K64 Auxiliary Finance and Insurance Services

Former PM Gillard to chair $2bn energy fund

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 14 : 7-May-24

HMC Capital has announced that former prime minister Julia Gillard has agreed to chair the newly created $2 billion HMC Capital Energy Transition Fund, which will make investments in energy assets such as wind, battery and bio-fuels. Gillard said she was "excited and honoured" by her appointment, noting it was in the nation’s interests to make the most of its abundant sources of renewable energy, while for his part, HMC Capital CEO David Di Pilla said he was "absolutely delighted" that someone of Gillard’s global standing and experience had agreed to chair the new fund.

CORPORATES
HMC CAPITA LIMITED – ASX HMC, HMC CAPITAL ENERGY TRANSITION FUND

ASX tipped to hit 8300 this year, defying rate talk

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Original article by Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 7-May-24

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 reached a record high of 7,896.9 points in early April; despite the recent pullback it has still gained about 0.6 per cent so far in 2024. UBS equity strategist Richard Schellbach is amongst the market watchers who are bullish about the outlook for the ASX 200, forecasting that it will top 8,000 points by the end of this year. VanEck Australia in turn has a year-end target of 8,300 points, while David Bassanese from Betashares expects the index to reach 8,250 by the end of 2024.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, VANECK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BETASHARES CAPITAL LIMITED

What it now costs to retire comfortably

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Original article by Anthony Keane
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-Mar-24

Data from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia shows that couples now require $72,148 a year to live comfortably in retirement, while single people need $51,278. The cost of a comfortable retirement increased by 3.5 per cent in 2023, below the official inflation rate of 4.1 per cent. The rising cost of insurance, electricity and food contributed to the increase in ASFA’s retirement standard for the December quarter. CEO Mary Delahunty says the compulsory super guarantee’s increase to 12 per cent by mid-2025 will help more people to reach ASFA’s comfortable retirement standard level.

CORPORATES
THE ASSOCIATION OF SUPERANNUATION FUNDS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Scams help drive unsustainable increase in complaints about banks, finance firms to AFCA

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Original article by Loretta Florance, Leonie Thorne
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 9-Jan-24

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has advised that it received over 100,000 complaints in 2023, the most in its five-year history. 8,987 related to scams, up from 4,611 in 2022, and AFCA CEO David Locke says he hopes that 2024 will be the year that anti-scam initiatives by industry and government finally disrupt what he contends is a "serious and organised crime". AFCA’s dispute resolution scheme is intended to be a last resort for consumers, if they cannot get a solution by dealing directly with their bank, but Locke claims the volume of complaints escalated to AFCA is increasing at an "unsustainable rate", and that financial service firms need to do a better job of resolving customer complaints.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY

Bankers strike $5b in M&A deals

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Original article by Aaron Weinman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 14 : 19-Dec-23

Australian investors benefited from a pre-Christmas spike in mergers and acquisitions activity on Monday. Share registry administer Link Group endorsed a $1.2bn buyout offer from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and building materials group Adbri advised that it has received a $2.1bn takeover bid from Barro Group and CRH. Dental group Pacific Smiles has in turn been the subject of a $233m takeover offer from Genesis Capital. Ian Holmes from E&P suggest that the end-of-year surge in takeovers may be driven by a desire for suitors to avoid dragging out a bid into the new year.

CORPORATES
LINK ADMINISTRATION HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LNK, MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP INCORPORATED, ADBRI LIMITED – ASX ABC, BARRO GROUP PTY LTD, CRH PLC, PACIFIC SMILES GROUP LIMITED – ASX PSQ, GENESIS CAPITAL, E&P FINANCIAL GROUP LIMITED – ASX EP1

ESG investment pioneer calls for ban on labels

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Original article by Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 21-Nov-23

Managed funds with an environmental, social and governance focus have attracted growing scrutiny from investors and regulators in 2023. Nanuk Asset Management’s chief investment officer Thomas King contends that criticism of ESG funds and issues such as their performance has validity. King also believes that the ESG label has been overused and it should be banned; he says the acronym is confusing and ESG scores are "distracting nonsense", and that plain language should be used to describe what managed funds are doing.

CORPORATES
NANUK ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Bendigo Bank, AustralianSuper, PayPal and NRMA Insurance are Australia’s most trusted finance and insurance brands

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Nov-23

The Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards for 2023 in the key finance and insurance categories have been presented to Bendigo Bank, PayPal, AustralianSuper, NRMA Insurance and HBF. Other finalists in these categories included the Commonwealth Bank, ING, American Express, QSuper, Australian Ethical and insurance brands RAC, RACQ, HCF and Bupa. The Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards bring together outstanding companies and brands from across a range of industries to celebrate and recognise the unmatched levels of trust these organisations hold when compared to their competitors in their respective categories.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BENDIGO BANK, PAYPAL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, NRMA LIMITED, HBF HEALTH LIMITED

$21.7b dividend windfall set to land

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Original article by Tom Richardson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 26-Sep-23

BHP tops the list of Australian companies that will pay dividends in the final week of September. The resources group accounts for $6.34bn of the $21.7bn worth of dividends that investors will receive in coming days. Commonwealth Bank shareholders will in turn receive a combined $4bn worth of dividends, while Fortescue Metals Group’s payout will be about $3.01bn. Cyan Investment Management portfolio manager Dean Fergie expects fewer shareholders to invest their dividends in equities, given that banks are offering much better returns on cash deposits compared with recent years.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, CYAN INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Deal activity dives as rates hit hard

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Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 22-Sep-23

Data from Refinitiv shows that mergers and acquisitions involving Australians companies has totalled $US81.3bn so far in 2023, which is 27 per cent lower than at the same time in 2022. Investment banks’ advisory fees for completed M&A deal are 62 per cent lower than the same period in 2022, at $US354m. Underwriting fees for equity and debt capital market transactions have in turn fallen by 16 per cent and nine per cent respectively. Nick Sims from Goldman Sachs Australia expects deal-making activity to pick up for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024, in the absence of any macroeconomic or geopolitical shocks.

CORPORATES
REFINITIV AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Investors pull out of equities on recession fear

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Original article by Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 12-Jul-23

Data from global funds network Calastone shows that Australia fund managers’ net outflows totalled $2.8bn in the June quarter. Equities accounted for $1.65bn of the net outflows, while property accounted for $173m. The bearish investor sentiment toward higher-risk assets resulted in fixed income funds recording net inflows of $582m for the period. Teresa Walker of Calastone says there is no particular reason to favour the Australian sharemarket over offshore markets at present.

CORPORATES
CALASTONE