AGL Energy Ltd (AGL):
AGL has resisted federal government pressure by rejecting a $250 million offer to buy its Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley and reaffirming its decision to close the ageing coal-fired plant. On April 30, AGL (AGL) said it had received a non-binding and “highly conditional” cash offer from Alinta Energy and its Hong Kong-based owner, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises for the power station and site. The offer came as the Turnbull pressed for Liddell to remain open, including through a sale to another company, after AGL said it planned to close the power station in 2022. The Coalition wants Liddell to stay open until 2025, when Snowy Hyrdo 2.0 is online, to ensure there is no gap in power availability. However AGL said today it had assessed the Alinta offer and would not proceed any further with it. Alinta said it has no plans to boost its rejected $250 million offer for Liddell, which it says would have helped drive down power prices, and will move on to other opportunities.
BWX Limited (BWX):
Shares in former market darling BWX, which owns skincare brand Sukin, have gone into a trading halt after the company was approached about a potential takeover. Melbourne based BWX, a vertically integrated body, hair and skin care manufacturer and distributor, requested a two-day trading halt on Monday, citing a potential control transaction. This time the acquisitive BWX, which has made three bolt-on acquisitions in less than 12 months, is the target. BWX shares were trading at $4.41 on Friday - valuing the company at $541 million - after falling more than 40 per cent since February, when first-half results and full-year guidance fell short of market expectations. BWX went on a spending spree last year, buying US cosmetics firm Mineral Fusion last July for $50.1 million plus an earn out from US private equity firm North Castle, blog and e-commerce site Nourished Life for $20 million in September and another US cosmetics brand, Andalou Naturals, for $US80 million plus earn outs in October. BWX has been one of the best performers on the market since listing in November 2015 at $1.50 a share, with its market value surging from $136 million at the time of the float to $540 million.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
Commonwealth Bank faces calls from the federal opposition for it to be punished over the "appalling" manipulation of children's savings accounts. Over the weekend, a Sydney Morning Herald and the Age investigation revealed CBA staff had engaged in a widespread gaming of performance incentives by using either their own money, or bank funds, to illegitimately activate Youthsaver accounts. Fairfax Media reported that some CBA retail branch staff did this in a bid to meet aggressive targets and earn bonuses. About two-thirds of the Youthsaver accounts with CBA are established by parents at CBA retail branches, with the other third associated with school banking. CBA declined to comment about the children’s bank accounts revelations on Sunday, but the bank issued a statement on Saturday in which new chief executive officer Matt Comyn said the behaviour was a breach of trust with customers, for which he was “deeply sorry”.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
The financial services royal commission has dismissed theories the Commonwealth Bank had “ulterior motives” to put people into loan default following its takeover of Bankwest during the global financial crisis. Counsel assisting the commission, Michael Hodge, QC, said that behind the scenes the commission had done a great deal of work examining whether there was any truth to the allegation. However the commission will examine whether the way CBA treated borrowers following the takeover was unfair, unconscionable or fell below community standards. The decision will upset activists who have long maintained the CBA deliberately pushed people into default for its own financial benefit. CBA’s takeover of Bankwest is one of the case studies to be examined in this fortnight of public hearings, which focuses on lending to small business. Mr Hodge said there were two main ulterior motive theories. The first involved how much CBA would have to pay Bankwest’s owner, HBOS, to take over the business. A second theory involved CBA writing off loans to reduce its need for regulatory capital.
Fletcher Building Limited (FBU):
Fletcher Building’s US-based Formica business could be subject to a management buyout, or be picked up by a private equity firm, according to market observers. Among other possibilities, the business could be acquired by a Chinese buyer. Other Asian or European rivals, or perhaps one of Fletcher’s long-time Australian rivals, Wilsonart, could acquire the non-US operations of the business, if it is broken up and sold. Formica used to compete with Wilsonart in Australia, which is a global manufacturer and distributor of high pressure laminates and other engineered composite materials used in furniture, work tops and other applications. The group would be unlikely to acquire the US operations of Formica due to antitrust laws there. But it could be a buyer of its operations elsewhere. As revealed online by DataRoom on Friday, Macquarie Capital has won the role of selling off the business that Fletcher purchased in 2007 for $US700 million and the expectation is that the sale price achieved for the asset will be little more than that 11 years later. Formica’s earnings have remained relatively flat as new substitute products enter the market eating into its revenue.
