As it happened: ASX closes 0.6% as tech stocks drop, Magellan gets a boost

The ASX 200 retreated for a second day with tech stocks leading the declines as a hawkish US Fed continue to weigh on global markets and hit commodity prices which have provided the local share market’s biggest boost in recent months.

The ASX 200 dropped 0.6 per cent to 7442.8, with the tech sector down 3.4 per cent led by WiseTech which dropped 6.5 per cent.

Energy stocks also dropped, after oil prices fell sharply overnight on the prospects for further crude releases from strategic reserves and weaker demand from Covid-hit China.

Woodside Petroleum dropped 2.5 per cent and Santos closed 1.4 per cent lower.

Melbourne-founded smartphone mount manufacturer Quad Lock is considering a run at the ASX boards after a strong bout of growth during the pandemic that will see the company’s revenue top $100 million this year.

The business was founded by Rob Ward and Chris Peters in 2011, initially starting off as a crowdsourcing project for a sturdy iPhone mount for cars and bicycles. It rapidly gained popularity in cycling circles both locally and internationally to the point where the product has gained Kleenex-like levels of customer recognition, Mr Ward said.

“If you look at Google Trends, at one point the term ‘Quad Lock’ actually outgrew the generic search term of ‘iPhone bike mounts’, so we’re definitely the best known in the space,” he told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

“We were the first of the case-based mounting solutions, and now everything out there, when new products come out, everything is comparing to us.”

Theme park owner Ardent Leisure has reaped a whopping $1.1 billion from the sale of its high performing Main Event entertainment business to American restaurant and entertainment business Dave & Busters.

Under the proposed sale, Ardent Leisure will receive about $US487 million in cash proceeds ($640 million). The majority of this amount, $430 million or 90¢ per share, will be returned to Ardent Leisure shareholders.

In the notice of the sale to the ASX, Ardent chairman Gary Weiss said the deal is subject to a shareholders’ vote at an EGM later this year, and also subject the receipt of US antitrust approval.

Ardent Leisure is an ASX-listed theme park operator and owner with a market value of $621 million. Ardent’s board said the sale to Dave & Busters was said to be more viable to shareholders than striking any deal with the large shareholder RedBird Capital Partners to allow it to move to a 51 per cent controlling stake in Main Event on or after 1 July 2022.

Western Areas has revealed officially what its suitor IGO told the market two days ago: the draft independents experts report the nickel miner commissioned from KPMG has concluded that IGO’s takeover offer “is not fair and not reasonable and therefore is not in the best interest of Western Areas shareholders”.

This morning the ASX granted the nickel producer a voluntary suspension until Wednesday 13 April to “complete the iterative consultation process” under the scheme of arrangement between the two miners that offered Western Areas shareholders $3.36 a share.

Western Areas described the next few days as an “opportunity for IGO to present a revised proposal”.

In contrast, on Tuesday, IGO – which took the unusual step of announcing to the market the results of an independent experts report that it had not seen – wanted to anchor the negotiations toward the status quo, saying “despite recent volatility in the nickel price, IGO’s long-term view on the nickel price has not materially changed”.

Scentre group, the owner of the Westfield malls, escaped a potential board spill when shareholders voted in favour to adopt the remuneration report at the annual general meeting in Sydney this morning.

The group sustained a first strike against its directors’ pay and incentives schemes in 2021. But after working with proxy advisors and governance groups, concerns have been allayed and the report was accepted for the 2022 year.

The appointment of non-executive director Catherine Brenner was also passed with only an 18.09 per cent swing against her candidacy.

Chairman Brian Schwartz said Brenner was suited to the job with her experience in corporate life, adding that “she is 10 years younger than anyone else in the board, which is a good thing”.

Infrastructure giant IFM Investors intends to raise $4 billion by the end of next year for a new clean-energy focused fund to capitalise on voracious demand from clients to invest in green assets.

Emissions reductions targets were intensifying pressure on investors to immediately decarbonise their portfolios, according to IFM’s global head of infrastructure, Kyle Mangini, who said the energy transition was also creating significant new investment opportunities.

“Carbon reduction is not just an issue - it is the issue,” he said. “There’s an enormous amount of capital that wants to be part of the solution.”

IFM is one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors, with its $13 billion Australian fund and $56 billion global fund owning airports, toll roads, ports and energy assets on behalf of local superannuation funds and other clients.