Morning Headlines

ATO hunts down multinational companies for $2.7bn

A taskforce has clawed back more than $2.7 billion in unpaid taxes from multinational companies operating in Australia in just under a year since laws were passed to crack down on large-scale tax avoidance. The Aus

Growthpoint in $100m Perth buy

Listed Australian property investor Growthpoint Properties, which has emerged as a recent Perth property buyer, is understood to be carrying out due diligence on the A-grade 836 Wellington Street complex, with a $100 million-plus bid in the offing. The West

Australia to slip in LNG ranking

Australia will not claim the crown of the world’s biggest LNG exporter from Qatar and will lose its second-ranking status to the US within five years as the US exerts its dominance in the growing market, according to the International Energy Agency. The Fin

Overhaul of strata laws to cut conflict

WA’s long-promised strata reform, to go before Parliament within weeks, is expected to help reduce conflicts in mixed-use projects, which need to operate smoothly if Perth is to become a better-designed, denser city. The West

Site soaks up $65m Stirling revamp

Colliers International’s Tory Packer and Tim Scott have been appointed to market the prime development site at 1 Staveley Place, Innaloo, which will also be a beneficiary of a Federal Government commitment to spent $65 million on the first stage of the city centre works. The West

Investa books big gains as Blackstone seeks buyout

The listed Investa Office Fund has booked in a portfolio revaluation of $316.1 million or 7.9 per cent, potentially putting pressure on its suitor Blackstone to lift its takeover bid in response to the gains. The Fin

Any GST fix for WA ‘will not hurt others’

Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has signalled his fix to WA’s GST injustice will include a package to ensure other States and Territories will not be penalised. The West

Bondholders raise heat on Quintis sandalwood scheme

Bondholders may have won control of Quintis, but the company’s sandalwood investment schemes are the subject of an escalating war of words between receivers and the Frank Wilson-linked group of growers seeking to carve out a new business. The West

United’s failed float not Freehills’ fault

The plan to float United Petroleum was delayed because the company and its co-founder, Avi Silver, failed to produce the financials on time, and not because of failure on the part of its former lawyers, Herbert Smith Freehills, or former chairman Martin Hudson, a court has found. The Fin

Third day of losses as trade war concerns unnerve global markets

Fears of a global trade war continued to weigh on stocks yesterday, with losses across the energy, resource and healthcare sectors pushing the local index into the red for a third straight session. The Aus

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Business has reacted furiously to confirmation by Labor that it will revoke already-legislated tax cuts for small and medium enterprises if elected, while dissent is also growing within sections of the opposition over its broader economic stance.

The banking royal commissioner, Kenneth Hayne, has conceded that public hearings into agribusiness lending will have to be extended after being subjected to interjections by Queensland MP Bob Katter, a witness who talked in circles and protests from the farmers outside the inquiry.

Page 2: Bitcoin is a fascinating development, its design is admirable but it’s not money and as an investment it’s highly risky, warns the Reserve Bank of Australia’s head of payments policy Tony Richards.

Page 3: The plan to float United Petroleum was delayed because the company and its co-founder, Avi Silver, failed to produce the financials on time, and not because of failure on the part of its former lawyers, Herbert Smith Freehills, or former chairman Martin Hudson, a court has found.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union can get around new court orders aimed at preventing it from paying the fines of its officials through fundraising events, end-of-year bonuses or other unions paying the fines, experts say.

Page 5: The Turnbull government has contained, for now, internal attempts to scuttle the National Energy Guarantee, thanks to blunt warnings to the Coalition backbench by key business and industry leaders and a strong show of support from MPs in the party room.

Page 8: Huawei’s bid to improve its image among federal politicians has backfired, with government and Labor MPs saying attitudes towards allowing the Chinese telecommunications company be involved in the roll-out of the 5G wireless network are hardening against it.

Page 11: Australia is being urged to get behind a renewed push for the signing of a regional trade pact with South-east Asia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, in an attempt to reverse the trend of rising protectionism.

Page 15: Mr Forrest dramatically escalated the dispute when NCZ Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of his Fortescue Metals Group, turned to the Takeovers Panel with a series of explosive allegations in relation to Atlas and a $390 million takeover bid from Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and its subsidiary, Redstone.

Page 17: BHP has reached a peace deal with Brazilian prosecutors that opens the way to end more than $60 billion of legal claims over the 2015 dam disaster at its Samarco operations in Brazil.

