BHP Billiton Limited (BHP):
Elliott Associates’ campaign to shake up BHP Billiton has been dealt a blow by ratings agency Moody’s, which has warned that proposals to boost shareholder returns would be ‘‘credit negative’’ for the miner.Moody’s comments came as Elliott representatives met BHP investors in Sydney and Melbourne this week and sought to coax them over to their plans for the miner.Elliott has called for BHP to collapse its dual-listed structure, spin out its US petroleum assets and conduct an ‘‘ongoing, off-market share buyback scheme’’. Moody’s had previously rated BHP’s balance sheet as A3 with a ‘‘stable’’ outlook, but upgraded it to ‘‘positive’’ on Wednesday because it believes the miner will continue to generate strong earnings and free cash flow in the current commodity price environment.
Charter Hall Group (CHC):
Charter Hall Group is looking to buy the Salamander Bay shopping centre, north-east of Newcastle, NSW, for more than $180 million. The 24,000-squaremetre mall is held in the Vicinity Retail Partnership, an exclusive wholesale fund that was previously operated by Novion, a forerunner to Vicinity Centres, which offered the centre for sale in February. Charter Hall Group declined to comment on the move but in its equity raising presentation lodged with the Australian Securities Exchange last week and again presented to the Macquarie Connections equities conference on Tuesday, mention was made of an acquisition in exclusive due diligence for the Charter Hall Prime Retail Fund.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ):
Potential suitors are mobilising their deal teams after ANZ Banking Group’s interim results showed softer earnings from its wealth unit. Street Talk can reveal Dai-Ichi Lifeowned TAL is working with adviser Greenhill Australia and accounting firm Deloitte as it weighs lobbing an indicative bid for the ANZ division. Other parties that have deal teams in place include pan-Asian life insurer AIA Group, which is working with Citigroup and Deutsche Bank; Zurich, which has aligned with Credit Suisse; and Metlife, which has mandated Morgan Stanley.Wealth group AMP is working with UBS. Some analysts have put a $4.5 billion price tag on the ANZ wealth unit in its entirety. This column understands AIA is viewed as a strong contender in financial services circles, and is expected to run hard at the ANZ life insurance and funds management business. Bank analysts have taken the knife to their earnings forecasts for ANZ Banking after Tuesday’s interim result revealed the extent of the earnings hole in the institutional bank. While pulling back from Asia and getting rid of unprofitable customers has helped to boost ANZ’s capital position, the latest batch of analyst reports sent to bank shareholders on Wednesday morning show revenue attrition arising from the bank’s divestments in Asia have been underestimated. ANZ shares continued to slide on Wednesday morning, trading down 1.5 per cent to $31.78 at 11.20am (AEST). The rest of the banking sector was lower, though not as much, as investors pondered whether National Australia Bank, which reports results on Thursday, will also reveal a lowerthan-expected net interest margin and credit growth headwinds.
Cromwell Property Group (CMW); Investa Office Fund (IOF) :
Number crunchers from Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Credit Agricole are among the new faces in the Investa Office Fund dataroom. Street Talk can reveal the two banks are lined up as potential lenders to Cromwell Property Group’s proposed takeover, and signed confidentiality agreements to enter the dataroom late last week. It is understood they are joined by National Australia Bank, which is also lining up to write a cheque to support any deal, as well as Cromwell’s biggest shareholder Redefine Properties, as this column first reported. While the three banks and Redefine bring significant fire power, Cromwell investors have been told to expect more. Sources said it was a keen talking point at a Goldman Sachs investor conference last week, with Cromwell going as far as to say there is a sovereign wealth fund and potentially several real estate investment trusts backing the bid. It’s expected to need $1.5 billion to $2 billion equity to put a firm bid on the table. One of the larger institutional investors in the $3 billion Investa Office Fund, BT Investment Management’s Peter Davidson, has warned suitor Cromwell Property Group to speed up its takeover intentions or move on. Cromwell Property Group is selling its 17-storey Health and Forestry House buildings on Mary and Charlotte streets, Brisbane, for almost $70 million following a deal with private wealth manager AsheMorgan. Cromwell purchased Health House and Forestry House in May 2013 for $65 million and has cleared almost $14 million in rent from the buildings every year since, helping to deliver an almost 88 percent return.
