AMP Limited (AMP):
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has stepped up its involvement in the commercial property sector with a $100 million investment into the AMP Capital Wholesale Office Property Fund. The $4.7 billion unlisted AMP Capital office fund aims to hold a property portfolio with net zero carbon emission buildings by 2030 – a key attraction for the federal government’s green fund. The equity injection from the CEFC comes as AMP Capital pursues major redevelopment at 50 Bridge Street and the Quay Quarter precinct in Sydney, where there is scope to achieve high energy efficiency ratings.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ):
ANZ has offloaded its equities trading platform, formerly known as E-Trade, as part of chief executive Shayne Elliott’s move to pare the Melbourne-based institution back to a retail banking model. In a statement last night, ANZ said the share investment platform would be taken over by CMC Markets after a lengthy sales process to offload the business. Bell Financial Group was originally considered the front runner to buy the equities trading division but withdrew after a spectacular falling out with ANZ over Michelle Jablko’s appointment as chief financial officer last year.
BHP Billiton Limited (BHP):
BHP Billiton’s push into the fledgling Mexican oil industry is unlikely to be derailed by rising nationalism in the developing nation, according to the company’s petroleum president Steve Pastor. BHP last week finalised an agreement to spend at least $US382.4 million ($503.7 million), and potentially $US1.2 billion, proving up the Trion oil prospect in Mexican waters in partnership with the Mexican state-owned oil company PEMEX. The push into Mexico comes ahead of presidential elections in the central American nation next year, and polls have recently favoured a candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who favours the rolling back of the recent moves to deregulate and privatise the Mexican energy sector.
BHP Billiton petroleum boss Steve Pastor says the world could face an oil shortage in the next five years, with OPEC and US shale production insufficient to meet demand. In a media call from the sidelines of the CERA energy conference in Houston yesterday, Mr Pastor stepped up the rhetoric around the big miner’s push to refocus on longer-dated, deepwater oil opportunities after the company’s $US20 billion US shale oil and gas acquisitions in 2011 failed to yield decent returns. “In recent years, investment has been extremely weak by historic standards and we think this creates a clear potential for the world, again, to be short of oil,” Mr Pastor said, citing an International Energy Agency outlook published this week that was in line with BHP’s view.
Charter Hall Group (CHC):
Fund manager and investor Charter Hall Group will pursue a new $175 million office tower on land it controls in Lonsdale Street, at the northern end of the Melbourne CBD. The 15,000-square-metre tower proposal at 140 Lonsdale Street is the next step for Charter Hall as it looks to reap further return from its control over a one-hectare island site. The property powerhouse is already occupied with the development of a $500 million office tower on churchowned land at 130 Lonsdale Street.
CIMIC Group Limited (CIM) & Macmahon Holdings Limited (MAH):
CIMIC’s $174 million hostile takeover offer for Macmahon appears set to fail when it closes on Thursday after the Perth-based mining contractor found a white knight and key investors backed the board’s rejection of the bid. If less than 50 per cent of Macmahon shareholders accept the final, unconditional offer of 14.5¢ per share in cash by the time it closes at 7pm AEDT on Thursday, it will be the first defeat CIMIC has faced in a string of hostile Australian takeovers. Contractors Leighton Holdings and UGL as well as Queensland engineering group Sedgman have all succumbed to the Spanish-run group, which is controlled by Madrid-based Grupo ACS. CIMIC, which is Macmahon’s largest shareholder with a 23.4 per cent stake, has been trying to seize full control of Macmahon.
Crown Resorts Limited (CWN):
Sydney-based developer Crown Group is negotiating to sell a 30 per cent stake in the company as it presses ahead with expanding into up-market serviced apartments. Crown chief executive Iwan Sunito said negotiations were under way with an offshore group to take a cornerstone stake in Crown, but he declined to comment further on the potential partner or the investment bank providing advice. Crown has been concentrating on serviced apartments — its “sky suites” division — which will also include hotel services such as restaurants, bars and meeting rooms.
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Limited (DMP):
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises will complete an audit of all 740 franchised stores in Australia by the end of June to ensure franchisees are complying with labour regulations. The network-wide audit was revealed by Domino’s chief executive Don Meij at the pizza chain’s annual investor day in Brisbane this week in an attempt to ease growing investor and regulatory concerns about the health of Domino’s franchisees. Under a compliance program established three years ago, 456 of Domino’s 740 stores in Australia have undergone preliminary audits managed by an external third party. Domino’s has decided to continue preliminary checks across all stores. The audits are expected to be completed in eight to 12 weeks.
