Rinehart hits button to construct Roy Hill
Gina Rinehart has pulled the trigger on the major construction phase at her 55-million-tonne-a-year Roy Hill project, even though the Pilbara project is yet to finalise deals over the debt package that will fund it. The West
Grain trade plan
French conglomerate Louis Dreyfus has opened up about plans to grab a bigger share of WA’s multibillion-dollar grain trade as it expands operations throughout Asia. The West
Woodside clinches $1.3bn LNG deal
Woodside Petroleum has signed an estimted $US1.2 billion ($1.3bn), three-year LNG sales deal with Japan's Chubu Electric. The Aus
Forge plunges after second write down
Embattled mining and construction contractor Forge Group has eroded more investor confidence by announcing a second writedown in less than two months at a Rio Tinto power station it is building in Western Australia's Pilbara region. The Aus
WA charge secures Lanco debt
The Office of State Revenue in Western Australia has moved to secure money it is owed by registering a charge over some of the state’s biggest coal assets in the latest sign of financial stress for the Indian owner of Griffin Coal. The Fin
IFM could back ex-boss of Xstrata
One of Australia’s biggest investment firms, IFM Investors, is considering backing X2Resources, the mining fund founded by former Xstrata chief executive Mick Davis. The Fin
Housing, retail charges ahead
Residential and retail developments will be key drivers of WA’s property market in 2014, replacing office leasing, the centrepiece of the market throughout the construction phase of the State’s resources boom. The West
The West Australian
Page 37: Japan Inc has made clear that despite its increasingly vocal rumblings about a desire for cheaper US gas imports, Australia remains the country’s preferred supplier of cargoes of the liquefied fuel.
Page 37: Schlumberger, the oil services giant which has become a major benefactor of the US shale boom, has unveiled plans for a $12.5 million supply base in Broome to service a likely frenzy of fraccing activity in the Canning Basin.
Page 38: Forge Group lost another 18 per cent of its already-decimated market value after admitting yesterday one of two problem power station contracts had got worse — to the tune of up to $28 million.
Page 99: Eric Streitberg has relinquished his executive directorship at Buru Energy, six years after setting up the explorer to fulfil his dream of discovering oil and gas in the Canning Basin.
Page 100: Chinese-controlled magnetite hopeful Asia Iron has completed its shake-up of the company’s Australian management, forcing out the bulk of its remaining Australian project team this week.
Page 100: Mining giant Rio Tinto has paid more than $1.31 billion to maintain its 51 per cent stake in Turquoise Hill Resources after a rights issue linked to the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.
Page 101: The remaining villas in the Aqua Resort — one of the high-profile victims of the South West property bubble — have been purchased by West Perth company Milford Management.
Page 103: Bullish sentiment buckled on the Australian sharemarket and it fell the most in three months yesterday as the withdrawal of US Federal Reserve stimulus measures left slack earnings fundamentals stranded in the market spotlight.
Page 103: Regis Resources shares were hit yesterday after the company said its Garden Well operation had again fallen short of production targets in the December quarter.
Page 103: US-centric jitters sparked the sell-off but domestic consumer discretionary and financial stocks were hammered yesterday as rising consumer anxiety threatened spending.
The Financial Review
Page 1: ANZ Banking Group plans several deals in Asia as tougher capital requirements force it to consider selling minority stakes while it looks for acquisitions to increase the proportion of profits coming from outside Australia.
Page 4: A fresh row over who is to blame for GM Holden’s departure has broken out in South Australia, where the state Labor government faces a tough battle for re-election in March.
Page 5: The Coalition’s Direct Action plan will require an army of public sector staff to set and track emission baselines and reductions to ensure its $1.5 billion emissions reduction fund is not wasted, some experts say, but the government says existing funding will be enough.
Page 5: A Silicon Valley investor in Facebook and Netflix has poured $33 million into Australian hotel bookings company Site-Minder, in a move experts say signals greater interest from US funds in local companies.
Page 5: The Coalition government will closely monitor whether superannuation funds inappropriately spend member money on “marketing services” to attract new members, and engage in broad financial literacy campaigns that extend beyond the interest of members.
Page 9: The US Federal Reserve is investigating whether traders at the world’s biggest banks rigged benchmark currency rates, raising the risk that firms will be penalised for lax controls as regulators look for wrong doing.
Page 9: Few spirits are as American as bourbon. But the maker of some of whiskey’s most iconic brands, including Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, will soon belong to an acquisitive Japanese beverage maker.
Page 11: The Australian sharemarket shed $24 billion in value in its worst trading day since September, as investor worries about the health of the United States economy ahead of earnings season reverberated across global stocks.
Page 11: The first Australian banker has been charged and publicly named for allegedly trying to manipulate world financial market interest rates.
Page 12: As Qantas Airways’ management continues to work through a strategic review, a partial float of its lucrative frequent flyer division would seem increasingly likely.
Page 12: Saputo’s decision to shut the door next week on its $500 million-plus Warrnambool Cheese & Butter takeover bid has set the lights flashing in the Bega Cheese war room.
Page 12: There’s been plenty of attention on ERM Power’s balance sheet ahead of final offers for power producer Macquarie Generation, but investors are also running the numbers on rival AGL Energy’s funding capacity.
Page 13: A deal that extends Crown Resort’s Melbourne casino licence as a sweetener for a surprise poker machine levy would provide James Packer’s gaming giant with certainty.
Page 13: Telstra’s rivals are worried the telco giant could use its multibillion-dollar war chest to ramp up the expansion of its mobile network while boosting sales and marketing activities.
Page 14: Forge Group executives insist there are no more nasty surprises lurking in deals inherited from CTEC, the small mining services firm that Forge acquired in January 2012 under what now appears to be a highly dubious acquisition.
Page 14: Newcrest Mining’s gearing ratio continues to face headwinds, after the miner took on its second debt package in the space of four months.
Page 20: A combination of feedback from their discussions with retailers, along with last week’s release of better than expected sales figures for November, prompted analysts at Deutsche Bank to take a decidedly positive stance towards the outlook for consumer discretionary stocks.
Page 23: Experts have bucked the bearish trend on the outlook for iron ore and believe it can maintain its value, debunking expectations the key Australian export is headed for a slide as concerns mount of an economic slowdown in China, and the supply of the steel making ingredients expands.
The Australian
Page 1: The Australian stockmarket slumped 1.5 per cent, shedding $24 billion in value, as investors worried about the pace of stimulus tapering in the US. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.51 per cent at 5212 points.
Page 17: The sea of red ink on the Australian bourse has the punters rightly worried, with Goldman Sachs saying a US correction is a near certainty and with $24 billion wiped off the market yesterday.
Page 17: GPT Group will seek out new targets across the Australian property landscape after yesterday choosing to walk away from its surprise takeover play for the Commonwealth Property Office Fund (CPA) with $1.2 billion worth of office and retail property assets in hand.
Page 17: CCA has declared its 10-year deal to distribute Jim Beam is safe after Japan's Suntory swooped on US bourbon-maker Beam.
Page 17: The tumultuous board machinations at iron ore producer Moly Mines could be set for another twist following the arrest of a former senior executive of the company's major shareholder, China-based Hanlong Group.
Page 19: China’s Bright Food Group is the latest foreign player to carve itself a slice of the local dairy sector, signing a deal to buy privately held WA cheese and yoghurt producerMundella.
Page 21: Newcrest Mining has given itself some breathing space to avoid an equity raising by securing a $221.5m loan facility.
Page 21: Shares in clean power company Greenearth Energy tripled yesterday after successful testing of carbon dioxide-to-fuel technology.