Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ):
ANZ has become the first major bank to cut variable rates for new home loan customers with sizeable deposits, in a bid to take back market share. ANZ told mortgage brokers on Thursday the bank was cutting rates on its basic principal and interest loans for owner-occupier by 34 basis points to 3.65 per cent. The deal is open to borrowers who have a deposit of 20 per cent or more. While some major banks have cut fixed rate loans in special deals to lure buyers, standard variable rate products have not yet been touched. Most analysts believe the nation’s largest banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and National Australia Bank, are poised to hike rates on most mortgages in order to offset soaring funding costs. Many smaller lenders, free of the harsher political scrutiny from the royal commission, have hiked rates in recent weeks. The move by ANZ comes as housing credit growth dropped to its slowest rate in four years and is very competitive amid rising funding costs amid pressure on BBSW-OS.
Freedom Oil and Gas Ltd (FDM):
Freedom Oil & Gas has hired stockbroker Morgans Financial to oversee an institutional placement. The explorer is seeking to raise about $20 million at an offer price of 15¢ a share, according to a term sheet sent to fund managers on Thursday. That represents a 26.8 per cent discount to the last close and a 33.1 per cent discount to the 10-day volume weighted average price. Freedom Oil & Gas, the rebadged Maverick Drilling & Exploration, plans to use the proceeds to bolster the company's existing cash reserves which fund its drilling program and additional infrastructure spend.
News Corporation (NWS):
News Corp is pursuing plans to bring Multi Channel Network into closer alignment with other assets after CBS-owned Network Ten walked away from an advertising sales alliance with the company to launch a fresh assault on the $16 billion Australian ad -marke. Just a week after Fairfax Media announced it had decided to sell itself to Nine as part of a $2.1bn cash-and-stock deal, another round of consolidation in the television business is under way, although CBS’s decision to pull the plug on MCN was long-expected. CBS has instructed Ten to start its own advertising sales unit in Australia after taking control of the network in November, ending a seven-year relationship with MCN to represent Ten’s $600 million ad sales business in the local market, first revealed by The Australian.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
Rio Tinto has declared a record interim dividend and pledged a further $US5 billion ($6.75bn) of shareholder returns this year after it finalised sales of Queensland coal mines and delivered a 12 per cent gain in first-half underlying profit to $US4.42bn. But the big miner has uncharacteristically missed analyst profit expectations, as group cash costs rose by $US392 million in the half after five straight years of reductions, and legacy aluminium contracts meant Rio missed some of the first half’s price gains spurred by US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. The miss sent Rio’s shares lower in early London trade last night. Rio remains optimistic on China in the short term, with confidence buoyed by Chinese moves to increase domestic demand and liquidity, including fiscal stimuli.
Seven Group Holdings Limited (SVW):
Seven Group Holdings chief executive Ryan Stokes said media deals were not a priority for his shareholders, in his first public comments on rival broadcaster Nine’s $3.86 billion merger with Fairfax Media. Days after new figures revealed the advertising market for television has rebounded, Mr Stokes said Seven Group-controlled Seven West Media could prosper without pursuing M&A transactions, and that he would only consider deals with a strong growth rationale that made strategic sense. Mr Stokes effectively ruled out the prospect of Seven West Media mounting a counter bid for Fairfax after the two companies were the subject of speculation about a possible tie-up as Fairfax tried to sell itself in recent months. Recently Seven invested heavily in live sport, signing a six-year $1.18bn media rights deal with Cricket Australia as part of a partnership with Fox Sports.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW):
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has taken its tally of sales over the last two weeks to $2 billion as the international giant announced it had offloaded four Spanish shopping centres for €489 million ($770.45m). The move comes just a week after the group, which retains a $10bn secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, agreed to sell a Paris office building for €789m to global real estate investment manager Invesco in what was the buyer’s largest single asset deal in Europe. The French company, headed by Christophe Cuvillier, is selling assets after it pledged to slash debt in the wake of buying Sir Frank Lowy’s international mall empire in a $32bn deal. In the latest play, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield sold four regional shopping centres in Spain to Morzal Properties Iberia S.L.. The deal represents a net initial yield of 5.6 per cent.
Vicinity Centres Re Ltd (VCX):
Listed shopping centre giant Vicinity Centres has sold Flinders Square in Western Australia for $39.5 million as it shifts focus to larger properties and chases mixed-use opportunities. The sale to a private company was brokered by Ben Tana and James Wilson of Colliers Inter-national and showed a 21.5 per cent premium to the December 2017 book value. The fully occupied neighbourhood shopping centre, anchored by Coles, is near the Perth CBD and comprises the full-line supermarket over 3547sq m, a City Farmers and 18 specialty shops. The property spins off a fully leased net income of $2.43m and could suit a range of mixed-use development opportunities. Vicinity chief executive Grant Kelley said the transaction “reflects the high demand for quality neighbourhood and subregional shopping centres such as those comprising our divestment program of up to $1 billion announced last month”.
