Good morning,

A devastating evening for the Brisbane Broncos – and for their biggest backers. The Queensland team were bested by the Penrith Panthers on Sunday night, who clinched their third straight NRL title.

Brisbane may be the richest club in the NRL, backed by No.1 ticket holder Lachlan Murdoch (now the chairman of News Corp, which owns 69 per cent of the club) but a spot in the grand final hasn’t helped its share price. It’s down 7 per cent this year.

(Another 22 per cent is owned by BGM Projects, a private company belonging to property developer Phil Murphy.)

Then there’s News Corp’s betting concern Betr. The publishing giant has put plenty of cash into the company, which is run by bookie Matt Tripp. As The Australian Financial Review has reported this week, Betr will be paying up big time. It was letting punters place 100-to-1 bets on the Panthers winning three times in a row. That’s got to hurt.

The loss was doubly tough for Broncos chairman Karl Morris who is battling high turnover at his stockbroking firm Ord Minnett.

It’s not all bad news. Profits at the ASX-listed Broncos jumped 47 per cent to $3.7 million in the half ending June 30, thanks to additional games at Suncorp Stadium, larger crowds and merchandise sales. Still, if the Broncos had pulled off a win, we reckon they’d be a run on maroon and gold jerseys.

Happy reading,

• Pacific Equity Partners, QIC run health checks at Cura Day Hospitals; indicative bids land.
• Endeavour tasks Citi and Jarden with clean-up on aisle Mathieson.
• Mike Cannon-Brookes-back investing start-up Spaceship is sounding the market for potential buyers, again.
• Chinese steel giant Baowu shops its 50 per cent stake in Queensland’s Eagle Downs coking coal mine.
• Ross Garnaut’s Zen Energy has lured a Macquarie Asset Management dealmaker to its C-suite.

• Birkenstock Holding and its private equity owner are seeking a valuation of more than $US9 billion in its IPO, The Financial Times reports.
• Billionaire Bill Ackman is considering a deal with Elon Musk-owned X Corp as part of a new investment vehicle, Bloomberg reports.
• Carlyle Group, the alternative asset manager, is dismantling its US consumer, media and retail investing team, Bloomberg reports.

Cura Day Hospitals makes $40 million a year at the earnings line and is slated to spell a $500 million-plus payday for owner, Germany’s Fresenius.