ALS Limited (ALS):
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has wasted no time in seeking a buyer for ALS Ltd’s asset care business, sending a teaser document to interested parties and asking more serious tyre-kickers to sign confidentiality agreements ahead of an auction. The bankers have pitched ALS’s up for-sale unit as a leading provider of asset reliability and integrity services to industrial asset owners, operators, constructors and manufacturers. Interested parties were told that it is a market leader in Australia with national coverage, and was positioned for growth in the United States’ gulf coast and south-east Asia. According to the teaser document obtained by Street Talk, ALS’s asset care business had $141 million revenue and $18 million earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the 2017 financial year, mostly from clients in the power, mining and oil and gas industries.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ):
ANZ Banking Group has sold tens of millions of dollars in South Australian government bonds following the introduction of the state’s copycat bank tax, citing the higher risk of financing the state government. ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott said the bank had offloaded the bonds because risk levels had risen after the budget and warned if other investors thought similarly, the cost of borrowing for the state would rise. Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer criticised the state tax yesterday saying he was hopeful it would be defeated. ANZ Banking Group has sold tens of millions of dollars in South Australian government bonds following the introduction of the state’s copycat bank tax, citing the higher risk of financing the state government.
BHP Billiton (BHP):
Outgoing BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser has conceded the global miner’s $US30 billion investment in US shale oil and gas assets was a mistake, saying the timing was ‘‘way off’’ but defended the move as the right one at the time. Mr Nasser, who will be replaced as chairman by former Amcor chief Ken MacKenzie in September, also said ideas proposed by activist investor Elliott Management were unsustainable and the company had a responsibility to its shareholders to say ‘‘thanks but no thanks’’. The former Ford boss admitted for the first time that the company’s heavy investment in shale, which is at the centre of Elliott’s criticism of the company’s performance, was badly timed but noted that investors supported the move at the time.
Central Petroleum Limited (CTP); Macquarie Group Limited (MQG):
Central Petroleum shareholders have blocked the $87 million takeover deal by Macquarie Group, leaving the gas explorer facing an uncertain future as it seeks funds to develop its resources to supply the tight east coast gas market. Shares in the junior explorer dived 24 per cent after only about two-thirds of shareholders and shares voted in support of the deal, short of the 75 per cent of shares voted that it needed to go ahead. Responding to the rejection, chairman Robert Hubbard ‘‘welcomed the support of the two-thirds majority and indicated that the board will continue to advance the company operations while seeking new equity investment,’’ a spokesman for Central said in an email.
MLC Investments Limited (MLC); National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
MLC Life Insurance is throwing $300 million and hundreds of staff at a massive technology transformation project known as Sanagi, separating its digital systems from former sole owner National Australia Bank. The project will take two years and includes plans to use big data to ‘‘individualise’’ insurance as MLC Life considers moving away from the traditional concept of risk pooling. ‘‘Our technology transformation program – named after the Japanese word for chrysalis, sanagi – epitomises this effort and the mood inside the company,’’ MLC Life chief executive David Hackett said.
(Source: AIMS)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has wasted no time in seeking a buyer for ALS Ltd’s asset care business, sending a teaser document to interested parties and asking more serious tyre-kickers to sign confidentiality agreements ahead of an auction. The bankers have pitched ALS’s up for-sale unit as a leading provider of asset reliability and integrity services to industrial asset owners, operators, constructors and manufacturers. Interested parties were told that it is a market leader in Australia with national coverage, and was positioned for growth in the United States’ gulf coast and south-east Asia. According to the teaser document obtained by Street Talk, ALS’s asset care business had $141 million revenue and $18 million earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the 2017 financial year, mostly from clients in the power, mining and oil and gas industries.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ):
ANZ Banking Group has sold tens of millions of dollars in South Australian government bonds following the introduction of the state’s copycat bank tax, citing the higher risk of financing the state government. ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott said the bank had offloaded the bonds because risk levels had risen after the budget and warned if other investors thought similarly, the cost of borrowing for the state would rise. Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer criticised the state tax yesterday saying he was hopeful it would be defeated. ANZ Banking Group has sold tens of millions of dollars in South Australian government bonds following the introduction of the state’s copycat bank tax, citing the higher risk of financing the state government.
BHP Billiton (BHP):
Outgoing BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser has conceded the global miner’s $US30 billion investment in US shale oil and gas assets was a mistake, saying the timing was ‘‘way off’’ but defended the move as the right one at the time. Mr Nasser, who will be replaced as chairman by former Amcor chief Ken MacKenzie in September, also said ideas proposed by activist investor Elliott Management were unsustainable and the company had a responsibility to its shareholders to say ‘‘thanks but no thanks’’. The former Ford boss admitted for the first time that the company’s heavy investment in shale, which is at the centre of Elliott’s criticism of the company’s performance, was badly timed but noted that investors supported the move at the time.
Central Petroleum Limited (CTP); Macquarie Group Limited (MQG):
Central Petroleum shareholders have blocked the $87 million takeover deal by Macquarie Group, leaving the gas explorer facing an uncertain future as it seeks funds to develop its resources to supply the tight east coast gas market. Shares in the junior explorer dived 24 per cent after only about two-thirds of shareholders and shares voted in support of the deal, short of the 75 per cent of shares voted that it needed to go ahead. Responding to the rejection, chairman Robert Hubbard ‘‘welcomed the support of the two-thirds majority and indicated that the board will continue to advance the company operations while seeking new equity investment,’’ a spokesman for Central said in an email.
MLC Investments Limited (MLC); National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
MLC Life Insurance is throwing $300 million and hundreds of staff at a massive technology transformation project known as Sanagi, separating its digital systems from former sole owner National Australia Bank. The project will take two years and includes plans to use big data to ‘‘individualise’’ insurance as MLC Life considers moving away from the traditional concept of risk pooling. ‘‘Our technology transformation program – named after the Japanese word for chrysalis, sanagi – epitomises this effort and the mood inside the company,’’ MLC Life chief executive David Hackett said.
(Source: AIMS)
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