The ASX advanced early (a 0.1% gain) before retreating into negative territory.
The S&P/ASX200 had dropped 15.50 points or 0.21% to 7,339.50, despite crossing above its 20-day moving average.
Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged but is currently 3.84% below its 52-week high.
The bottom-performing stocks in this index are Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) down 5.41% and Ansell Limited down 5.40%.
Pilbara Minerals had a good morning, bouncing back from yesterday’s horrors to gain 4.8%.
Meanwhile, travel stocks continued their uprising as Omicron concerns ease. Flight Centre climbed 1.1% to $17.29, Webjet gained 1% to $5.25 and Corporate Travel Management firmed 1.3% to $21.23.
And there was finally some good news for Afterpay and Zip. Afterpay rebounded after hitting a 52-week low on Tuesday to jump 5.8% to $87.81, while Zip Co rose 3.2% to $4.48.
On the downside was Rio Tinto which lost 0.7%.
What happened to Charter Hall?
Acquisitions can go either way with share price. For Charter Hall, it was down.
Charter Hall acquired a 50% interest in Paradice Investment Management (PIM) for $207 million, as it looks to expand its listed real estate equities capability into broader listed equities.
“This partnership represents a rare opportunity to invest in a large-scale, high-quality listed equities fund manager with $18.2 billion of FUM and a 20-year track record, building upon and significantly expanding our existing listed real estate equities business,” Charter Hall CEO David Harrison said.
“It diversifies Charter Hall’s FUM and earnings streams, introduces new client relationships to both businesses across wholesale and retail equity source segments.”
PIM has $18.2 billion in funds under management and invests in Australian and global listed equities.
The acquisition price equates to 2.3% of PIM’s funds under management, with Charter Hall given the option to acquire the remaining 50% of PIM at the start of FY25.
A couple more acquisitions
Flight Centre Ltd has acquired Texas-based Compli.ai and its browser extension, Shep as it looks to improve the corporate travel side of the business – FCM Travel Solutions.
FCM wants Shep’s software to augment user experience on third-party websites used by corporate customers.
“The Shep tool allows us to customise offerings further by injecting important and relevant FCM content on online booking tools and third-party websites that travellers are accessing,” Flight Centre’s corporate chief executive officer Chris Galanty said.
The terms of the Shep acquisition are confidential.
Meanwhile, global investment research house Morningstar will buy Praemium’s offshore business, an announcement that saw its shares surge 2%.
The £35 million ($65.1 million) cash acquisition will see the Nasdaq-listed ratings house take over Praemium’s operations in United Kingdom, Jersey, Hong Kong and Dubai.
“This sale will allow Praemium to focus its financial and leadership resources on the enormous opportunity in the Australian platform market,” Praemium chief executive Anthony Wamsteker said.
“It is a significant milestone in our journey to becoming one of Australia’s largest independent specialist platform providers.”
Morningstar’s president of wealth management solutions Daniel Needham said: “Praemium has a fast-growing UK and international business and a talented team we look forward to welcoming to Morningstar.”
On the small cap front
Lithium Australia NL (ASX:LIT, OTC:LMMFF) is 9.52% higher. LIT’s 90%-owned subsidiary Envirostream Australia Pty Ltd has been given the green light from the local council for its new Laverton site in Melbourne, Victoria.
Tietto Minerals Ltd (ASX:TIE) is 6.33% higher. TIE has added considerable upside to its open-pit mining plan for the Abujar-Gludehi (AG) deposit within the 3.35-million-ounce Abujar Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, with a high gold hit of 152.24 g/t.
Brookside Energy Ltd (ASX:BRK) is up 5.56%. BRK has begun drilling at its second well in the SWISH Area of Interest (AOI) in the world-class Anadarko Basin - the high-impact Rangers 36-25 SXH 1 Well.
Blue Star Helium Ltd (ASX:BNL, OTC:BSNLF) is 4% higher. BNL has entered into an agreement to jointly develop helium leases in an area of mutual interest (AMI) with private corporations, Vecta Oil and Gas Ltd (25%) and Prospero Oil and Gas LLC (25%) in Las Animas County, Colorado, USA.
Volt Resources Ltd (ASX:VRC) is 4% higher. VRC has appointed three key senior executives to assist in growing the newly acquired Zavalievsky Group of companies in the Ukraine.
Kiland Ltd (ASX:KIL) is up 2.26%. KIL is set to boost its finances by A$6 million after wholly-owned subsidiary KI Seaport Pty Ltd entered into a conditional sale agreement for its pontoon asset.
Australian Gold and Copper Ltd (ASX:AGC) is up 1.01%. AGC has snapped up a New South Wales drilling grant to the order of $200,000.