been missing in action.

It’s one of Credit Suisse’s last sell-side processes before it gets swallowed by UBS. And it would be hoping to pull out a good outcome from the empty seats.

Elsewhere, we tuned into the fun and games at InvoCare ahead of its May 26 annual general meeting. Its chair Bart Vogel is up for re-election, and 19.98 per cent of the votes are with its jilted suitor TPG Capital, who won’t be exactly rolling 0ut the red carpet to another term.

Lastly, we spotted two new lenders joining TPG Capital’s debt stack for an iNova bolt-on acquisition, cloud specialist Lab3 was prepping a $70m round, and Chalice Mining stitched up a small raising amid its strategic search.

Happy reading,

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Street Talk Editors