IOOF Holdings Limited (IFL):
After years of conflict with the prudential regulator APRA, the move by Chris Kelaher and George Venardos to step aside as managing director and chairman of embattled wealth manager IOOF represents a spectacular collision with common sense. No doubt it has a lot to do with some brutally commercial advice from Kelaher’s lawyer, Arnold Bloch Leibler partner Leon Zwier. Litigation strategy is another matter entirely. Faced with the ignominy of disqualification proceedings, Kelaher and Venardos will fight back, with the same royal commission transcripts that highlight Kelaher’s dismissive attitude towards the regulator also likely to help frame his defence.
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
Police have raided the home of Rosemary Rogers, the former chief of staff to NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn, in the midst of a bribery investigation going to the heart of Australia’s big for banks with over $110 million in payments now being investigated. NSW and Victorian fraud squad detectives executed search warrants at Ms Rogers’ Melbourne home this morning, confiscating large amounts of files and computers from the Williamstown address. As YourMoney/The Australian revealed last week, the NSW Crime Commission last week instructed NAB to freeze Ms Rogers accounts after serving notices on Ms Rogers. The moves by police this morning further widen the investigation into the kickback scandal at the heart of the NAB focusing on $113m worth of corporate travel organised by the corporate services company The Human Group.
Sonic Healthcare Limited (SHL):
Sonic Healthcare is acquiring US pathology services firm Aurora Diagnostics in a $750 million ($US540 million) deal it says will create one of the largest pathologist groups in the world. Sonic says the acquisition of Aurora, which employs about 220 pathologists and has 32 practices processing approximately 2.5 million accessions per year, will transform its US business. Sonic will fund the deal through a $A600 million fully underwritten institutional placement and a $A100 million share purchase plan for retail investors. Chief executive Colin Goldschmidt called the acquisition a seminal step for Sonic. “The integration of these practices into Sonic’s existing US operations, in conjunction with Aurora’s management team, will offer Sonic Healthcare USA the scale and critical mass to boost the national promotion of Sonic’s unique Medical Leadership model in the US laboratory and pathology markets,” Dr Goldschmidt said. The combined company will have more than 900 pathologists worldwide.
Stanmore Coal Limited (SMR):
Stanmore Coal could be worth more than double the $240 million takeover offer lobbed at it by Indonesia’s Golden Investments, according to independent experts BDO. A target’s statement released this morning by Stanmore (SMR) included an expert’s report from BDO which valued the coal miner at between $1.48 and $1.90 a share. The company had already advised shareholders to reject the 95c per share offer from Golden Investments, and the findings by BDO will only bolster the company’s case. “The offer is clearly inadequate against a range of comparisons and does not account for the positive outlook for Stanmore and the company’s pursuit of strategies and initiatives to maximise shareholder value,” Stanmore chairman Stewart Butel said. Stanmore, which owns the Isaac Plains coking coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, has forecast underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of between $130 million and $150m this year. Shares in Stanmore were 2 per cent higher at $1.00 each in early afternoon trade.
Telstra Corporation Limited (TLS):
The competition regulator is taking a look at how Telstra provides wholesale access to other telcos over its copper network, with legacy network to be subject to regulatory oversight until 2024. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has started a public inquiry into the final access determinations for six of Telstra’s fixed line services and for the wholesale ADSL service. The six regulated services involve wholesale network access, resale and voice interconnection service, which the regulator says are still relevant to consumers even as the National Broadband Network is rolled out. The fixed-line services allow other telcos to use Telstra’s existing copper network facilities to provide voice and broadband services to their customers. “Our inquiry will consider the terms and conditions that should be covered in the final access determinations, including the prices for the services and non-price terms and conditions of access,” ACCC commissioner Roger Featherston said in a statement.
Trade Me Group Limited (TME):
The board of New Zealand auction and classified advertising site Trade Me Group says it is recommending shareholders accept an improved offer from private equity firm Apax Partners. The suitor has entered a scheme implementation agreement with Trade Me, which is now backing Apax’s increased offer of $NZ6.45 per share “in the absence of a superior proposal”. Earlier, Apax Partners was offering $NZ6.40 per share for the ASX-listed company and was offered exclusive due diligence but another company, Hellman and Friedman, later came forward with a higher offer at NZ$6.45 per share, subject to due diligence. The Apax offer is a 27 per cent premium to Trade Me’s one-month volume-weighted average price to 20 November 2018, and implies an equity value of NZ$2.56 billion and an enterprise value of NZ$2.74 billion. Trade Me chairman David Kirk said: “The Apax Funds have increased their offer price since the since the indicative proposal, following the completion of their due diligence.
Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (VAH):
Virgin Australia has boosted its board with the appointment of former Royal Australian Air Force and Defence Force Chief Sir Angus Houston. He will take the place of former deputy prime minister Mark Vaile, who is stepping down after 10 years on the airline’s board. Announcing Sir Angus’s appointment, Virgin Australia Group chairman Elizabeth Bryan said his experience as one of Australia’s most senior aviation and military leaders would further strengthen and diversify the board.
Westpac Banking Corp (WBC):
Westpac Bank will incur a landmark strike on its remuneration report today, with votes already cast pointing to a mammoth more than 50 per cent against vote by investors. The early result was revealed in Westpac (WBC) chairman’s Lindsay Maxsted speech being delivered to investors today at the bank’s annual general meeting in Perth. Mr Maxsted said while shareholders present at the meeting were yet to vote on the pay resolution votes already received showed “more than half will be against this resolution”. “This means we will incur a first strike. This sends a strong message to the board,” he added. “Feedback from shareholders has varied, but the key point from those voting against the remuneration report has been that although the board took events over the year into account, many have questioned whether we went far enough, particularly in reducing short term variable reward paid to the CEO and other executives.”
(Source: AIMS)
After years of conflict with the prudential regulator APRA, the move by Chris Kelaher and George Venardos to step aside as managing director and chairman of embattled wealth manager IOOF represents a spectacular collision with common sense. No doubt it has a lot to do with some brutally commercial advice from Kelaher’s lawyer, Arnold Bloch Leibler partner Leon Zwier. Litigation strategy is another matter entirely. Faced with the ignominy of disqualification proceedings, Kelaher and Venardos will fight back, with the same royal commission transcripts that highlight Kelaher’s dismissive attitude towards the regulator also likely to help frame his defence.
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
Police have raided the home of Rosemary Rogers, the former chief of staff to NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn, in the midst of a bribery investigation going to the heart of Australia’s big for banks with over $110 million in payments now being investigated. NSW and Victorian fraud squad detectives executed search warrants at Ms Rogers’ Melbourne home this morning, confiscating large amounts of files and computers from the Williamstown address. As YourMoney/The Australian revealed last week, the NSW Crime Commission last week instructed NAB to freeze Ms Rogers accounts after serving notices on Ms Rogers. The moves by police this morning further widen the investigation into the kickback scandal at the heart of the NAB focusing on $113m worth of corporate travel organised by the corporate services company The Human Group.
Sonic Healthcare Limited (SHL):
Sonic Healthcare is acquiring US pathology services firm Aurora Diagnostics in a $750 million ($US540 million) deal it says will create one of the largest pathologist groups in the world. Sonic says the acquisition of Aurora, which employs about 220 pathologists and has 32 practices processing approximately 2.5 million accessions per year, will transform its US business. Sonic will fund the deal through a $A600 million fully underwritten institutional placement and a $A100 million share purchase plan for retail investors. Chief executive Colin Goldschmidt called the acquisition a seminal step for Sonic. “The integration of these practices into Sonic’s existing US operations, in conjunction with Aurora’s management team, will offer Sonic Healthcare USA the scale and critical mass to boost the national promotion of Sonic’s unique Medical Leadership model in the US laboratory and pathology markets,” Dr Goldschmidt said. The combined company will have more than 900 pathologists worldwide.
Stanmore Coal Limited (SMR):
Stanmore Coal could be worth more than double the $240 million takeover offer lobbed at it by Indonesia’s Golden Investments, according to independent experts BDO. A target’s statement released this morning by Stanmore (SMR) included an expert’s report from BDO which valued the coal miner at between $1.48 and $1.90 a share. The company had already advised shareholders to reject the 95c per share offer from Golden Investments, and the findings by BDO will only bolster the company’s case. “The offer is clearly inadequate against a range of comparisons and does not account for the positive outlook for Stanmore and the company’s pursuit of strategies and initiatives to maximise shareholder value,” Stanmore chairman Stewart Butel said. Stanmore, which owns the Isaac Plains coking coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, has forecast underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of between $130 million and $150m this year. Shares in Stanmore were 2 per cent higher at $1.00 each in early afternoon trade.
Telstra Corporation Limited (TLS):
The competition regulator is taking a look at how Telstra provides wholesale access to other telcos over its copper network, with legacy network to be subject to regulatory oversight until 2024. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has started a public inquiry into the final access determinations for six of Telstra’s fixed line services and for the wholesale ADSL service. The six regulated services involve wholesale network access, resale and voice interconnection service, which the regulator says are still relevant to consumers even as the National Broadband Network is rolled out. The fixed-line services allow other telcos to use Telstra’s existing copper network facilities to provide voice and broadband services to their customers. “Our inquiry will consider the terms and conditions that should be covered in the final access determinations, including the prices for the services and non-price terms and conditions of access,” ACCC commissioner Roger Featherston said in a statement.
Trade Me Group Limited (TME):
The board of New Zealand auction and classified advertising site Trade Me Group says it is recommending shareholders accept an improved offer from private equity firm Apax Partners. The suitor has entered a scheme implementation agreement with Trade Me, which is now backing Apax’s increased offer of $NZ6.45 per share “in the absence of a superior proposal”. Earlier, Apax Partners was offering $NZ6.40 per share for the ASX-listed company and was offered exclusive due diligence but another company, Hellman and Friedman, later came forward with a higher offer at NZ$6.45 per share, subject to due diligence. The Apax offer is a 27 per cent premium to Trade Me’s one-month volume-weighted average price to 20 November 2018, and implies an equity value of NZ$2.56 billion and an enterprise value of NZ$2.74 billion. Trade Me chairman David Kirk said: “The Apax Funds have increased their offer price since the since the indicative proposal, following the completion of their due diligence.
Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (VAH):
Virgin Australia has boosted its board with the appointment of former Royal Australian Air Force and Defence Force Chief Sir Angus Houston. He will take the place of former deputy prime minister Mark Vaile, who is stepping down after 10 years on the airline’s board. Announcing Sir Angus’s appointment, Virgin Australia Group chairman Elizabeth Bryan said his experience as one of Australia’s most senior aviation and military leaders would further strengthen and diversify the board.
Westpac Banking Corp (WBC):
Westpac Bank will incur a landmark strike on its remuneration report today, with votes already cast pointing to a mammoth more than 50 per cent against vote by investors. The early result was revealed in Westpac (WBC) chairman’s Lindsay Maxsted speech being delivered to investors today at the bank’s annual general meeting in Perth. Mr Maxsted said while shareholders present at the meeting were yet to vote on the pay resolution votes already received showed “more than half will be against this resolution”. “This means we will incur a first strike. This sends a strong message to the board,” he added. “Feedback from shareholders has varied, but the key point from those voting against the remuneration report has been that although the board took events over the year into account, many have questioned whether we went far enough, particularly in reducing short term variable reward paid to the CEO and other executives.”
(Source: AIMS)
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