DataRoom AM: Nine on demand

There’s yet more movement on the Nine Entertainment register as investors wonder if David Gyngell will use his post-IPO firepower.

IAG, Sterling Education and Genesis Energy are all progressing with their capital raising efforts, Royal Dutch Shell isn’t giving away whether its Woodside stake is part of the non-core assets set for divestment and there’s a Bitcoin company headed for the ASX.

Fund manager AMP has popped up on Nine Entertainment’s register with a substantial stake at an interesting time for the broadcaster.

AMP is in charge of a 5.29 per cent stake in Nine, following news that Perpetual has increased its stake to 8.05 per cent.

"I think there is a fair amount of pent-up demand and the unnatural holders are gradually leaking their holding out into the market,” Nine chief operating officer Simon Kelly told The Australian.

Ever since Nine was floated back onto the ASX by main hedge fund owners Apollo Global Management and Oaktree Capital without its old crushing debt burden, there’s been consistent speculation that chief executive David Gyngell will use that flexibility on an acquisition or two at some stage.

The Australian Financial Review reports that APN News & Media is considered a compelling candidate, given that Nine has an eye for radio and outdoor advertising opportunities.

Elsewhere, ANZ Bank and JPMorgan helped Insurance Australia Group raise $350 million in floating notes yesterday for its Wesfarmers insurance underwriting acquisition.

Meanwhile, Sterling Early Education has cemented its IPO price at $2 a share for its $200m float, while the AFR reports the New Zealand IPO for Genesis Energy will raise up to $NZ808m ($763m)

The evergreen saga of Royal Dutch Shell’s share overhang on the Woodside Petroleum register has been revisited with the British giant restating that it’s targeting $US15bn in non-core asset sales over 2014-15. However, there was no specific mention of Woodside.

Meanwhile, Australia has its first listed Bitcoin company in the works with digitalBTC hoping to raise $9.1m through the reverse takeover of Macro Energy.

And finally, in good news for investment banks, company boards are growing more confident about making acquisitions and taking on debt for dealmaking, according to Clayton Utz and Gilbert Tobin.