Goodman Group (GMG):
The New Zealand-listed Goodman Property Trust has sold the VXV office portfolio to US private equity and property giant Blackstone in a $NZ635 million ($583m) deal as ties between the pair deepen. Goodman Group-run businesses have sold more than $2 billion worth of properties to Blackstone over the last two years as the Australian industrial property powerhouse refocuses on premium industrial properties. The Greg Goodman-led Australian company is seeking to further slash gearing and position itself for any shift in real estate markets, as well as to fund its huge development pipeline. Blackstone has been buying Goodman assets around the world. In Europe, its Blackstone Property Partners Europe Lower Fund 2 was reported to be buying 24 logistics centres from Goodman and its funds in a deal worth more than €500m ($785m). Goodman Group is also bulking up its funds management area and late last year the group, won a $330.8m investment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for an interest in Goodman Hong Kong Logistics Partnership.
oOh!Media Ltd(OML):
oOh! Media submitted a revised offer for HT & E’s Adshel business valued at $470 million, only for the new offer to be rejected. HT&E sources say offers other than those from oOh! Media have also been received. It comes after the company said in its statement today that it had received “non-binding indicative offers” to acquire the company’s out-of-home division Adshel. oOh! Media said in a statement to the market today that it submitted a revised confidential, non-binding indicative cash offer to HT & E in relation to Adshel, valuing the division at $470m. HT & E later said in a statement it had rejected the offer. “The board has determined that the oOh! Media offer is not the most attractive offer, not in the best interests of the company and does not offer compelling value for shareholders,” the statement said. HT & E said it had offered to engage with oOh! Media to enable it to more appropriately value Adshel so as to improve the price, including by providing further due diligence financial information subject to execution of a confidentiality agreement and on a non-exclusive basis. However the offer was declined by oOh! Media.
Santos Limited (STO):
Private US energy company Harbour Energy has raised its bid for Santos to $14.2 billion, conditional on the Adelaide oil company boosting oil price hedging for the next two years. Santos said Harbour had boosted its latest $US4.98 per share proposal to $US5.21 per share, or $6.95 per share at current exchange rates. Santos (STO) said it would consider the offer. “Santos shareholders are advised to take no action in relation to the revised Harbour proposal at this time.” But the offer may be in a price ballpark Santos is comfortable with, given Santos also revealed Harbour lodged a $US5.12 bid on Saturday and was persuaded to boost it again. Santos said Harbour has indicated the offer price would be increased to a US dollar amount equivalent to $7.00 a share if Santos agrees to hedge 30 per cent of oil-linked production in 2020.
Vocus Group Ltd (VOC):
Ailing telco Vocus has recruited industry heavyweight Kevin Russell as its new CEO, to try to breathe life into its consumer business. Mr Russell, the former head of Telstra’s consumer business and the former CEO of Optus, comes in to replace Geoff Horth, who was let go in February. Mr Russell, who joined Telstra in 2014, left the incumbent telco in September last year and was highlighted as a contender for the Vocus job by The Australian earlier this month. Vocus chairman Bob Mansfield said Mr Russell’s track record in the industry made him a perfect candidate to lead the telco through a period of structural change. Vocus (VOC), which runs budget broadband brands Dodo and iPrimus, is looking to revive its consumer business, especially at a time when the National Broadband Network (NBN) is hollowing out the margins for established telcos. Vocus’s retail business was written down by about $1 billion last year and while Mr Russell’s reputation in the retail telco market is well earned, there will be question marks about whether he can better leverage Vocus’s fibre assets to make further inroads into the enterprise sector.
