Good evening,

It’s silly season on the ASX.

After ACL mounted an unusual nil-premium bid for bigger rival Healius on Monday, Andrew Forrest opened Tuesday with a hostile takeover bid for nickel play Mincor Resources.

Forrest’s Mincor bid’s 35 per cent premium was quickly eaten away by enthusiastic investors, who drove Mincor shares up by 42.3 per cent in the day’s trading, obviously thinking there’s more to come. The target board’s said as much, sprinkling its response with “strategic importance” and reminding shareholders Forrest’s offer wasn’t best-and-final yet.

In Street Talk tonight, we take a look at Healius’ defence strategy so far. It’s been a sitting duck for months and has had approaches in the not-too-distant past, but is acting all surprised by ACL’s approach.

Gresham Advisory is on the scene with a beauty parade of bigger, bulge-bracket banks under way.

Elsewhere, we have an update on Goldman Sachs’ local balance sheet reshuffle, which has set loose its stake in d’Albora Marinas (owner of yacht mooring spots in well-heeled neighbourhoods like Rushcutters Bay and Mosman). MA Financial is understood to have hammered out a deal to buy the majority stake, to sit alongside current investor Balmain Corporation.

Lastly, there are signs of life in the IPO market as last year’s star listing candidate Redox heads out for fundie meetings again. The situation’s the opposite at Origin Energy, whose bidders were expected to sign mid-March but are now causing arb funds consternation with the wait.

And we got our hands on the latest musical chairs at Till Payments, which has gone from $500 million valuation to $50 million odd in less than two years.

Happy reading,
Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Street Talk editors