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)
Rio Tinto's 80 percent stake in the Northparkes copper and gold mine, based in New South Wales, has been sold to Chinese company China Molybdenum for A$886 million. Rio's joint venture partners Sumitomo Corporation Mineral Resources and Sumitomo Metal Mining have pre-emption rights giving them the opportunity to enter a matching bid for the mine. Low-profile Chinese private equity investor Yu Yong is a major player with a 34 percent holding in China Molybdenum. Page 13.
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James Jackson, former chairman of MSF Sugar, is competing with Robert Green, chief executive of Louis Dreyfus Australia , to take a seat on the board of Namoi Cotton , a company with a number of the richest farmers in Australia as shareholders. The vote will be taken at a meeting on Tuesday. Page 13.
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OZ Minerals' attempt to acquire Rio Tinto's Northparkes copper and gold mine was defeated by a US$820 million bid from Hong Kong-listed China Molybdenum. UBS analyst Jo Battershill commented that OZ demonstrated good judgment as UBS valued Northparkes at around US$500 million. OZ is currently carrying around US$660 million in cash and may face pressure to return funds to shareholders. Page 15.
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New South Wales treasurer Mike Baird will today initiate the process for selling Macquarie Generation, which operates two coal-fired power plants that provide 26 percent of the state's electricity generation capacity. MacGen is worth around A$1.6 billion according to calculations from Jason Steed of JPMorgan; Kerry Schott, who is managing the sales process, said she was looking to achieve around the A$2 billion book value of MacGen. Page 16.
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Malaysian budget airline AirAsia X will almost double its flights from Kuala Lumpur to the Australian cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Perth after the Australian government eased restrictions on Malaysian airlines flying to Australia's major cities. Allowed capacity for airlines flying from Malaysia has been increased by 41 percent to a total capacity of 33,000 per week. Page 16.
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Yesterday Ruralco Holdings announced United States farmer-owned energy, grains and food cooperative CHS Inc had taken a 50 percent stake in its grain marketing business Agfarm. John Maher, Ruralco's managing director, said the partnership would help his company compete with large international players such as Archer Daniels Midland which is currently attempting to acquire grain specialist GrainCorp. Page 16.
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Small business satisfaction ratings of three of Australia's biggest banks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and Westpac Banking Corp, have deteriorated, according to a survey of 6000 businesses by East & Partners. Bank of Queensland was ranked highest for providing satisfaction, followed by HSBC and St George Bank with National Australia Bank in fourth. Page 17.
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Expected to price on Tuesday is a five-year kangaroo bond offered from Goldman Sachs at 170 basis points over the bank rate. This follows an Australian visit last week from Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and a recent A$1.25 billion four-year bond issue from Commonwealth Bank of Australia that indicated conditions for bank funding were running at attractive levels. Page 17.
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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.com.au)
The confidence held by mining industry leaders as revealed in the Newport Consulting 2013 Mining Business Outlook Report is in "free fall" pushing the industry to focus on reducing capital expenditure and costs. Commodity prices had dropped and stayed down, noted Newport managing director David Hand, with many miners concluding that if they did not reduce costs then their businesses would fail. Resources service providing companies needed to take note, added Mr Hand. Page 17.
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Telstra has called for the Federal government to retain the high prices for unsold portions of the 700 megahertz spectrum as were achieved for the portions sold in the auction earlier this year, to maintain confidence in the "market-based spectrum allocation regime in Australia". Ian Hayne, currently chief executive of telecommunications consultant Market Dynamics and responsible for auctions in 2000 for the 3G spectrum, opposed that stance, stating the "single biggest design flaw" of the current spectrum allocation was the "unsustainable" reserve price. Page 17.
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Leighton Holdings subsidiary Thiess has taken control of struggling national broadband network (NBN) rollout company Silcar, a joint venture with Germany's Siemens AG , making Leighton the most significant construction partner for NBN Co as the network is being built. Leighton subsidiaries now hold NBN construction contracts that have the potential to be worth over A$1.5 billion. Page 17.
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Recycling, industrial services and waste specialist Transpacific Industries is selling its commercial vehicle business to Penske Automotive Group for A$219 million, the company stated in a submission to the Australian Securities Exchange. Proceeds of this and other non-core business sales will be used to reduce debt, said Kevin Campbell, Transpacific chief executive. Page 18.
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Copper miner OZ Minerals has announced the value of its Prominent Hill mine in South Australia would be written down between A$200 million and A$240 million as commodity prices fall. Gold miner Evolution Mining has reported it expects between A$350 million and A$400 million to be taken off the value of its mining operations. Page 18.
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Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service yesterday downgraded about A$2 billion of Newcrest Mining's debt from Baa2 to Baa3. Moody's stated there would be further downgrades unless the company can reduce costs and production to become cash-flow positive or neutral. Page 18.
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Yesterday, Fairfax Media chief executive Greg Hywood stated there were no plans to move earlier than previously indicated to shut down printing presses for the company's masthead papers and move to a digital only model. Last October, Mr Hywood said the change to a digital only operation could happen in "three years, or five or 10 or 15 years". Page 19.
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Advanced materials engineering firm Carbon Revolution, with backing from Swiss wheel-making company Ronal, is planning to invest A$50 million to build a global manufacturing facility in Geelong, the Victorian regional city where the closure of Ford's vehicle manufacturing operation in three year's time will hit hard. Carbon Revolution makes after-market carbon-fibre wheels for Porsche, McLaren, Lamborghini, BMW and Audi high-performance cars. Page 19.
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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
The next few months as the mining investment boom declines rapidly should provide a turning point for the Australian economy, according to the Investment Monitor June quarter report from Deloitte Access Economics. However, with almost A$200 billion work in the pipeline, there is potential for a "further lift - a last hurrah - before the peak", said Stephen Smith, a partner at Deloitte Access Economics. Page 21.
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THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
Advertising revenue for Australian commercial television continues the decline of the last two years with a drop of 0.62 percent for the June half, according to figures published yesterday by FreeTV Australia. Seven Network slightly increased its revenue share from 40.29 percent to 40.5 percent; Nine dropped slightly to 37.6 percent and Ten was up slightly to 21.9 percent. Melbourne and Sydney markets rose respectively 0.86 percent and 0.04 percent while Brisbane and Adelaide dropped respectively 3.73 percent and 3.25 percent. Page 23.
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