Rio Tinto starts work on last crown jewel in Pilbara

Original article by Tom Rabe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 17-Dec-25

Rio Tinto and its partners in the Rhodes Ridge iron project in the Pilbara will spend $US191m ($294m) on a feasibility study, with a view to commencing production in 2030. They will spend a further $US146m on exploration at Rhodes Ridge between 2026 and 2028. Japan-base Mitsui paid $8.4bn for a 40 per cent stake in Rhodes Ridge earlier in 2025; AMB Holdings, the private company of Perth billionaire Angela Bennett, has a 10 per cent stake. Rhodes Ridge has an estimated 6.8 billion tonnes of high-grade ore, and it has the potential for annual production about 100 million tonnes of high-quality iron ore

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, AMB HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Alcoa chases Alumina for $3.4bn deal

Original article by Nick Evans, Valerina Changarathil
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 27-Feb-24

US-based Alcoa is offering 0.02854 of its shares for every share in Alumina Limited, its joint venture partner in the Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals business. The all-scrip bid values Alumina at $US2.2bn ($3.4bn), and the offer represents a 13.1 per cent premium to Alumina’s last trading price. The bid has the support of Alumina’s board, as well as the target’s largest shareholder, Allan Gray Australia. China-based CITIC could potentially determine the outcome of the bid, given that it has a stake of about 19 per cent in Alumina.

CORPORATES
ALUMINA LIMITED – ASX AWC, ALCOA INCORPORATED, ALCOA WORLD ALUMINA AND CHEMICALS, CITIC LIMITED

Catalano and Waislitz take fight to Seek in regional Australia

Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 7-Feb-24

Australian Community Media’s owners Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz will launch a new job listings website in partnership with SpotJobs’ co-founder Lewis Romano. ViewJobs is slated to be launched in early March, and will focus on job vacancies in regional areas. Romano says most of the existing sites do not necessarily cater to the requirements of regional and rural employers; he notes that there has been five per cent growth in regional job advertisements in recent months, while job ads in metropolitan areas have fallen by 10 per cent. ACM will use its portfolio of regional newspapers to promote ViewJobs, which is jointly owned by Catalano and Romano.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA PTY LTD, SPOTJOBS PTY LTD, VIEWJOBS

Anger after News Corp and Google Australia set up journalism academy at university business school

Original article by Amanda Meade
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 9-Feb-22

News Corporation executive Campbell Reid will be the inaugural head of the Digital News Academy, which is a joint venture between the media giant and Google Australia. Reid says the University of Melbourne’s business school was selected to provide the nine-month course because it is "unashamedly about the business of journalism". However, the decision to offer the course via the business school has been criticised by Andrew Dodd, the director of the university’s Centre for Advancing Journalism. He says it reflects News Corp’s long-standing antagonism for university journalism programs. Dodd adds that he was not aware of the new initiative until he read about it in a press release.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. BUSINESS SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. CENTRE FOR ADVANCING JOURNALISM

NW Shelf shake-up looming

Original article by Perry Williams
The Weekend Australian – Page: 21 & 22 : 20-Jun-20

Former Woodside Petroleum CEO Don Voelte says a new model for the $34 billion North West Shelf LNG plant that would see it process gas for other firms may not suit some of its current owners. Woodside is one of six joint-venture partners who own the plant, but Chevron has decided to sell out of the plant, and BP and Shell could follow suit. Voelte says he would not surprised to see more selling of assets by major oil firms; he notes that Exxon is currently trying to sell its interest in the Bass Strait assets. He says asset sales have always been part of the majors’ strategy, but they would not get as much now as they would now.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CHEVRON CORPORATION, BP PLC, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, EXXON CORPORATION, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

BBC makes streaming move into Australia

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 6-Mar-20

The BBC and UK commercial television network ITV will launch a streaming joint venture in Australia towards the end of 2020. Britbox will operate as a 50-50 joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV, and it is expected to feature programs such as ‘Poldark’, ‘Blackadder’ and ‘Call the Midwife’. Pricing information for Britbox in Australia has not yet been released, but it costs Stg5.99 a month in the UK and US6.99 a month in the US.

CORPORATES
BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, ITV PLC, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Woodside deal to miss deadline

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 25-Jun-19

The parties involved in the North West Shelf venture were hoping to reach agreement on the processing of third-party gas by the end of June. However, venture partner Shell recently indicated that a delay in reaching a final agreement is possible, and Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman has confirmed that this is likely to be the case. However, he said a decision on final approval for the US20 billion ($28.8 billion) Browse project remains on target for the end of 2020.

CORPORATES
SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, BP PLC, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, CHEVRON CORPORATION, SAUDI ARAMCO, ENN GROUP

Sky’s the limit as News, Nine launch Your Money channel

Original article by Stephen Brook
The Australian – Page: 21 : 24-Oct-18

Sky News and the Nine Network officially launched the new Your Money joint venture TV channel on 23 October. Your Money replaces Sky News Business on the Foxtel platform, while it has enabled Sky News owner Australian News Channel to broaden its reach beyond pay-TV. The Nine Network broadcasts Your Money on one of its digital channels, as well as its 9Now streaming service. Sky News content is also broadcast in regional areas via a separate alliance with WIN Corporation.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS, AUSTRALIAN NEWS CHANNEL PTY LTD, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD

ASX, PEXA square up in settlement market

Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 26 : 1-Jun-18

The ASX and Infotrack have announced a joint venture aimed at targeting the electronic property settlement market, which is valued at $A200 million. Sympli Australia is expected to be up and running by the end of 2018, and will compete with existing market participant Property Exchange Australia, whose shareholders include the big four banks and Link Group. The ASX expects to invest $A30 million in Sympli in the first three years of its operation.

CORPORATES
ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, INFOTRACK PTY LTD, PROPERTY EXCHANGE AUSTRALIA, LINK ADMINISTRATION HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LNK, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, MARTIN CURRIE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Seven West sells 50pc stake in Yahoo7

Original article by Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 26 : 29-Mar-18

Yahoo7 is expected to be rebranded following Oath’s deal buy Seven West Media’s stake in the digital joint venture. However, Seven will retain all of its branded news and TV portals, while it may continue to provide non-exclusive content to Oath once the joint venture is formally unwound. Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner notes that Yahoo7 has an audience reach of about nine million and is upbeat about its outlook under the ownership of Oath.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, YAHOO!7 COMMUNICATIONS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, OATH INCORPORATED, YAHOO! INCORPORATED, VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED