Bain Capital kicked off the bidding war for MLC-owner Insignia Financial and has certainly pulled out all the stops to assemble an experienced team to assist it in winning the $3.1bn contest.

Virgin Australia’s owners will resume the search for a new CEO following the withdrawal of front-runner Paul Jones after pressure from a key union and Employment Minister Murray Watt.

KKR’s local PE boss David Laing is taking advice from UBS around The Arnott’s Group’s Asian business, which sells consumer staples like pastas, sauces and cooking stock.

It appears, however, that this uptick is now being driven by outer suburbs as the conditions in the inner ring start to tighten.