Credit Suisse's equities desk handled a 7 per cent stake in Nine Entertainment Co on Friday morning, worth $84.3 million.

Sources were pointing to hedge fund Oaktree Capital Management as the seller.

The 61.2 million shares crossed at $1.38 each before the market opened. Nine stock last closed at $1.375.

It's expected to signal the end of an era for Nine.

Oaktree was one of two distressed debt investors that took control of Nine in 2012 via debt-for-equity swap.

The owners then took Nine to the ASX-boards, re-listing the business in December 2013. Oaktree retained a 14.2 per cent stake at the initial public offering, before reducing its holding to 7 per cent in 2015.

It comes as Oaktree's dealmakers turn their attention to rival free-to-air television company Ten Network Holdings.

The firm is one party keeping an eye on Ten's sale process, which is being handled by Moelis & Co and Ten receiver PPB Advisory.

Interestingly, Moelis advised Oaktree through the Nine deal back in 2012.

It's understood Oaktree was one of a handful of distressed debt and turnaround investors which expressed an interest to Ten prior to the company going into administration in June. Since then, Ten's lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia has receiver PPB Advisory in control of the company, and back talking to potential white knight investors.

Oaktree has $US101 billion ($130 billion) of assets under management and is best known for its founder, Howard Marks – one of the world's most celebrated value investors.

Locally, it snapped up millions of dollars of Nine debt after the financial crisis, ultimately accumulating a large ownership stake in a debt-for-equity swap. Oaktree has also provided capital to troubled surfwear firm Billabong.

The Nine trade also comes as equities desks focus on block trades, and comes only hours after rival UBS handled Genting's stake in The Star Entertainment Group, as revealed by Street Talk.

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Japanese staffing company Persol Group has made a $778 million bid for Australian contract employment and maintenance services Programmed Maintenance Services. 

As earlier revealed by Street Talk, Persol offered $3.02 a share, which was a 68 per cent premium to the last close.

Macquarie Capital and Ashurst are advising Programmed Maintenance. Greenhill and Allen & Overy are advising Persol, formerly known as Temp Holdings.

The deal was structured as a scheme of arrangement and recommended by Programmed's board in the absence of a higher offer. 

Programmed told investors that it was seeking to have the deal completed by the middle of October. 

Programmed is expected to meet its biggest shareholders in coming days, to spruik benefits of the deal.

Substantial shareholders include BT Investment Management, Challenger's NovaPort Capital, Allan Gray and Fidelity International. 

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The main game for ASX-listed Pepper Group in the next month or two will be whether KKR Credit Advisors formalises a $650 million bid for the lender and loan servicing company.

But Street Talk understands there may also be action over the medium term in one of Pepper's Asian investments. Industry players are keen to find out if Pepper is a seller of its 12 per cent stake in Asian subprime lender PrimeCredit. 

The carrying value of the holding is almost $100 million in Pepper's financial accounts and sources have suggested several strategic options are being canvassed for the investment.

Pepper isn't thought to be an imminent seller and advisers are not actively working on a deal or PrimeCredit divestment. However, some consideration would be warranted given fellow consortium partner York Capital is said to be weighing exiting its PrimeCredit investment. 

Pepper was part of a consortium led by China Travel Financial Holdings which acquired PrimeCredit from Standard Chartered two years ago. China Travel took a majority stake as part of the transaction. 

Initial plans by the consortium centred on accelerating growth at PrimeCredit and looking to float the company in Hong Kong in two-to-three years.

In the meantime, Pepper has granted exclusivity to KKR in order for it to perform due diligence. As part of the indicative proposal, revealed by this column, shareholders would receive a fully franked dividend of 3¢ a share on top of the offer price of $3.60 per share.

Pepper's largest shareholder is non-executive chairman Seumas Dawes.

 

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Bain Capital's after school care roll-up is the gift that keeps on giving for Goldman Sachs. 

Street Talk can reveal the investment bank has started sounding out institutional investors on an innovative $300 million-plus refinancing proposal on behalf of the private equity giant.

Sources said Goldman Sachs had structured the refinance as a senior Australian Term Loan B and a mezzanine second lien tranche, which will take out the existing Australian bank financing put in place earlier this year and give it firepower for a bolt-on deal. 

It is understood the refinance is targeted at institutional investors and leaves the ambitious company with a more flexible debt facility than a traditional bank financing.

Deal approval is subject to a credit rating, which is said to be imminent, with the senior debt margin expected to be priced at about 500 basis points above the benchmark rate.

The refinance comes after Bain agreed last month to buy Junior Adventures Group, the No.2 player in Australia's out-of-hours care market, for about $100 million.

Camp Australia, which Goldman Sachs-advised Bain bought in December 2016 for $400 million, is the biggest player with 742 sites across the country. 

Junior Adventures Group operates in another 400 schools under its two brands - OSHClub and Helping Hands Network. 

The latest M&A deal is structured as a merger, however Bain is expected to to walk away with a controlling stake in JAG. [First though it must get through a competition review which is not a formality. Earlier this month, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Development Kate Ellis wrote directly to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to warn the merger had the potential to drive up fees for parents, decrease quality and could lead to anti-competitive behaviour.] 

Bain is also expected to target other bolt-on deals. 

Elsewhere at Goldman Sachs, the bank has been busy beefing up its team with a few new recruits. 

Goldman Sachs has lured CLSA utilities equity research analyst Baden Moore to join its Global Investment Research team in an oil and gas role, working with Mark Wiseman, based in Sydney. 

Separately, Street Talk can reveal the bank has also hired former CBA Equities and RBS staffer William Allott to join its research sales team. 

 

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Malaysian casino giant Genting Group has sold its substantial stake in Australia's The Star Entertainment Group, Street Talk can reveal.

Sources said the shareholding, which represented 5.62 per cent of the issued capital or 46.4 million shares, was offered at $5.07 each.

Investment bank UBS managed the block trade. Shares in The Star closed on Thursday at $5.12.

KT Lim's Genting empire, which controls Asia's second-biggest gaming company, Genting Singapore, bought an initial 9.7 per cent stake in The Star -  then known as Echo Entertainment - in early 2012 without approaching the board.

That deal came shortly after arch rival James Packer's Crown Resorts snapped up a 10 per cent holding in a sharemarket raid. Crown later sold out of Echo in 2013.

Sources suggested Crown or related entities may have bought some of the shares on offer on Thursday night.

Interestingly, and as first reported by Street Talk, analysts and fund managers have posed the question in recent weeks of whether Crown Resorts chairman John Alexander would consider ramping up the local business with a tilt at The Star.

Citi analysts reckon that Crown could boost earnings per share by up to 22 per cent by acquiring The Star in an all-cash deal at a 30 per cent premium to its last close. 

The analysts said such a tie-up had some merit including enhanced operating scale and geographic expansion for Crown, and could see $85 million to $135 million in annual synergies. 

Of course it would not be the first time Crown's major shareholder James Packer had bought a stake in The Star. Packer took a 10 per cent stake in 2012, about the same time Genting bought in, before offloading the shares one yet later.

At the time, Crown and The Star were locked in battle for a second casino license in Sydney.

In May, The Star warned of soft conditions in the gaming market and the wider economy, as the sector battles to win back international VIPs following the detention of Crown Resorts staff in China last October.

The company said it was continuing to cut costs to "reflect trading conditions".

For UBS, the trade narrows the gap on the equity capital markets league table between itself and No.1 ranked Macquarie Capital.

Macquarie did 13 deals worth $US1.67 billion in the six months to June 30, while UBS was in second place with 16 deals worth $US1.29 billion, on Dealogic's numbers.

 

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