Glencore tilts at Rio expansion
Rio Tinto’s massive iron ore expansion plan is Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg’s key weapon in his bold $182 billion plan to merge with Australia’s second-largest mining group. The Fin
Newcrest boss vows not to slash and burn
Newcrest Mining managing director Sandeep Biswas insists his new improvement and optimisation agenda will not “burn the furniture” at the goldminer, despite demanding a renewed focus on cost reduction and productivity. The Fin
No equity in Medibank, Cormann says
Mathias Cormann has rejected a report suggesting members of Medibank Private should receive shares in the health insurer’s $4 billion-plus float, based on one crucial word in a customer service letter sent in the 1990s. The Fin
Regis Healthcare float finds favour
Almost 25 years after Bryan Dorman’s first encounter with the aged care industry – a visit to a cramped nursing home in Melbourne’s Footscray in the 1980s – a float of Regis Healthcare on Tuesday delivered Mr Dorman and his co-founder Ian Roberts a $734 million fortune. The Fin
Infigen says write-downs ‘premature’ on RET
Renewable energy group Infigen Energy chief executive Miles George says asset write-downs would be premature for the wind power producer, given increasing signs that the renewable energy target may survive with only relatively minor changes. The Fin
Climate key to deal on budget
Climate change concerns will be used to reopen talks on at least $2.2 billion in budget savings as Joe Hockey honours a deal with the Greens to address some of their claims in a long-range review of the nation’s fortunes. The Aus
Families join free-range rage
Milne AgriGroup boss Graham Laitt is pushing ahead with moves to turn the Great Southern into a free-range farming hub with the backing of supermarket giant Coles. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Rio Tinto’s massive iron ore expansion plan is Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg’s key weapon in his bold $182 billion plan to merge with Australia’s second-largest mining group.
Page 3: Australia’s dividend-obsessed investment culture – led by self-managed super funds – is actively discouraging companies from risk-taking that would generate fresh growth and jobs, a report by Boston Consulting Group finds.
Page 4: One of the companies blacklisted by Australian National University’s $1 billion investment fund says it will pursue its legal rights against the consultants who advised the university on the move.
Page 6: Companies that emit carbon above specific limits could be forced by the courts to pay civil penalties under changes developed by independent Senator Nick Xenophon with the help of the Coalition government.
Page 7: Tony Abbott says the government remains committed to restoring the budget to balance by 2017-18, despite mounting setbacks including the Senate, the Iraq war and a plunge in commodity prices.
Page 9: The Napthine government has pledged to create 200,000 jobs over the next five years in a re-election pitch that comes a day after Labor promised 100,000 jobs.
Page 11: Mathias Cormann has rejected a report suggesting members of Medibank Private should receive shares in the health insurer’s $4 billion-plus float, based on one crucial word in a customer service letter sent in the 1990s.
Page 15: Almost 25 years after Bryan Dorman’s first encounter with the aged care industry – a visit to a cramped nursing home in Melbourne’s Footscray in the 1980s – a float of Regis Healthcare on Tuesday delivered Mr Dorman and his co-founder Ian Roberts a $734 million fortune.
Page 17: Newcrest Mining managing director Sandeep Biswas insists his new improvement and optimisation agenda will not “burn the furniture” at the goldminer, despite demanding a renewed focus on cost reduction and productivity.
Page 18: Despite the heat coming out of the local equity market, the rush of new listed investment companies coming to market continues as one of the country’s biggest fund managers Perpetual unveils its new deal worth up to $600 million.
Page 19: Analysts are split on whether BHP Billiton can achieve its ambitious drive to claim Rio Tinto’s mantle as exporter of the cheapest iron ore to China.
Iron ore miner Pluton Resources has not disclosed to investors participating in its $47.5 million-plus capital raising that a string of its exploration permits are now subject to forfeiture notices after it failed to pay a few thousand dollars in rent.
Renewable energy group Infigen Energy chief executive Miles George says asset write-downs would be premature for the wind power producer, given increasing signs that the renewable energy target may survive with only relatively minor changes.
The Australian
Page 1: The global economy faces another five years of stagnation, the International Monetary Fund warned overnight as it cut its growth forecasts for the third year in a row and urged nations to reinvigorate economic reforms.
Page 2: Climate change concerns will be used to reopen talks on at least $2.2 billion in budget savings as Joe Hockey honours a deal with the Greens to address some of their claims in a long-range review of the nation’s fortunes.
The long-awaited depreciation of the Australian dollar has farmers and rural exporters excited, at a time when falling global prices for many food commodities herald gloomy times ahead.
Page 3: Brewers have been routinely supplied with substandard malt by the country’s biggest producer, Joe White Maltings, which covered up the deception by altering chemical analysis certificates, a court has been told.
Page 17: An audacious $190 billion attempt by billionaire Ivan Glasenberg’s Glencore to merge with Rio Tinto and take BHP Billiton’s position as the world’s biggest miner has sent Rio’s shares soaring, despite general consensus it is unlikely to happen.
The family that controls South Australia’s Coopers Brewery, Australia’s biggest locally owned brewer, has quietly changed the beverage company’s century-old constitution, which could make it almost impregnable to a hostile takeover by one of the global multinationals that control Australia’s $7 billion beer market.
Page 18: Rio Tinto’s confirmation that Glencore approached it on merger talks just three months ago has fuelled market chatter that Rio boss Sam Walsh could stay at the miner beyond 2015.
Page 27: The federal government is using an honour system to administer payments from a HECS-style vocational education loan scheme that has exploded 50-fold in the past five years.
The West Australian
Page 5: The State opera company has dumped a planned performance of Carmen because it features smoking, putting it at odds with a new sponsorship deal with Healthway.
Page 11: The Education Department is looking at ways to squeeze thousands of extra students into inner-city schools in the next decade because of increasing population density.
Page 18: The Federal Government has renovated its jobs strategies amid growing signs it is going to have to do the same to its entire Budget.
Page 22: Premier Colin Barnett has refused to guarantee his Government will deliver a surplus in 2014-15 in the face of falling iron ore prices, while hinting further job cuts in the public sector could be on the way.
Business: Milne AgriGroup boss Graham Laitt is pushing ahead with moves to turn the Great Southern into a free-range farming hub with the backing of supermarket giant Coles.
Rip Curl’s painful restructuring two years ago has returned a bumper dividend, with the surfwear retailer recording a surge in profits on the back of improved sales in key markets.
Two Margaret River farming families will sell 10 million litres of milk a year direct to Woolworths under a deal which cuts out the three leading dairy processors in WA as they battle for dwindling supply.