$225bn bid to steady nerves; Battered Macquarie under pressure to find a partner; Cape Lambert faces court in Shemesian shemozzle; HBOS deal 'secures BankWest'; Nuclear deal with Russia put on ice
$225bn bid to steady nerves
Central banks from around the world lat night poured $US180 billion ($225 billion) into the global banking system in a desperate effort to restore confidence to financial markets facing their worst crisis since the 1920s. The Australian
Battered Macquarie under pressure to find a partner
A crisis of confidence has swamped one-time market darling Macquarie Group, intensifying speculation the stand-along investment bank may be forced into an alliance with a commercial bank. The West
Cape Lambert faces court in Shemesian shemozzle
Cape Lambert Iron Ore and disgruntled shareholder Mick Shemesian are headed for the courts after the WA miner refused last night to give a written undertaking not to push ahead with a potential $249 million investment in Sierra Leone. The West
HBOS deal 'secures BankWest'
BankWest is safe from takeover by its bigger Australian rivals for another year, analysts said yesterday after UK giant Lloyds TSB confirmed it would swallow the bank's troubled London-listed parent in a $28 billion rescue. The West
Nuclear deal with Russia put on ice
Australia might not go ahead with a $1 billion uranium sale to Russia, with Kevin Rudd fearing the former communist superpower was at a "turning point". Herald Sun
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Six of the world's central banks have taken unprecedented joint action to prop up global financial markets, as a deepening crisis of confidence threatens to plunge the world into recession.
Business: A crisis of confidence has swamped one-time market darling Macquarie Group, intensifying speculation the stand-along investment bank may be forced into an alliance with a commercial bank.
BankWest is safe from takeover by its bigger Australian rivals for another year, analysts said yesterday after UK giant Lloyds TSB confirmed it would swallow the bank's troubled London-listed Parent in a $28 billion rescue.
Gold stocks sparkled yesterday after bullion's biggest one-day price spurt in nine years as investors sought out the safe haven investment.
Lloyds TSB's agreed merger with HBOS has provided BankWest with ownership certainty, at least in the short-term, but the future of another former WA privatisation remains up in the air.
Cape Lambert Iron Ore and disgruntled shareholder Mick Shemesian are headed for the courts after the WA miner refused last night to give a written undertaking not to push ahead with a potential $249 million investment in Sierra Leone.
Qantas takes its deliver of its first Airbus A380 superjumbo today as it looks forward to building a fleet of fuel-efficient aircraft to combat an environment of high fuel costs.
The swag of mid-tier mining companies still chasing money to push their projects into production found another reason to be nervous yesterday when Strike Resources' $53 million capital raising became the latest casualty of market turmoil.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: Central banks around the world have injected US$180 billion into the global banking system to restore confidence to stuttering financial markets.
Mallesons Stephen Jaques is the first local law firm to break through the half a billion dollar mark in revenue.
Macquarie Group invited major shareholders in for a hastily convened lunchtime briefing yesterday to try to calm nerves as its shares were slammed on fears that it would be swept up in the troubles that have claimed some of its big rivals.
Page 3: Traders, brokers and fund managers gathered to share war stories in bars across the financial capital last night, after $60 billion was stripped from the benchmark S&P ASX 200 Index this week.
Page 5: The Russ government will introduce legislation this session of parliament to protect customers against the collapse of banks and insurance companies as it cautioned yesterday that Australian finance companies were vulnerable to the crisis on global markets.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Central banks from around the world lat night poured $US180 billion ($225 billion) into the global banking system in a desperate effort to restore confidence to financial markets facing their worst crisis since the 1920s.
Kevin Rudd has summoned mining and industry chief executives, environmentalists and union leaders in Canberra this morning to unveil a $100 million clean coal research institute aimed at making Australia the world hub for the climate-change-fighting technology.
Page 2: The global credit crunch risks slamming the brakes on Canberra's drive to recruit private sector money to partner its $20 billion nation-building infrastructure fund.
Business: The Australian banking sector led the sharemarket savaging yesterday as the worsening global liquidity crisis raised fears of capital raisins, cuts to dividends and further provisioning against derivative losses.
One of Macquarie Group's most ardent broker supporters has dubbed the investment bank an "irrevocably broken" after its share price dived 23 per cent to a five-year low yesterday and its five-year credit default swap spreads blew out again.
Lloyds TSB yesterday unveiled the terms of its $27.2 billion rescue of HBOS, as it moved to stabilise the financial markets and help bail out Britain's banking system.
Investors with leveraged share portfolios have been forced to cough up extra cash or sell stock after being hit with a flood of margin calls this week.
Hedge funds have officially replaced private equity as the villains of the market this year.
Close to half a million Australians could be forced to rethink their retirement and work on for several years as plunging sharemarkets shatter lifestyle plans and rip away as much as $500 billion from the projected value of their savings.
Heralding changes to the way the nation's most valuable export is priced, BHP Billiton has inked its first major iron ore sales contract tied to an index, rather than annual negotiations.
The feud between the Cape Lambert Iron Ore board and key investors intensified yesterday with the top directors hitting out at Power United's attempt to sack the board.
US oil major Chevron has awarded a $300 million contract to Clough and its partners to finalise engineering and design studies for the massive Gorgon liquefied natural gas project offshore from Western Australia.
