Wesfarmers chews on Greencross; Bonus season kicks off; Westpac follows CBA

Good evening,

Street Talk’s crawled back from the beach, but it seems like there are plenty of dealmakers trying to cling to their summer holidays while they can.

With offices largely shut in Sydney and Melbourne, bankers and lawyers are firing up their laptops from home (again) and using it as a chance to try to sneak in a few more morning swims or evening walks before activity really ramps up.

Of course, the big investment banks know how to get their colleagues to show up to work in the new year – bonuses. Citi and Morgan Stanley kicked off the annual bonus season last week (if you put Jefferies, RBC Capital Markets and some other early runners to one side), and Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan operatives are awaiting their numbers in the coming days.

Payments are up thus far. Global and domestic activity was at record highs last year, so if ever there was a year for a banker to be well paid, it was 2021.

However, old heads reckon the numbers still ain’t what they used to be – which is one of the main stories of investment banking globally in the past 15 years.

Undoubtedly, bonus season makes way for poaching season, which typically hits a high note in February and March. Last year’s frantic poaching coupled with 2021’s stronger pay has dampened expectations for senior moves this year. Anyone who was looking probably jumped last year, as one banking boss explained on Monday.

In deals, some of 2021’s activity has spilt into the new year, and there are also some new capital markets and M&A transactions starting to appear.

In Street Talk, we take a look at TPG’s process for $4 billion-odd pets and vets business Greencross, and have spotted Westpac Banking Corp readying a run for $2 billion to $2.5 billion in Aussie bond markets.

Happy reading,

Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Street Talk Editors