Good evening,

The rejections are piling up in Australian M&A.

US software company Autodesk has walked away from Altium, after talks with the ASX-listed group about a $40-a-share bid fell on deaf ears. Autodesk’s rejection takes recent knocked-back bids above the $50 billion mark – and they’re just the ones that we know about and are playing out publicly.

It’s hard for suitors to gain traction. A 30 per cent premium doesn’t seem to be enough in a rising market, while usually mouthy fund managers have been slow to call for significant action.

So, while the bids are flying around like confetti, Australian M&A is stuck in a bit of a pregnant pause. In Street Talk tomorrow, we look at why.

One place that there is a bit of investor frustration is at Oil Search, which lost CEO Kieran Wulff on Monday after little more than a year in the top job. There are a bunch of funds on Oil Search’s register who reckon they would be happy to swap their stock for that in an acquirer, at the right price, naturally.

We also have news on bitcoin miner Iris Energy’s latest capital raising and eye-catching valuation, and delve into IPO hopeful Cyara’s maiden pitch to investors.

Happy reading,
Anthony Macdonald and Yolanda Redrup
Street Talk Editors