APN Outdoor Group Ltd (APO):
APN Outdoor’s board will meet today to consider a $1.1 billion takeover bid from French rival JCDecaux that was made last night, demonstrating that the Australian billboard sector remains firmly in play. The Paris-based billboard giant has put forward a $6.52 per share cash offer, representing a 11.5 per cent premium to the last traded share price of $5.86. JCDecaux released a statement to the Paris stock exchange last night, confirming reports in The Australian’s DataRoom column yesterday that it was circling the Australian listed business APN Outdoor. The move is a major blow for Here There and Everywhere, which is in the middle of a sales process for its Adshel street furniture business and was expecting APN Outdoor to pay at least $500 million for the operation. The latest bid by the French advertising giant appears to have scuppered APN’s Adshel acquisition plans.
Atlas Iron Limited (AGO):
Atlas Iron’s board has backed a takeover bid by billionaire Gina Rinehart after rival bidder Mineral Resources pulled out of contention. The board is now recommending shareholders accept Ms Rinehart’s all-cash bid, which values the junior miner at $390 million and WHICH trumped the $280 million all-scrip offer made by Mineral Resources in April. Atlas had asked Mineral Resources to respond to the larger bid, which came from a subsidiary of Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, but the ASX-listed mid-tier miner declined to do so. “A majority of the Atlas board has now withdrawn its recommendation of the MinRes scheme, and recommends that Atlas shareholders accept the Hancock Offer, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert concluding (and continuing to conclude) that the Hancock offer is fair and reasonable to Atlas shareholders,” Atlas said in a statement.
Bellamy’s Australia Ltd (BAL):
Bellamy’s has signed a deal with global dairy giant Fonterra to help Tasmanian farmers switch to organic practices, in an effort to increase the local supply for the company’s infant formula products. Bellamy’s (BAL) will make an initial $5.5 million investment in processing assets, with the companies aiming to cover farmers’ costs of converting. The ASX-listed infant formula firm has signed up to take the first 20 million litres of milk per year from the resulting organic milk pool, and will have first right over additional volume. It has also struck what it calls “a multi-year agreement” with an affiliate of Victoria-based Australian Consolidated Milk to secure access to that supplier’s organic milk. Bellamy’s chief executive Andrew Cohen said the agreements represented a step forward for both his company and Australia’s organic dairy industry. “We hope to improve outcomes for Australian dairy farmers, support the Tasmanian dairy industry, and at the same time take greater control of our supply chain and cost structure,” Mr Cohen said in a statement.
Boral Limited (BLD):
Former Reserve Bank board member Kathryn Fagg will take over next month as the chairwoman of building materials company Boral. Ms Fagg, who has been a director of Boral since 2014, will take over as chairwoman following the retirement of Brian Clark, who is stepping down for health reasons. Ms Fagg, a highly experienced company director and the president of Chief Executive Women, completed a five-year term on the Reserve Bank board this year.
Gateway Lifestyle Group (GTY):
Canadian giant Brookfield Property Group has lobbed a $700 million bid for Gateway Lifestyle Group as it seeks to gain an exposure to the rapidly growing manufactured home estate sector. The group, which today made $2.30 per share indicative bid, had been tipped to enter the race for the listed company as Gateway’s share price surged past the value of a $638m takeover offer that US prefab giant Hometown America made earlier this month. Gateway’s (GTY) shares are tipped to jump from their last close yesterday of $2.14, which was already ahead of the initial $2.10 offer from the US trailer park powerhouse Hometown. Brookfield is a powerful global property investor and has amassed the second largest real estate empire in the world. The Canadian company has about $40 billion of property and infrastructure assets in Australia and aggressively enters sectors where it sees value.
Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG):
The investment banking league table tussle between Macquarie and UBS shows no sign of abating with the two banks again dominating the local market in the first half. New figures published by Thomson Reuters show that Macquarie Capital will enter the new financial year as the top-ranked M&A adviser with a market share of 40.6 per cent. The bank worked on 28 deals and eclipsed Morgan Stanley, which grew its market share by 229.3 per cent to finish in second spot, up from seventh this time last year.
Mcgrath Ltd (MEA):
High-profile Sydney real estate agent John McGrath has no plans to take his troubled company private despite Chinese property and investment giant Aqualand and two local rich-list apartment developers buying major chunks of the company. The most recent deal will see Aqualand take a 15 per cent stake in listed real estate agency McGrath as well as a board seat. The move is a huge shift for both the Chinese group, which is blazing a trail among the mainland groups that have mainly focused on individual property projects, and McGrath, which had previously struck up far lower-profile alliances with apartment groups. The listed real estate agency had already won the backing of Melbourne’s billionaire Tarascio family, who owns Salta Properties and is on the McGrath register with a stake of less than 5 per cent. NSW central coast developer Tony Denny emerged in March with a 5 per cent holding in the company.
Myer Holdings Ltd (MYR):
Newly appointed Myer chief executive John King has begun to stamp his authority on the struggling department store with moves said to be afoot to offload fashion brands Sass & Bide, Marcs and David Lawrence. It is understood that Melbourne-based advisory firm Flagstaff is working on a plan to find buyers for the fashion brands, at least two of which were rescued from the ashes under previous management. But it appears Mr King, who was announced as the new Myer boss in April, has opted for a change of direction for the company, with its poor performance capturing the attention of private equity funds focused on distressed situations. Myer outlaid more than $70m to buy Sass and Bide, which has since weighed on the company’s overall performance.
Newcrest Mining Limited (NCM):
Gold miner Newcrest has received a $US155 million ($A$209m) insurance settlement after a seismic event caused damage at its Cadia operation in April last year. “The settlement amount is US$155m and all cash has been received,” Newcrest said in a statement. The settlement amount will be included in Newcrest’s (NCM) statutory profit statement for the 2018 financial year. It comes after Newcrest flagged a production downgrade for the 2018 fiscal year following another incident in March this year, when the collapse of a tailings dam wall at the Cadia mine caused a temporary shutdown. In a quarterly update in March, the company said gold production was down 6 per cent on the prior quarter due to disruption caused by the collapse.
Ramsay Health Care Ltd (RHC):
Ramsay Health Care has warned on profits due to a significant downturn in UK volumes, weaker growth in procedural work and inpatient admissions at its Australian private hospitals and delays in rolling out a new pharmacy franchise. Ramsay (RHC) said it was lowering expectations for growth in core earnings per share to around 7 per cent in the year through June “having just received disappointing May results and with no material improvement anticipated for June.” Management had guided investors to core EPS growth of between 8 per cent and 10 per cent as recently as February. Weaker growth in procedural work and inpatient admissions has hurt Ramsay’s case mix in its Australian hospitals, and management expects this trend to continue into the next fiscal year, especially given slack demand for private health insurance and affordability concerns. Trading conditions in the UK are also challenging, despite an increasing number of people awaiting treatment, Ramsay said.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (TLS):
Telstra boss Andrew Penn’s bold strategy to revitalise the telco has the market forecasting more short-term pressure for the company, with a number of analysts dishing out brutal share price cuts. They came as Telstra’s shares continued to hover near a seven-year low following yesterday’s announcement of plans to slash the telco’s workforce by 8000 as part of its biggest shake-up since it was privatised more than two decades ago. Telstra (TLS) shares started today’s session one per cent weaker at $2.74. Telstra shares yesterday dropped 5 per cent to $2.77 in response to Telstra’s update, and have slid almost 36 per cent over the past year. CLSA analyst Roger Samuel has downgraded Telstra to a “sell”, lowering his earnings and dividends forecast after yesterday’s announcements. He said while wholesale cost-out measures and asset separation were a step in the right direction, measures were desperately needed to address deterioration in the underlying EBITDA.
