Macquarie AGM, Murdoch, Rowe, Fairfax, capital raisings, media honesty, Qld Inc, Rich List and much more
February 2, 2010
Dear Mayne Reporters,
First up this week, apologies for the lack of a special edition straight after the Macquarie Group AGM last week but it's all packaged up below along with plenty of other juicy yarns in a bumper Mayne Report offering.
Click here to read it all and tell your friends to sign up for our weekly email editions. Unlike Rupert Murdoch we've given up on the paid model and everything here is completely free, including the entire archive of all our previous subscriber-only editions.
* The Mayne Report is a multi-media governance website published by Stephen Mayne with occasional email editions. To unsubscribe from the emails click here.
First up this week, apologies for the lack of a special edition straight after the Macquarie Group AGM last week but it's all packaged up below along with plenty of other juicy yarns in a bumper Mayne Report offering.
Click here to read it all and tell your friends to sign up for our weekly email editions. Unlike Rupert Murdoch we've given up on the paid model and everything here is completely free, including the entire archive of all our previous subscriber-only editions.
* The Mayne Report is a multi-media governance website published by Stephen Mayne with occasional email editions. To unsubscribe from the emails click here.
Round seven of the Fairfax capital raisings series
It has been five weeks between drinks but we've produced the seventh instalment today in our series on playing the capital raisings game for the Fairfax websites. The 1500-word story is rating well so far, being the second most popular business story on The Age and SMH sites.
Our gross profits are up to almost $200,000 in six months - about $160,000 after various financing and profit-sharing expenses - and you see the full list of the latest action here.
Lively exchanges at Macquarie AGM
As you would expect, Macquarie's AGM in Sydney rolled on for nearly four hours, but it was a relatively tame affair where we asked six batches of questions as follows:
Question for the auditor about conflicts and write downs.
Quite a good hit which saw the chairman quoted in The AFR expressing surprise at facing these types of questions. It really is ridiculous that PwC is allowed to audit both the head stock and most of Macquarie's listed funds. Have a listen to both the chairman and the auditor himself defend the practice.
Brisconnections fiasco
Nicholas Moore wasn't giving much away but stressed Macquarie had honoured all obligations and tollroads are long term investments.
Are we now a global investment bank? Are we in the big league? How do you market yourself?
A very interesting philosophical look at precisely what Macquarie Group is - have a listen, especially to Nicholas Moore's stammering response to a suggestion he help produce a hagiography on the Millionaires' Factory to offset the coming hatchet job from Michael West and Ian Verrender.
Favouring the remuneration report
Geoff Winestock's interesting story in The AFR about how the executive retention pools are invested got a good mention and the rem report sailed through with 98% in favour which wasn't surprising given the huge pay cuts this year.
Are we planning to expand the board and what is the philosophy surrounding expansion? Is it Mr McCann's intention to serve a full term?
Always fun to critique a board in front of all the directors and several hundred shareholders. This board has performed well but now needs to find a couple of extra financial services giants given the departure of Mark Johnson and Laurie Cox over past two years.
Congratulations for not capping the recent SPP
Amusing to congratulate Macquarie for not paying a gouging investment banks excessive fees in its recent non-underwritten placement whilst it runs around gouging everyone else. Do unto others, eh.
Big attack on Macquarie Airports gouge
Michael West, business editor of The SMH and a long-time critic of Macquarie Group, has delivered one of his most savage serves in today's paper which is worth a read here.
Whilst generally giving Macquarie a positive wrap on Sky's Business View program after last week's AGM, I sure as hell hopped into the highway robbery that is this proposed $345 million go away fee at Macquarie Airports. What a disgrace. Have a look at the video here.
Don Argus and the cosy Melbourne Club of business commentators
I've written a story for Crikey today about the cosy relationship between out-going BHP-Billiton chairman and various veteran Melbourne business commentators. If you're a Crikey subscriber, check it out in full here.
The gist of the issue is to compare what Terry McCrann and Stephen Bartholomeusz gushed about Argus on Wednesday, with this letter to The AFR from your correspondent yesterday.
