This week’s a big litmus test for Australian dealmaking.
With confidence knocked around by Ukraine, market volatility and rising interest rates, it’s been a slower start to 2022 than investment banking bosses and law firm heads were expecting.
Bankers reckon there’s plenty of deals in the pipeline - some have been in the works for months and have most details locked in - but either boards have lacked confidence to pull the trigger or market movements have created too big a gap between buyer and seller price expectations.
If deals get parked again for this week, they could easily stay that way until after the school holidays, Easter break, Anzac Day and the like. The mood on Sunday was that it could be another week of preparation and scratching around.
Still, Street Talk’s found a few situations to write about.
Macquarie’s Axicom auction has taken a late twist, with big customer Optus trying to throw its weight around and use the process to get a better deal for itself.
Melbourne businessman and Financial Review Rich Lister Ruffy Geminder is thinking about Loscam Australia, but he isn’t necessarily going to try to do it alone.
