Good evening,

Remember the NSW government’s auction for its land titles registry?

We are about to get a mini version of it again! Street Talk can reveal 20 per cent shareholder NatWest Pension Fund has hired RBC Capital Markets to embark on a buyer hunt for its stake, just as it celebrates the sixth anniversary of the asset’s $2.6 billion privatisation with its consortium mates.

Land registries have been hotly contested assets and Street Talk’s tally of past bidders turned up Macquarie Asset Management and PSP Investments as the two parties most likely to take an IM for NatWest’s stake. Both popped up at Victorian land title auctions in 2018 – Macquarie has the South Australian land titles and a stake in the NSW ones, while PSP is yet to land a deal in the sector locally.

Over on the ASX boards, we spotted Bigtincan Holdings quietly sitting on an 80¢-a-share approach from New York investor Siris Capital, which is the same level that SQN bid last year. The stock’s trading at 50¢ a pop and the company has built something of a reputation for rebuffing suitors. It will be interesting to see how its shareholders react.

Elsewhere, we spotted insurer Nib checking out Crescent Capital Partners’ 24-7 Healthcare, listed vanadium player Technology Metals Australia was stitching up a raising, Sayers Group poached a Goldman Sachs deal maker, and St Barbara’s rival bidder Silver Lake Resources still couldn’t get ahead despite a higher bid.

Happy reading,
Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood, Emma Rapaport
Street Talk editors