I'm open to debate anyone, anywhere about the Argus record. The guy is a classically old school command and control and is grossly over-rated. We've put together this package of our various scraps with him over the years.
Queensland Inc and the Suncorp bid
The Ian Rogers banking ezine www.thesheet.com led yesterday's edition with the following story about a possible Suncorp bid:
JC Flowers has kicked tyres, and maybe more, on the merit of making a bid for Suncorp Metway, The Australian reported. The private equity firm is headed in Australia these days by David Morgan, former chief executive of Westpac.
Westpac made an unconfirmed bid for Suncorp in 2006. ANZ made an actual (and low ball) bid in October 2008 – a rescue offer, in practice – that the Suncorp board was able to reject only due to the announcement of the Australian government guarantee on deposits that stemmed a deposit outflow.
While private equity firms have taken over banks outright in a number of OECD markets, such as South Korea, any takeover bid for an Australian bank and insurance group would be unusual given the traditional position of APRA and its predecessors that banks must be widely owned and have ready access to equity capital, or, otherwise, must be owned by another bank.
The whole Queensland Inc saga involving Labor, former Ministers and their business mates has been getting a big run of late, so we may as well joins a few dots on this one.
Anna Bligh recently got into a spot of bother after holidaying for three weeks in January at David Morgan's Sydney waterfront mansion without declaring it as a benefit. Did Morgan happen to mention that he'd like the Queensland government to give regulatory approval to a US private equity bid for the state's most important financial institution? Heaven forbid - the Queensland press should be all over this one. Throw in the fact Morgan's wife Ros Kelly is a former Keating government minister and a director of Leighton subsidiary Thiess, which has won plenty of work in Queensland, and this is not a good look.
Any big takeover bid for Suncorp by Morgan's private equity firm JC Flowers would also deliver a windfall to the Queensland Labor Party given it owns more than $10 million worth of shares as was explained in this story for The Sunday Age last year.
I've given an interview to Queensland's ABC Stateline program which goes to air at 7.30pm tonight and will hopefully include the line about Queensland Labor's $100 million in assets, making it the richest political division in Australia.
Banning donations wouldn't hurt Labor in Queensland at all because they've got a huge warchest that would sustain them for decades even without another dodgy developer handing over the usual bucketloads of cash that has so characterised Queensland over the years.
The demise of Trevor Rowe
I was seriously contemplating another tilt at the ASX board this year but then along comes chairman David Gonski with this announcement on Wednesday that Trevor Rowe would be departing before the 2010 AGM.
Given the tilt would have been calling for Rowe to go after the BrisConnections fiasco and all the revelations of his lobbying connections in Queensland, there wasn't much point in proceeding.
The ASX AGM will still be a very interesting affair and we've already booked a flight to Sydney on the morning of September 30 before heading to Canberra for a university lecture on corporate governance later in the day.
Gonski seems to be doing a reasonable job at ASX, having also seen former Babcock & Brown audit committee chairman Michael Sharpe off the board and also beefed up its supervisory operations.
Scheduling the 2009 AGM season
We've made some progress in our attempt to pre-schedule the 2009 AGM season such that major clashes can be avoided. Click here to see the current major clashes. As usual, the last week of October is the busiest time.
Classic Cornwall
Tales from the talk circuit
The talk circuit continues to keep us busy with the big debate on media accuracy in Sydney, a discussion with the Australian Investors Association on Wednesday night and plenty of upcoming gigs coming.
One of particular interest will be the SuperRatings day of confrontation on October 13 at Docklands in Melbourne, with my 45 minute session being plugged as follows:
SHAKEN NOT STIRRED
Why super needs a shake-up
The founder of Crikey knows a thing or two about stirring. And after turning his attention to the super industry, Stephen Mayne doesn't hold back on what needs to be done with superannuation.
Other speakers on the day include Peter Costello, former NSW Auditor General Tony Harris and Risk Metrics managing director Dean Paatsch so it should be a lively affair. Check out the details here.
Finally, go here for feedback after some of our speeches.
IQ2 Debate - can the media be trusted?
