Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
Packaging group Visy has raised over A$500 million to refinance a three-year corporate lending facility that was due in August. Australia?s Big Four banks, together with foreign banks Rabo Bank, Citibank, JPMorgan and HSBC, form the financing syndicate for the facility. 'It is a vote of confidence in the Visy group and in the comparative resilience of the packaging sector in times of economic slowdown,' Visy chief executive John Murphy said yesterday. Page 12.
Airline Qantas Airways is considering commencing flights to the Gulf to meet changing demand during the current economic downturn once it takes delivery of A380 super-jumbo aircraft, according industry analysts. The Middle East is one of the few remaining big markets that Qantas does not service, and the move would place it in direct contest with cashed up Gulf airlines who have recently increased competition for European bound travellers. Page 12.
Diversified manufacturer Hills Industries will take a conservative approach to buying any of the flood of distressed assets on the market, according to chief executive Graham Twartz. Mr Twartz pledged a strategy of making decisive acquisitions to grow the business when he assumed his role last July. Since then Hill?s profitability has fallen by almost a third and funding has been harder to secure. 'Banks are very conservative in their appetite for risk at the moment,' Mr Twartz said on Friday. Page 13.
Perth based Iron ore company Sundance Resources is 'actively courting? a number of investors to partner the group?s Mbalam project in Cameroon, according to chairman George Jones. A January 2008 report estimates the project has a 2.5 billion tonne iron ore resource and would cost $US3.3 billion to construct. Chinese groups are amongst the list of potential partners but this is not expected to be an issue with the Foreign Investment Review Board, Mr Jones said on Friday. Page 15.
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
The Reserve Bank of Australia will meet tomorrow to consider what interest rate action to take, with some economists tipping a decrease by as much as 50-basis-points. However, other economists view the recent mixed economic signals as sufficient basis for the central bank to delay any further reductions for at least another month. 'Anyone with strong convictions is kidding themselves; anything could happen,' JPMorgan analyst Stephen Walters said. Page 19.
The James Packer-owned gambling company Crown Ltd is discussing the possibility of investing in the Las Vegas City Centre casino project, according to analysts. The MGM Mirage and Dubai World-owned development is under pressure to raise cash to meet looming debt obligations combined with a dramatic decline in gambling revenues. Colony Capital, a Los Angeles based investment firm, is also believed to be involved in the discussions. Page 19.
It has been revealed that the New South Wales Department of Fair Trading has recently investigated financially troubled five-star Hunter Valley resort Cypress Lakes. Developed 15 years ago as a glamorous site with a golf course and health spa, villas are privately owned and rented back to the Cypress Lakes Group. Peter Meadows, a villa owner, said yesterday that he had informed the department about the complex withholding rent for up to two months and the excessive body corporate fees charged to property owners. Page 21.
Mining company Rio Tinto has continued to lobby investors to support its proposed $US19.5 billion alliance with Chinese resources company Chinalco. During a two-day visit to Sydney and Melbourne last week, Rio chief executive Tom Albanese was reported by sources to have visited key shareholders that he did not meet on his last trip to Australia. The Chinalco deal remains dependent upon approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Federal Government. Page 21.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
The outgoing deputy chief executive of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bob Edgar, has said property developers have 'always got a problem? about the amount of finance available to them. Dr Edgar maintained yesterday that that lending had not dried up saying 'banks are still expanding their lending?, and he said there had been no policy decision on lending less to property. Dr Edgar, who has been with the bank for 25 years, will retire at the end of April. Page 19.
Australia's share of worldwide equity raisings has increased to 20 percent in the first quarter of the calendar year, according to investment bank UBS. In the past three years equity raised in any one quarter by Australian Stock Exchange listed companies averaged around five percent of the worldwide total. Over the past six months A$32 billion of equity has been raised in Australia, with almost all of the extra cash coming from domestic superannuation fund managers. Page 19.
Surfwear manufacturer Rip Curl has bought back almost 150,000 shares from former chairman James Strong as part of a confidential settlement agreement. Mr Strong, who stood down last year, was issued the shares seven years ago as an incentive to remain with the company. According to documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Friday, Mr Strong was only paid $1 a share despite Rip Curl?s C-class stock being valued at $62 a share. Page 21.
