Good evening,

Who doesn’t like a deal starring Kerry Stokes!

The billionaire’s Seven West Media has quietly slunk into the bidder queue at WA TAB auction.

Street Talk can reveal Seven was expected to bid as part of a consortium that includes News Corporation and Melbourne Storm chairman Matthew Tripp. The trio have Barrenjoey and other investment banks helping with the bid.

While Seven’s got heaps of experience in broadcasting races and other sports, it’s fresh behind the ears on taking bets. Which perhaps explains its willingness to team up with rival News Corp and Tripp, who are setting up a wagering business in Australia.

It’s going to be a much-watched auction. Western Australia is offering the TAB licence for the first time, while Victoria has a tender out for its licence (which is currently with Tabcorp).

Elsewhere, we dug into insurance roll-up Steadfast Group’s fortunes after its Wednesday morning capital raise and acquisition. Cancer care business GenesisCare had a plan to ease its debt load.

And lastly, UBS and investors had different versions on how syndication of the Virtus Health takeover debt’s going.

Happy reading,
Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Street Talk editors