AMP Limited (AMP):
The ASX has been drawn into the debate over AMP's controversial life insurance divestment after multiple shareholders including a powerful industry fund representative have begun lobbying the exchange to put the deal on ice. The Australian Financial Review understands that the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors – which represents a group of industry funds with more than $2.3 trillion in assets and owns roughly 10 per cent of every company on the ASX – is among those to have written to the ASX about the deal. Controversy over the transaction emerged last week when fund-manager-turned-activist Merlon Capital criticized the deal and the way AMP pitched it to shareholders in a letter where it described the deal as reckless, inept and value-destroying.
BlueScope Steel Limited (BSL):
BlueScope Steel Malaysian unit has struck a deal to buy YKGI Holdings Bhd’s manufacturing facility in Klang, Malaysia, for $42 million. NS BlueScope Malaysia, which the Australian steelmaker owns in joint venture with Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, is expected to acquire the facility in the first quarter of 2019. It includes a cold rolling mill and continuous galvanizing line and is “consistent with BlueScope’s strategy to grow its coated and painted steel business and provides a cost-effective source of cold rolled feed to supply to NS BlueScope Malaysia,” said BlueScope in a statement.
Capilano Honey Ltd (CZZ):
Capilano Honey's suitors have sweetened their offer despite the company's sales taking a hit from an attack casting doubt on the integrity of some of its products. Albert Tse's Wattle Hill and Roc Partners Investment Fund increased their offer from $20.06 a share to $21 a share on Friday as billionaire Kerry Stokes, who holds 23.12 per cent of the stock, reaffirmed his support for the $198 million takeover bid.
Cochlear Limited (COH):
A US Judge has ruled against Cochlear in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Alfred E.Mann Foundation and Advanced Bionics. Damages of US$268 million ($372.32m) have been awarded against it, but Cochlear says it will appeal the decision. The case dates to January 2014 - and the company stressed it did not have any ongoing impact to its business. “We are surprised by the decision and do not agree with the reasons given by the judge,” chief and president Dig Howitt said in a release to the market today. “We will continue to defend this case and the next step in the litigation process is our appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The case is likely to take years to finally resolve.” A decision on the appeal is expected in approximately two years.
Myer Holdings Ltd (MYR):
Corporate raider fund manager Geoff Wilson has met with Myer chairman Garry Hounsell to discuss the outlook for the troubled department store owner as well as the upcoming Myer annual general meeting that is expected to be the stage for a fresh break out of hostilities between the retailer and its biggest shareholder, rebel investor Solomon Lew. Mr. Wilson met with Mr. Hounsell last week, and it follows on from a meeting he had with recently appointed Myer chief executive John King after his Wilson Asset Management group bought a 5.46 per cent stake in Myer in early September. He told The Australian this morning he was yet to decide how to vote his stake at the Myer AGM slated for November 30, with the adoption of the remuneration report set to be a key battleground for Mr. Lew who is agitating for a ‘no’ vote to obtain a ‘second strike’ for Myer and then trigger a spill motion to eject the entire Myer board of directors..
Origin Energy Ltd (ORG) :
Origin Energy’s Australia Pacific LNG has signed a deal to buy more than $3.5 billion worth of coal seam gas from Shell’s Arrow joint venture with PetroChina and agreed to toll-treat Arrow gas at its onshore Queensland plant. The deal, which is conditional on Arrow reaching a final investment decision on development of its Queensland CSG fields, comes after APLNG chief Warwick King last month warned that Queensland’s CSG fields that underpin long LNG contracts are not producing as well as had been expected. Today’s deal will see APLNG, run by Origin and ConocoPhillips, buy 350 petajoules of gas over 10 years from 2024 from Arrow. The gas price APLNG pays will be linked to international oil prices, as is the price APLNG sells its LNG for. At current east coast domestic prices of about $10 a gigajoule, the deal would be worth $3.5bn over the 10 years.
Greencross Limited (GXL):
Greencross has confirmed speculation of a deal with US-based private equity firm TPG Capital for a full takeover worth $970 million. In a notice to the market this morning, and foreshadowed in The Australian’s DataRoom last week, Greencross directors unanimously recommended the scheme for an offer price of $5.55 per share, concluding it was in the best interests of shareholders, with no superior offers on the board. The offer price represents a 44.5 per cent premium to the volume weighted average price.
