Good morning,

Why is this Street Talk newsletter different from the others? We’re experimenting with different ways of bringing you the most useful information about what is happening in the market. (And we’d love to hear your thoughts. You can reach me at emma.rapaport@afr.com)

This week is easily the busiest week of the ASX reporting season. And there could be some M&A news. Among potential candidates is APA Group. Earlier this month, Street Talk reported Alinta’s owner, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, was expected to pick a preferred bidder for the company’s Pilbara power assets, worth $2 billion. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners could also be interested.

There’s bound to be plenty of interest at Star Entertainment too. The company will report on Thursday and may provide more clarity about a refinancing process it has under way. We last reported that Oaktree Capital, the special situations specialist that has repeatedly tried to get into Australia’s wagering industry, is working with Bain Capital on this one.

That same day, we have Whitehaven Coal, the frontrunner in the race for BHP’s Blackwater and Daunia coal mines,and Regal Partners. The Phil King-led fund manager is bidding for Pacific Current Group, where it owned 12 per cent, but could face a rival offer from GQG.

And, as we’ve seen, some companies use earnings to kill off M&A chatter. Last week, new Telstra boss Vicki Brady made her first big call, pulling the plug on the telco’s $15 billion InfraCo spin-off, as flagged by Street Talk. While some saw it as a smart move, Bell Potter’s high-profile adviser Charlie Aitken did not. He is urging clients to sell the “expensive and not all that defensive” stock in the wake of the result, soft guidance and lack of infrastructure spin-off. Founder-led tech platforms WiseTech, Xero, Life360 and Cettire are his top picks.

“Sell them cum dividend, feed the quacking dividend-obsessed ducks, and reallocate to genuine technology platforms both globally and locally,” he wrote in a note late last week.

Happy reading,

• Swedish buyout giant EQT Partners is wagging its tail for one of Australia’s largest veterinary chains VetPartners, which is expected to fetch as much as $1.4 billion.
• South Korean player Hanwha Energy Australia has tapped Azure Capital to find an investment partner for its shovel-ready solar and battery storage assets.
• Eccentric Melbourne professional services firm BlueRock has tapped Ad Astrato help it find a strategic partner.
• Bardoc Group will be hoping for a slam dunk as it attempts to find sellers among shareholders in Auckland-based basketball club New Zealand Breakers.

Hanwha Energy Australia’s up-for-sale portfolio of solar and battery assets includes its 65-megawatt Gregadoo solar farm and ready-to-build 120-megawatt solar farm and development-approved 30-megawatt battery energy storage system, both in Jindera. There’s also an option to acquire an interest in a 200-megawatt battery at Boiling Down.

• ASX futures down 23 points or 0.3% to 7070 near 6am AEDT
• AUD flat at US64.06¢
• Bitcoin flat at $US26,130
• Dow +0.1% S&P flat Nasdaq -0.2%
• FTSE -0.7% DAX -0.7% CAC -0.4%
• Gold flat at $US1889.31 an ounce
• Brent oil +0.8% to $US84.80 a barrel
• Iron ore +0.9% to $US106.55 a tonne

Australian shares are set to start the week lower, in line with weakness overseas. However, a flood of profit reports could easily turn sentiment positive. ASX futures were down 23 points or 0.32% to 7070 over the weekend. The Australian dollar was holding ever so slightly above US64¢. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended modestly lower to finish last week, though it did recover from an opening drop. There’s an expectation among some investors that more selling is likely this week; others see a potential further 4 per cent drop and test of the 4200 mark. (Read more online.)

• Discount supermarket giant Aldi is set to acquire supermarket chains Winn-Dixie and Harveys, drastically increasing its US footprint, The Washington Post reports.
• Seesaw action at golf putter maker Sacks Parente Golf which ended its first week of trading below its $4 IPO after a record 624 per cent debut, Bloomberg reports.
• Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has retained the backing of the Wall Street bank’s directors and some of its top shareholders amid fierce internal backlash, according to the Financial Times.
• One of the fast-growing asset managers in the United States has landed on Australian soil, Aaron Weinman reports.