Mac's $15bn global fire sale; Coal, ore exports to drop by $30bn; Reynolds wins construction union vote; Wealth slump fuels case for more rate cuts; Citi, ABN the latest to slash finance jobs
Mac's $15bn global fire sale
Macquarie Group has acted decisively to restore investor confidence by revealing plans to wind back $15 billion of struggling businesses and use the capital to pay down high wholesale finance costs. The Australian
Coal, ore exports to drop by $30bn
Slumping commodities markets could slash $30 billion from Australia's biggest exports -- coal and iron ore -- next financial year, with analysts giving steep downgrades to price forecasts based on worsening demand in China. The Australian
Reynolds wins construction union vote
Kevin Reynolds has retained his position at the helm of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union in its hotly contested election, but faces the prospect of running an organisation in which his opponents control key positions. The West
Wealth slump fuels case for more rate cuts
An unprecedented plunge in household wealth is pushing the Reserve Bank of Australia towards a further series of interest rate cuts, amid signs that the central bank and the federal government will have to do more to ward off recession. The Fin Review
Citi, ABN the latest to slash finance jobs
Almost 100 bankers will be cut from Citi's Australian operations as the investment bank's New York parent company slashes 52,000 staff from its global workforce. The Australian
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 3: Kevin Reynolds has retained his position at the helm of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union in its hotly contested election, but faces the prospect of running an organisation in which his opponents control key positions.
Page 4: WA councils will spend almost all of the $29 million they were granted under the latest Rudd government spending initiative to fix dilapidated infrastructure rather than build new community facilities, the head of the WA Local Government Association has predicted.
Financial markets believe official interest rates will almost certainly fall by a full percentage point next month after the Reserve Bank's latest board minutes revealed that governor Glenn Stevens was prepared to slash rates lower than initially planned in response to the depth of the global financial crisis.
The risks of an economic downturn in China are growing and protectionist sentiment abroad could hurt global growth, the country's central bank warned yesterday.
Page 6: Concern over besieged Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moor's conflict of interests grew yesterday when BHP Billiton said it would revive its Yeelirrie uranium project, a day after Mr Moore took part in a Cabinet decision to lift the ban.
Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson his demanding Eric Ripper drop his opposition to uranium mining, accusing the state Labor leader of "patently false" and irresponsible scaremongering.
Page 7: The family business empire of Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has fractured, with her husband Joe set to fight his brother in the Supreme Court over a bid to wind up one of their property development companies.
Page 14: Prominent builders say the cost of housing and commercial projects could drop in the next year, raising hopes of more affordable housing and cheaper price tags for infrastructure and amenities.
Business: Mount Gibson Iron managing director Luke Tonkin yesterday defended the company's controversial rescue by Chinese investors while taking a thinly veiled swipe at its bigger rivals, who last month distanced themselves from the miner's reports of falling demand.
If the number of "investors" streaming through the doors of Perth's Hyatt Hotel over the past two days is anything to go by, there is at least one market sector still in good health amid the turmoil.
A $1 billion cut in the bonus pool for Macquarie Group's 13,800 staff, including the controversial multi-million-dollar rewards for senior executives, helped the investment bank to a better-than expected half-year profit.
WA billionaire Stan Perron's flagship investment company recorded a profit reversal last financial year as the credit crunch made its initial impact on global property and equity values.
Iron ore and coal demand from China has fallen so sharply that cape-size bulk carriers are being forced to run at a loss, laid up to await better markets or even scrapped.
Resolute Mining plans to raise up to $72.5 million in its second bid to secure cash to ramp up its 85 per cent-complete gold project in Mali.
BHP Billiton's net profit could fall 31 per cent this financial year and up to 50 per cent the year after, Macquarie analysts warned yesterday, as they suggested the company might cut its Pilbara iron ore output by as much as 17 per cent in 2008-09.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: The troubled owner of one of Australia's largest coal ports, Dalrymple Bay in Queensland, has put it up for sale to repay debt and find a partner to fund the long-term expansion of the strategic piece of national export infrastructure.
An unprecedented plunge in household wealth is pushing the Reserve Bank of Australia towards a further series of interest rate cuts, amid signs that the central bank and the federal government will have to do more to ward off recession.
Macquarie Group has bowed to calls that it slash the value of investments in its battered satellites but is adamant it can ride out the global financial crisis after recording its first fall in profit since the 1991 recession.
