AMP Ltd (AMP):
AMP Capital has entered the gas-fired generation business through a 50/50 partnership with Invenergy Clean Power, one of the largest privately held portfolios in the US. The deal announced overnight deals AMP’s growing infrastructure business into Invenergy’s operating and development portfolio of natural gas-fired power generation facilities across the US, Canada and Mexico. AMP said it was a rare opportunity to invest in a low-emissions generation fleet with scale. The projects were diversified across North American power markets, contract counterparties, and technologies. It is the latest in a string of international investments by AMP Capital, which has been aggressively expanding its offshore infrastructure business and attracting a growing roster of investors to its debt and equity offerings. The portfolio investment is believed to be worth about $380 million and has been made on behalf of investors in AMP Capital’s global infrastructure equity strategy.
Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AAC):
Australian Agricultural Company has delivered a heavy full-year loss partly driven by challenging seasonal conditions resulting in higher input expenses. Unveiling a statutory net loss after tax of $102.6m for the 12 months to March 31, compared to a net profit after tax of $71.6m last fiscal year, the company said it suffered increased competition, reduced volumes and increasing costs due to dry weather conditions. The result included a one-off non-cash impairment of $69.5m and a provision for an onerous contract of $5.4m, following a review of the carrying value of its Livingstone Beef processing facility near Darwin. The company did not declare a final dividend, in line with last year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 127 per cent to a loss of $35.3m, due to investment in “building the herd”, which lead to a $67.0m decline in revenue for the 2018 financial year, combined with a higher Australian dollar and increased input costs due to dry weather conditions, the company said.
Big UN Ltd (BIG):
Video and TV platform Big Review TV has plunged into administration, capping off a huge fall from grace for one of 2017’s hottest technology stocks. The ASX-listed Big Un announced yesterday that its wholly owned subsidiary Big Review TV had been placed into voluntary administration, with its CEO Richard Evertz stepping down, effective immediately. The company said the move would allow for a restructure of the business via a deed of company arrangement, and would preserve value for shareholders. The tech company has been suspended from the ASX for more than three months as the stock exchange and ASIC investigate its conduct, and last traded at $2.22 on February 16. Big Un entered voluntary suspension in February as it attempted to respond to queries from the ASX, with the company subsequently admitting it paid a 24 per cent commission to its sponsorship partner FC Capital.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
Commonwealth Bank of Australia said on Wednesday that it has sold a 37.5 per cent stake in a Chinese life insurer for 3.2 billion yuan ($668 million). CBA (CBA) said it will sell the interest in BoComm Life Insurance Co. Ltd. to Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., assuming it can secure the support of Chinese regulators. “This transaction represents a further step in simplifying and focusing our portfolio and follows the announcement of the proposed sale of the group’s life insurance businesses in Australia and New Zealand to AIA Group, and the strategic review of the group’s life insurance business in Indonesia,” chief executive Matt Comyn said. CBA said it expects to make an after-tax gain of around $450m on the sale. It added that net proceeds after making a capital contribution to BoComm will boost its CET1 capital buffer by 13 basis points.
Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO):
Rio Tinto appears to be edging closer to a sale of its stake in the controversial Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia, with the miner saying talks over price are ongoing but not ruling out reports it could get $US3.5 billion from the government for the stake. The value of the stake, which is currently a share of production that will turn into a 40 per cent stake in the 2020s, has been hard to value. But it is safe to say that a sale of that magnitude would be seen as a win for Rio (RIO) chief Jean-Sebastien Jacques and that with Rio’s net debt where the company wants it, funds could be expected to go back to shareholders.
Santos Ltd (STO):
Oil and gas company Santos has rejected the $14.4 billion takeover proposal from United States giant Harbour Energy and terminated all discussions with the group. Santos said in a statement to the ASX on Tuesday evening that the final proposal from Harbour was a "highly leveraged private equity-backed structure" that prior to implementation would have required Santos to provide significant support for Harbour's debt raising and to hedge a significant proportion of oil-linked production. The company said the proposal was also subject to various conditions, including Foreign Investment Review Board approval and restrictions on the conduct of the business of Santos from the time of entering into any scheme implementation deed. This "protracted execution timetable" delivered too much uncertainty to shareholders and exposed Santos to a high degree of risk.
Sirtex Medical Ltd (SRX):
Varian has formally notified Sirtex that it will not be submitting a counterproposal and that Varian is committed to the terms of its initial offer and purchase price of $28 per share. CDH Investments, a China-based alternative asset fund manager with more than $US20bn ($26.5bn) of capital under management, launched a non-binding offer of $33.60 a share more than two weeks ago, which gave it access to due diligence on Sirtex. Following access to the dataroom, the Chinese suitor has confirmed its bid, which is higher than a rival $28-a-share offer from US-based Varian Medical Systems. The board of directors of Sirtex is considering the relative merits and risks of the CDH Proposal compared to the Varian bid. Sirtex issued a statement on Wednesday saying while it was still considering both proposals, "the directors of Sirtex continue to unanimously support and recommend the Varian scheme".
Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL):
Woodside chief Peter Coleman says a global LNG shortfall that many were expecting to take until the mid 2020s to happen now looks likely to occur within two years. In its investor day in Sydney today, Woodside dramatically boosted its demand forecasts that were presented at its February results as non-Chinese Asian demand gathers pace. The result is that Woodside now sees a supply gap starting to open in 2020. In August Woodside said the gap was expected in around 2023. “Consensus has come back to 2021 andwe think it could be as early as 2020,” Mr Coleman said. “The supply-demand gap is becoming critical today.”
