Morning Headlines

Thursday, 13 December, 2018 - 06:46
Category: 

GIC backs $326m buy as mining cities regain lustre

Singapore’s GIC Real Estate has capped a busy year for office investors by backing the purchase of Perth’s Exchange Tower for $326 million with the sovereign wealth fund betting that resources cities will set the pace next year as it supports a Primewest-run vehicle aiming to capture this growth. The Aus

PM backs big Australia

Scott Morrison has indicated he will resist any significant cut to Australia’s intake of permanent migrants, saying while the states will have an input, he envisages the level staying close to 160,000 so as not to jeopardise economic growth. The Aus

Cost relief for potash plays

The State Government has thrown its weight behind WA’s fledgling potash industry by agreeing to slash rental rates for a swag of vast inland projects. The West

Primewest swoops

Funds manager Primewest has swooped on the Yamanto Shopping Village and Yamanto large format centre in Brisbane’s southwest Ipswich area for $35.25 million. The Aus

Rand in $11.4m buyback

The outbreak of activity at Anton Billis’ gold mining group has extended to an $11.4 million share buyback by Rand Mining. The West

PM’s stand for freedom of religion

Scott Morrison will take a religious discrimination act to the next election, in a major change to commonwealth discrimination laws that will introduce, for the first time, stand-alone legal protections for Australians of faith. The Aus

Sonic in $750m US pathology takeover

Australia’s Sonic Healthcare is set to become one of the largest pathology providers in the world after its $US540 million ($750m) takeover of a US target. The Aus

 

 

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Scott Morrison has indicated he will resist any significant cut to Australia’s intake of permanent migrants, saying while the states will have an input, he envisages the level staying close to 160,000 so as not to jeopardise economic growth.

Facebook has slammed a proposal from the consumer watchdog to create a new regulator in Australia to oversee algorithms, which govern news rankings and advertising on it and Google, as unnecessary and unworkable.

Amazon is poised to take a bigger bite of Australia’s $3 billion online food and grocery market early next year by launching Subscribe & Save, a discounted subscription service for regularly bought goods such as pet food, toilet paper and washing powder.

Page 2: The most senior leaders of the left-wing meat workers’ union are fighting attempts to expel them for allegedly bullying and threatening union colleagues.

Page 3: A coalition of global technology giants including Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter has denounced Australia’s new anti-encryption laws, describing them as ‘‘deeply flawed’’.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating whether Google broke competition law and misused its market power to snuff out the growth of Lachlan Murdoch-backed advertising technology start-up Unlockd earlier this year.

Page 4: Sector-wide strike action could again be a feature of the industrial relations landscape, with Labor considering including protected industrial action in its plans to reintroduce pattern bargaining.

Page 5: A Bill Shorten government would face a revenue shortfall of up to $19 billion over the four-year budget period if a hostile Senate blocked several major tax increases should it win next year’s federal election.

Page 6: The public sector-dominated healthcare and social assistance sectors are underpinning economic growth and jobs, signalling that bigger government is helping keep the economy afloat.

Page 9: The Australian Taxation Office has made four secret legal agreements with advisory firms to stop them promoting the rorting of the Research and Development Incentive scheme, after it found they were inducing clients to try to exploit the scheme.

Page 15: UBS Asset Management will hand over $800 million of assets to two boutique fund managers, triggering the departure of at least half a dozen staff, citing a changing of the guard in the financial advice industry.

The corporate regulator has intervened in Booktopia’s $10 million crowdfunded equity raising, asking the online book retailer to highlight ‘‘going concern’’ risks in revised offer documents.

Page 20: Subscription video on-demand service Stan has raised the ante in the battle for viewership in Australia’s streaming market by signing a new licensing agreement with global media giant Disney, including Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and Walt Disney content.

Page 21: New Zealand’s largest e-commerce company, Trade Me, has backed a $NZ2.56 billion ($2.4 billion) takeover offer from British firm Apax Partners, in the biggest private equity deal in the country’s history.

 

 

The Australian                                                                                                                          

Page 1: Scott Morrison will take a religious discrimination act to the next election, in a major change to commonwealth discrimination laws that will introduce, for the first time, stand-alone legal protections for Australians of faith.

Page 2: The head of Australia’s cyber spy agency, Mike Burgess, has dismissed Australian tech concerns about the new anti-terror encryption laws as “hyperbolic”, and says it is “absurd” to compare the move to the way Australia is treating Chinese telco Huawei.

Australia’s energy market worsened in 2017-18, with household electricity bills up as much as 22 per cent and rising numbers of people falling into hardship programs or disconnecting amid a vacuum in national energy policy, according to the market regulator.

Page 5: Police yesterday raided the home of Rosemary Rogers, the former chief of staff to NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn.

Chinese telco giant Huawei could provide free Wi-Fi and gain access to CCTV cameras on Perth’s public transport network in addition to its $205 million contract to build a 4G communications and data system, government documents have revealed.

Page 17: The federal government will be asked to sign off on Snowy Hydro’s $4.5 billion pumped hydro project while pushing ahead with its own plan to bankroll new reliable electricity generation, including coal plants, through underwriting contracts and offering loans and grants to power operators.

Page 18: Treasury Wine Estates and APA Group are two of the companies poised to continue the trend of Australian groups investing more than $9 billion on US acquisitions in the past two years as economic data in Australia remains patchy and expectations mount for a Labor victory in next year’s federal election.

Page 19: Australia’s Sonic Healthcare is set to become one of the largest pathology providers in the world after its $US540 million ($750m) takeover of a US target.

Page 20: Oil Search has re-emerged as a takeover target for previously foiled suitor Woodside Petroleum and Chinese buyers and French energy giant Total may also target the Papua New Guinea-focused producer, Credit Suisse says.

Page 23: Singapore’s GIC Real Estate has capped a busy year for office investors by backing the purchase of Perth’s Exchange Tower for $326 million with the sovereign wealth fund betting that resources cities will set the pace next year as it supports a Primewest-run vehicle aiming to capture this growth.

Funds manager Primewest has swooped on the Yamanto Shopping Village and Yamanto large format centre in Brisbane’s southwest Ipswich area for $35.25 million.

Page 25: Lendlease’s investment management arm will back development of new precincts across Australian cities, with the $12 billion office funds platform signalling that its ability to tap into the new wave of projects is a key advantage.

 

 

The West Australian

Page 3: The Federal Government believes it is paying welfare benefits to thousands of Australians who died while living overseas.

Business: The State Government has thrown its weight behind WA’s fledgling potash industry by agreeing to slash rental rates for a swag of vast inland projects.

The Australian Taxation Office faces a $1.9 million-plus loss in Psaros’ troubled Park Avenue project company after West Perth accountants seized control of the 35 remaining Churchlands units.

Clive Palmer and Mineralogy have issued yet another writ against Chinese rivals CITIC in WA’s Supreme Court, this time demanding the court makes the Chinese conglomerate pay up the nearly $200 million in royalties they were awarded in another ruling last year.

The outbreak of activity at Anton Billis’ gold mining group has extended to an $11.4 million share buyback by Rand Mining.

Australian Wool Innovation chairwoman Colette Garnsey has joined the board of Seven West Media as a non-executive independent director.