K62 Finance

Allegro buys The Ghan and Indian Pacific trains

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 31-Mar-15

Allegro Funds has paid an undisclosed price for Great Southern Rail, which operates iconic Australian train services The Ghan and The Indian Pacific. The vendor was Serco, which has owned Great Southern Rail since 1999. International tourists account for around 25 per cent of passengers on the two trains, and Allegro MD Adrian Loader anticipates continued strong growth in demand for upmarket rail travel

CORPORATES
ALLEGRO FUNDS PTY LTD, GREAT SOUTHERN RAIL, SERCO GROUP PLC, LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, CUSTOM COACHES

Commentators look forward as ASX 200 flirts with 6000

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Original article by John Wasiliev
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 24-Mar-15

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index continued to test the 6,000-point level again on 23 March 2015. Ric Spooner of CMC markets expects it to rise above 6,000 points in the near-term, adding that if the benchmark index finds support above this level it could potentially rise to around 6,180. Meanwhile, ThinkForex’s Matt Simpsons says the Australian dollar is likely to trade within the range of $US0.755 to $US0.7912 in the near-term

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, CMC MARKETS PTY LTD, THINKFOREX, IG MARKETS LIMITED, OANDA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, RESMED INCORPORATED – ASX RMD, WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD, QUAY EQUITIES PTY LTD, HC SECURITIES

Pioneer Credit to launch ‘no-frills’ card

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Original article by Sally Rose
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 23-Mar-15

Australian-listed Pioneer Credit will begin offering its own branded credit card later in 2015. The group will team up with an as-yet unnamed regional lender to launch the credit card, which will have a credit limit of between $A2,000 and $A3,000. CEO Keith John says the company eventually aims to offer personal and home loans. Its shares closed at $A1.96 on 20 March 2015

CORPORATES
PIONEER CREDIT LIMITED – ASX PNC

ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence – Somebody to Love

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-Mar-15

The ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Index has risen from 124.0 in February 2015 to 124.6 in March. Stripping out the seasonal noise, the index showed a three point lift. The Current Conditions Index rose from 123.0 to 123.7, which is still consistent with solid rates of consumer spending, while the Future Conditions Index nudged up from 124.6 to 125.3, reinforcing the optimistic tone

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Insider trader gets seven years’ jail

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 18-Mar-15

The Supreme Court of Victoria has jailed two men on insider trading charges. Lukas Kamay will be eligible for parole after serving four and a half years in jail, while Christopher Hill can apply for parole after two years. Kamay was working as a foreign exchange trader at National Australia Bank when the illegal bets on the Australian dollar were made during 2013 and 2014. Kamay was also jailed on money laundering and identity theft offences

CORPORATES
SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, MONASH UNIVERSITY, VICTORIA. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, AXICORP PTY LTD, PEPPERSTONE FINANCIAL PTY LTD

ME Bank maintains high growth targets

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Original article by Shaun Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 18-Mar-15

ME Bank boasted about 312,000 customers in July 2014, but it aims to lift this to one million by 2020. ME Bank has reported an underlying profit of $A29.1m for the first half of 2014-15, which is 14 per cent higher than previously, and it expects full-year profit to rise by 25 per cent to around $A60m. Home loan settlements rose by 41 per cent to $A2.4bn in the half-year, and its loan book rose by $A1.5bn to $A16.4bn

CORPORATES
MEMBERS EQUITY BANK PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Eslake breaks ranks with rates call

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Original article by Stephen Cauchi
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 17-Mar-15

The Australian dollar was buying $US0.764 late in trading on 16 March 2015, ahead of the release of the minutes from the Reserve Bank’s monthly board meeting. Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Saul Eslake expects the cash rate to be reduced by 25 basis points in May, followed by rate rises in both December and February. He also forecasts that the dollar will be trading at $US0.73 in December and $US0.68 by the end of 2016

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, BLOOMBERG LP, BT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED – ASX BTT, ING AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED

Symond calls for ban on interest-only

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Original article by Shaun Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 17-Mar-15

Australian businessman John Symond says residential property buyers who intend to be owner-occupiers should be prohibited from taken out interest-only loans. There has been strong growth in interest-only mortgage loans in recent years, particularly to property investors. Symond, who is the chairman of Aussie Home Loans, argues that property investors tend to be a lower risk than owner-occupiers

CORPORATES
AUSSIE HOME LOANS LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, MEMBERS EQUITY BANK PTY LTD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Porges to lead P2P lender DirectMoney

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 17-Mar-15

Peer-to-peer lending group DirectMoney, which offers an average interest rate of 14.75 per cent, aims to list on the Australian sharemarket. Executive chairman Stephen Porges, who was CEO of Aussie Home Loans for five years, expects P2P lenders to put downward pressure on interest rates for personal loans in the same way that Aussie forced lenders to reduce home loan interest rates. DirectMoney was granted an Australian Financial Services Licence on 13 March 2015

CORPORATES
DIRECTMONEY PTY LTD, AUSSIE HOME LOANS LIMITED, LIBERUM CAPITAL LIMITED, EAGLEWOOD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, SAI GLOBAL LIMITED – ASX SAI, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, SOCIETYONE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RATESETTER, THINCATS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MARKETLEND PTY LTD, MONEYPLACE, LEND2FUND, CITIBANK PTY LTD, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ADCOCK GROUP MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, IRESS LIMITED – ASX IRE, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, MORTGAGE CHOICE LIMITED – ASX MOC

KKR snares GE Capital arm for $8.2b

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Original article by Sarah Thompson, Sally Patten, Anthony Macdonald
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 16-Mar-15

The Australasian consumer finance division of GE Capital will be sold to KKR & Company, Deutsche Bank and Varde Partners. The consortium will pay $A8.2bn for the business, whose operations include credit cards, personal loans and sales finance. The KKR-led consortium was one of four groups that made binding bids for the business, which GE put on the market in late 2014

CORPORATES
GE CAPITAL CORPORATION, KKR AND COMPANY LP, KOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERTS AND COMPANY, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, VARDE PARTNERS INCORPORATED, TPG CAPITAL LP, ONTARIO TEACHERS’ PENSION PLAN, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, THE BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, LIBERTY FINANCIAL PTY LTD, GOVERNMENT OF SINGAPORE INVESTMENT CORPORATION PTE LTD, APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC, JC FLOWERS AND COMPANY LLC, PEPPER AUSTRALIA, QATAR INVESTMENT AUTHORITY, CREDIT SUISSE AG, MORGAN STANLEY AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION, MERRILL LYNCH AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, CITIGROUP INCORPORATED, MOELIS AND COMPANY