Downer EDI Limited (DOW) ; Spotless Group Holdings Limited (SPO):
Downer EDI will not raise its $1.15 per share offer for catering, cleaning and facilities management firm Spotless, declaring its current $1.2 billion takeover bid to be ‘‘final’’. ‘‘The board of Downer has reviewed the Spotless Target’s Statement released to the Australian Securities Exchange on April 27, 2017,’’ Downer said on Wednesday. ‘‘Following this review, the Downer board has determined that its offer price of $1.15 per Spotless share represents Downer’s final offer price in the absence of a superior proposal’’. Downer chief executive Grant Fenn told Macquarie’s Australia conference in Sydney on Wednesday that the contractor believed $1.15 was enough to get ‘‘the transaction done’’ .
Fairfax Media Limited (FXJ)：
New Zealand’s competition regulator has rejected a proposed merger between Fairfax Media New Zealand and NZME, while in Australia Fairfax outlined $30 million in cost savings including the cutting of 115 full-time jobs. The proposed merger was first flagged nearly a year ago and had support from shareholders. The New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) had raised concerns that a merger would likely substantially lessen competition and its view has not changed since its draft determination last year. Fairfax Media chief executive Greg Hywood said the company is disappointed with the outcome and is reviewing the decision. ‘‘This decision does nothing to address the challenge of the global search and social giants, which produce no local journalism, employ very few New Zealanders and pay minimal, if any, local taxes,’’ he said. ‘‘We believe that the NZCC has failed New Zealand in blocking two local media companies from gaining the scale and resources necessary to aggressively compete now and into the future.’’ Mr Hywood said Fairfax’s impression from the outset of the year-long process was the regulator was fixed on the belief the relevant competitive marketplace was just traditional media.
(Source: AIMS)
Elliott Associates’ campaign to shake up BHP Billiton has been dealt a blow by ratings agency Moody’s, which has warned that proposals to boost shareholder returns would be ‘‘credit negative’’ for the miner.Moody’s comments came as Elliott representatives met BHP investors in Sydney and Melbourne this week and sought to coax them over to their plans for the miner.Elliott has called for BHP to collapse its dual-listed structure, spin out its US petroleum assets and conduct an ‘‘ongoing, off-market share buyback scheme’’. Moody’s had previously rated BHP’s balance sheet as A3 with a ‘‘stable’’ outlook, but upgraded it to ‘‘positive’’ on Wednesday because it believes the miner will continue to generate strong earnings and free cash flow in the current commodity price environment.
Charter Hall Group (CHC):
Charter Hall Group is looking to buy the Salamander Bay shopping centre, north-east of Newcastle, NSW, for more than $180 million. The 24,000-squaremetre mall is held in the Vicinity Retail Partnership, an exclusive wholesale fund that was previously operated by Novion, a forerunner to Vicinity Centres, which offered the centre for sale in February. Charter Hall Group declined to comment on the move but in its equity raising presentation lodged with the Australian Securities Exchange last week and again presented to the Macquarie Connections equities conference on Tuesday, mention was made of an acquisition in exclusive due diligence for the Charter Hall Prime Retail Fund.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ):
Potential suitors are mobilising their deal teams after ANZ Banking Group’s interim results showed softer earnings from its wealth unit. Street Talk can reveal Dai-Ichi Lifeowned TAL is working with adviser Greenhill Australia and accounting firm Deloitte as it weighs lobbing an indicative bid for the ANZ division. Other parties that have deal teams in place include pan-Asian life insurer AIA Group, which is working with Citigroup and Deutsche Bank; Zurich, which has aligned with Credit Suisse; and Metlife, which has mandated Morgan Stanley.Wealth group AMP is working with UBS. Some analysts have put a $4.5 billion price tag on the ANZ wealth unit in its entirety. This column understands AIA is viewed as a strong contender in financial services circles, and is expected to run hard at the ANZ life insurance and funds management business. Bank analysts have taken the knife to their earnings forecasts for ANZ Banking after Tuesday’s interim result revealed the extent of the earnings hole in the institutional bank. While pulling back from Asia and getting rid of unprofitable customers has helped to boost ANZ’s capital position, the latest batch of analyst reports sent to bank shareholders on Wednesday morning show revenue attrition arising from the bank’s divestments in Asia have been underestimated. ANZ shares continued to slide on Wednesday morning, trading down 1.5 per cent to $31.78 at 11.20am (AEST). The rest of the banking sector was lower, though not as much, as investors pondered whether National Australia Bank, which reports results on Thursday, will also reveal a lowerthan-expected net interest margin and credit growth headwinds.
