Good evening,

Tariffs and volatility be damned, Australian deal-making is having its best start to the year since 2021.

Data from Bain & Co shows mergers and acquisitions deal value grew 97 per cent in the first half of 2025, compared with the first half of last year, hitting $US63 billion ($91.6 billion). Australia is also punching above its weight, exceeding global M&A deal value growth, which has grown by 23 per cent compared with 1H 2024.

But there’s one big, oil-soaked caveat: Santos.

The $36.4 billion mega deal heavily skews the data, accounting for 38 per cent of all deal values for the first half, and is far from closed, dogged by FIRB, oil and currency risks.

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

• Major pubs group to clinch $2.1 billion valuation
• High-profile dealmaker’s departure leaves door open at Future Fund
• Perth battery manufacturer hits the fundraising trail with PKF

• REA CEO race down to three amid power struggle with News Corp
• Will equity analysts be replaced by AI? That’s a billion-dollar question

Australian Venue Co, the country’s second-biggest pubs group, has coaxed another global private equity investor onto its register, the third in as many years.

The Australian sharemarket logged its sharpest one-day loss since early May, as a shift in risk sentiment – driven by sticky US inflation and renewed US tariff rhetoric – prompted investors to take profits and cut the odds of a near-term interest rate cut.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.