Spark Infrastructure Group (SKI):
Spark Infrastructure chairman Doug McTaggart has acknowledged the company’s consortium with Hastings and other partners was ‘‘soundly outbid’’ for NSW distributor Endeavour Energy but insists it has ‘‘no regrets’’ about not bidding more aggressively. Dr McTaggart said the Spark group’s bid for Endeavour, which was eventually won by a Macquarie Group consortium in a $7.6 billion deal, showed it acted ‘‘with financial discipline and strategic rigour’’. Spark would continue to be ‘‘alert to opportunities’’ for other acquisitions, he said. Spark came in for some criticism from some shareholders for its part in a $10.3 billion acquisition of NSW highvoltage electricity network owner Transgrid, paying a price some thought would eat into returns for shareholders. But Dr McTaggart said that 18 months after the acquisition, Transgrid was delivering to expectations, and that the pipeline of growth opportunities for the business was larger than originally envisaged. That meant more capital needed to be invested to accommodate the growth – in connecting new wind and solar farms to the grid –requiring more cash flow to be retained rather than paid out to owners. ‘‘This is a great problem to have, and although you should expect to see a lower level of cash flows at the Spark Infrastructure level in 2017 and 2018, it will not impact our current distribution guidance to end 2018,’’ the chairman said. Shares in Spark were up 1.3 per cent at $2.685 on Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Spark easily fended off a second board tilt by rebel shareholder and former Credit Suisse banker James Dunphy, who has been particularly critical of the Transgrid deal.
Spark Infrastructure Group (SKI):
Spark Infrastructure chairman Doug McTaggart has acknowledged the company’s consortium with Hastings and other partners was ‘‘soundly outbid’’ for NSW distributor Endeavour Energy but insists it has ‘‘no regrets’’ about not bidding more aggressively. Dr McTaggart said the Spark group’s bid for Endeavour, which was eventually won by a Macquarie Group consortium in a $7.6 billion deal, showed it acted ‘‘with financial discipline and strategic rigour’’. Spark would continue to be ‘‘alert to opportunities’’ for other acquisitions, he said. Spark came in for some criticism from some shareholders for its part in a $10.3 billion acquisition of NSW highvoltage electricity network owner Transgrid, paying a price some thought would eat into returns for shareholders. But Dr McTaggart said that 18 months after the acquisition, Transgrid was delivering to expectations, and that the pipeline of growth opportunities for the business was larger than originally envisaged. That meant more capital needed to be invested to accommodate the growth – in connecting new wind and solar farms to the grid –requiring more cash flow to be retained rather than paid out to owners. ‘‘This is a great problem to have, and although you should expect to see a lower level of cash flows at the Spark Infrastructure level in 2017 and 2018, it will not impact our current distribution guidance to end 2018,’’ the chairman said. Shares in Spark were up 1.3 per cent at $2.685 on Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Spark easily fended off a second board tilt by rebel shareholder and former Credit Suisse banker James Dunphy, who has been particularly critical of the Transgrid deal.
Charter Hall Group (CHC):
Charter Hall Group’s Prime Office Fund and Direct Office Fund have purchased Dexus’ 105 Phillip Street office tower in Parramatta, NSW, for $229 million. As foreshadowed in The Australian Financial Review , Charter Hall beat a long list of domestic and international contenders for the 15-storey storey tower, to be constructed by Built and completed in 2018. The deal, which involves Dexus maintaining management rights over the building for another five years, was struck on a yield of just below 5.3 per cent, which has repriced the western Sydney city’s office market. The 25,000-square-metre, A-grade office space is set to be the headquarters for the NSW government’s Department of Education and will be leased for 12 years.
Brickworks Limited (BKW):
Directors of Brickworks were independently told Perpetual’s plan to unwind the cross-shareholdings between Brickworks and Washington H. Soul Pattinson would unlock value, but declined to bow to the fund manager, the Federal Court has heard. On day two of the hearing before Justice Jagot in Sydney, Tony Bannon, SC, sought to argue that members of the Soul Patts and Brickworks boards were aware there was a viable alternative to maintaining the crossshareholdings, but would not support the investor’s efforts to dissolve it. On Monday, the court heard that the Millners regard Soul Patts and Brickworks as family companies run with a ‘‘father knows best’’ mentality. Robert Millner is the chairman of Soul Patts and Brickworks and the companies own around 40 per cent of each other’s equity.
