Good evening,

After six days and no calls back, the writing was on the wall for fundies who put in bids for SG Lottery’s IPO.

And it’s true, American giant Brookfield has rained over the IPO parade with a close to $US6 billion ($8 billion) offer after owner Scientific Games shunted the dual-track auction towards a clean exit instead of a partial float.

With that, what would have been Australia’s biggest IPO since Medibank Private in 2014 has quietly died.

Although the wait for SG Lottery bidders is over, it is still dragging on for the shareholders at Australian Pharmaceutical Industries, which is courting competing offers from Wesfarmers and Sigma Healthcare.

API said today the due diligence was done and it is now negotiating with the two bidders.

Street Talk reports the wait has turned minds to an interesting question. Should Wesfarmers go for it and add Sigma to its list of potential targets next to API? After all, it is cashed up and Sigma is already at the negotiating table.

Elsewhere, Soul Patts is shopping around its copper spin-off Round Oak with a $330 million price tag; law firm Mills Oakley has acquired another firm to ride the boom in activity; and 17-year-old gaming retailer OffGames is running a private round to warm up for an IPO next year.

Happy reading,

Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup and Kanika Sood

Street Talk editors