ANZ chases Suncorp Bank; Hot race for iNova; Quasar preps capital raising

Good evening,

It turns out ANZ Banking Corporation has got much bigger fish to fry.

Street Talk can reveal that ANZ’s been talking to Suncorp, which is finally doing a strategic review of its banking unit after years of keeping everyone guessing. The ANZ-Suncorp talks are in addition to (and separate from) the ANZ-KKR ones for MYOB.

Sources said ANZ was chasing scale as it kicked tyres at Suncorp’s banking unit. Suncorp could give ANZ about $60 billion in customer loans and a leg-up over bigger rivals in the Queensland and NSW markets.

If it were to play out, it would be a chunky acquisition for the bank, which has chased similar but smaller deals in the past. Think ME Bank, which ended up with Bank of Queensland.

But on the brighter side, a deal on familiar territory (aka banking) could go down easier with ANZ’s investors than say, MYOB.

We also have the latest on iNova Pharmaceuticals’ auction. And elsewhere, CSIRO-backed satellite start-up Quasar is running a capital raising, and so are Morgan Stanley’s private bankers.

Happy reading,

Jessica Sier, Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Anthony Macdonald
Street Talk Editors