Lendlease Group (LLC) & GPT Group (GPT):
Lendlease and GPT Group have opened their $240 million retail redevelopment of Macarthur Square in southwest Sydney including a newformat David Jones across two levels, and international retailer H&M. Co-owned by the Lendleasemanaged Australian Prime Property Fund Retail (APPF Retail) and the GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund, the new-look centre with its western expansion includes a new Coles supermarket as well as an additional 40 new specialty stores along with additional 500 car spaces. Shopping centre landlords around the country are working on billions of dollars’ worth of developments as they reposition their shopping centres to increase productivity, attract crowds and compete with online retailers.
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
NAB Ventures has led a $US24 million ($31.6 million) funding round by foreign exchange payments group Veem, in a deal National Australia Bank hopes will help it grab a larger share of international money transfers made by small business. Silicon Valleybased Veem has built a forex platform that is payment rails agnostic, meaning it sits above any infrastructure used to make cross-border payments. NAB led a group of investors, including Google Ventures, US venture capital investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Silicon Valley Bank. NAB Ventures has led a $US24 million ($31.6 million) funding round by foreign exchange payments group Veem, in a deal National Australia Bank hopes will help it grab a larger share of international money transfers made by small business. Silicon Valley-based Veem, formerly known as Align Commerce, has built a forex platform which is payment rails agnostic, meaning it sits above any infrastructure used to make crossborder payments. This could include the traditional Swift system, or new blockchain-powered alternatives such as Ripple. The technology examines available paths for money to move between countries and chooses the fastest and cheapest path for a given transaction.
Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC):
Westpac established a call centre team and offered them bonuses to convince customers to switch $646.7 million in external superannuation savings into the bank’s own products, court documents show. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is pursuing Westpac in federal court, alleging bank staff breached rules designed to ensure the interests of customers come before profits or sales commissions. It is one of the first tests of ‘‘best interests duty’’ introduced as part of the the Future of Financial Advice laws.
（Source: AIMS）
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has stepped up its involvement in the commercial property sector with a $100 million investment into the AMP Capital Wholesale Office Property Fund. The $4.7 billion unlisted AMP Capital office fund aims to hold a property portfolio with net zero carbon emission buildings by 2030 – a key attraction for the federal government’s green fund. The equity injection from the CEFC comes as AMP Capital pursues major redevelopment at 50 Bridge Street and the Quay Quarter precinct in Sydney, where there is scope to achieve high energy efficiency ratings.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ):
ANZ has offloaded its equities trading platform, formerly known as E-Trade, as part of chief executive Shayne Elliott’s move to pare the Melbourne-based institution back to a retail banking model. In a statement last night, ANZ said the share investment platform would be taken over by CMC Markets after a lengthy sales process to offload the business. Bell Financial Group was originally considered the front runner to buy the equities trading division but withdrew after a spectacular falling out with ANZ over Michelle Jablko’s appointment as chief financial officer last year.
BHP Billiton Limited (BHP):
BHP Billiton’s push into the fledgling Mexican oil industry is unlikely to be derailed by rising nationalism in the developing nation, according to the company’s petroleum president Steve Pastor. BHP last week finalised an agreement to spend at least $US382.4 million ($503.7 million), and potentially $US1.2 billion, proving up the Trion oil prospect in Mexican waters in partnership with the Mexican state-owned oil company PEMEX. The push into Mexico comes ahead of presidential elections in the central American nation next year, and polls have recently favoured a candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who favours the rolling back of the recent moves to deregulate and privatise the Mexican energy sector.
BHP Billiton petroleum boss Steve Pastor says the world could face an oil shortage in the next five years, with OPEC and US shale production insufficient to meet demand. In a media call from the sidelines of the CERA energy conference in Houston yesterday, Mr Pastor stepped up the rhetoric around the big miner’s push to refocus on longer-dated, deepwater oil opportunities after the company’s $US20 billion US shale oil and gas acquisitions in 2011 failed to yield decent returns. “In recent years, investment has been extremely weak by historic standards and we think this creates a clear potential for the world, again, to be short of oil,” Mr Pastor said, citing an International Energy Agency outlook published this week that was in line with BHP’s view.