Cromwell Property Group (CMW); Investa Office Fund (IOF) :
Number crunchers from Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Credit Agricole are among the new faces in the Investa Office Fund dataroom. Street Talk can reveal the two banks are lined up as potential lenders to Cromwell Property Group’s proposed takeover, and signed confidentiality agreements to enter the dataroom late last week. It is understood they are joined by National Australia Bank, which is also lining up to write a cheque to support any deal, as well as Cromwell’s biggest shareholder Redefine Properties, as this column first reported. While the three banks and Redefine bring significant fire power, Cromwell investors have been told to expect more. Sources said it was a keen talking point at a Goldman Sachs investor conference last week, with Cromwell going as far as to say there is a sovereign wealth fund and potentially several real estate investment trusts backing the bid. It’s expected to need $1.5 billion to $2 billion equity to put a firm bid on the table. One of the larger institutional investors in the $3 billion Investa Office Fund, BT Investment Management’s Peter Davidson, has warned suitor Cromwell Property Group to speed up its takeover intentions or move on. Cromwell Property Group is selling its 17-storey Health and Forestry House buildings on Mary and Charlotte streets, Brisbane, for almost $70 million following a deal with private wealth manager AsheMorgan. Cromwell purchased Health House and Forestry House in May 2013 for $65 million and has cleared almost $14 million in rent from the buildings every year since, helping to deliver an almost 88 percent return.
Downer EDI Limited (DOW) ; Spotless Group Holdings Limited (SPO):
Downer EDI will not raise its $1.15 per share offer for catering, cleaning and facilities management firm Spotless, declaring its current $1.2 billion takeover bid to be ‘‘final’’. ‘‘The board of Downer has reviewed the Spotless Target’s Statement released to the Australian Securities Exchange on April 27, 2017,’’ Downer said on Wednesday. ‘‘Following this review, the Downer board has determined that its offer price of $1.15 per Spotless share represents Downer’s final offer price in the absence of a superior proposal’’. Downer chief executive Grant Fenn told Macquarie’s Australia conference in Sydney on Wednesday that the contractor believed $1.15 was enough to get ‘‘the transaction done’’ .
Fairfax Media Limited (FXJ)：
New Zealand’s competition regulator has rejected a proposed merger between Fairfax Media New Zealand and NZME, while in Australia Fairfax outlined $30 million in cost savings including the cutting of 115 full-time jobs. The proposed merger was first flagged nearly a year ago and had support from shareholders. The New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) had raised concerns that a merger would likely substantially lessen competition and its view has not changed since its draft determination last year. Fairfax Media chief executive Greg Hywood said the company is disappointed with the outcome and is reviewing the decision. ‘‘This decision does nothing to address the challenge of the global search and social giants, which produce no local journalism, employ very few New Zealanders and pay minimal, if any, local taxes,’’ he said. ‘‘We believe that the NZCC has failed New Zealand in blocking two local media companies from gaining the scale and resources necessary to aggressively compete now and into the future.’’ Mr Hywood said Fairfax’s impression from the outset of the year-long process was the regulator was fixed on the belief the relevant competitive marketplace was just traditional media.
(Source: AIMS)
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