Webjet Limited (WEB):
Online travel booking site Webjet has outline plans to acquire Dubai-headquartered B2B accommodation website Destinations of the World for $US173 million ($240m). The acquisition will be funded by a fully underwritten entitlement offer, $102m of debt funding and an issue of new Webjet shares, the company said in a statement to the ASX. “The acquisition of DOTW continues to consolidate WebBeds’ position as the clear number two player in the global B2B market,” Webjet managing director John Guscic said. The acquisition will be funded by a fully underwritten entitlement offer, $102m of debt funding and an issue of new Webjet shares, the company told the market this morning. “DOTW is highly complementary to WebBeds’ existing portfolio and significantly enhances WebBeds’ existing Asia Pacific and Americas businesses, while further expanding its presence in Europe and the Middle East and Africa regions,” Mr Guscic said. “In addition to providing 5,600 unique new contracts, the overlap in existing directly contracted hotels will deliver increased depth to our global inventory offering.” Approximately $US20m of new Webjet shares will be issued to continuing management shareholders and the private equity vendor of DOTW, at an issue price of $12.77 a share.
Wesfarmers Limited (WES):
Coles is suing the tax office to claw back $40 million it paid in fuel excise, in what could prove a timely top-up for the supermarket's coffers during its first year as an independent company. In five separate applications filed with the Federal Court in Victoria, Coles says that between 2014 and 2017 it paid tax on about 107 million liters of fuel which was lost through evaporation or leakage before it could be sold to customers at its chain of Coles Express service stations. Coles argues that because the fuel was never sold, it should be considered to have been "acquired... in carrying on an enterprise" and therefore eligible for fuel tax credits worth about $40 million. A Coles spokesman said the company was "seeking clarification from the court as to whether it has overpaid fuel excise in the past, in particular in relation to fuel volumes that have been subject to leakage and evaporation".
Westpac Banking Corp (WBC):
Westpac has posted a flat cash full-year earnings result in what it says has been a difficult year. Wespact today said it had posted a cash profit of $8.07 billion, which it said is “little changed”. Statutory net profit rose 1 per cent to $8.095 billion. Westpac announced an unchanged, final, fully franked dividend of 94 cents per share. Speaking at the announcement of Westpac’s annual results, chief Brian Hartzer said credit quality was holding up, but he expected a further deterioration in the Australian housing market. Mr. Hartzer didn’t provide specific earnings guidance but noted the outlook for the Australian economy “remains positive”. He did, however, call out headwinds in 2019, with gross domestic product growth expected to moderate to around 2.7 per cent.
(Source：AIMS)
The ASX has been drawn into the debate over AMP's controversial life insurance divestment after multiple shareholders including a powerful industry fund representative have begun lobbying the exchange to put the deal on ice. The Australian Financial Review understands that the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors – which represents a group of industry funds with more than $2.3 trillion in assets and owns roughly 10 per cent of every company on the ASX – is among those to have written to the ASX about the deal. Controversy over the transaction emerged last week when fund-manager-turned-activist Merlon Capital criticized the deal and the way AMP pitched it to shareholders in a letter where it described the deal as reckless, inept and value-destroying.
BlueScope Steel Limited (BSL):
BlueScope Steel Malaysian unit has struck a deal to buy YKGI Holdings Bhd’s manufacturing facility in Klang, Malaysia, for $42 million. NS BlueScope Malaysia, which the Australian steelmaker owns in joint venture with Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, is expected to acquire the facility in the first quarter of 2019. It includes a cold rolling mill and continuous galvanizing line and is “consistent with BlueScope’s strategy to grow its coated and painted steel business and provides a cost-effective source of cold rolled feed to supply to NS BlueScope Malaysia,” said BlueScope in a statement.
Capilano Honey Ltd (CZZ):
Capilano Honey's suitors have sweetened their offer despite the company's sales taking a hit from an attack casting doubt on the integrity of some of its products. Albert Tse's Wattle Hill and Roc Partners Investment Fund increased their offer from $20.06 a share to $21 a share on Friday as billionaire Kerry Stokes, who holds 23.12 per cent of the stock, reaffirmed his support for the $198 million takeover bid.
Cochlear Limited (COH):
A US Judge has ruled against Cochlear in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Alfred E.Mann Foundation and Advanced Bionics. Damages of US$268 million ($372.32m) have been awarded against it, but Cochlear says it will appeal the decision. The case dates to January 2014 - and the company stressed it did not have any ongoing impact to its business. “We are surprised by the decision and do not agree with the reasons given by the judge,” chief and president Dig Howitt said in a release to the market today. “We will continue to defend this case and the next step in the litigation process is our appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The case is likely to take years to finally resolve.” A decision on the appeal is expected in approximately two years.
Myer Holdings Ltd (MYR):
Corporate raider fund manager Geoff Wilson has met with Myer chairman Garry Hounsell to discuss the outlook for the troubled department store owner as well as the upcoming Myer annual general meeting that is expected to be the stage for a fresh break out of hostilities between the retailer and its biggest shareholder, rebel investor Solomon Lew. Mr. Wilson met with Mr. Hounsell last week, and it follows on from a meeting he had with recently appointed Myer chief executive John King after his Wilson Asset Management group bought a 5.46 per cent stake in Myer in early September. He told The Australian this morning he was yet to decide how to vote his stake at the Myer AGM slated for November 30, with the adoption of the remuneration report set to be a key battleground for Mr. Lew who is agitating for a ‘no’ vote to obtain a ‘second strike’ for Myer and then trigger a spill motion to eject the entire Myer board of directors..
Origin Energy Ltd (ORG) :
Origin Energy’s Australia Pacific LNG has signed a deal to buy more than $3.5 billion worth of coal seam gas from Shell’s Arrow joint venture with PetroChina and agreed to toll-treat Arrow gas at its onshore Queensland plant. The deal, which is conditional on Arrow reaching a final investment decision on development of its Queensland CSG fields, comes after APLNG chief Warwick King last month warned that Queensland’s CSG fields that underpin long LNG contracts are not producing as well as had been expected. Today’s deal will see APLNG, run by Origin and ConocoPhillips, buy 350 petajoules of gas over 10 years from 2024 from Arrow. The gas price APLNG pays will be linked to international oil prices, as is the price APLNG sells its LNG for. At current east coast domestic prices of about $10 a gigajoule, the deal would be worth $3.5bn over the 10 years.
Greencross Limited (GXL):
Greencross has confirmed speculation of a deal with US-based private equity firm TPG Capital for a full takeover worth $970 million. In a notice to the market this morning, and foreshadowed in The Australian’s DataRoom last week, Greencross directors unanimously recommended the scheme for an offer price of $5.55 per share, concluding it was in the best interests of shareholders, with no superior offers on the board. The offer price represents a 44.5 per cent premium to the volume weighted average price.
Webjet Limited (WEB):
Online travel booking site Webjet has outline plans to acquire Dubai-headquartered B2B accommodation website Destinations of the World for $US173 million ($240m). The acquisition will be funded by a fully underwritten entitlement offer, $102m of debt funding and an issue of new Webjet shares, the company said in a statement to the ASX. “The acquisition of DOTW continues to consolidate WebBeds’ position as the clear number two player in the global B2B market,” Webjet managing director John Guscic said. The acquisition will be funded by a fully underwritten entitlement offer, $102m of debt funding and an issue of new Webjet shares, the company told the market this morning. “DOTW is highly complementary to WebBeds’ existing portfolio and significantly enhances WebBeds’ existing Asia Pacific and Americas businesses, while further expanding its presence in Europe and the Middle East and Africa regions,” Mr Guscic said. “In addition to providing 5,600 unique new contracts, the overlap in existing directly contracted hotels will deliver increased depth to our global inventory offering.” Approximately $US20m of new Webjet shares will be issued to continuing management shareholders and the private equity vendor of DOTW, at an issue price of $12.77 a share.
Wesfarmers Limited (WES):
Coles is suing the tax office to claw back $40 million it paid in fuel excise, in what could prove a timely top-up for the supermarket's coffers during its first year as an independent company. In five separate applications filed with the Federal Court in Victoria, Coles says that between 2014 and 2017 it paid tax on about 107 million liters of fuel which was lost through evaporation or leakage before it could be sold to customers at its chain of Coles Express service stations. Coles argues that because the fuel was never sold, it should be considered to have been "acquired... in carrying on an enterprise" and therefore eligible for fuel tax credits worth about $40 million. A Coles spokesman said the company was "seeking clarification from the court as to whether it has overpaid fuel excise in the past, in particular in relation to fuel volumes that have been subject to leakage and evaporation".
Westpac Banking Corp (WBC):
Westpac has posted a flat cash full-year earnings result in what it says has been a difficult year. Wespact today said it had posted a cash profit of $8.07 billion, which it said is “little changed”. Statutory net profit rose 1 per cent to $8.095 billion. Westpac announced an unchanged, final, fully franked dividend of 94 cents per share. Speaking at the announcement of Westpac’s annual results, chief Brian Hartzer said credit quality was holding up, but he expected a further deterioration in the Australian housing market. Mr. Hartzer didn’t provide specific earnings guidance but noted the outlook for the Australian economy “remains positive”. He did, however, call out headwinds in 2019, with gross domestic product growth expected to moderate to around 2.7 per cent.
(Source：AIMS)
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