(Source: AIMS)
AMP Capital has entered the gas-fired generation business through a 50/50 partnership with Invenergy Clean Power, one of the largest privately held portfolios in the US. The deal announced overnight deals AMP’s growing infrastructure business into Invenergy’s operating and development portfolio of natural gas-fired power generation facilities across the US, Canada and Mexico. AMP said it was a rare opportunity to invest in a low-emissions generation fleet with scale. The projects were diversified across North American power markets, contract counterparties, and technologies. It is the latest in a string of international investments by AMP Capital, which has been aggressively expanding its offshore infrastructure business and attracting a growing roster of investors to its debt and equity offerings. The portfolio investment is believed to be worth about $380 million and has been made on behalf of investors in AMP Capital’s global infrastructure equity strategy.
Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AAC):
Australian Agricultural Company has delivered a heavy full-year loss partly driven by challenging seasonal conditions resulting in higher input expenses. Unveiling a statutory net loss after tax of $102.6m for the 12 months to March 31, compared to a net profit after tax of $71.6m last fiscal year, the company said it suffered increased competition, reduced volumes and increasing costs due to dry weather conditions. The result included a one-off non-cash impairment of $69.5m and a provision for an onerous contract of $5.4m, following a review of the carrying value of its Livingstone Beef processing facility near Darwin. The company did not declare a final dividend, in line with last year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 127 per cent to a loss of $35.3m, due to investment in “building the herd”, which lead to a $67.0m decline in revenue for the 2018 financial year, combined with a higher Australian dollar and increased input costs due to dry weather conditions, the company said.
Big UN Ltd (BIG):
Video and TV platform Big Review TV has plunged into administration, capping off a huge fall from grace for one of 2017’s hottest technology stocks. The ASX-listed Big Un announced yesterday that its wholly owned subsidiary Big Review TV had been placed into voluntary administration, with its CEO Richard Evertz stepping down, effective immediately. The company said the move would allow for a restructure of the business via a deed of company arrangement, and would preserve value for shareholders. The tech company has been suspended from the ASX for more than three months as the stock exchange and ASIC investigate its conduct, and last traded at $2.22 on February 16. Big Un entered voluntary suspension in February as it attempted to respond to queries from the ASX, with the company subsequently admitting it paid a 24 per cent commission to its sponsorship partner FC Capital.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
Commonwealth Bank of Australia said on Wednesday that it has sold a 37.5 per cent stake in a Chinese life insurer for 3.2 billion yuan ($668 million). CBA (CBA) said it will sell the interest in BoComm Life Insurance Co. Ltd. to Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., assuming it can secure the support of Chinese regulators. “This transaction represents a further step in simplifying and focusing our portfolio and follows the announcement of the proposed sale of the group’s life insurance businesses in Australia and New Zealand to AIA Group, and the strategic review of the group’s life insurance business in Indonesia,” chief executive Matt Comyn said. CBA said it expects to make an after-tax gain of around $450m on the sale. It added that net proceeds after making a capital contribution to BoComm will boost its CET1 capital buffer by 13 basis points.
Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO):
Rio Tinto appears to be edging closer to a sale of its stake in the controversial Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia, with the miner saying talks over price are ongoing but not ruling out reports it could get $US3.5 billion from the government for the stake. The value of the stake, which is currently a share of production that will turn into a 40 per cent stake in the 2020s, has been hard to value. But it is safe to say that a sale of that magnitude would be seen as a win for Rio (RIO) chief Jean-Sebastien Jacques and that with Rio’s net debt where the company wants it, funds could be expected to go back to shareholders.
Santos Ltd (STO):
Oil and gas company Santos has rejected the $14.4 billion takeover proposal from United States giant Harbour Energy and terminated all discussions with the group. Santos said in a statement to the ASX on Tuesday evening that the final proposal from Harbour was a "highly leveraged private equity-backed structure" that prior to implementation would have required Santos to provide significant support for Harbour's debt raising and to hedge a significant proportion of oil-linked production. The company said the proposal was also subject to various conditions, including Foreign Investment Review Board approval and restrictions on the conduct of the business of Santos from the time of entering into any scheme implementation deed. This "protracted execution timetable" delivered too much uncertainty to shareholders and exposed Santos to a high degree of risk.
Sirtex Medical Ltd (SRX):
Varian has formally notified Sirtex that it will not be submitting a counterproposal and that Varian is committed to the terms of its initial offer and purchase price of $28 per share. CDH Investments, a China-based alternative asset fund manager with more than $US20bn ($26.5bn) of capital under management, launched a non-binding offer of $33.60 a share more than two weeks ago, which gave it access to due diligence on Sirtex. Following access to the dataroom, the Chinese suitor has confirmed its bid, which is higher than a rival $28-a-share offer from US-based Varian Medical Systems. The board of directors of Sirtex is considering the relative merits and risks of the CDH Proposal compared to the Varian bid. Sirtex issued a statement on Wednesday saying while it was still considering both proposals, "the directors of Sirtex continue to unanimously support and recommend the Varian scheme".
Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL):
Woodside chief Peter Coleman says a global LNG shortfall that many were expecting to take until the mid 2020s to happen now looks likely to occur within two years. In its investor day in Sydney today, Woodside dramatically boosted its demand forecasts that were presented at its February results as non-Chinese Asian demand gathers pace. The result is that Woodside now sees a supply gap starting to open in 2020. In August Woodside said the gap was expected in around 2023. “Consensus has come back to 2021 andwe think it could be as early as 2020,” Mr Coleman said. “The supply-demand gap is becoming critical today.”
(Source: AIMS)
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