(Source: AIMS)
ANZ has become the first major bank to cut variable rates for new home loan customers with sizeable deposits, in a bid to take back market share. ANZ told mortgage brokers on Thursday the bank was cutting rates on its basic principal and interest loans for owner-occupier by 34 basis points to 3.65 per cent. The deal is open to borrowers who have a deposit of 20 per cent or more. While some major banks have cut fixed rate loans in special deals to lure buyers, standard variable rate products have not yet been touched. Most analysts believe the nation’s largest banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and National Australia Bank, are poised to hike rates on most mortgages in order to offset soaring funding costs. Many smaller lenders, free of the harsher political scrutiny from the royal commission, have hiked rates in recent weeks. The move by ANZ comes as housing credit growth dropped to its slowest rate in four years and is very competitive amid rising funding costs amid pressure on BBSW-OS.
Freedom Oil and Gas Ltd (FDM):
Freedom Oil & Gas has hired stockbroker Morgans Financial to oversee an institutional placement. The explorer is seeking to raise about $20 million at an offer price of 15¢ a share, according to a term sheet sent to fund managers on Thursday. That represents a 26.8 per cent discount to the last close and a 33.1 per cent discount to the 10-day volume weighted average price. Freedom Oil & Gas, the rebadged Maverick Drilling & Exploration, plans to use the proceeds to bolster the company's existing cash reserves which fund its drilling program and additional infrastructure spend.
News Corporation (NWS):
News Corp is pursuing plans to bring Multi Channel Network into closer alignment with other assets after CBS-owned Network Ten walked away from an advertising sales alliance with the company to launch a fresh assault on the $16 billion Australian ad -marke. Just a week after Fairfax Media announced it had decided to sell itself to Nine as part of a $2.1bn cash-and-stock deal, another round of consolidation in the television business is under way, although CBS’s decision to pull the plug on MCN was long-expected. CBS has instructed Ten to start its own advertising sales unit in Australia after taking control of the network in November, ending a seven-year relationship with MCN to represent Ten’s $600 million ad sales business in the local market, first revealed by The Australian.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
Rio Tinto has declared a record interim dividend and pledged a further $US5 billion ($6.75bn) of shareholder returns this year after it finalised sales of Queensland coal mines and delivered a 12 per cent gain in first-half underlying profit to $US4.42bn. But the big miner has uncharacteristically missed analyst profit expectations, as group cash costs rose by $US392 million in the half after five straight years of reductions, and legacy aluminium contracts meant Rio missed some of the first half’s price gains spurred by US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. The miss sent Rio’s shares lower in early London trade last night. Rio remains optimistic on China in the short term, with confidence buoyed by Chinese moves to increase domestic demand and liquidity, including fiscal stimuli.
Seven Group Holdings Limited (SVW):
Seven Group Holdings chief executive Ryan Stokes said media deals were not a priority for his shareholders, in his first public comments on rival broadcaster Nine’s $3.86 billion merger with Fairfax Media. Days after new figures revealed the advertising market for television has rebounded, Mr Stokes said Seven Group-controlled Seven West Media could prosper without pursuing M&A transactions, and that he would only consider deals with a strong growth rationale that made strategic sense. Mr Stokes effectively ruled out the prospect of Seven West Media mounting a counter bid for Fairfax after the two companies were the subject of speculation about a possible tie-up as Fairfax tried to sell itself in recent months. Recently Seven invested heavily in live sport, signing a six-year $1.18bn media rights deal with Cricket Australia as part of a partnership with Fox Sports.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW):
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has taken its tally of sales over the last two weeks to $2 billion as the international giant announced it had offloaded four Spanish shopping centres for €489 million ($770.45m). The move comes just a week after the group, which retains a $10bn secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, agreed to sell a Paris office building for €789m to global real estate investment manager Invesco in what was the buyer’s largest single asset deal in Europe. The French company, headed by Christophe Cuvillier, is selling assets after it pledged to slash debt in the wake of buying Sir Frank Lowy’s international mall empire in a $32bn deal. In the latest play, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield sold four regional shopping centres in Spain to Morzal Properties Iberia S.L.. The deal represents a net initial yield of 5.6 per cent.
Vicinity Centres Re Ltd (VCX):
Listed shopping centre giant Vicinity Centres has sold Flinders Square in Western Australia for $39.5 million as it shifts focus to larger properties and chases mixed-use opportunities. The sale to a private company was brokered by Ben Tana and James Wilson of Colliers Inter-national and showed a 21.5 per cent premium to the December 2017 book value. The fully occupied neighbourhood shopping centre, anchored by Coles, is near the Perth CBD and comprises the full-line supermarket over 3547sq m, a City Farmers and 18 specialty shops. The property spins off a fully leased net income of $2.43m and could suit a range of mixed-use development opportunities. Vicinity chief executive Grant Kelley said the transaction “reflects the high demand for quality neighbourhood and subregional shopping centres such as those comprising our divestment program of up to $1 billion announced last month”.
(Source: AIMS)
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