APN Outdoor chief executive James Warburton has credited the out-of-home advertiser’s staff as the driving force that helped the business win back positive momentum, ultimately leading to its $1.2 billion all-cash takeover by JCDecaux.

Page 19: Australia will not claim the crown of the world’s biggest LNG exporter from Qatar and will lose its second-ranking status to the US within five years as the US exerts its dominance in the growing market, according to the International Energy Agency.

Page 20: Contractor NRW Holdings said its revenue is expected to grow in excess of 40 per cent in the 2018 financial year. Its order book at the end of May was a near record of $2.05 billion.

Page 31: The listed Investa Office Fund has booked in a portfolio revaluation of $316.1 million or 7.9 per cent, potentially putting pressure on its suitor Blackstone to lift its takeover bid in response to the gains.

The Australian

Page 1: A taskforce has clawed back more than $2.7 billion in unpaid taxes from multinational companies operating in Australia in just under a year since laws were passed to crack down on large-scale tax avoidance.

Labor’s proposed 2 per cent cap on health insurance premium increases would lead to eight insurers operating at a loss in the first year and put three on the brink of insolvency in the second, according to an industry analysis.

Page 2: Commercial wind and solar projects plus a growing rooftop panels market has Australia on track to serve 33.3 per cent of power consumption from renewable sources by 2020, according to Green Energy Markets.

An industrial-scale solar farm is a key plank in the City of Fremantle’s bid to be powered 100 per cent by renewable energy by 2025.

Page 6: Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has labelled the Labor frontbench “a bunch of hypocrites” and “pathetic” for criticising Malcolm Turnbull’s wealth despite being asset-rich themselves, with substantial investment property portfolios, family trusts and self-managed super funds.

Page 19: Fears of a global trade war continued to weigh on stocks yesterday, with losses across the energy, resource and healthcare sectors pushing the local index into the red for a third straight session.

ANZ rushed into its $2.4 billion takeover of rural financier Landmark with little due diligence as the bank attempted to become the biggest player in the nation’s agribusiness market.

A Northern Territory-backed study has found stranded gasfields off Darwin could be competitively developed through a bigger, second train at Conoco-Phillips’ Darwin LNG project that could export an extra 4 million tonnes of LNG a year.

Page 22: Newcrest Mining says it will push ahead with its exploration efforts in Indonesia despite bowing to pressure from the Indonesian government and accepting tougher new tax and ownership requirements.

The prospect of a Commonwealth Bank share buyback has receded after its announcement of a wealth management demerger worth up to $10 billion, according to analysts.

The West Australian

Page 3: Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has signalled his fix to WA’s GST injustice will include a package to ensure other States and Territories will not be penalised.

Page 14: Suspended City of Perth councillor James Limnios has called for a stamp-duty free zone and rate relief in the CBD to double the residential population.

Business: Bondholders may have won control of Quintis, but the company’s sandalwood investment schemes are the subject of an escalating war of words between receivers and the Frank Wilson-linked group of growers seeking to carve out a new business.

Collins Foods, Australia’s biggest KFC franchisee, has lifted full-year profit by 16 per cent, buoyed by the addition of new stores to its network.

WA’s premier food bowl region will continue to trumpet its bounty for at least another three years, after the Southern Forests Food Council received a $1.5 million cash injection from the State Government.

Property: The newly formed Industrial Lands Authority will bury a site-by-site approach to the State Government’s industry and job generation activities in favour of a co-ordinated, State-wide strategic approach to industrial and technology parks, allowing for fast-tracked approvals in areas of pressing need.

Pressure is growing for changes to WA’s construction payment system after it emerged new Queensland rules mandating three accounts had discouraged industry disputes.

WA’s long-promised strata reform, to go before Parliament within weeks, is expected to help reduce conflicts in mixed-use projects, which need to operate smoothly if Perth is to become a better-designed, denser city.

M/Group has raised $13.5 million to buy an elevated 11.8ha Beeliar residential development site.

Listed Australian property investor Growthpoint Properties, which has emerged as a recent Perth property buyer, is understood to be carrying out due diligence on the A-grade 836 Wellington Street complex, with a $100 million-plus bid in the offing.

The hunt for big game could lead investors to track down the den of Royal Wolf shipping container company in Bassendean.

Colliers International’s Tory Packer and Tim Scott have been appointed to market the prime development site at 1 Staveley Place, Innaloo, which will also be a beneficiary of a Federal Government commitment to spent $65 million on the first stage of the city centre works.