Good evening,

There’s some high-stakes dealmaking action at AMP’s private markets demerger.

Street Talk has spotted Asian real estate giant ESR at Collimate Capital. And it’s not just tyre-kicking but is also understood to be close to gaining exclusivity, even though its intentions are not yet clear.

Collimate has a $24 billion real estate portfolio, which would be a sweet addition to the $US140 billion portfolio of ESR.

The question, if ESR firms up its offer, would be whether AMP’s big-ticket institutional clients like the change. They’ve shown themselves to be willing to swap out AMP for other managers such as Dexus in the past, but this is different.

And of course, there’s the question of valuation as the finances of the private markets business separates from the main one.

Elsewhere, Macquarie Asset Management has shown up at Uniti Group with Canadian pension fund PSP on its arm; Songtradr is talking up its M&A plans as it rattles the tin for a private round; and Web 3.0 fund manager Holon is in a $70 million Series B raising.

Finally, Goldman Sachs Australia senior investment banker Chris Champion is off to work with a long-term client.

Happy reading,

Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Street Talk Editors