Good evening,

The NSW government has invited investment banks to pitch their services for the second round of the biggest shake-up in the state’s toll roads, which has already singled out Transurban as enemy No. 1.

Sources said that over the weekend, investment banks’ infrastructure teams began receiving requests for proposals, and the responses were due early next week. On offer, is the opportunity to act as the NSW treasury and transport’s lead financial adviser on changes to the tolling system expected by the year-end – a not very lucrative role, but still a coveted one for bankers, given its proximity to the corridors of power.

Of note, the latest RFP is different from the one won by RBC Capital Markets earlier in the year. Sources said RBC was tasked with providing a broad-based commercial overlay and recommendation to the NSW Treasury ahead of the July report, different from a traditional scoping study. The task at hand now for the chosen bankers would be to help the government structure a solution that meets its objectives and can be implemented with existing concession holders.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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Wall cladding and plasterboard maker James Hardie is in the preliminary stages of an acquisition in the United States, consistent with recent results’ disclosure about tripling earnings in the region via mergers and acquisitions, investor sources told this column.

The Australian sharemarket edged higher on Monday in an otherwise subdued trading session as investors weighed a flurry of profit results that hit the ASX.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.