JOINT VENTURES – AUSTRALIA

Masters rollout ‘too aggressive’

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Original article by Patrick Hatch, Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 20-Jan-16

Australian-listed Woolworths and US-based Lowe’s have invested some $A3.48bn in the Masters hardware joint venture since 2009. The 33.3 per cent stake of Lowe’s has a book value of nearly $A900m, and the company has advised that its accounts for the December 2015 quarter will include a write-down of its investment. Meanwhile, Colleen Penhall of Lowe’s says the joint venture partners were too aggressive in their initial approach to opening Masters stores.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, HYDROX HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Bega Cheese in billion-dollar milestone

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Original article by Tim Binsted
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 6-Jan-16

Bega Cheese had a market capitalisation of around $A250m when it listed on the Australian sharemarket in August 2011. The former dairy co-operative’s market value topped $A1bn in late December 2015, and its share price rose by 42 per cent during the calendar year. The stock has benefited from plans for a nutritional foods joint venture deal with Blackmores, which amongst other things will tap into the growing demand for infant formula.

CORPORATES
BEGA CHEESE LIMITED – ASX BGA, BLACKMORES LIMITED – ASX BKL, THE A2 MILK COMPANY LIMITED – ASX A2M, BELLAMY’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX BAL, MURRAY GOULBURN CO-OPERATIVE COMPANY LIMITED, MG UNIT TRUST – ASX MGC, FONTERRA CO-OPERATIVE GROUP LIMITED, FONTERRA SHAREHOLDERS’ FUND – ASX FSF, BESTON GLOBAL FOOD COMPANY LIMITED – ASX BFC, WARRNAMBOOL CHEESE AND BUTTER FACTORY COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX WCB, SAPUTO INCORPORATED

Wind down Masters, Woolworths told

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 22-Oct-15

The Masters Home Improvement joint venture is expected to post a loss of $A236m in the next year, following a loss of $A245m in fiscal 2015. Deutsche Bank estimates that Woolworths could boost its profits by around five per cent by exiting the Masters venture. It could also make a net cash gain of $A161m, while joint venture partner Lowe’s would make a gain of $A80m. Woolworths has invested $A2.2bn in Masters to date.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Woolworths, Lowe’s tip $105m into Masters

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 13-Oct-15

Australian-listed Woolworths and joint venture partner Lowe’s have invested $A3.32bn in Masters Home Improvement to date. They invested an additional $A105m in the hardware venture on 30 September 2015. US-based Lowe’s has now invested $A1.11bn in Masters over the last six years. A put option to sell its 33 per cent stake in the venture to Woolworths can be exercised on 20 October. Woolworths and Lowe’s are progressively introducing a new store format for Masters in a bid to boost sales.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, HOME TIMBER AND HARDWARE, HYDROX HOLDINGS PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Masters fails to stem tide of red ink

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 22-May-15

The Masters Home Improvement chain is expected to post a loss of at least $A200m for 2014-15. Deutsche Bank’s figures suggest that the hardware joint venture made a loss of $A66m in the March 2015 quarter and is losing some $A5.1m each week. Woolworths and US-based Lowe’s have invested $A3.07m in Masters so far, and recently invested an additional $A45m in the business. Lowe’s has a 33 per cent stake in the joint venture.

CORPORATES
MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, HYDROX HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COLES GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, HOME TIMBER AND HARDWARE

Hey Presto: Streaming joint venture gets ACCC green light

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Original article by Jared Lynch
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 18-May-15

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has approved the Presto joint venture between Seven West Media and Foxtel. Presto’s Shaun James says this will allow the partners to substantially increase the content that is available on the video streaming service. Meanwhile, Fraser McLeish of Credit Suisse expects US-based Netflix to become the leading player in Australia’s video streaming sector. He forecasts that the industry will boast revenue of $A700m by 2023.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, STAN, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, QUICKFLIX LIMITED – ASX QFX, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Woolworths puts more money into Masters

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 12-Mar-15

Australian-listed Woolworths has invested an additional $A30m in its Masters Home Improvement joint venture, while Lowe’s has contributed $A15m. The two groups have now invested more than $A3bn in the loss-making venture in the last five years. Masters posted a loss of $A112m in the first half of 2014-15, but Woolworths intends to press ahead with plans to open 6-11 new stores annually

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, DANKS HOLDINGS LIMITED, CHARTER HALL GROUP – ASX CHC, HOST-PLUS, SHOPPING CENTRES AUSTRALASIA PROPERTY GROUP – ASX SCP

Murdoch exits streaming as Rdio revamps

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 37 : 2-Feb-15

Nova Entertainment, the radio stations group behind the Nova and Smooth FM networks owned by Lachlan Murdoch, in 2012 entered into a joint venture with US-based Rdio. The latter will now mount an increased effort to boost its local market share, after Nova divested its 50% stake in their Rdio Australia vehicle in late 2014. A number of similar online music streaming services have been closed recently, due to the dominance of Spotify and Pandora

CORPORATES
RDIO INCORPORATED, NOVA ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, SPOTIFY LIMITED, PANDORA MEDIA INCORPORATED, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, AUSTEREO GROUP LIMITED, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, UNIVERSAL MUSIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DEEZER, LIVE NATION AUSTRALASIA PTY LTD, THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INCORPORATED

Alcoa’s turnaround a shot in the arm for Alumina

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Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 18 : 14-Jan-15

The stock of Alumina on 13 January 2015 closed 4.2% higher at $A1.96. The reason was the release in the US by partner Alcoa of its profit data for calendar 2014. It recorded a fourth-quarter net earnings result of $US159m ($A194m) and a full-year one of $US268m, which were recoveries from the previous year’s losses of $US268m and $US2.3bn respectively. Alcoa manages and holds 60% of the Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals business, and Alumina’s sole asset is a stake of 40% in that enterprise

CORPORATES
ALUMINA LIMITED – ASX AWC, ALCOA INCORPORATED – ASX AAI, ALCOA WORLDWIDE ALUMINA AND CHEMICALS, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Palmer in bid to stop fraud ruling

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Original article by Sarah Elks
The Australian – Page: 2 : 27-Nov-14

Supreme Court of Queensland judge David Jackson is hearing a claim by Chinese state enterprise Citic Pacific against its iron ore mining joint venture partner, federal politician Clive Palmer. Citic alleges that he improperly accessed an account and withdrew $A12.167m to fund his election campaign. Simon Couper QC, acting for Palmer, has formally conceded some of the points and argues the case should now be dropped. Andrew Bell SC, for Citic, says the admissions merely show that fraud did occur

CORPORATES
MINERALOGY PTY LTD, CITIC PACIFIC LIMITED, COSMO DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD, MEDIA CIRCUS NETWORK PTY LTD, SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND, SINO IRON PTY LTD, PALMER UNITED PARTY