Many in retirement are travelling comfortably, with three key factors contributing to their happiness – good physical and mental health and enough money to enjoy life.
Perhaps the assumption that markets are still anchored by predictable economic policies needs to be challenged. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, political volatility – once background noise – is potentially reshaping investment risk at a structural level.
IPO Watch: Battery listings soar, biotechs take a backseat
While the crisis in Ukraine enters its fourth month, the knock-on effect caused by supply disruptions to energy and commodity prices has been a positive windfall for companies listing in April. In total there were 13 companies that listed on the ASX, with the majority being either energy- or materials-focused, in particular, battery minerals (lithium) explorers.
IPO watch – April
Most interest was in the Firetail Resources (ASX: FTL) IPO. On the day of listing, the battery minerals explorer finished up 46% to 36.5 cents. Shares hit a high of 38.5 cents, giving investors a cool 54% gain for the day. Firetail has an extensive battery-metal-focused portfolio of exploration assets across Australia which include the Yalgoo lithium project and Mt Slopeaway nickel, cobalt and rubidium project in Queensland. In the raising, it secured investment from a Chinese battery materials company, Shanghai Jayson New Energy Materials (Jayson).
International Graphite (ASX:IG6) was the best performing IPO for April, its shares listing at 20c rising to 44c. That’s a rise of 120 per cent since 5 April. It aims to develop its first fully-integrated graphite production facility to supply anode material to meet the growing international demand for lithium-based batteries.
IPO watch – Upcoming IPOs
Chrysos IPO
Booked in for 6 May is the biggest IPO of the year, gold testing business Chrysos Corporation (ASX:C79). The company manufactures gold assay machines employing its PhotonAssay intellectual property, which is said to be the most innovative and valuable assaying solution available. According to the company it works by “hitting samples with high-energy X-rays, Chrysos PhotonAssayâ„¢ technology causes excitation of atomic nuclei allowing enhanced analysis of gold, silver and complementary elements in as little as two minutes.” This allows “faster, safer, and more accurate gold analysis.”
According to the Australian Financial Review, lead manager Barrenjoey set the IPO price at $6.50 a share, valuing the company at $535 million on an enterprise value basis and $637 million in terms of market capitalisation. The capital raising is for $180 million.
M&A Activity during 1Q22
According to the HLB Mann Judd Australian M&A activity for Q2 2022 report, the number of M&A transactions completed in Australia dropped, while the average deal value increased significantly compared to the prior year. There were 334 deals completed compared to 351 in Q2 FY2021, being a decrease of 5% with the average deal rising to $129m from $92m in Q2 FY2021 to Q2 FY2022.
Here were the major deals in Q2 – listed by transaction value
