Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ):
It is the nature of a small economy ... if you think about airlines, supermarkets, energy companies, mining companies, it is a concentrated country. So I don't know that [the Treasurer’s comments] are necessarily very helpful. London-based investors in Australia’s banks are fretting about the risk that several small and seemingly well-intentioned changes in housing market policies combine to create a sharp property market correction. ANZ Banking Group chief executive Shayne Elliott, who has just returned from London, said investors there are also worried that high levels of household debt have lifted housing market risk and that the government might seek to raise revenue from other sectors following the budget’s surprise bank tax. The Australian banks rely on foreign investors to fund the $400 billion gap between domestic deposits and overall lending to the economy. Speaking to The Australian Financial Review after a presentation to a G100 conference in Sydney, Mr Elliott said many institutional investors in ANZ’s debt and equity have a ‘‘heightened level of interest and concern’’ about Australian housing. Some view the prudential regulator’s speed limits as indicative of its caution, while others suggested high levels of household debt are making them nervous The budget introduced limits to the way expenses can be deducted against negative geared properties.
BHP Billiton Limited (BHP):
BHP Billiton’s chief commercial officer, Arnoud Balhuizen, has rejected claims by Elliott Associates that the company’s Singapore marketing hub has no value, declaring it critical that BHP retains a foothold in the Asian city. Elliott targeted the Singapore hub on May 16 when it accused BHP of using the hub to avoid tax, and said the hub was unsustainable in light of BHP’s long-running dispute with the Australian Tax Office. The New York hedge fund also disputed BHP’s claim that the hub delivers millions of dollars’ worth of value to the company each year, saying ‘‘we ascribe no value to this structure’ ’Our assessment is that the tax benefits and the aggressive marketing margins which BHP was seeking in using this structure are unsustainable,’’ the hedge fund claimed. When asked why BHP could not locate the marketing hub in an Australian city, Mr Balhuizen told the Melbourne Mining Club that BHP needed to be embedded in Asia given almost 70 per cent of its sales went to the region. ‘‘Singapore these days is the centre for steel trading and iron ore trading, the centre for LNG trading and has been for a long time the centre in Asia for oil trading, so it is absolutely critical for us to be part of that ecosystem,’’ he said.
Blue Sky Alternative Investments Limited (BLA):
As global passive investment vehicles hoover up the bulk of available fund flows to the detriment of active equity managers, there is one asset class that remains immune to the negative outcomes of the passive versus active debate. Alternative asset managers are enjoying a boom in fund inflows as institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and pension funds tip increasing amounts of money into illiquid assets in a bid to achieve double-digit returns. In Australia, alternatives are being embraced by institutional investors and self-managed super funds. There is no better example of the surge in interest in alternative assets than Blue Sky Alternatives, a Brisbane manager which has shot the lights out for the past five years. This week it revealed that its total funds under management had hit $3 billion, which is up about $1 billion from a year ago. It lifted its funds under management by about $1 billion in the previous year. Blue Sky has about $1 billion in private equity, $1 billion in real estate and about $1 billion in water and agriculture. It has a small amount in hedge funds. Blue Sky is well on the way to meeting its target of having $10 billion in funds under management and being the home-grown version of Wall Street alternative asset giants Blackstone and KKR.
（Source: AIMS）
It is the nature of a small economy ... if you think about airlines, supermarkets, energy companies, mining companies, it is a concentrated country. So I don't know that [the Treasurer’s comments] are necessarily very helpful. London-based investors in Australia’s banks are fretting about the risk that several small and seemingly well-intentioned changes in housing market policies combine to create a sharp property market correction. ANZ Banking Group chief executive Shayne Elliott, who has just returned from London, said investors there are also worried that high levels of household debt have lifted housing market risk and that the government might seek to raise revenue from other sectors following the budget’s surprise bank tax. The Australian banks rely on foreign investors to fund the $400 billion gap between domestic deposits and overall lending to the economy. Speaking to The Australian Financial Review after a presentation to a G100 conference in Sydney, Mr Elliott said many institutional investors in ANZ’s debt and equity have a ‘‘heightened level of interest and concern’’ about Australian housing. Some view the prudential regulator’s speed limits as indicative of its caution, while others suggested high levels of household debt are making them nervous The budget introduced limits to the way expenses can be deducted against negative geared properties.
BHP Billiton Limited (BHP):
BHP Billiton’s chief commercial officer, Arnoud Balhuizen, has rejected claims by Elliott Associates that the company’s Singapore marketing hub has no value, declaring it critical that BHP retains a foothold in the Asian city. Elliott targeted the Singapore hub on May 16 when it accused BHP of using the hub to avoid tax, and said the hub was unsustainable in light of BHP’s long-running dispute with the Australian Tax Office. The New York hedge fund also disputed BHP’s claim that the hub delivers millions of dollars’ worth of value to the company each year, saying ‘‘we ascribe no value to this structure’ ’Our assessment is that the tax benefits and the aggressive marketing margins which BHP was seeking in using this structure are unsustainable,’’ the hedge fund claimed. When asked why BHP could not locate the marketing hub in an Australian city, Mr Balhuizen told the Melbourne Mining Club that BHP needed to be embedded in Asia given almost 70 per cent of its sales went to the region. ‘‘Singapore these days is the centre for steel trading and iron ore trading, the centre for LNG trading and has been for a long time the centre in Asia for oil trading, so it is absolutely critical for us to be part of that ecosystem,’’ he said.
Blue Sky Alternative Investments Limited (BLA):
As global passive investment vehicles hoover up the bulk of available fund flows to the detriment of active equity managers, there is one asset class that remains immune to the negative outcomes of the passive versus active debate. Alternative asset managers are enjoying a boom in fund inflows as institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and pension funds tip increasing amounts of money into illiquid assets in a bid to achieve double-digit returns. In Australia, alternatives are being embraced by institutional investors and self-managed super funds. There is no better example of the surge in interest in alternative assets than Blue Sky Alternatives, a Brisbane manager which has shot the lights out for the past five years. This week it revealed that its total funds under management had hit $3 billion, which is up about $1 billion from a year ago. It lifted its funds under management by about $1 billion in the previous year. Blue Sky has about $1 billion in private equity, $1 billion in real estate and about $1 billion in water and agriculture. It has a small amount in hedge funds. Blue Sky is well on the way to meeting its target of having $10 billion in funds under management and being the home-grown version of Wall Street alternative asset giants Blackstone and KKR.
（Source: AIMS）
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