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)
Grains handler GrainCorp has rejected claims that a proposed merger with rival AWB would give the new group a monopoly over grain storage and handling facilities in the eastern states. Graincorp yesterday said that the merger would give the company control of only 55 percent of the market.
Graincorp will today provide its submission on the merger to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which must approve the deal. Page 16.
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Grocery wholesale company Metcash last week started legal action against the former head of its IGA Distribution business, Lou Jardin, after Mr Jardin moved to take a controlling interest in rival SPAR Australia. Page 16.
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Fletcher Building chief executive Jonathan Ling yesterday warned that the recovery in the housing construction market 'has stalled and probably, if anything, it's to the negative.' In June, residential building approvals fell 3.3 percent to the lowest level since August last year. 'The only way you'll get supply slightly exceeding demand is to free up land, small sections, and build lower-cost housing,' Mr Ling said. Page 17.
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Advent Energy and its partner Bounty Oil & Gas are due to drill the first gas exploration well offshore New South Wales in October, in the state's only offshore petroleum exploration licence. The move is attracting attention from a number of other oil and gas groups, particularly after Advent updated its resource estimate for the permit in early July to 13.2 billion cubic feet of potential recoverable gas. Page 17.
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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
United States (US) energy company First Reserve and US miner Alpha Natural Resources are examining a possible A$3 billion buyout of Australian mining group Whitehaven Coal. First Reserve is Whitehaven's largest shareholder with a 27 percent stake, and is believed to be seeking the support of Whitehaven's second largest investor, AMCI, which has a 15 percent stake.
Sources within Whitehaven say it remains unclear whether a formal bid will emerge from the US groups. Page 21.
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Major power companies have warned that uncertainty surrounding federal climate change policy is preventing electricity retailers from securing long-term wholesale supply deals with power generators. AGL Energy, in a submission to South Australia's pricing regulator, stated that there are 'very low levels of liquidity in the wholesale market beyond 2010.' Analysts say electricity generators have already cut planned capital spending by around A$10 billion due to uncertainty over carbon policy. Page 21.
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The chief executive of mining company Rio Tinto, Tom Albanese, yesterday told Sky News that the Federal Government's revised mining tax has given the company the assurance required to continue investing. 'It's not perfect, but I would say it's something that allows Rio Tinto to make the investments that we want to make in Australia.' Rio has approved around US$1 billion in investments over recent weeks. Page 22.
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Qantas Airways has rejected speculation that it would consider selling its terminal at Sydney Airport, confirming that it intends to renew its lease on the terminal land in 2014.
MAp Airports chief executive Kerrie Mather recently said that the airport investment group would be interested in the asset 'if the opportunity arose.' In 2006, Qantas attempted to sell the terminal for A$500 million. Page 23.
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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia will report annual results this Wednesday, with expectations that the bank will unveil a record profit of more than A$6 billion. The result is expected to draw scrutiny from politicians and consumer groups, reflecting concerns that the major banks are generating large profits at the expense of customers. Analysts say the strong profit figure is likely to have been driven by significant falls in bad debt charges. Page 1.
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Financial services business Macquarie Group has warned Treasury that it could sue the department if it releases correspondence from one of the bank's lobbyists under Freedom of Information laws. The lobbyist sent the correspondence to Treasury shortly after the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008. In October that year, the Federal Government put in a place a wholesale funding guarantee for Australian banks. Page 1.
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United States healthcare group Watson Pharmaceuticals' chief executive, Paul Bisaro, yesterday confirmed that the company is looking for acquisition opportunities. The comments came after it was revealed last week that Watson had approached struggling Australian drug manufacturer Sigma Pharmaceuticals about acquiring its generics business.
Sigma's board is under pressure to consider alternatives to an offer from Aspen Pharmaceuticals, since talks between the two groups have dragged on since May. Page 3.
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Wealth management group AXA Asia Pacific Holdings is expected to restart trading today after entering a trading halt on Thursday. The halt followed speculation that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was about to provide a ruling on National Australia Bank's (NAB) revised A$14 billion bid for the wealth manager. AXA's shareprice dropped 3 percent last Wednesday, which analysts say reflects a growing belief that NAB will not secure approval for its proposed takeover. Page 3.
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THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
Energy group Linc Energy's managing director Peter Bond yesterday said the company was 'still a couple of years away from going fully commercial' with its underground coal gasification technology. Mr Bond said Linc was likely to bring in a partner to help with the cost of building a commercial scale processing plant. The company has run a demonstration facility in Queensland's Chinchilla for more than 10 years. Page B3.
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Analysts say the Federal Government would be able to relatively easily fund a proposed high-speed rail network from Melbourne to Brisbane through the sale of government bonds.
Sally Auld of JPMorgan last week said that 'there's been very good demand from offshore for Australian government bonds.'
However, analysts also agree that such a project is unlikely to proceed. Page B3.
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A survey by the Financial Services Council and PricewaterhouseCoopers has found that almost all chief executives in the money management sector believe current infrastructure planning and funding structures in Australia are inadequate. The survey report said that superannuation funds, which have a growing amount of money that is able to be invested in infrastructure projects, are discouraged due to 'inconsistent decisions' from governments caused by Australia's political landscape. Page B3.
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Trent Telford, chief executive of internet data security company Cocoon Holdings, yesterday announced that the group has signed partnership deals with the Australian divisions of major international companies Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard. 'The IT security market is a huge growth area and our technology is at the forefront,' Mr Telford said. Cocoon has already gained contracts with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Wimmera Healthcare. Page B4.
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Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS (Sydney Newsroom +61-2 9373 1816; sydney.newsroom@allreleases.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. 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.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
Grains handler GrainCorp has rejected claims that a proposed merger with rival AWB would give the new group a monopoly over grain storage and handling facilities in the eastern states. Graincorp yesterday said that the merger would give the company control of only 55 percent of the market.
Graincorp will today provide its submission on the merger to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which must approve the deal. Page 16.
- - - -
Grocery wholesale company Metcash last week started legal action against the former head of its IGA Distribution business, Lou Jardin, after Mr Jardin moved to take a controlling interest in rival SPAR Australia. Page 16.
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Fletcher Building chief executive Jonathan Ling yesterday warned that the recovery in the housing construction market 'has stalled and probably, if anything, it's to the negative.' In June, residential building approvals fell 3.3 percent to the lowest level since August last year. 'The only way you'll get supply slightly exceeding demand is to free up land, small sections, and build lower-cost housing,' Mr Ling said. Page 17.
- - - -
Advent Energy and its partner Bounty Oil & Gas are due to drill the first gas exploration well offshore New South Wales in October, in the state's only offshore petroleum exploration licence. The move is attracting attention from a number of other oil and gas groups, particularly after Advent updated its resource estimate for the permit in early July to 13.2 billion cubic feet of potential recoverable gas. Page 17.
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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
United States (US) energy company First Reserve and US miner Alpha Natural Resources are examining a possible A$3 billion buyout of Australian mining group Whitehaven Coal. First Reserve is Whitehaven's largest shareholder with a 27 percent stake, and is believed to be seeking the support of Whitehaven's second largest investor, AMCI, which has a 15 percent stake.
Sources within Whitehaven say it remains unclear whether a formal bid will emerge from the US groups. Page 21.
- - - -
Major power companies have warned that uncertainty surrounding federal climate change policy is preventing electricity retailers from securing long-term wholesale supply deals with power generators. AGL Energy, in a submission to South Australia's pricing regulator, stated that there are 'very low levels of liquidity in the wholesale market beyond 2010.' Analysts say electricity generators have already cut planned capital spending by around A$10 billion due to uncertainty over carbon policy. Page 21.
- - - -
The chief executive of mining company Rio Tinto, Tom Albanese, yesterday told Sky News that the Federal Government's revised mining tax has given the company the assurance required to continue investing. 'It's not perfect, but I would say it's something that allows Rio Tinto to make the investments that we want to make in Australia.' Rio has approved around US$1 billion in investments over recent weeks. Page 22.
- - - -
Qantas Airways has rejected speculation that it would consider selling its terminal at Sydney Airport, confirming that it intends to renew its lease on the terminal land in 2014.
MAp Airports chief executive Kerrie Mather recently said that the airport investment group would be interested in the asset 'if the opportunity arose.' In 2006, Qantas attempted to sell the terminal for A$500 million. Page 23.
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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia will report annual results this Wednesday, with expectations that the bank will unveil a record profit of more than A$6 billion. The result is expected to draw scrutiny from politicians and consumer groups, reflecting concerns that the major banks are generating large profits at the expense of customers. Analysts say the strong profit figure is likely to have been driven by significant falls in bad debt charges. Page 1.
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Financial services business Macquarie Group has warned Treasury that it could sue the department if it releases correspondence from one of the bank's lobbyists under Freedom of Information laws. The lobbyist sent the correspondence to Treasury shortly after the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008. In October that year, the Federal Government put in a place a wholesale funding guarantee for Australian banks. Page 1.
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United States healthcare group Watson Pharmaceuticals' chief executive, Paul Bisaro, yesterday confirmed that the company is looking for acquisition opportunities. The comments came after it was revealed last week that Watson had approached struggling Australian drug manufacturer Sigma Pharmaceuticals about acquiring its generics business.
Sigma's board is under pressure to consider alternatives to an offer from Aspen Pharmaceuticals, since talks between the two groups have dragged on since May. Page 3.
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Wealth management group AXA Asia Pacific Holdings is expected to restart trading today after entering a trading halt on Thursday. The halt followed speculation that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was about to provide a ruling on National Australia Bank's (NAB) revised A$14 billion bid for the wealth manager. AXA's shareprice dropped 3 percent last Wednesday, which analysts say reflects a growing belief that NAB will not secure approval for its proposed takeover. Page 3.
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THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
Energy group Linc Energy's managing director Peter Bond yesterday said the company was 'still a couple of years away from going fully commercial' with its underground coal gasification technology. Mr Bond said Linc was likely to bring in a partner to help with the cost of building a commercial scale processing plant. The company has run a demonstration facility in Queensland's Chinchilla for more than 10 years. Page B3.
- - - -
Analysts say the Federal Government would be able to relatively easily fund a proposed high-speed rail network from Melbourne to Brisbane through the sale of government bonds.
Sally Auld of JPMorgan last week said that 'there's been very good demand from offshore for Australian government bonds.'
However, analysts also agree that such a project is unlikely to proceed. Page B3.
- - - -
A survey by the Financial Services Council and PricewaterhouseCoopers has found that almost all chief executives in the money management sector believe current infrastructure planning and funding structures in Australia are inadequate. The survey report said that superannuation funds, which have a growing amount of money that is able to be invested in infrastructure projects, are discouraged due to 'inconsistent decisions' from governments caused by Australia's political landscape. Page B3.
- - - -
Trent Telford, chief executive of internet data security company Cocoon Holdings, yesterday announced that the group has signed partnership deals with the Australian divisions of major international companies Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard. 'The IT security market is a huge growth area and our technology is at the forefront,' Mr Telford said. Cocoon has already gained contracts with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Wimmera Healthcare. Page B4.
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Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS (Sydney Newsroom +61-2 9373 1816; sydney.newsroom@allreleases.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. 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.