Author: roymorgansocial

FIRB gets tougher on China firms

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Original article by Angus Grigg
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Jan-19

The Foreign Investment Review Board is now said to be subjecting most takeover bids by Chinese companies to scrutiny to ensure that they are in the national interest. Regulation of such takeovers was relaxed under the Australia-China free-trade agreement, with deals that are below a certain threshold being exempt from FIRB approval. However, sources have indicated that the policy shift has been prompted by the introduction of China’s National Intelligence Law, which has increased the central government’s influence over private companies.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF DEFENSE, HEALIUS LIMITED – ASX HLS, JANGHO GROUP, AUSGRID PTY LTD, STATE GRID CORPORATION OF CHINA, APA GROUP – ASX APA, CHEUNG KONG INFRASTRUCTURE HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE LIMITED, FEDERATION OF GERMAN INDUSTRIES

Shorten rounds on super fund duds

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Original article by Joanna Mather, John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 17-Jan-19

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has expressed some support for the Productivity Commission’s proposal to cull underperforming superannuation funds. He says super funds whose returns rank in the bottom quartile deserve to be culled, regardless of whether they are industry or retail funds. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not ruled out making the Future Fund a default super fund, but he stresses that doing so is not on the government’s policy agenda at present.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Opal engineers insist tower is occupant-safe

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones, Ean Higgins
The Australian – Page: 3 : 17-Jan-19

WSP’s Guy Templeton says the core of Sydney’s Opal Tower is structurally sound and it is safe for residents to return to most floors of the residential building. The global engineering firm designed the 36-storey tower, and Templeton says legal action over the structural defects in the building is likely. An independent experts’ report has attributed the structural flaws to design and construction issues.

CORPORATES
WSP GROUP, ICON CO PTY LTD, ECOVE GROUP PTY LTD

Woodside pushes ahead with Scarborough project

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 17-Jan-19

Woodside Petroleum has awarded contracts for front-end engineering design work on the Scarborough gas project to McDermott Australia, Subsea Integration Alliance, Saipem and Intecsea. Woodside and its partners are slated to make a final investment decision on the project in 2020. Woodside has a majority stake in Scarborough, while BHP holds a 25 per cent stake and has an option to increase this by 10 per cent.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, McDERMOTT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SUBSEA INTEGRATION ALLIANCE, SAIPEM AUSTRALIA, INTECSEA PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION

Britain in worst crisis since WWII

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Original article by Jacquelin Magnay
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 17-Jan-19

British Prime Minister Theresa May is likely to face further no-confidence motions in parliament following the resounding defeat of her Brexit withdrawal bill. Some 118 Conservative Party MPs are among the 432 who voted against the bill, which was defeated by the highest margin of votes in the House of Commons’ history. Britain’s former education minister Justine Greening is among those who believe that a second Brexit referendum may be needed.

CORPORATES
GREAT BRITAIN. OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, CONSERVATIVE PARTY (GREAT BRITAIN), LABOUR PARTY (GREAT BRITAIN)

Village halts plans for more Topgolf centres

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 17-Jan-19

Village Roadshow is believed to have put the rollout of its Topgolf venture on hold. Village Roadshow opened the first of eight propose Topgolf venues in mid-2018, but the company is said to have halted the rollout until the performance of the Gold Coast venue can be ascertained. Meanwhile, Village Roadshow’s deputy chairman John Kirby is pushing for asset sales and the removal of executive chairman Robert Kirby and CEO Graham Burke.

CORPORATES
VILLAGE ROADSHOW LIMITED – ASX VRL, TOPGOLF, WET `N’ WILD WATER PARK, K CAPITAL PTY LTD, ARNOLD BLOCH LEIBLER

Kelty urges Shorten to stand up to dud funds

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Original article by Eryk Bagshaw
The Age – Page: 3 : 16-Jan-19

Former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty says Opposition leader Bill Shorten must be prepared to take action against underperforming industry superannuation funds if Labor wins the federal election. Kelty has also criticised the Productivity Commission’s proposal for a list of the 10 best-performing super funds, arguing that the focus should be on targeting the 10 biggest underperformers and removing them from the industry. Industry Super Australia chairman Greg Combet also supports a crackdown on chronic underperformers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, MERCER INVESTMENTS PTY LTD, MOTOR TRADES ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA SUPERANNUATION FUND PTY LTD, SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Labor backs FWC boss over new members

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 16-Jan-19

Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson says the Fair Work Commission’s new deputy presidents should be given the same duties as their colleagues, including deciding cases. FWC president Iain Ross recently advised that the five Coalition appointees will initially only handle relatively minor matters such as conciliation work. Shadow employment minister Brendan O’Connor has supported Ross’s stance, but a spokesman for Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer says all FWC members should be involved in duties such as conciliation work.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS

Design and building flaws behind fiasco

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian – Page: 6 : 16-Jan-19

The New South Wales Government has released an independent experts’ report on the cause of cracked concrete panels on the Opal Tower in Sydney. The interim report found a number of design and construction problems with the residential tower, although it concluded that the building is structurally sound. The reports’ authors noted that while the cracks were primarily the result of design and construction issues, the problem was exacerbated as residents began moving into the building.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE, ICON CO PTY LTD, WSP GROUP

BHP and BlueScope to sink local crews after 17 years

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 17 : 16-Jan-19

The Maritime Union of Australia has criticised BHP and BlueScope Steel for opting against renewing contracts to charter two iron ore bulk carriers. The vessels are used to ship iron ore from BHP’s mines in the Pilbara to BlueScope’s Port Kembla steelworks; a BHP spokesman says the contracts are a legacy of BlueScope’s spin-off in 2002. The ships were the last two iron ore vessels to be manned by Australian crews. The MUA says the crews will be replaced by low-paid foreign workers.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, TEEKAY SHIPPING CORPORATION