(Source: AIMS)
Spark Infrastructure chairman Doug McTaggart has acknowledged the company’s consortium with Hastings and other partners was ‘‘soundly outbid’’ for NSW distributor Endeavour Energy but insists it has ‘‘no regrets’’ about not bidding more aggressively. Dr McTaggart said the Spark group’s bid for Endeavour, which was eventually won by a Macquarie Group consortium in a $7.6 billion deal, showed it acted ‘‘with financial discipline and strategic rigour’’. Spark would continue to be ‘‘alert to opportunities’’ for other acquisitions, he said. Spark came in for some criticism from some shareholders for its part in a $10.3 billion acquisition of NSW highvoltage electricity network owner Transgrid, paying a price some thought would eat into returns for shareholders. But Dr McTaggart said that 18 months after the acquisition, Transgrid was delivering to expectations, and that the pipeline of growth opportunities for the business was larger than originally envisaged. That meant more capital needed to be invested to accommodate the growth – in connecting new wind and solar farms to the grid –requiring more cash flow to be retained rather than paid out to owners. ‘‘This is a great problem to have, and although you should expect to see a lower level of cash flows at the Spark Infrastructure level in 2017 and 2018, it will not impact our current distribution guidance to end 2018,’’ the chairman said. Shares in Spark were up 1.3 per cent at $2.685 on Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Spark easily fended off a second board tilt by rebel shareholder and former Credit Suisse banker James Dunphy, who has been particularly critical of the Transgrid deal.
Spark Infrastructure Group (SKI):
Spark Infrastructure chairman Doug McTaggart has acknowledged the company’s consortium with Hastings and other partners was ‘‘soundly outbid’’ for NSW distributor Endeavour Energy but insists it has ‘‘no regrets’’ about not bidding more aggressively. Dr McTaggart said the Spark group’s bid for Endeavour, which was eventually won by a Macquarie Group consortium in a $7.6 billion deal, showed it acted ‘‘with financial discipline and strategic rigour’’. Spark would continue to be ‘‘alert to opportunities’’ for other acquisitions, he said. Spark came in for some criticism from some shareholders for its part in a $10.3 billion acquisition of NSW highvoltage electricity network owner Transgrid, paying a price some thought would eat into returns for shareholders. But Dr McTaggart said that 18 months after the acquisition, Transgrid was delivering to expectations, and that the pipeline of growth opportunities for the business was larger than originally envisaged. That meant more capital needed to be invested to accommodate the growth – in connecting new wind and solar farms to the grid –requiring more cash flow to be retained rather than paid out to owners. ‘‘This is a great problem to have, and although you should expect to see a lower level of cash flows at the Spark Infrastructure level in 2017 and 2018, it will not impact our current distribution guidance to end 2018,’’ the chairman said. Shares in Spark were up 1.3 per cent at $2.685 on Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Spark easily fended off a second board tilt by rebel shareholder and former Credit Suisse banker James Dunphy, who has been particularly critical of the Transgrid deal.
Charter Hall Group (CHC):
Charter Hall Group’s Prime Office Fund and Direct Office Fund have purchased Dexus’ 105 Phillip Street office tower in Parramatta, NSW, for $229 million. As foreshadowed in The Australian Financial Review , Charter Hall beat a long list of domestic and international contenders for the 15-storey storey tower, to be constructed by Built and completed in 2018. The deal, which involves Dexus maintaining management rights over the building for another five years, was struck on a yield of just below 5.3 per cent, which has repriced the western Sydney city’s office market. The 25,000-square-metre, A-grade office space is set to be the headquarters for the NSW government’s Department of Education and will be leased for 12 years.
Brickworks Limited (BKW):
Directors of Brickworks were independently told Perpetual’s plan to unwind the cross-shareholdings between Brickworks and Washington H. Soul Pattinson would unlock value, but declined to bow to the fund manager, the Federal Court has heard. On day two of the hearing before Justice Jagot in Sydney, Tony Bannon, SC, sought to argue that members of the Soul Patts and Brickworks boards were aware there was a viable alternative to maintaining the crossshareholdings, but would not support the investor’s efforts to dissolve it. On Monday, the court heard that the Millners regard Soul Patts and Brickworks as family companies run with a ‘‘father knows best’’ mentality. Robert Millner is the chairman of Soul Patts and Brickworks and the companies own around 40 per cent of each other’s equity.
(Source: AIMS)
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