Good evening,

TPG Capital hasn’t wasted any time getting to work at InvoCare.

The PE firm had lobbed a bid before the markets opened, after picking up 17.8 per cent of the company in a raid. It was met with open arms by tired shareholders, but Street Talk has found a grumpy investor on InvoCare’s register that’s refusing to roll over so far.

Singapore’s Kuang Ming Investments Pty Ltd, the funeral provider’s largest shareholder, is understood to have held its stake close to its chest.

It paid in the 10s and 11s to buy the shares in 2021. All of that means TPG’s bid – although a juicy uplift to the last close – doesn’t really scratch the itch for a takeover premium at Kuang Ming, being a slim 10.5 per cent above where it bought shares two years ago.

Elsewhere, Ventia’s backers Apollo and CIMIC have sold down some of their IPO holdings in an after-markets trade.

Ventia is one of the lucky few in the IPO class of 2021, where initial backers have been able to use their escrow expiries and sell down stock. (Crescent Capital’s Australian Clinical Labs, and Link’s stake in PEXA are the other two that Street Talk has seen come loose.)

Poor share-price performance has kept hordes of them parched of liquidity, including at Latitude Financial, Pepper Money, APM Human Services, 29Metals and Judo Capital. There are others waiting in the wings too, such as the Teohs at TPG Telecom and founder Dean Mintz at Cettire.

But even at Ventia, the sellers had to exit at a price lower than their initial IPO price expectations. There is still the overhang of their remaining shareholding – meaning Ventia shares have some time to go before they can trade in their full glory.

We have also spotted a retirement living deal, hedge fund royalty Millennium is hiring an Aussie, and UK’s Nationwide Building Society is prepping its first Australian dollar deal.

Happy reading,

Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Street Talk Editors