Good evening,

ASX-listed invoice financing business Earlypay is ready for another spin on the auction block, just as it approaches the 15th anniversary of Affinity Equity Partners’ Scottish Pacific walking away from a $130 million bid.

Street Talk can reveal that Earlypay’s board has mandated boutique corporate adviser Highbury Partnership to seek bids for the business, which had a $249 million book as of June 30, and reported $35 million in revenue and $4.9 million in underlying net profit.

Sources said Earlypay chairman Geoffrey Sam had called in the bankers after learning about the intention of its largest shareholder, the ASX-listed COG Financial Services, to sell its 21.4 per cent stake in the company should a decent offer present itself. They said Earlypay’s board had decided it was better off hanging the for-sale sign than making a home with a new majority shareholder.

The company declined to comment when contacted by Street Talk on Thursday evening.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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Street Talk understands Peabody Energy’s chief executive, James Grech, flew to Japan in mid-December to meet dealmakers from Mitsui, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC), JFE and Kobe Steel. These energy and resources players are minority shareholders inAnglo American’s coal mines and hold pre-emption rights that allow them to match Peabody’s bid for individual mines.

The Australian sharemarket finished lower on Thursday, led by declines in the mining giants as tariff threats from US President Donald Trump continued to weigh on sentiment.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.