(Source: AIMS)
APN Outdoor’s board will meet today to consider a $1.1 billion takeover bid from French rival JCDecaux that was made last night, demonstrating that the Australian billboard sector remains firmly in play. The Paris-based billboard giant has put forward a $6.52 per share cash offer, representing a 11.5 per cent premium to the last traded share price of $5.86. JCDecaux released a statement to the Paris stock exchange last night, confirming reports in The Australian’s DataRoom column yesterday that it was circling the Australian listed business APN Outdoor. The move is a major blow for Here There and Everywhere, which is in the middle of a sales process for its Adshel street furniture business and was expecting APN Outdoor to pay at least $500 million for the operation. The latest bid by the French advertising giant appears to have scuppered APN’s Adshel acquisition plans.
Atlas Iron Limited (AGO):
Atlas Iron’s board has backed a takeover bid by billionaire Gina Rinehart after rival bidder Mineral Resources pulled out of contention. The board is now recommending shareholders accept Ms Rinehart’s all-cash bid, which values the junior miner at $390 million and WHICH trumped the $280 million all-scrip offer made by Mineral Resources in April. Atlas had asked Mineral Resources to respond to the larger bid, which came from a subsidiary of Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, but the ASX-listed mid-tier miner declined to do so. “A majority of the Atlas board has now withdrawn its recommendation of the MinRes scheme, and recommends that Atlas shareholders accept the Hancock Offer, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert concluding (and continuing to conclude) that the Hancock offer is fair and reasonable to Atlas shareholders,” Atlas said in a statement.
Bellamy’s Australia Ltd (BAL):
Bellamy’s has signed a deal with global dairy giant Fonterra to help Tasmanian farmers switch to organic practices, in an effort to increase the local supply for the company’s infant formula products. Bellamy’s (BAL) will make an initial $5.5 million investment in processing assets, with the companies aiming to cover farmers’ costs of converting. The ASX-listed infant formula firm has signed up to take the first 20 million litres of milk per year from the resulting organic milk pool, and will have first right over additional volume. It has also struck what it calls “a multi-year agreement” with an affiliate of Victoria-based Australian Consolidated Milk to secure access to that supplier’s organic milk. Bellamy’s chief executive Andrew Cohen said the agreements represented a step forward for both his company and Australia’s organic dairy industry. “We hope to improve outcomes for Australian dairy farmers, support the Tasmanian dairy industry, and at the same time take greater control of our supply chain and cost structure,” Mr Cohen said in a statement.
Boral Limited (BLD):
Former Reserve Bank board member Kathryn Fagg will take over next month as the chairwoman of building materials company Boral. Ms Fagg, who has been a director of Boral since 2014, will take over as chairwoman following the retirement of Brian Clark, who is stepping down for health reasons. Ms Fagg, a highly experienced company director and the president of Chief Executive Women, completed a five-year term on the Reserve Bank board this year.
Gateway Lifestyle Group (GTY):
Canadian giant Brookfield Property Group has lobbed a $700 million bid for Gateway Lifestyle Group as it seeks to gain an exposure to the rapidly growing manufactured home estate sector. The group, which today made $2.30 per share indicative bid, had been tipped to enter the race for the listed company as Gateway’s share price surged past the value of a $638m takeover offer that US prefab giant Hometown America made earlier this month. Gateway’s (GTY) shares are tipped to jump from their last close yesterday of $2.14, which was already ahead of the initial $2.10 offer from the US trailer park powerhouse Hometown. Brookfield is a powerful global property investor and has amassed the second largest real estate empire in the world. The Canadian company has about $40 billion of property and infrastructure assets in Australia and aggressively enters sectors where it sees value.
Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG):
The investment banking league table tussle between Macquarie and UBS shows no sign of abating with the two banks again dominating the local market in the first half. New figures published by Thomson Reuters show that Macquarie Capital will enter the new financial year as the top-ranked M&A adviser with a market share of 40.6 per cent. The bank worked on 28 deals and eclipsed Morgan Stanley, which grew its market share by 229.3 per cent to finish in second spot, up from seventh this time last year.