Failed broker Opes Prime threatened to sue the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) if the bank got in the way of broker?s float, according to ANZ deputy chief executive Bob Edgar. Dr Edgar said yesterday that in all of ANZ?s discussions with the broker, the reputation of its directors and managers were never raised as a 'negative?. 'Right up to the end we thought we were dealing with reputable people,? Dr Edgar said. Page 21.
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
The whistleblower who exposed massive losses suffered by construction group Multiplex on Britain?s Wembley Stadium project was named for the first time last week. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission had resisted demands for the past 18 months to hand over material that would identify the whistleblower, but Mr Stewart Cummins was named in the Federal Court, on March 27. Mr Cummins was formerly the group general manager of accounting at Multiplex, and he said the experience 'had been quite an ordeal.? Page B2.
Insurance Company Insurance Australia Group has begun briefing investors on the prospects of solid growth in its Asian operations. Under previous chief executive Michael Hawker the insurer failed in its 2007 attempt to break into China and had lost money in its expansion into Britain three years ago. However, recently appointed chief executive Mike Wilkins now sees India as the best option to produce growth. 'It's not unrealistic to build a A$1 billion Asian business,' Mr Wilkins said yesterday. Page B3.
Australian companies rank poorly in inventing clean coal technology in comparison to overseas competitors, according to a report to be released today by patent attorneys Griffith Hack. The report shows that over the past five years foreign oil companies filed the majority of clean coal patents, Australia the second most, with Japanese and Dutch companies closely matched. 'Australians are not filing sufficient patents to be commercially competitive,? authors Mike Lloyd and Justin Blows conclude. Page B3.
Diversified industrial company Futuris Corporation Ltd plans to stabilise the amount of land it has and consider changing less productive areas, according to chief executive Malcolm Jackman. Less productive areas could be turned into long-term plantations in high value sandalwood, teak and red mahogany, but buying new land and planting short-rotation trees was not in the best interests of the industry as this would put downward pressure on the price of woodchips, Mr Jackman said yesterday. Page B3. --
Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS (Sydney Newsroom +61-2 9373 1800; sydney.newsroom@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Packaging group Visy has raised over A$500 million to refinance a three-year corporate lending facility that was due in August. Australia?s Big Four banks, together with foreign banks Rabo Bank, Citibank, JPMorgan and HSBC, form the financing syndicate for the facility. 'It is a vote of confidence in the Visy group and in the comparative resilience of the packaging sector in times of economic slowdown,' Visy chief executive John Murphy said yesterday. Page 12.
Airline Qantas Airways is considering commencing flights to the Gulf to meet changing demand during the current economic downturn once it takes delivery of A380 super-jumbo aircraft, according industry analysts. The Middle East is one of the few remaining big markets that Qantas does not service, and the move would place it in direct contest with cashed up Gulf airlines who have recently increased competition for European bound travellers. Page 12.
Diversified manufacturer Hills Industries will take a conservative approach to buying any of the flood of distressed assets on the market, according to chief executive Graham Twartz. Mr Twartz pledged a strategy of making decisive acquisitions to grow the business when he assumed his role last July. Since then Hill?s profitability has fallen by almost a third and funding has been harder to secure. 'Banks are very conservative in their appetite for risk at the moment,' Mr Twartz said on Friday. Page 13.
Perth based Iron ore company Sundance Resources is 'actively courting? a number of investors to partner the group?s Mbalam project in Cameroon, according to chairman George Jones. A January 2008 report estimates the project has a 2.5 billion tonne iron ore resource and would cost $US3.3 billion to construct. Chinese groups are amongst the list of potential partners but this is not expected to be an issue with the Foreign Investment Review Board, Mr Jones said on Friday. Page 15.
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
The Reserve Bank of Australia will meet tomorrow to consider what interest rate action to take, with some economists tipping a decrease by as much as 50-basis-points. However, other economists view the recent mixed economic signals as sufficient basis for the central bank to delay any further reductions for at least another month. 'Anyone with strong convictions is kidding themselves; anything could happen,' JPMorgan analyst Stephen Walters said. Page 19.
