Good morning,

“What opportunities are there in ASX-listed fund managers?”

That was one of two audience questions posed to a panel of fundies at Livewire’s Live event on Tuesday. In the hot seats: two listed managers, Regal Funds Management’s Phil King and Airlie Funds Management’s Matt Williams, and two unlisted, L1 Capital’s Mark Landau and Auscap Asset Management’s Tim Carleton.

Only King was brave enough to take it on.

“I think it’s a really interesting space,” he said, prompting a laugh from the audience. “I think we’ve got a great team at Regal … a good management team, a good marketing team, a good investment team. I think we could add a lot of value to a lot of companies.”

The irony that laced this question, clearly directed at King, isn’t lost on Street Talk. It’s a question being chewed over by many in the industry, particularly Regal’s nearest listed rivals, as the ambitious manager spreads its wings. What’s Regal’s endgame?

King stunned last year when he made a bold play for Perpetual (with BPEA EQT) as doubts swirled about its Pendal buyout. He’s also moved on Rob Luciano’s VGI Partners, recently lobbed a bid for Pacific Current Group and snapped up a stake in Magellan last month.

As my colleague Joshua Peach wrote in a profile of King on Monday, fundies are betting King wants to get big – then get out … a succession plan if you will.

But if that’s the case, it has been well disguised in a frenzy of activity.

The other charged question which made the fundies shuffle awkwardly in their seats: what in your view will be the financial ramifications of the Yes or No referendum vote?

Sadly, too political for our titans of industry.

Happy reading,

• The Carlyle Group considers tilt at Affinity Education
• Grant Samuel slings lenders in Singapore for Stanmore’s BHP coal tilt
• Vitol launches $714 million Viva Energy block trade; Bank of America, UBS nab roles
• Melbourne life sciences business in strategic review; hires Rothschild & Co
• Adtech Sesimi is looking for a strategic investor to join its register; taps Lempriere Wells
• Book covered for Nido’s $99 million IPO

• There’s an M&A wave coming for the exploration sector, writes Peter Ker.
• BP CEO Bernard Looney has resigned after failing to disclose the extent of past personal relationships with colleagues, The Financial Times reports.
• Barclays boss C.S. Venkatakrishnan said he sees early signs of a rebound in mergers and acquisitions and a thawing of equity capital markets, according to Bloomberg News.

Stanmore Resources has performed well, posting 36 per cent increase in revenue to $US1.5 billion and 46 per cent increase in net profit to $US340 million for the June half.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.