MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS – AUSTRALIA

Oil Search to reject $11.6b deal after Woodside talks canned

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 14-Sep-15

Woodside Petroleum’s takeover offer for Oil Search represents a 14 per cent premium to the target’s current share price, but Oil Search is likely to seek a premium of 25-30 per cent. The top executives of both groups had arranged a meeting to discuss the bid on 13 September, but Oil Search subsequently postponed it. The company is expected to formally reject the four-for-one share offer, which has an implied value of $A7.65 per share.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GRESHAM PARTNERS LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Woodside’s Oil Search bid criticised

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 11-Sep-15

Perennial Investment Partners’ Lee Mickelburough and Simon Mawhinney of Allan Gray Australia are among the fund managers who have doubts about Woodside Petroleum’s $A11.6bn takeover bid for Oil Search. Mickelburough says there would be more merit in Woodside seeking to acquire "distressed" assets whose value has been impacted by the downturn in the crude oil price. Oil Search is likely to seek an improved offer from Woodside.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, PERENNIAL INVESTMENT PARTNERS LIMITED, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOD MACKENZIE, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

Woodside terms rejected by Oil Search

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 23 : 10-Sep-15

Shares in Woodside Petroleum rose by 0.81 per cent to $A29.90 on 9 September 2015. Takeover target Oil Search was down 0.63 per cent at $A7.85, which is the implied bid price based on the offer of one Woodside share for every four Oil Search shares. Oil Search directors are likely to meet shortly to discuss the bid, but they are unlikely to grant Woodside’s request for exclusivity in merger talks. Neil Beveridge of Bernstein says ExxonMobil could also be a potential bidder for Oil Search.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, BERNSTEIN AND ASSOCIATES, PAPUA NEW GUINEA. OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Woodside’s cheap trick

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Original article by Perry Williams, Sarah Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 9-Sep-15

Shares in Oil Search closed 17.4 per cent higher at $A7.90 on 8 September 2015, in response to an $A11.6bn takeover bid from Woodside Petroleum. The offer comprises one Woodside share for every four shares in Oil Search, which values the bid at $A7.65 per share based on current share prices. However, Credit Suisse believes that Woodside would need to lift its offer to around $A10 per share to gain Oil Search’s support for the bid. Woodside shares were $A0.92 lower at $A29.66.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, PAPUA NEW GUINEA. OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, BG GROUP PLC, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GRESHAM PARTNERS LIMITED, HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALLENS

Engage centres could fetch up to $200m

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 26-Aug-15

Engage Capital is selling a portfolio of three shopping centres in Queensland. The company expects to receive as much as $A200 million for the portfolio which includes the MKT Deception Bay in Brisbane, the Ashmore City Shopping Centre on the Gold Coast and the Wilsonton Shopping Centre in Toowoomba. Their anchor tenants include Woolworths, Coles, Drakes Supa IGA, and ALE.

CORPORATES
ENGAGE CAPITAL PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED, INDEPENDENT GROCERS OF AUSTRALIA, ALE PROPERTY GROUP – ASX LEP, SHAYHER PROPERTIES PTY LTD, JONES LANG LASALLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Presentation has ‘elements of a wake’

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, Robert Harley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 21-Aug-15

Depressed conditions in the Brisbane and Perth office leasing markets hindered performance of the Investa Office Fund (IOF). IOF leased 55,000 sq m of office space in 124 deals, but like-for-like net property income fell 1.3 per cent. Funds from operations rose 4.5 per cent and, because of strong revaluations, net tangible asset backing rose 8.1 per cent. Mirvac is poised to buy the entire Investa platform.

CORPORATES
INVESTA OFFICE FUND – ASX IOF, INVESTA PROPERTY GROUP, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, FOLKESTONE MAXIM ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY REAL ESTATE

ACCC gives tick to TPG’s iiNet takeover

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Original article by David Ramli
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 21-Aug-15

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has approved TPG Telecom’s takeover of iiNet. TPG will now become Australia’s second biggest provider of fixed-line broadband with 1.7 million customers, compared with 3.1 million for Telstra and one million for Optus.

CORPORATES
TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, IINET LIMITED – ASX IIN, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES AND SECURITIES COMMISSION, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, M2 GROUP LIMITED – ASX MTU, DODO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, IPRIMUS, NBN CO LIMITED

Woodside aims to pounce on ‘crown jewels’

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 20-Aug-15

Low commodity prices may eventually force stressed companies to put their "crown jewels" on the market, at which time Woodside Petroleum will be ready to pounce, says CEO Peter Coleman. Meanwhile, he will not risk precious cash on lower quality assets. Despite reporting a 39 per cent drop in first half profits due to the collapse in oil and LNG prices, Woodside has little debt, making it well placed to take advantage of takeover opportunities.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, BT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE EQUITIES LIMITED, APACHE CORPORATION, CHEVRON CORPORATION

Canadians pay up big for Asciano

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Original article by Jenny Wiggins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1&8 : 19-Aug-15

The board of Asciano has issued a recommendation to investors to accept a takeover offer from Brookfield Infrastructure. Investors will receive $A9.15 a share if the $A8.9 billion bid for the Australian-listed port and rail group is successful. Some fund managers doubt whether losing another Australian company to foreign buyers is in Australia’s interest.

CORPORATES
BROOKFIELD INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERS LP, ASCIANO LIMITED – ASX AIO, PATRICK CORPORATION LIMITED, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, TOLL HOLDINGS LIMITED, SABMILLER PLC, JAPAN POST COMPANY LIMITED, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT, ARGO INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX ARG, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Gold producers say growth on the agenda

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Original article by Tess Ingram
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 6-Aug-15

OceanaGold Corporation and Metals X have announced new acquisitions. OceanaGold is buying Canadian-listed Romarco Metals through a $C856 million ($A884.86 million) takeover offer. Metals X is acquiring RNI’s Grosvenor gold project and Panoramic Resources’ Mount Henry project. Metals X is also trying to buy Tanami Gold’s Central Tanami project, even though Tanami Gold has signed an agreement to sell the asset to Northern Star Resources.

CORPORATES
OCEANAGOLD CORPORATION – ASX OGC, METALS X LIMITED – ASX MLX, RNI NL – ASX RNI, EVOLUTION MINING LIMITED – ASX EVN, ROMARCO MINERALS INCORPORATED, PANORAMIC RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX PAN, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX NST, TANAMI GOLD NL – ASX TAM, GOLD FIELDS LIMITED, DIGGERS AND DEALERS FORUM