Good evening,

It felt like a bit of a day of capital markets thrills and spills.

Atlas Arteria confirmed our report that it was bidding for the Chicago Skyway motorway in the United States, only for major shareholder IFM Investors to sensationally call on its board to drop the bid.

In a letter obtained by the AFR, IFM called the bid “significantly value destructive” and threatened to take action against Atlas Arteria’s board.

It’s a stunning outbreak of corporate Australia biffo. We knew Atlas Arteria wasn’t keen on letting IFM Investors in for diligence and was contesting the precise size of its stake, and we knew IFM had doubts about Skyway, but the letter signed by IFM’s global infrastructure boss Kyle Mangini takes it to a whole new level.

It’s also public proof (finally) that IFM doesn’t mind rattling a few cages to get an outcome for its investors.

Monday’s spills include the missing Citi ECM trade – parked for now, investors were told – and Link Group, which is struggling (again) to lock down its takeover.

In Street Talk tomorrow, we have a found a REIT equity raising!

ASX-listed Aspen Group’s trying to break the raisings drought, with a deal via Moelis and Taylor Collison slated to launch on Tuesday.

We also check in on MinRes and its lithium spin-off, and get some feedback on furniture business Koala’s pitch to listed equity investors delivered on Monday.

Happy reading,
Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Street Talk editors