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Good evening,

Reporting season hasn’t disappointed with big deals firmly on the agenda, and we’re only halfway through. But there’s a potential block trade that has bankers hot to trot.

ASX-listed retirement product provider and fund manager Challenger has been under a cloud, with first-half profit and life sales coming in below expectations. Shares fell 9 per cent on results day culminating in a 20 per cent decline over the past year. The $3.8 billion market cap company last closed at $5.47 – flirting with lows last seen in June 2021.

Institutional investors have also avoided the stock like the plague after major shareholder, Wall Street asset manager Apollo Management, reduced its stake in the annuities and funds management business to 9.9 per cent from 20.12 per cent in September.

Aside from Apollo, Challenger’s only other major shareholder is Japanese insurer MS & AD Insurance Group Holdings. The group has a 15.1 per cent stake in Challenger and acquired its initial stake via a private placement in August 2017.

Amid minimal movement on the register, Street Talk understands equity capital markets bankers are staying close to both parties should they decide to hit play on a selldown.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

The sharemarket closed at its lowest level in a month on Thursday, after a hotter-than-expected jobs market and lacklustre earnings from major bank and mining stocks weighed on the bourse.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.