Sarah Thompson

Sarah Thompson tracks and breaks corporate deal stories across Australia’s capital markets, co-editing the Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column with a focus on private equity, investment banking, mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets.

Street Talk and the deal-making lens

Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, shaping it into a daily column that follows live transactions and boardroom manoeuvres in real time. Her coverage concentrates on private equity funds, investment banks and listed companies as they negotiate takeovers, carve-outs and equity raisings. Headlines such as “Private equity is looking to carve up in 2024” and “Long summer days: How BoQ swooped on ME Bank” show her attention to deal structure, bidder strategy and the advisers behind high-profile transactions. She works in a news-breaking format, delivering short, sourced items that map out who is pitching, who is buying and how transactions are sequenced and timed across the market.

Private equity, capital raisings and medtech

Thompson regularly reports on private equity-backed acquisitions and exits, including coverage of Blackstone’s effort to bolster a $1 billion clinical trials business with Agilex and medtech company EBR Systems’ $150 million raising backed by large superannuation investors. In “Rights issues and the need for speed”, she examines how accelerated rights issues are executed under tight timetables and the role of investment banks in fast-moving equity fundraising. Street Talk items such as “Big super-backed medtech EBR Systems fires up $150m raising” and “Deal off!” focus on the progress and setbacks of complex transactions, giving a clear read on capital market sentiment and execution risk. Her work on themes like using better data and investment analytics to drive more Australian money into private equity reflects a sustained interest in how institutional capital is allocated to the asset class.

Boards, financial services and corporate governance

Her reporting often follows major banks and financial institutions through periods of scrutiny and change. Stories like “CBA board has read the report, now it’s time to front the author” focus on how boards respond to regulatory investigations and independent reviews, highlighting the accountability and communication pressures on directors. In “Long summer days: How BoQ swooped on ME Bank”, she reconstructs the timeline and strategy behind Bank of Queensland’s acquisition of ME Bank, detailing negotiation dynamics, competitive tension and the role of advisers in closing the deal. Earlier in her career she has covered listed media companies, including a piece on News Corp’s quarterly results that analysed earnings surprises against broker expectations and market consensus. Across these stories she consistently links earnings performance, regulatory outcomes and governance decisions back to their impact on transactions and investor confidence.

Award recognition and cross-masthead presence

Thompson’s Street Talk work runs across major business mastheads, where she is described as specialising in private equity, investment banking, mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets. Her long tenure on the column since 2009 means she brings deep context on recurring players, preferred advisers and the history behind many of Australia’s landmark deals. Her investigative reporting on law firm Slater & Gordon was recognised with a Citi Journalism Award for Excellence, shared with colleague Jonathan Shapiro, underscoring her strength in digging into complex corporate narratives as well as day-to-day deal flow. Alongside short scoops, she writes more thematic Street Talk pieces such as “Private equity is looking to carve up in 2024”, which use interviews with legal and financial advisers to frame forward-looking trends in deal activity.

Sector breadth from energy to consumer brands

While her core lens is finance and transactions, Thompson’s stories span a broad range of sectors. Coverage of energy investor David Russell’s Equis preparing a blockbuster payday shows her following large-scale infrastructure and energy investment vehicles through major capital events and exit processes. In “Aussie skincare brand iKOU hunts strategic partner”, she reports on a luxury skincare company seeking a first majority share sale and strategic partner, tracking founder ambitions and potential buyers in consumer and beauty brands. Across energy, financial services, healthcare and consumer companies, she keeps the focus on investor strategy, valuation and deal mechanics rather than product or lifestyle angles, giving a consistent financial-market frame to varied industries.