Wesfarmers checks out of Coles | Virgin Australia kicks off Aussie roadshow | WAM Leaders resurrects raising

Good evening,

Credit Suisse IB boss Dragi Ristevski’s defection to Macquarie Capital, revealed by Street Talk, was the talk of the town on Wednesday morning.

He’s off to set up rival Macquarie’s financial sponsors coverage, and is leaving at a time when Credit Suisse bankers are waiting to learn of their fates in a life under UBS.

It’s been a long wait already and, obviously, bankers are starting to get restless.

Outside of Ristevski’s move, it was a busy day in equity capital markets. Barrenjoey snagged a $688 million block trade in Coles shares, as Wesfarmers finally flushed out its remaining stake.

It’s the end of an era – or well, 16 years – for Wesfarmers, which acquired Coles in 2007 and then demerged it in 2018. It’s sold down slowly over the past five years and is getting out completely after strong performance from Coles shares, as it staved off inflation and consumer spending fears.

Wesfarmers’ selldowns have also written quick business for equities desks over the years, including Macquarie, UBS and (starting last year) Barrenjoey.

Elsewhere in ECM, Virgin Australia’s brokers were prepping Aussie IPO meetings for next week and WAM Leaders had resurrected its raising.

Lastly, Realside Property was rounding up financing for an Adelaide tower purchase, and BlackRock portfolio manager Sam Theodore surfaced at Paradice Investment Management.

Happy reading,
Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Street Talk editors