Michael Thompson

Now, is it mostly about the Middle East and the spike in oil prices, or did it kind of start even before that?

Did some of their share prices come off when interest rates started to rise?

Sean, normally I would mention our Q&A interview later in the show, but you actually just mentioned the company that it relates to.

So I'll toss in a mention now.

Telstra, today you're speaking with CEO Vicky Brady, who we caught up with at the Microsoft AI tour last week.

It's a great chat, this one.

And then I've drawn attention to it.

The thing I liked about this was that it was just a really honest conversation as well, because it's about what has worked for Telstra, which is one of the kind of early adopters of AI, but also what didn't work as well and what the lessons are that they've learned along the way.

So Vicky Brady coming up

after the show.

So stick around for that one.

Sean, IFM Investors has made a near $7 billion bid, $6.9 billion to be exact, for Atlas Arteria.

But the Toll Road Group's board appears...

I suppose, less than excited about the offer.

Now, IFM actually bought into Atlas Arteria back in 2022 and has kind of crawled up the registry now to own about a third of the company.

So you've got to say a bid wasn't unexpected.

But the $4.75 a share offer represents a premium of just 10% on the last closing price, according to Atlas Arteria's response.

And the word just, I think, tells the story there.

Atlas Arteria said it would establish an independent board committee to consider the bid and

The bid sent the toll road group's share price up 13% yesterday.