(Bloomberg) --

Hello Australia, it’s Jackie here and this is what’s happening around our region this morning:

Health Check: Australia’s deals boom rolls on with the country’s largest private hospital operator in play. KKR made an indicative and non-binding offer of A$88 per share to acquire Ramsay Health Care, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Signed Off: Shifting gears to an entirely different kind of deal — a push to scrap a security pact between the Solomon Islands and China didn’t work out. Beijing said both countries signed the agreement, which could allow China to deploy security forces to the South Pacific nation. That could be a big headache for Scott Morrison as we head to the polls next month. 

Dairy Good: The world’s biggest dairy exporter isn’t crying over potentially spilt milk. The head of Fonterra Cooperative Group is chasing growth in the $2 trillion food services industry to counter a likely decline in New Zealand supplies.

Prime Property: In unsurprising news, several Australian cities are on the list of world’s least affordable places to buy a home.

Down Stream: Netflix lost 200,000 customers in the first quarter — the first time it has shed subscribers since 2011 — and projects further declines. The company is now on track for its worst year as a public company, and shares tumbled as much as 24% to $265.11 in after-hours trading.

What Happened Overnight

Ukraine Update: Russia's foreign minister says the war in Ukraine has entered its second phase. A pocket of territory including the Ukrainian city of Kreminna was taken by Russian forces on Tuesday.

Pity Party: U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized to the House of Commons for breaking the lockdown rules he devised, while insisting he didn’t think at the time that he had done anything wrong. Johnson has paid a fine for attending an event at Downing Street on his birthday in June 2020, and may face further penalties.

Turbulent Times: Hong Kong flight bans are hampering its reopening. It bans routes for seven days if three or more passengers on a flight are found to be infected with Covid upon arrival or if travelers don’t have the right documents. That means on some days, there are no passenger flights landing there.

Perks Reworked: There’s no such thing as a free lunch at Goldman Sachs — well, after this week. The investment bank will from Monday scrap a pandemic office perk and go back to a user-pays model for breakfast and lunch.

Crypto IPO: Coinbase rival Blockchain.com is planning an IPO as soon as this year. The startup said in March that a funding round had valued it at a whopping $14 billion.

What to Watch

  • Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese go head-to-head in Brisbane for the first debate of the election campaign
  • Rio Tinto released first quarter production numbers

One More Thing…

Art Sleuths: Antiquities smuggling is big business. A growing network of novice detectives, scattered around the world, is trying to change that.

 

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