Mcgrath Ltd (MEA):
High-profile Sydney real estate agent John McGrath has no plans to take his troubled company private despite Chinese property and investment giant Aqualand and two local rich-list apartment developers buying major chunks of the company. The most recent deal will see Aqualand take a 15 per cent stake in listed real estate agency McGrath as well as a board seat. The move is a huge shift for both the Chinese group, which is blazing a trail among the mainland groups that have mainly focused on individual property projects, and McGrath, which had previously struck up far lower-profile alliances with apartment groups. The listed real estate agency had already won the backing of Melbourne’s billionaire Tarascio family, who owns Salta Properties and is on the McGrath register with a stake of less than 5 per cent. NSW central coast developer Tony Denny emerged in March with a 5 per cent holding in the company.
Myer Holdings Ltd (MYR):
Newly appointed Myer chief executive John King has begun to stamp his authority on the struggling department store with moves said to be afoot to offload fashion brands Sass & Bide, Marcs and David Lawrence. It is understood that Melbourne-based advisory firm Flagstaff is working on a plan to find buyers for the fashion brands, at least two of which were rescued from the ashes under previous management. But it appears Mr King, who was announced as the new Myer boss in April, has opted for a change of direction for the company, with its poor performance capturing the attention of private equity funds focused on distressed situations. Myer outlaid more than $70m to buy Sass and Bide, which has since weighed on the company’s overall performance.
Newcrest Mining Limited (NCM):
Gold miner Newcrest has received a $US155 million ($A$209m) insurance settlement after a seismic event caused damage at its Cadia operation in April last year. “The settlement amount is US$155m and all cash has been received,” Newcrest said in a statement. The settlement amount will be included in Newcrest’s (NCM) statutory profit statement for the 2018 financial year. It comes after Newcrest flagged a production downgrade for the 2018 fiscal year following another incident in March this year, when the collapse of a tailings dam wall at the Cadia mine caused a temporary shutdown. In a quarterly update in March, the company said gold production was down 6 per cent on the prior quarter due to disruption caused by the collapse.
Ramsay Health Care Ltd (RHC):
Ramsay Health Care has warned on profits due to a significant downturn in UK volumes, weaker growth in procedural work and inpatient admissions at its Australian private hospitals and delays in rolling out a new pharmacy franchise. Ramsay (RHC) said it was lowering expectations for growth in core earnings per share to around 7 per cent in the year through June “having just received disappointing May results and with no material improvement anticipated for June.” Management had guided investors to core EPS growth of between 8 per cent and 10 per cent as recently as February. Weaker growth in procedural work and inpatient admissions has hurt Ramsay’s case mix in its Australian hospitals, and management expects this trend to continue into the next fiscal year, especially given slack demand for private health insurance and affordability concerns. Trading conditions in the UK are also challenging, despite an increasing number of people awaiting treatment, Ramsay said.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (TLS):
Telstra boss Andrew Penn’s bold strategy to revitalise the telco has the market forecasting more short-term pressure for the company, with a number of analysts dishing out brutal share price cuts. They came as Telstra’s shares continued to hover near a seven-year low following yesterday’s announcement of plans to slash the telco’s workforce by 8000 as part of its biggest shake-up since it was privatised more than two decades ago. Telstra (TLS) shares started today’s session one per cent weaker at $2.74. Telstra shares yesterday dropped 5 per cent to $2.77 in response to Telstra’s update, and have slid almost 36 per cent over the past year. CLSA analyst Roger Samuel has downgraded Telstra to a “sell”, lowering his earnings and dividends forecast after yesterday’s announcements. He said while wholesale cost-out measures and asset separation were a step in the right direction, measures were desperately needed to address deterioration in the underlying EBITDA.
(Source: AIMS)
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