(Source: AIMS)
AGL has resisted federal government pressure by rejecting a $250 million offer to buy its Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley and reaffirming its decision to close the ageing coal-fired plant. On April 30, AGL (AGL) said it had received a non-binding and “highly conditional” cash offer from Alinta Energy and its Hong Kong-based owner, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises for the power station and site. The offer came as the Turnbull pressed for Liddell to remain open, including through a sale to another company, after AGL said it planned to close the power station in 2022. The Coalition wants Liddell to stay open until 2025, when Snowy Hyrdo 2.0 is online, to ensure there is no gap in power availability. However AGL said today it had assessed the Alinta offer and would not proceed any further with it. Alinta said it has no plans to boost its rejected $250 million offer for Liddell, which it says would have helped drive down power prices, and will move on to other opportunities.
BWX Limited (BWX):
Shares in former market darling BWX, which owns skincare brand Sukin, have gone into a trading halt after the company was approached about a potential takeover. Melbourne based BWX, a vertically integrated body, hair and skin care manufacturer and distributor, requested a two-day trading halt on Monday, citing a potential control transaction. This time the acquisitive BWX, which has made three bolt-on acquisitions in less than 12 months, is the target. BWX shares were trading at $4.41 on Friday - valuing the company at $541 million - after falling more than 40 per cent since February, when first-half results and full-year guidance fell short of market expectations. BWX went on a spending spree last year, buying US cosmetics firm Mineral Fusion last July for $50.1 million plus an earn out from US private equity firm North Castle, blog and e-commerce site Nourished Life for $20 million in September and another US cosmetics brand, Andalou Naturals, for $US80 million plus earn outs in October. BWX has been one of the best performers on the market since listing in November 2015 at $1.50 a share, with its market value surging from $136 million at the time of the float to $540 million.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
Commonwealth Bank faces calls from the federal opposition for it to be punished over the "appalling" manipulation of children's savings accounts. Over the weekend, a Sydney Morning Herald and the Age investigation revealed CBA staff had engaged in a widespread gaming of performance incentives by using either their own money, or bank funds, to illegitimately activate Youthsaver accounts. Fairfax Media reported that some CBA retail branch staff did this in a bid to meet aggressive targets and earn bonuses. About two-thirds of the Youthsaver accounts with CBA are established by parents at CBA retail branches, with the other third associated with school banking. CBA declined to comment about the children’s bank accounts revelations on Sunday, but the bank issued a statement on Saturday in which new chief executive officer Matt Comyn said the behaviour was a breach of trust with customers, for which he was “deeply sorry”.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
The financial services royal commission has dismissed theories the Commonwealth Bank had “ulterior motives” to put people into loan default following its takeover of Bankwest during the global financial crisis. Counsel assisting the commission, Michael Hodge, QC, said that behind the scenes the commission had done a great deal of work examining whether there was any truth to the allegation. However the commission will examine whether the way CBA treated borrowers following the takeover was unfair, unconscionable or fell below community standards. The decision will upset activists who have long maintained the CBA deliberately pushed people into default for its own financial benefit. CBA’s takeover of Bankwest is one of the case studies to be examined in this fortnight of public hearings, which focuses on lending to small business. Mr Hodge said there were two main ulterior motive theories. The first involved how much CBA would have to pay Bankwest’s owner, HBOS, to take over the business. A second theory involved CBA writing off loans to reduce its need for regulatory capital.
Fletcher Building Limited (FBU):
Fletcher Building’s US-based Formica business could be subject to a management buyout, or be picked up by a private equity firm, according to market observers. Among other possibilities, the business could be acquired by a Chinese buyer. Other Asian or European rivals, or perhaps one of Fletcher’s long-time Australian rivals, Wilsonart, could acquire the non-US operations of the business, if it is broken up and sold. Formica used to compete with Wilsonart in Australia, which is a global manufacturer and distributor of high pressure laminates and other engineered composite materials used in furniture, work tops and other applications. The group would be unlikely to acquire the US operations of Formica due to antitrust laws there. But it could be a buyer of its operations elsewhere. As revealed online by DataRoom on Friday, Macquarie Capital has won the role of selling off the business that Fletcher purchased in 2007 for $US700 million and the expectation is that the sale price achieved for the asset will be little more than that 11 years later. Formica’s earnings have remained relatively flat as new substitute products enter the market eating into its revenue.
