Good evening,

Canada’s Cooke Inc wins the cleanest bid for 2022 to date, securing Tassal Group for $1.1 billion with barely more than a glance under the bonnet and a few rounds of talks.

Cooke rocked up with bids at $4.67 and $4.85 a share in June, bought a 10.5 per cent blocking stake in the company, and returned for the knockout blow at $5.23 a share.

Importantly for Tassal, it was an unconditional and certain offer, at the sort of price Tassal’s board didn’t think investors would otherwise get to see anytime soon.

Cooke’s quickness between the wickets was made possible by its deep industry knowledge (it’s a big player in aquaculture globally), its due diligence on rival Tasmanian salmon group Huon Aquaculture last year and its repeated stalking of Tassal. It wouldn’t surprise Street Talk if Cooke had a Tassal file open for the past decade, or more.

Hats off also to Tassal who, blessed with a high conviction buyer, had it bid against itself three times without the hint of a rival bidder.

In Street Talk tomorrow, we delve back into the food sector and this time with a raising for oranges company Grove.

We also caught wind of a fintech raising - rare in the current climate - for Frontya, which helps home buyers increase their deposit in return for a capital gain on the property.

Happy reading,

Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood

Street Talk Editors