Page 3: GM Holden will cut its production by almost half in the first three months of next year, intensifying pressure on car component suppliers and raising fears that thousands of workers in the supply chain face pay cuts or stand-downs.
Morgan Stanley joined hundreds of angry ABC Learning investors at the first creditors' meeting yesterday, lodging a $70 million legal claim against the collapsed child-care operator.
Page 7: The Australian Taxation Office has warned foreign residents selling Australian property against using schemes in a bid to avoid paying capital tax gains.
Page 10: Australia's hopes of being a world leader in solar energy have suffered a blow after global energy giant BP announced it would stop making photovoltaic panels in Sydney because its plant was too small and costly to compete with manufacturers overseas.
Page 11: Short-selling rules to be imposed today risk exaggerating the downward pressure on share prices, fund managers have warned the corporate regulator in a last-minute push to adjust the regulations.
Page 13: The Reserve Bank of Australia is increasingly concerned about the business investment outlook amid warnings that high bank interest rates are hindering expansion plans.
Page 17: Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union WA assistant secretary Joe McDonald has been banned from applying for a new permit to enter building sites for two years by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: The world's largest food manufacturer has reduced sugar levels of some of its top-selling kids' foods -- such as Milo cereal and chocolate milk -- and will stop advertising non-nutritious products under a plan to improve its image worldwide.
Another large interest rate cut is expected next month as the Reserve Bank resolves to reverse its policy of high interest rates as quickly as possible.
Page 2: Kevin Reynolds has extended his 33-year reign at the helm of Western Australia's powerful construction union.
Page 3: The extent the debt being carried by ABC Learning has emerged, with the company owing $1.6 billion, or $16,000 for each child in its care.
A Qantas 747 has been damaged in a bingle with another jumbo, just days after repair work was completed following a midair explosion that tore open its fuselage.
Page 6: Australia's corporate tax system ranks a ''barely competitive'' 48th in a new global survey and has slipped for the second year in a row.
Late-night pharmacies could go the way of the fast-vanishing 24-hour medical clinic, and customers might be forced to make appointments to see a chemist if plans to roll the profession into a new retail pay award proceed.
Another large interest rate cut is expected next month as the Reserve Bank has resolved to reverse its policy of high interest rates as quickly as possible.
Victorian Premier John Brumby has fired a ''mythbusting'' pre-COAG shot across the bows of the commonwealth by releasing figures he claims show the claimed ''rivers of gold'' from the GST flow to Canberra rather than the states.
Page 9: Every local council in Australia will receive a piece of the Rudd Government's $300 million to build new infrastructure from pools to libraries.
Business: Macquarie Group has acted decisively to restore investor confidence by revealing plans to wind back $15 billion of struggling businesses and use the capital to pay down high wholesale finance costs.
For a man who has been handed a poisoned chalice, Macquarie Group chief Nicholas Moore was surprisingly upbeat about the future of his company yesterday.
The Australian share market dived another 3.55 per cent yesterday and could face further volatility today when the two-month ban on short selling of non-financial stocks is lifted.
Almost 100 bankers will be cut from Citi's Australian operations as the investment bank's New York parent company slashes 52,000 staff from its global workforce.
The directors of Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) are ultimately bit players in whether or not Lion Nathan succeeds in its ambition to acquire CCA and create Australasia's largest and most diverse beverages company.
Slumping commodities markets could slash $30 billion from Australia's biggest exports -- coal and iron ore -- next financial year, with analysts giving steep downgrades to price forecasts based on worsening demand in China.
Mount Gibson Iron anticipates a fourth customer could default on contracts, as it flags profit downgrades and production cuts on the back of weaker iron ore demand from China.
BHP Billiton has wasted no time announcing its intention to mine uranium in Western Australia after Premier Colin Barnett formally lifted a ban on Monday.
Lion Nathan will use Japanese brewer and major shareholder Kirin in efforts to convince the US-based Coca-Cola Company to accept an $8 billion takeover offer for Australian soft drink group Coca-Cola Amatil.
Private equity firm CVC Asia-Pacific has pumped an extra $25 million into debt-ridden PBL Media, in a move that will dilute below 10 per cent the stake of James Packer's Consolidated Media Holdings in the vehicle.
This morning, short sellers are popping champagne corks and toasting the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for partly lifting its ban on shorting -- on non-financial stocks only.