Charter Hall Group (CHC):
Fund manager and investor Charter Hall Group will pursue a new $175 million office tower on land it controls in Lonsdale Street, at the northern end of the Melbourne CBD. The 15,000-square-metre tower proposal at 140 Lonsdale Street is the next step for Charter Hall as it looks to reap further return from its control over a one-hectare island site. The property powerhouse is already occupied with the development of a $500 million office tower on churchowned land at 130 Lonsdale Street.
CIMIC Group Limited (CIM) & Macmahon Holdings Limited (MAH):
CIMIC’s $174 million hostile takeover offer for Macmahon appears set to fail when it closes on Thursday after the Perth-based mining contractor found a white knight and key investors backed the board’s rejection of the bid. If less than 50 per cent of Macmahon shareholders accept the final, unconditional offer of 14.5¢ per share in cash by the time it closes at 7pm AEDT on Thursday, it will be the first defeat CIMIC has faced in a string of hostile Australian takeovers. Contractors Leighton Holdings and UGL as well as Queensland engineering group Sedgman have all succumbed to the Spanish-run group, which is controlled by Madrid-based Grupo ACS. CIMIC, which is Macmahon’s largest shareholder with a 23.4 per cent stake, has been trying to seize full control of Macmahon.
Crown Resorts Limited (CWN):
Sydney-based developer Crown Group is negotiating to sell a 30 per cent stake in the company as it presses ahead with expanding into up-market serviced apartments. Crown chief executive Iwan Sunito said negotiations were under way with an offshore group to take a cornerstone stake in Crown, but he declined to comment further on the potential partner or the investment bank providing advice. Crown has been concentrating on serviced apartments — its “sky suites” division — which will also include hotel services such as restaurants, bars and meeting rooms.
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Limited (DMP):
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises will complete an audit of all 740 franchised stores in Australia by the end of June to ensure franchisees are complying with labour regulations. The network-wide audit was revealed by Domino’s chief executive Don Meij at the pizza chain’s annual investor day in Brisbane this week in an attempt to ease growing investor and regulatory concerns about the health of Domino’s franchisees. Under a compliance program established three years ago, 456 of Domino’s 740 stores in Australia have undergone preliminary audits managed by an external third party. Domino’s has decided to continue preliminary checks across all stores. The audits are expected to be completed in eight to 12 weeks.
Lendlease Group (LLC) & GPT Group (GPT):
Lendlease and GPT Group have opened their $240 million retail redevelopment of Macarthur Square in southwest Sydney including a newformat David Jones across two levels, and international retailer H&M. Co-owned by the Lendleasemanaged Australian Prime Property Fund Retail (APPF Retail) and the GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund, the new-look centre with its western expansion includes a new Coles supermarket as well as an additional 40 new specialty stores along with additional 500 car spaces. Shopping centre landlords around the country are working on billions of dollars’ worth of developments as they reposition their shopping centres to increase productivity, attract crowds and compete with online retailers.
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
NAB Ventures has led a $US24 million ($31.6 million) funding round by foreign exchange payments group Veem, in a deal National Australia Bank hopes will help it grab a larger share of international money transfers made by small business. Silicon Valleybased Veem has built a forex platform that is payment rails agnostic, meaning it sits above any infrastructure used to make cross-border payments. NAB led a group of investors, including Google Ventures, US venture capital investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Silicon Valley Bank. NAB Ventures has led a $US24 million ($31.6 million) funding round by foreign exchange payments group Veem, in a deal National Australia Bank hopes will help it grab a larger share of international money transfers made by small business. Silicon Valley-based Veem, formerly known as Align Commerce, has built a forex platform which is payment rails agnostic, meaning it sits above any infrastructure used to make crossborder payments. This could include the traditional Swift system, or new blockchain-powered alternatives such as Ripple. The technology examines available paths for money to move between countries and chooses the fastest and cheapest path for a given transaction.
Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC):
Westpac established a call centre team and offered them bonuses to convince customers to switch $646.7 million in external superannuation savings into the bank’s own products, court documents show. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is pursuing Westpac in federal court, alleging bank staff breached rules designed to ensure the interests of customers come before profits or sales commissions. It is one of the first tests of ‘‘best interests duty’’ introduced as part of the the Future of Financial Advice laws.
（Source: AIMS）
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