Goodman Group (GMG):
The New Zealand-listed Goodman Property Trust has sold the VXV office portfolio to US private equity and property giant Blackstone in a $NZ635 million ($583m) deal as ties between the pair deepen. Goodman Group-run businesses have sold more than $2 billion worth of properties to Blackstone over the last two years as the Australian industrial property powerhouse refocuses on premium industrial properties. The Greg Goodman-led Australian company is seeking to further slash gearing and position itself for any shift in real estate markets, as well as to fund its huge development pipeline. Blackstone has been buying Goodman assets around the world. In Europe, its Blackstone Property Partners Europe Lower Fund 2 was reported to be buying 24 logistics centres from Goodman and its funds in a deal worth more than €500m ($785m). Goodman Group is also bulking up its funds management area and late last year the group, won a $330.8m investment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for an interest in Goodman Hong Kong Logistics Partnership.
oOh!Media Ltd(OML):
oOh! Media submitted a revised offer for HT & E’s Adshel business valued at $470 million, only for the new offer to be rejected. HT&E sources say offers other than those from oOh! Media have also been received. It comes after the company said in its statement today that it had received “non-binding indicative offers” to acquire the company’s out-of-home division Adshel. oOh! Media said in a statement to the market today that it submitted a revised confidential, non-binding indicative cash offer to HT & E in relation to Adshel, valuing the division at $470m. HT & E later said in a statement it had rejected the offer. “The board has determined that the oOh! Media offer is not the most attractive offer, not in the best interests of the company and does not offer compelling value for shareholders,” the statement said. HT & E said it had offered to engage with oOh! Media to enable it to more appropriately value Adshel so as to improve the price, including by providing further due diligence financial information subject to execution of a confidentiality agreement and on a non-exclusive basis. However the offer was declined by oOh! Media.
Santos Limited (STO):
Private US energy company Harbour Energy has raised its bid for Santos to $14.2 billion, conditional on the Adelaide oil company boosting oil price hedging for the next two years. Santos said Harbour had boosted its latest $US4.98 per share proposal to $US5.21 per share, or $6.95 per share at current exchange rates. Santos (STO) said it would consider the offer. “Santos shareholders are advised to take no action in relation to the revised Harbour proposal at this time.” But the offer may be in a price ballpark Santos is comfortable with, given Santos also revealed Harbour lodged a $US5.12 bid on Saturday and was persuaded to boost it again. Santos said Harbour has indicated the offer price would be increased to a US dollar amount equivalent to $7.00 a share if Santos agrees to hedge 30 per cent of oil-linked production in 2020.
Vocus Group Ltd (VOC):
Ailing telco Vocus has recruited industry heavyweight Kevin Russell as its new CEO, to try to breathe life into its consumer business. Mr Russell, the former head of Telstra’s consumer business and the former CEO of Optus, comes in to replace Geoff Horth, who was let go in February. Mr Russell, who joined Telstra in 2014, left the incumbent telco in September last year and was highlighted as a contender for the Vocus job by The Australian earlier this month. Vocus chairman Bob Mansfield said Mr Russell’s track record in the industry made him a perfect candidate to lead the telco through a period of structural change. Vocus (VOC), which runs budget broadband brands Dodo and iPrimus, is looking to revive its consumer business, especially at a time when the National Broadband Network (NBN) is hollowing out the margins for established telcos. Vocus’s retail business was written down by about $1 billion last year and while Mr Russell’s reputation in the retail telco market is well earned, there will be question marks about whether he can better leverage Vocus’s fibre assets to make further inroads into the enterprise sector.
(Source: AIMS)
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