Orocobre is quick out of the blocks with the first chunky equity raising of 2018, tapping UBS to run an entitlement offer as part of a bigger funding package. 

The Swiss bank sent terms to fund managers on Tuesday morning, offering Orocobre's existing shareholders one new share for every 20 they already owned to raise $79 million. 

New stock was being offered at $6.55 a share which was an 8.3 per cent discount to the theoretical ex-rights price and an 8.6 per cent discount to the last close, according to terms sent to fund managers. 

Importantly, the rights issue was also priced at a 12.7 per cent discount to $7.50 a share - the mark at which strategic investor Toyota Tsusho Corporation was taking a 15 per cent stake in the company for another $282 million. 

UBS was seeking institutional acceptances into the rights issue by 11am on Wednesday, while the offer was to be followed by a shortfall bookbuild that would close at midday on Thursday. 

Proceeds from the entitlement offer and placement, together worth $361 million, were to fully fund Orocobre's phase two capital expenditure at its Olaroz lithium project in Argentina. 

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Auckland International Airport has found a buyer its 24.55 per cent stake in Cairns Airport owner North Queensland Airports.  

Fellow North Queensland Airports Perron Investments and The Infrastructure Fund will take the stake in a deal worth $370 million. 

Perron is the privately owned investment vehicle of Australia's 10th richest person Stan Perron, while The Infrastructure Fund is a domestic institutional investor. 

Under an existing pre-emption agreement North Queensland Airports' biggest investor, a fund run by JPMorgan Asset Management, may opt to take up its share of Auckland International Airport's stake. 

If not, the shares will fall to Perron and The Infrastructure Fund. 

First NZ Capital and its affiliate Credit Suisse advised Auckland International Airport, along with law firm Minter Ellison.

It is understood RBC Capital Markets and ABL advised Perron and The Infrastructure Fund. 

The deal values Cairns Airport's equity at $NZ1.51 billion ($1.38 billion), which is about 20-times forecast profit based on earnings forecast estimates by Kiwi stockbroker Forsyth Barr. 

As Street Talk reported last week, Auckland International Airport has had First NZ/Credit Suisse marketing its stake recently, as part of a strategic review. The company told shareholders earlier this month that it had seen "strong buyer interest" in the non-core asset, and it was progressing plans to sell its holding. 

North Queensland Airports owns Cairns Airport - Australia's seventh largest airport by annual passenger numbers - and Mackay Airport.

orth Queensland Airports reported $142.7 million revenue and a $46.8 million net profit after tax in the year to June 30, according to AIA's annual report. 

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Investors are closely watching developments at the nation's biggest cattle business, Australian Agricultural Company, as the new man at the helm looks to firm up his team. 

Street Talk understands executive headhunters at Egon Zehnder are on deck to conduct a search for a permanent chief financial officer and head of marketing. 

It was just last month that AACo announced it had turned to Westpac Banking Corp's fixed-income specialist Hugh Killen to bolster its performance after a five-month international search for a new chief executive.

Killen - who formally starts in the new role in February - spent almost three decades in the banking industry, including 15 years with Westpac where he was most recently leading its fixed income, currency and commodities business.

While Killen hasn't run an agricultural operation and never been a CEO, pastoral links run deep in the Killen family, which still has links to grazing assets spanning NSW and the Northern Territory. 

 AACo's website lists Scott Prebble as acting CFO since January 2017 after he had stints as group financial controller and head of investor relations. The website doesn't list a marketing boss. 

Street Talk revealed last month that the cattle company has been quietly hiring banking types in recent months, including Mr Killen and former UBS co-head of equity capital markets Dane FitzGibbon, who is the company's head of strategy and growth.

Investors are also keen to understand how AACo's largest investor Tavistock views its 42.5 per cent holding. Because of Killen's close relationship with Tavistock some in the market had pondered that a privatisation may be the end game. 

This column understands that isn't, however, on the cards. Tavistock is an international private investment organisation founded by billionaire Joe Lewis. 

Elsewhere, it looks likely there will plenty of merger and acquisitions among Australian bookies this year.

Crown Resorts has already announced a divestment of corporate bookie Crownbet, with its chief Matthew Tripp understood to having a funding deal in place to pay for the transaction by February.

Tripp would like a partner though, which potentially brings in William Hill.

It's London-listed parent said late on Monday that it would be undertaking a strategic review of its Australian business, blaming changing market conditions.

A combination is needed to take on a rejuvenated Tabcorp, now a market giant after its $11 billion merger with Tatts, and Paddy Power's fast-growing Sportsbet.

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Online mortgage broker Lendi, which is backed by investors including Macquarie Group, has completed its latest round of capital raising. 

Street Talk understands Lendi last month ruled off a $25 million capital raise which was oversubscribed and supported by some existing shareholders, sophisticated investors and a number of blue-chip Australian institutions. The company is seeking to take a bigger slice of the local mortgage market after accounting for about 1 per cent last year. 

Lendi is 40 per cent owned by founders and employees and its big name minority shareholders include Bailador, Macquarie Group and several sophisticated investors. 

Early investors included CrownBet boss Matthew Tripp. Although it is unclear if he remains on the register.  ​

This is the latest fund raising effort by Lendi. In earlier rounds, the company raised $3.1 million from high net worth investors to scale the business nationally and in 2014 secured a further $6 million.

The company developed an online application process which it claims provides a "faster and simpler" way of getting a home loan. It now has 200 team members across four offices.

Lendi - founded by David Hyman, Sebastian Watkins, Martin Lam and Mark Kalajzich - has also been busy forging new partnerships. Last year, property business Domain pushed into the home loan market by establishing a mortgage broking service.

The business, Domain Loan Finder, was set up as a joint venture with Lendi. Domain, which is majority owned by Fairfax Media publisher of The Australian Financial Review, retains 60 per cent of the broking joint venture but does not own a direct stake in Lendi.

 

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Norton Rose Fulbright insurance lawyer John Moran is the latest partner to decamp from the global law firm. 

Street Talk understands Moran is headed to international rival Clyde & Co. The resignation follows that of Moran's former colleague Cameron Thomson, a real estate partner who flagged his exit from Norton Rose last year to join Clyde & Co. 

It is unclear when Moran, who works closely with Norton Rose's global and local chair Tricia Hobson in the insurance practice, is starting at his new employer. He joined Norton Rose in 2012 after a stint as a senior associate at Matheson.

Spokespeople for Norton Rose and Clyde & Co declined to comment. 

Norton Rose and local entity Henry Davis York suffered a spate of departures in the lead up to and following a December 1 2017 go live date for their merger.

On this column's numbers, more than 30 partners have resigned from the firms in the past six-to-nine months. 

Other firms that have lured Norton Rose staff include Corrs and Pinsent Masons. 

The latter lured Norton Rose construction and infrastructure partner Adrienne Parker. She joined Norton Rose partners Matthew Croagh, Bill Ryan and Rob Buchanan in making the leap to Pinsent. 

 

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