Good evening,

What a few days at Altura Mining!

Just as its bankers at Azure and Canaccord Genuity were set to launch a company-saving recapitalisation, the group's previously supportive lenders pulled the rug on the company and tipped it into receivership. The lenders then went and agreed to sell Altura's lithium mine to next-door neighbour Pilbara Minerals, which had already worked up a $230 million funding package with the help of Macquarie Capital and AustralianSuper.

But Altura – and even the lender appointed receiver KordaMentha – said not so fast. The mine needs to be sold to the highest bidder, not just via bilateral talks with one party Pilbara.

Pilbara then revealed its ace – it already had a signed deal with the lenders that included matching rights, a break fee and the like, to have it very much in the box seat.

This is arguably the year's stickiest and most frantic M&A/capital markets situation. It cannot be long before someone goes to the court and/or the Takeovers Panel to challenge Pilbara's deal with the lenders, Altura's recapitalisation or some other matter we haven't even thought of yet!

Meanwhile, back on the east coast, Macquarie Capital and Morgan Stanley's bankers launched "Project Truth" – the year's most anticipated IPO, forensic software group Nuix. We reveal key details from documents sent to a select group of funds on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, PwC has been mandated to prepare a jobs and training agency for sale, while Quadrant Private Equity is homing in on another acquisition.

Happy reading,

Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd