CORPORATE DIVESTITURE – AUSTRALIA

Wesfarmers explores $2b coal mine sales

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 17-Nov-16

Australian-listed conglomerate Wesfarmers has advised that it is considering a range of options for its coal assets, including divestment. It has called for expressions of interest from potential buyers of the Curragh mine, as well as its 40 per cent stake in the Bengalla mine. However, Wesfarmers has stressed that a deal may not eventuate. The sale price of Curragh is likely to be boosted after the recent approval of an expansion plan, which will extend its mine life until around 2038.

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, NEW HOPE CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX NHC, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC, ANGLO AMERICAN PLC, PEMBROKE RESOURCES PTY LTD, DENHAM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP, JELLINBAH GROUP, MACH ENERGY, SALIM GROUP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, TAIWAN POWER COMPANY, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, BLOOMBERG LP

ANZ’s Whelan will divest Asian bank stakes next

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Original article by Lisa Murray
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 17 : 2-Nov-16

The ANZ Bank will further scale back its presence in Asia after securing a deal to offload some of its retail banking and wealth management assets in the region. Mark Whelan, the head of institutional banking, says ANZ is making progress on selling some of its minority stakes in four Asian banks. He says these stakes are deemed to be non-core assets, but he stresses that ANZ is "reshaping" its Asian operations rather than withdrawing from the region. ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott has signalled that institutional banking will be the focus of its Asian operations.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, SHANGHAI RURAL COMMERCIAL BANK, BANK OF TIANJIN COMPANY LIMITED, PT BANK PAN INDONESIA TBK, AMMB HOLDINGS BHD, DBS BANK LIMITED

ANZ cuts back Asian footprint

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Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 21 & 24 : 1-Nov-16

CEO Shayne Elliot says the ANZ Bank will eventually offload more of its retail banking operations in Asia, after striking a deal to sell its retail and wealth assets in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Taiwan and Indonesia. ANZ has not revealed the price of the transaction, although it says Singapore-based DBS Bank will pay $A110m more than the book value of the assets. ANZ will incur a $A265m net loss on the transaction, while it will also slightly affect its earnings per share and return on equity. ANZ expanded its presence in Asia under previous CEO Mike Smith.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, DBS BANK LIMITED, ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Santos sells last Victorian asset

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 32 : 25-Oct-16

Australian-listed Cooper Energy will assume full ownership of the Sole gas project in the Gippsland Basin after securing a deal to acquire Santos’s 50 per cent stake for $A82m. Cooper Energy will undertake a $A63m capital raising to help finance the deal, and it will then seek a joint venture partner for the project. Santos has now offloaded all of its assets in Victoria. Its shares closed $A0.11 lower at $A3.73 on 24 October 2016.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, COOPER ENERGY LIMITED – ASX COE

Breach may see 2CH ‘fire sale’

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 21 : 6-Oct-16

The Australian Communications & Media Authority has ruled that Macquarie Media must sell Sydney radio station 2CH. The 2015 merger of Macquarie Radio Network and Fairfax Media’s radio assets resulted in the merged group owning three radio stations in Sydney, in breach of the "’two to a market" media ownership rule. ACMA has refused to grant Macquarie a third temporary exemption and deemed that 2CH must be sold.

CORPORATES
MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN, RADIO 2CH PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, 2GB, RADIO 2UE SYDNEY PTY LTD, NEW SOUTH WALES COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, GRANT BROADCASTERS PTY LTD, CAPITAL RADIO NETWORK

Woolies finalises hardware sell-off

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 19 : 4-Oct-16

The hardware division of Metcash will boast sales of $A2.2bn following the completion of a deal to acquire the Home Timber & Hardware business from Woolworths. The expanded division will comprise about 800 retail stores and a hardware wholesaling business. Woolworths is still engaged in legal action with joint venture partner Lowe’s regarding its exit from the ill-fated Masters Home Improvement business.

CORPORATES
METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, HOME TIMBER AND HARDWARE, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, MITRE 10 LIMITED, TRUE VALUE HARDWARE LIMITED, THRIFTY-LINK HARDWARE PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Woolies nets $1.5b as it exits from hardware

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Original article by James Thomson, Sarah Thompson, John Stensholt, Anthony Macdonald
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 22 : 25-Aug-16

Australian-listed retailer Woolworths has advised that its Masters Home Improvement stores will be closed by mid-December 2016. Woolworths will sell the Home Timber & Hardware business to Mitre 10 owner Metcash for $A165m. Meanwhile, the Home Consortium will pay $A725m for 61 Masters stores and 21 development sites, with plans to convert the stores into large-format retail centres with multiple tenants. In a separate deal, the Australian arm of US auction house Great American Group will pay about $A500m for the Masters hardware inventory.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, HOME TIMBER AND HARDWARE, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, MITRE 10 LIMITED, HOME CONSORTIUM, GREAT AMERICAN GROUP, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, SPOTLIGHT STORES PTY LTD, CHEMIST WAREHOUSE, AURRUM PTY LTD, ANACONDA STORES PTY LTD, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, THE GOOD GUYS, DAN MURPHY’S, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, BAKER AND McKENZIE, THE BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, CHARTER HALL GROUP – ASX CHC, VICINITY CENTRES – ASX VCX, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD

Peabody to trim Australian coal output

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 12-Aug-16

Peabody Energy Corporation has flagged the potential sale of non-core coal assets in Australia, the US and Canada as part of its turnaround strategy. The group, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2016, has also advised that its annual coking coal output in Australia is likely to fall to seven million tonnes in 2021, compared with expectations of 15 million tonnes in 2016. However, thermal coal production is expected to be maintained at around current levels for the next five years.

CORPORATES
PEABODY ENERGY CORPORATION, PEABODY ENERGY AUSTRALIA COAL PTY LTD, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Fairfax mulls sale of regional newspapers

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 21 & 24 : 9-Aug-16

Fairfax Media has declined to comment on speculation that it could divest the Australian Community Media division. The media group is said to have held talks with Platinum Equity about buying its portfolio of regional newspapers, which was primarily acquired via the 2007 merger with Rural Press. Fairfax already proposes to sell its New Zealand newspaper assets to NZME.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, RURAL PRESS LIMITED, NZME LIMITED – ASX NZM, APN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED – ASX APN, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL MEDIA, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, PLATINUM EQUITY HOLDINGS, SENSIS PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

Strong interest as Exxon sells off Bass Strait oilfields

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 21 : 26-Jul-16

The daily output of the Bass Strait oilfields has fallen to 19,000 barrels, having peaked at more than 500,000 in the 1980s. ExxonMobil Australia chairman Richard Owen believes that the oilfields are likely to be most attractive to companies with expertise in extracting value from resources projects that are nearing the end of their production life. He says there has been good initial interest from potential buyers of the oilfields, which ExxonMobil operates in partnership with BHP Billiton.

CORPORATES
EXXONMOBIL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, WOOD MACKENZIE, APACHE CORPORATION, FOSUN INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED