PRESS DIGEST-Australian Business News - Jan 21

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)

-- Analysts have forecast that coking coal is set to lose its status as Australia's biggest commodity export earner as prices decline. "There is going to be a significant price drop because of sharply lower crude steel production in the Asian region," said Alan Heap of Citigroup. Coking coal miners and Japanese steelmakers begin talks this week to settle 2009 prices, although BHP Billiton is not attending the negotiations. Analysts expect prices of the commodity to fall 63 percent this year to US$110 a tonne. Page 14.

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James Strong has stepped down as chairman of Rip Curl after seven years with the privately held surfwear company, according to documents filed with the corporate regulator. Observers said the exit of Mr Strong, who is also chairman of Woolworths (WOW.AX) and Insurance Australia Group (IAG.AX), undermined expectations that Rip Curl would go for a sharemarket listing. Rip Curl, the third-largest global player in the A$8 billion surfwear market, posted a A$14.4 million profit in the year to June 30, 2008, down from A$22.8 million a year earlier. Page 14.

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Troubled mining company OZ Minerals (OZL.AX) is today expected to announce that it has obtained a bridging facility necessary to continue operations until it settles its debt refinancing problems. OZ, which is facing a February 27 deadline to roll over US$1 billion (A$1.5 billion) of debt, is believed to be seeking bridging finance of between A$50 million and A$100 million. The company needs the extra funds to cover working capital gaps at its operations in South Australia, Western Australia and Indonesia. Page 14.

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Energy group Origin Energy (ORG.AX) faces lower earnings in fiscal 2009 after its New Zealand subsidiary, Contact Energy (CEN.NZ), downgraded its profit forecast for the year by between 20 percent and 23 percent. Contact, which achieved underlying earnings after tax of NZ$232.8 million (A$189 million) in the 2008 financial year, has in recent months suffered a series of operational problems. Shares in Origin, which owns 51 percent of Contact, dropped A80 cents to finish the day at A$14.38. Page 14.

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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)

-- The receivers of collapsed financial services company Allco Finance Group (AFG.AX) are today expected to receive bids for its shipping and aircraft leasing businesses. The two assets were valued at A$291 million in the company's last set of accounts, although liquidator Peter Gothard from Ferrier Hodgson said both businesses carried substantial debt. Allco founder John Kinghorn and former chief executive David Coe are understood to be among the parties interested in the aircraft leasing business, which manages 68 aircraft for various airlines. Page 19.

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Coking coalminer Caledon Resources (CDD.AX) is engaged in takeover talks with a number of potential suitors, the distressed Queensland company announced yesterday. However, Caledon warned that "there is no certainty as to the terms of the structure of any such transaction, nor that an agreement will be reached." Industry observers speculated that Caledon, which last month downgraded its 2009 production forecast to 400,000 tonnes from 900,000 tonnes in the wake of a slump in the coking coal price, may be acquired by Chinese interests. Page 20.

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Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) says it has no immediate plans to restart its 100,000 tonnes a year Tiwai aluminium smelter in New Zealand, which was shut down in November following a transformer failure. Rio has in recent months cut 5 percent of its global aluminium output in response to plunging prices. A spokeswoman for the company said yesterday that Rio was investigating "all our options" to restart the smelter, which accounts for 2 percent of the company's aluminium production, but a decision was yet to be made. Page 20.