The James Packer-owned gambling company Crown Ltd is discussing the possibility of investing in the Las Vegas City Centre casino project, according to analysts. The MGM Mirage and Dubai World-owned development is under pressure to raise cash to meet looming debt obligations combined with a dramatic decline in gambling revenues. Colony Capital, a Los Angeles based investment firm, is also believed to be involved in the discussions. Page 19.
It has been revealed that the New South Wales Department of Fair Trading has recently investigated financially troubled five-star Hunter Valley resort Cypress Lakes. Developed 15 years ago as a glamorous site with a golf course and health spa, villas are privately owned and rented back to the Cypress Lakes Group. Peter Meadows, a villa owner, said yesterday that he had informed the department about the complex withholding rent for up to two months and the excessive body corporate fees charged to property owners. Page 21.
Mining company Rio Tinto has continued to lobby investors to support its proposed $US19.5 billion alliance with Chinese resources company Chinalco. During a two-day visit to Sydney and Melbourne last week, Rio chief executive Tom Albanese was reported by sources to have visited key shareholders that he did not meet on his last trip to Australia. The Chinalco deal remains dependent upon approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Federal Government. Page 21.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
The outgoing deputy chief executive of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bob Edgar, has said property developers have 'always got a problem? about the amount of finance available to them. Dr Edgar maintained yesterday that that lending had not dried up saying 'banks are still expanding their lending?, and he said there had been no policy decision on lending less to property. Dr Edgar, who has been with the bank for 25 years, will retire at the end of April. Page 19.
Australia's share of worldwide equity raisings has increased to 20 percent in the first quarter of the calendar year, according to investment bank UBS. In the past three years equity raised in any one quarter by Australian Stock Exchange listed companies averaged around five percent of the worldwide total. Over the past six months A$32 billion of equity has been raised in Australia, with almost all of the extra cash coming from domestic superannuation fund managers. Page 19.
Surfwear manufacturer Rip Curl has bought back almost 150,000 shares from former chairman James Strong as part of a confidential settlement agreement. Mr Strong, who stood down last year, was issued the shares seven years ago as an incentive to remain with the company. According to documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Friday, Mr Strong was only paid $1 a share despite Rip Curl?s C-class stock being valued at $62 a share. Page 21.
Failed broker Opes Prime threatened to sue the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) if the bank got in the way of broker?s float, according to ANZ deputy chief executive Bob Edgar. Dr Edgar said yesterday that in all of ANZ?s discussions with the broker, the reputation of its directors and managers were never raised as a 'negative?. 'Right up to the end we thought we were dealing with reputable people,? Dr Edgar said. Page 21.
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
The whistleblower who exposed massive losses suffered by construction group Multiplex on Britain?s Wembley Stadium project was named for the first time last week. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission had resisted demands for the past 18 months to hand over material that would identify the whistleblower, but Mr Stewart Cummins was named in the Federal Court, on March 27. Mr Cummins was formerly the group general manager of accounting at Multiplex, and he said the experience 'had been quite an ordeal.? Page B2.
Insurance Company Insurance Australia Group has begun briefing investors on the prospects of solid growth in its Asian operations. Under previous chief executive Michael Hawker the insurer failed in its 2007 attempt to break into China and had lost money in its expansion into Britain three years ago. However, recently appointed chief executive Mike Wilkins now sees India as the best option to produce growth. 'It's not unrealistic to build a A$1 billion Asian business,' Mr Wilkins said yesterday. Page B3.
Australian companies rank poorly in inventing clean coal technology in comparison to overseas competitors, according to a report to be released today by patent attorneys Griffith Hack. The report shows that over the past five years foreign oil companies filed the majority of clean coal patents, Australia the second most, with Japanese and Dutch companies closely matched. 'Australians are not filing sufficient patents to be commercially competitive,? authors Mike Lloyd and Justin Blows conclude. Page B3.
Diversified industrial company Futuris Corporation Ltd plans to stabilise the amount of land it has and consider changing less productive areas, according to chief executive Malcolm Jackman. Less productive areas could be turned into long-term plantations in high value sandalwood, teak and red mahogany, but buying new land and planting short-rotation trees was not in the best interests of the industry as this would put downward pressure on the price of woodchips, Mr Jackman said yesterday. Page B3. --
Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS (Sydney Newsroom +61-2 9373 1800; sydney.newsroom@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.