Good evening,

Canadian gold giant Newmont Corporation made sure it was an exciting return from the Easter break.

Its $29.4 billion (16 per cent higher) bid for ASX-listed Newcrest Mining quickly won over substantial shareholder Allan Gray, taking its portfolio manager Simon Mawhinney from calling the original scrip bid as “a bit light” to a “clear improvement” on Tuesday morning.

It’s great news, and by the end of trading had driven up share prices for other gold miners including Ramelius (up 5.8 per cent), Evolution Mining (up 3.85 per cent) and Northern Star (up 2.12 per cent). The target closed at $29.74 – a long way off the $32.87 implied bid – but that’s to be expected in scrip bids.

The deal has several checkpoints to cross – DD on both sides, board recommendation, scheme vote, FIRB approvals and the like – but it all seems friendly so far.

Elsewhere in mining, South32 was tipped to think about M&A as Trilogy Metals (another Canadian!) prepped an equity raising, and Nickel Industries was looking to reopen high-yield corporate debt markets with a $US550 million odd new money and refi deal via Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.

In private equity, we spotted cinema chain Hoyts’ old owner Pacific Equity Partners sniffing around the up-for-sale business. That’s nearly 16 years after PEP’s dealmakers would have first looked at Hoyts ahead of their late 2007 investment, and some exciting early competition for the auction.

Lastly, last year’s IPO hopeful Hiro Brands was hunting for a strategic backer via McGrathNicol, MilkRun’s closure had rivals circling its assets, and Credit Suisse lost another banker.

Happy reading,
Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Street Talk editors