INVESTMENTS

Telstra invests $1bn in Asian growth

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Original article by Mitchell Bingemann
The Australian – Page: 21 : 24-Oct-14

Those attending the 2014 strategy day of Telstra on 23 October heard from CFO Andy Penn that the telco was set to allocate as much as $A1bn to a renewed investment push for the Asian region. This will involve boosting its global enterprise services unit, participating in the transition from the 2G and 3G mobile telephony standards to 4G, and providing consultancy services to other telcos on the roll-out of data-focused network infrastructure

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, TELKOM INDONESIA

Tesla set for Australian debut

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Original article by Matthew Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 24-Oct-14

Tesla Motors will sell its electric cars directly to Australian consumers, rather than through car dealerships. The direct-selling model is used in the US, and spokesman Heath Walker is confident that this strategy will not meet with the opposition it has attracted in some US states. Tesla is also hoping to lease space in Scentre Group’s shopping centres to display its vehicles. The Tesla Model S will be priced from $A90,000 in Australia

CORPORATES
TESLA MOTORS INCORPORATED, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, INTERNODE SYSTEMS PTY LTD, IINET LIMITED – ASX IIN, NASDAQ, PAYPAL INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, BLOOMBERG LP

Tackle Telstra or we all pay, says Optus boss

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Original article by Mitchell Bingemann
The Australian – Page: 23 : 22-Oct-14

Dominant Australian telco Telstra will gain some $A90bn by 2045 from its role in the national broadband network. Paul O’Sullivan, CEO of main rival Singtel Optus, is calling on the Federal Government to impose rules on Telstra regarding how the funds can be used. He also wants the telco to be separated into wholesale and retail businesses, and argues that failure to do so will erode competition as well as jeopardise investment by groups such as the Singapore-based parent of Optus. The current infrastructure spending of Optus worth up to $A1.2bn annually will fall if its fixed-line operations suffer a further decline

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, IINET LIMITED – ASX IIN, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, NBN CO LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, FRONTIER ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS, BT PLC

China pact sees miners duck tariffs

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Original article by Sid Maher, Scott Murdoch
The Australian – Page: 5 : 22-Oct-14

The Chinese Government recently declared new tariffs of 3% and 6% on imports of metallurgical and thermal coal respectively. However, Australian producers will be spared the measure, as Trade Minister Andrew Robb has negotiated a zero tariff in the talks on a new free-trade agreement between the two nations. Meanwhile Prime Minister Tony Abbott is being criticised by some of his Coalition MPs over failing to roll out a promised tightening of foreign investment limits in the agricultural sector

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION, CHINA. MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Marubeni: rock bottom picked for iron ore price

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Original article by Peter Ker, Max Mason, Scott Parker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 21 : 15-Oct-14

The benchmark iron ore price rose by 4.9 per cent to $US84.17 per tonne on 14 October 2014, clawing back some its losses of recent weeks. Marubeni Corporation’s Shinji Kawai expects the iron ore price to rise in 2015, although he anticipates that it will remain below $US100/tonne. Japan-based Marubeni holds a 15 per cent stake in Hancock Prospecting’s Roy Hill iron ore project. The group also holds stakes in coal mines owned by Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore

CORPORATES
MARUBENI CORPORATION, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, ANGLO AMERICAN PLC, GLENCORE PLC, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, MOUNT GIBSON IRON LIMITED – ASX MGX, ATLAS IRON LIMITED – ASX AGO, BC IRON LIMITED – ASX BCI, POSCO, CHINA STEEL CORPORATION, CHINA. NATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, VALE SA, CITIBANK PTY LTD

Tax breaks to be reintroduced

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 13-Oct-14

The Australian Government will unveil its National Industry Investment and Competitiveness Agenda on 14 October 2014. The policy includes unwinding the Australian Labor Party’s changes to regulations governing employee share schemes and changes to the significant investor scheme to ensure that money is invested in sectors of the economy where it is needed. The Government will also encourage greater co-operation between the business and education sectors

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST

Virgin moves to quarterly reports

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 10-Oct-14

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has a 22.2 holding in Virgin Australia, which means CEO Goh Choon Phong was in mid-2014 appointed a director of the latter carrier and SIA now needs quarterly data from Virgin for its own equity accounting. However while Virgin is switching to quarterly reports as a result, it appears to have abandoned the monthly issuing of traffic data that is common for airlines including main rival Qantas Airways. Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon also sits on the Virgin board as his business has a 25.9% stake

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, AIR NEW ZEALAND LIMITED – ASX AIZ, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, SINGAPORE AIRLINES LIMITED, ETIHAD AIRWAYS, TIGER AIRWAYS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, AIR BERLIN PLC AND COMPANY LUFTVERKEHRS KG, AIR SERBIA, AIR SEYCHELLES, JET AIRWAYS, DARWIN AIRLINE, MALAYSIAN AIRLINE SYSTEMS, CAPA CONSULTING, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX FLT, 4TH DIMENSION

Wotif shareholders approve $703m Expedia takeover deal

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 10-Oct-14

Healthscope is set to replace Wotif.com in the S&P/ASX 200 Index after the latter’s acquisition by US-based Expedia was approved by more than 99 per cent of shareholders. Expedia is likely to have a 45 per cent share of Australia’s online hotel booking market following the acquisition, which is still subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board and the New Zealand Commerce Commission

CORPORATES
WOTIF.COM HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX WTF, EXPEDIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, NEW ZEALAND. COMMERCE COMMISSION, WEBJET LIMITED – ASX WEB, PRICELINE.COM, BOOKING.COM BV, AGODA COMPANY PTE LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN HOTELS ASSOCIATION, CIMB SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, HEALTHSCOPE LIMITED – ASX HSO, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL INDICES

Hockey seeks foreign funds for assets

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 15 : 6-Oct-14

Staff at US investment banks Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase & Company will on 6 and 7 October 2014 hear from Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey. He is keen to attract major investors from the US for planned privatisation moves by state governments. The Federal Government is encouraging them to sell assets so that the funds can be reallocated to new infrastructure. Hockey will also meet with News Corporation executive chair Rupert Murdoch and Federal Reserve Bank of New York president William Dudley

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION, MERRILL LYNCH AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, CITIGROUP INCORPORATED, MORGAN STANLEY AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, JP MORGAN CHASE AND COMPANY, POWERLINK PTY LTD, ENERGEX LIMITED, ERGON ENERGY CORPORATION LIMITED, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, HASTINGS FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED, CHINA MERCHANTS GROUP, TAWREED INVESTMENTS LIMITED, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK

Investors return to golden safe haven

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Original article by Jared Lynch
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 3-Oct-14

The Perth Mint and the US Mint have reported a strong rise in demand for gold coins in September 2014. This coincided with a 6.1 per cent fall in the gold price during the month. The Perth Mint’s gold bars are also in demand, with sales rising by 37 per cent in September. The mint’s Bron Suchecki notes that demand from China in particular has improved in the wake of the fall in the gold price

CORPORATES
PERTH MINT, UNITED STATES MINT, GUARDIAN VAULTS PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA