Good evening,

Demand for Taylor Swift tickets crashed presale websites in June, but things are moving much slower at Ticktek’s $2 billion auction.

While every private equity firm with a pulse has taken a look, Street Talk understands the two most serious bidders – KKR and Blackstone – are baulking at the price tag.

Sell-side adviser Jefferies has already delayed bids. The big question now is whether the process goes down a different route than a clean exit for Silver Lake.

One option being thrown around on Wednesday was for TEG’s private equity owner to bring in a minority investor instead.

There was plenty of action in more liquid markets. Core Lithium had its brokers rounding up $120 million, Imugene had its house broker Bells on a $60 million raise and finally, NBN Co had to scale back many investors on its $850 million bond deal.

Happy reading,

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Street Talk editors