PRESS DIGEST-Australian Business News - April 17
Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
Chris Wharton, chief executive of West Australian Newspapers (WAN.AX), has warned of 'an alarming decline in revenue levels in recent months.' The warning is contained in an email to the company's executive management, which asks for a list of employees who would be willing to take a cut in working hours. The company plans to offer staff the option of working eight or nine day fortnights, as a way of avoiding 'more draconian methods of reducing labour costs.' Page 47.
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Mining company Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) has said it is willing to break-up its Alcan packaging business in order to attract more potential buyers for the business, which has been up for sale for more than a year. Analysts say the announcement means that packaging company Amcor may purchase half of Alcan for around US$1.65 billion. Combined with the company's recent successful bond raising, a sale could also add to investor calls for Rio to abandon its proposed US$19.5 billion deal with China's Chinalco. Page 49.
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Mining company Ivanhoe Australia (IVA.AX) is to invest A$28 million in a joint venture with gold and copper explorer Emmerson Resources. Ivanhoe will take an initial 10 percent stake in Emmerson, which will later increase to 19.9 percent. Ivanhoe says it will also spend A$18 million on exploration over the next three years in return for a 51 percent interest in the majority of Emmerson's tenements in the Northern Territory. Page 49.
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Biotechnology company Chemgenex (CXS.AX) is set to become one of the few Australian companies to have a drug filed for approval in the United States without help from a licensing partner. The cancer drug, Omacetaxine, should be out in the market next year, according to chief executive Greg Collier. The company is due to provide an update on progress in the drug's final-stage clinical trials today. Mr Collier says the drug may also be useful in a number of other applications. Page 50.
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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
Three former executives of the troubled investment firm Babcock & Brown (B&B) BBW.AX have made a A$175 million takeover bid for one of its satellites, Babcock & Brown Capital. B&B's former global head of corporate finance, Rob Topfer, along with former colleagues Warwick Bray and John Shin, founded the Taemas Bridge fund, which is offering shareholders A$1.05 per share to be paid in instalments through a scheme of arrangement. The offer comes as B&B is being wound down. Page 17.
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Jim Byrnes, a corporate adviser to a United States hedge fund with a 13 percent stake in troubled toll-road builder BrisConnections, is to launch a legal challenge to the outcome of the firm's recent extraordinary general meeting. The Sydney-based advisor to the New Hampshire Distressed Assets Fund will seek a Victorian Supreme Court hearing, claiming shareholders were misled over the terms of their holdings. 'We will allege false and misleading conduct on the basis the product disclosure statement was deeply flawed,' Mr Byrnes says. Page 17.
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Construction group Leighton Holdings (LEI.AX) has lost a A$349 million contract after the cancellation of an airport extension project in the United Arab Emirates. The A$1.85 billion Dubai Airport Concourse 3 project was terminated yesterday 'by mutual consent,' according to Leighton's chief executive, Wal King. JP Morgan equity analyst Alistair Reid says the Middle East construction market is 'a very tough environment now compared to six months ago.' Page 17. Continued...