Jonathan Holmes, Catherine Lumby and yours truly started off with a 64% to 18% advantage in the pre-poll of a big debate in Sydney on Tuesday night on the question of whether the media can be trusted to tell the truth. However, ABC managing director Mark Scott, John B Fairfax and Julian Burnside QC launched a very effective defence of the media and turned the 1000-strong audience around to win 46% to 45%. It seems the media can be trusted and our side did a very poor job painting the media black.
The debate will be getting a run on the ABC and my contribution is available below.
How truthful is the media?
The media cannot be trusted to tell the truth - August 5, 2009
Capital raising plays continue to deliver
After a gain of $3342 yesterday courtesy of exits from the Cockatoo Coal, GME Resources and Northern Energy capital raisings, we've opened the account for August and lifted the overall gains for the years to $196,040 with a monthly breakdown as follows:
January: broke even
February: broke even
March: $10,170 profit
April: $36,996 profit
May: $31,639 profit
June: $86,600 profit
July: $28,293 profit
August: $3342 so far
Offers we're currently committed to
We've currently got outstanding bets laid of $120,000 which breaks down as follows:
Asciano: $30,000 into three SPP entitlements at $1.10 which close on August 12.
CBH Resources: $15,000 SPP at 10c which closed on July 31 and trades September 1, the longest gap we've ever seen.
Innamincka Petroleum: $15,000 into SPP which closes on August 7.
Macquarie Leisure: applied for $45,000 in three $15,000 SPP offers at $1.15 a share and expecting scale back decision imminently.
Roc Oil: $15,000 SPP at a 5% discount to market which closes on August 7.
Asciano and Macquarie Leisure are both more than $10,000 in the money but both are likely to be scaled back, especially Macquarie Leisure given there is only $18 million available versus $100 million for Asciano.
Assessing the capital raising pipeline
Here is the list of other known upcoming offers in the pipeline which we're considering:
ALE Property Group: did a $29m placement at $2.25 and a 1-for-2 entitlement offer at $1.50 with non subscribers receiving a premium through an institutional book build. Shareholders can apply for extras worth 20% of entitlement. Retail offer closes on August 28.
Amadeus Energy: currently in trading halt bedding down capital raising.
Antares Energy: two entitlements to $15,000 SPP at 21c with details still to come.
Australand: 7-for-10 entitlement offer at 40c with ability to apply for the greater of double your entitlement or 100,000 extra shares. Closes on August 21 and trades September 2.
Challenger Diversified Property Group: 4-for-7 entitlement offer at 40c to raise $130 million. Can apply for 50% of entitlement in extras and $20m retail offer closes on September 9 and trades September 21.
Energy & Minerals Australia: $15,000 SPP at 21c with dates still to be released.
Every Day Mining Services: 1-for-5 offer at 6c but can't apply for extra. Closes on August 18 and trades on August 24.
Goodman Group: $1.5 billion-plus capital raising including 1-for-1 entitlement offer at 40c with ability to apply for extra. Closes September 4.
Hills Industries: completed $39.3 million placement at $1.40 with SPP to come but no details yet.
Linc Energy: raised $77 million through a placement at $1.40 in August 2009 with a $15,000 SPP at the same price to come.
National Australia Bank: two $15,000 SPP entitlements at $21.50 a share which closes August 21 and trades August 31.
Transpacific Industries: 1-for-1 entitlement offer at $1.20 but can't apply for extra. Closes August 17.
Whitehaven Coal: $15,000 SPP at $3.05 after $185 million placement. Dates still to be finalised.
Virgin Blue: 1-for-1 offer at 20c with unlimited ability to apply for extras. Closes August 28 and starts trading September 9.
Mayne Report RSS Feeds
The Mayne Report now has RSS feeds for you. We have bundled our best articles into a simple and easy delivery for you. Add an RSS feed to your personal reader, iGoogle, MyYahoo, or blog. It's quick and easy to do and means you're always up to date with the latest Mayne Report activity.
Video Blog and podcasts
Watch the video or get the podcast of discussing Rupert Murdoch's decision to charge users for online newspapers on Thursday's ABC Midday News.
Reviewing the week ending July 31, on Sky News Business program Business View.
Click here to get the latest TV appearences and Mayne Report videos via itunes.
Cornwall cartoons for The Mayne Report
Former Fairfax and Crikey cartoonist Mark Cornwall has been contributing his satirical commentary to the Mayne Report since March 2009. Here is a collection of his best cartoons and there are now some amusing animations he has begun. Go here to see his animations and below are some new offerings:
All the recent share trades
Below is our "world's biggest small share portfolio" current spreadsheet as of:
August 7, 2009: portfolio of 701 holdings worth $44,567. Overall paper loss of $17,757 and average holding worth $63.
We reduced our holding by almost 100 shares in the last month. This diluted the value by $37,000 which halved the average holding. Check out the other spreadsheets from previous dates here.
Here are all the trades since the last edition:
August 6
Eastern Star Gas: sold 367 at $1.03
GME Resources: sold 60,000 at 6.8c
Northern Energy: sold 14,200 at 37.8c
Cockatoo Coal: sold 45,500 at 37.1c
August 5
Antares Energy: bought 1,600 at 31.5c
August 4
Southern Gold: sold 3,700 at 10c
Sundance energy: sold 990 at 11c
Macquarie Fortress: sold 770 at 13.5c
Village Roadshow pref: sold 190 at 71.5c
Brisconnections: sold 990 at 52c
August 3
Carlton Investments: sold 17 at $14.90
Cluff Resources: sold 71,490 at 0.5c
Wam Active: sold 520 at 92c
Webster Ltd: sold 390 at $1.20
July 31
Djerriwarrh: sold 98 at $4.42
July 30
Atlas Iron: sold 149 at $1.94
DKN Financial Group: sold 726 at 41.5c
Neptune Marine: sold 520 at 58.5c
NIB Holdings: sold 380 at 92c
Runge Ltd: sold 490 at 67c
Skilled Group: sold 262 at $1.06
Sth Crs Elect Engineering: sold 331 at $1.02
Stuart Petroleum: sold 425 at 63c
Sun Resources: sold 6,760 at 8.8c
Troy Resources: sold 138 at $1.42
Zimplats holding: sold 27 at $8.05
Press Room
Click the link to get the latest radio and AGM audio via itunes so you can listen on your ipod or iphone on the go.
774 ABC Melbourne - Thursday, August 6. The Mayne Report's Shane Marden talking with Lindy Burns about his new photography book child of Tibet - a lost innocence.
774 ABC Melbourne - Wednesday, August 5, with Lindy Burns discussing the new BHP chairman and the outgoing Don 'don't argue' Argus
774 ABC Melbourne - Wednesday, July 29, with Lindy Burns discussing the Macquarie AGM, BHP-Billiton negotiations and NAB bank fees.
Wrote this letter that was published in The AFR - Thursday, August 6, 2009
The Mayne Report Rich List
Since we began compiling the Mayne Report Rich List documenting every Australian currently or previously worth more then $10 million, it has grown in numbers and popularity such that no other feature on our website can match it for traffic.
We're now up to 1370 entries, although some are italicised, denoting that they are no longer worth more than our $10 million cut off. Send us through any tips or suggestions of anyone you think deserves a spot on the esteemed Mayne Report rich List Here are our latest entries, some of which have come courtesy of the latest edition of BRW's excellent Rich List:
Terry Streeter: the former Western Areas chairman made a fortune on a 1998 nickel tenement deal with his old colleagues but in July 2009 the WA Supreme Court ordered he pay $66 million in compensation suggesting all was not right with the deal and his wealth may be in decline. The BRW claims $251 million.
Declan Carnes: owner-manager of one of the top performing branches of the Bank of Queensland went on $10 million buying spree racking up luxury real estate, industrial land and residential property for development.
That's all for now.
Do ya best, Stephen Mayne
* If you're reading this without being on our email list, why not sign up for free and tell your friends as well. Alternatively, if you've had enough, click here to unsubscribe.
Our gross profits are up to almost $200,000 in six months - about $160,000 after various financing and profit-sharing expenses - and you see the full list of the latest action here.
Lively exchanges at Macquarie AGM
As you would expect, Macquarie's AGM in Sydney rolled on for nearly four hours, but it was a relatively tame affair where we asked six batches of questions as follows:
Question for the auditor about conflicts and write downs.
Quite a good hit which saw the chairman quoted in The AFR expressing surprise at facing these types of questions. It really is ridiculous that PwC is allowed to audit both the head stock and most of Macquarie's listed funds. Have a listen to both the chairman and the auditor himself defend the practice.
Brisconnections fiasco
Nicholas Moore wasn't giving much away but stressed Macquarie had honoured all obligations and tollroads are long term investments.
Are we now a global investment bank? Are we in the big league? How do you market yourself?
A very interesting philosophical look at precisely what Macquarie Group is - have a listen, especially to Nicholas Moore's stammering response to a suggestion he help produce a hagiography on the Millionaires' Factory to offset the coming hatchet job from Michael West and Ian Verrender.
Favouring the remuneration report
Geoff Winestock's interesting story in The AFR about how the executive retention pools are invested got a good mention and the rem report sailed through with 98% in favour which wasn't surprising given the huge pay cuts this year.
Are we planning to expand the board and what is the philosophy surrounding expansion? Is it Mr McCann's intention to serve a full term?
Always fun to critique a board in front of all the directors and several hundred shareholders. This board has performed well but now needs to find a couple of extra financial services giants given the departure of Mark Johnson and Laurie Cox over past two years.
Congratulations for not capping the recent SPP
Amusing to congratulate Macquarie for not paying a gouging investment banks excessive fees in its recent non-underwritten placement whilst it runs around gouging everyone else. Do unto others, eh.
Big attack on Macquarie Airports gouge
Michael West, business editor of The SMH and a long-time critic of Macquarie Group, has delivered one of his most savage serves in today's paper which is worth a read here.
Whilst generally giving Macquarie a positive wrap on Sky's Business View program after last week's AGM, I sure as hell hopped into the highway robbery that is this proposed $345 million go away fee at Macquarie Airports. What a disgrace. Have a look at the video here.
Don Argus and the cosy Melbourne Club of business commentators
I've written a story for Crikey today about the cosy relationship between out-going BHP-Billiton chairman and various veteran Melbourne business commentators. If you're a Crikey subscriber, check it out in full here.
The gist of the issue is to compare what Terry McCrann and Stephen Bartholomeusz gushed about Argus on Wednesday, with this letter to The AFR from your correspondent yesterday.
I'm open to debate anyone, anywhere about the Argus record. The guy is a classically old school command and control and is grossly over-rated. We've put together this package of our various scraps with him over the years.
Queensland Inc and the Suncorp bid
The Ian Rogers banking ezine www.thesheet.com led yesterday's edition with the following story about a possible Suncorp bid:
JC Flowers has kicked tyres, and maybe more, on the merit of making a bid for Suncorp Metway, The Australian reported. The private equity firm is headed in Australia these days by David Morgan, former chief executive of Westpac.
Westpac made an unconfirmed bid for Suncorp in 2006. ANZ made an actual (and low ball) bid in October 2008 – a rescue offer, in practice – that the Suncorp board was able to reject only due to the announcement of the Australian government guarantee on deposits that stemmed a deposit outflow.
While private equity firms have taken over banks outright in a number of OECD markets, such as South Korea, any takeover bid for an Australian bank and insurance group would be unusual given the traditional position of APRA and its predecessors that banks must be widely owned and have ready access to equity capital, or, otherwise, must be owned by another bank.
The whole Queensland Inc saga involving Labor, former Ministers and their business mates has been getting a big run of late, so we may as well joins a few dots on this one.
Anna Bligh recently got into a spot of bother after holidaying for three weeks in January at David Morgan's Sydney waterfront mansion without declaring it as a benefit. Did Morgan happen to mention that he'd like the Queensland government to give regulatory approval to a US private equity bid for the state's most important financial institution? Heaven forbid - the Queensland press should be all over this one. Throw in the fact Morgan's wife Ros Kelly is a former Keating government minister and a director of Leighton subsidiary Thiess, which has won plenty of work in Queensland, and this is not a good look.
Any big takeover bid for Suncorp by Morgan's private equity firm JC Flowers would also deliver a windfall to the Queensland Labor Party given it owns more than $10 million worth of shares as was explained in this story for The Sunday Age last year.
I've given an interview to Queensland's ABC Stateline program which goes to air at 7.30pm tonight and will hopefully include the line about Queensland Labor's $100 million in assets, making it the richest political division in Australia.
Banning donations wouldn't hurt Labor in Queensland at all because they've got a huge warchest that would sustain them for decades even without another dodgy developer handing over the usual bucketloads of cash that has so characterised Queensland over the years.
The demise of Trevor Rowe
I was seriously contemplating another tilt at the ASX board this year but then along comes chairman David Gonski with this announcement on Wednesday that Trevor Rowe would be departing before the 2010 AGM.
Given the tilt would have been calling for Rowe to go after the BrisConnections fiasco and all the revelations of his lobbying connections in Queensland, there wasn't much point in proceeding.
The ASX AGM will still be a very interesting affair and we've already booked a flight to Sydney on the morning of September 30 before heading to Canberra for a university lecture on corporate governance later in the day.
Gonski seems to be doing a reasonable job at ASX, having also seen former Babcock & Brown audit committee chairman Michael Sharpe off the board and also beefed up its supervisory operations.
Scheduling the 2009 AGM season
We've made some progress in our attempt to pre-schedule the 2009 AGM season such that major clashes can be avoided. Click here to see the current major clashes. As usual, the last week of October is the busiest time.
Classic Cornwall
Tales from the talk circuit
The talk circuit continues to keep us busy with the big debate on media accuracy in Sydney, a discussion with the Australian Investors Association on Wednesday night and plenty of upcoming gigs coming.
One of particular interest will be the SuperRatings day of confrontation on October 13 at Docklands in Melbourne, with my 45 minute session being plugged as follows:
SHAKEN NOT STIRRED
Why super needs a shake-up
The founder of Crikey knows a thing or two about stirring. And after turning his attention to the super industry, Stephen Mayne doesn't hold back on what needs to be done with superannuation.
Other speakers on the day include Peter Costello, former NSW Auditor General Tony Harris and Risk Metrics managing director Dean Paatsch so it should be a lively affair. Check out the details here.
Finally, go here for feedback after some of our speeches.
IQ2 Debate - can the media be trusted?
Jonathan Holmes, Catherine Lumby and yours truly started off with a 64% to 18% advantage in the pre-poll of a big debate in Sydney on Tuesday night on the question of whether the media can be trusted to tell the truth. However, ABC managing director Mark Scott, John B Fairfax and Julian Burnside QC launched a very effective defence of the media and turned the 1000-strong audience around to win 46% to 45%. It seems the media can be trusted and our side did a very poor job painting the media black.
The debate will be getting a run on the ABC and my contribution is available below.
How truthful is the media?
The media cannot be trusted to tell the truth - August 5, 2009
Capital raising plays continue to deliver
After a gain of $3342 yesterday courtesy of exits from the Cockatoo Coal, GME Resources and Northern Energy capital raisings, we've opened the account for August and lifted the overall gains for the years to $196,040 with a monthly breakdown as follows:
January: broke even
February: broke even
March: $10,170 profit
April: $36,996 profit
May: $31,639 profit
June: $86,600 profit
July: $28,293 profit
August: $3342 so far
Offers we're currently committed to
We've currently got outstanding bets laid of $120,000 which breaks down as follows:
Asciano: $30,000 into three SPP entitlements at $1.10 which close on August 12.
CBH Resources: $15,000 SPP at 10c which closed on July 31 and trades September 1, the longest gap we've ever seen.
Innamincka Petroleum: $15,000 into SPP which closes on August 7.
Macquarie Leisure: applied for $45,000 in three $15,000 SPP offers at $1.15 a share and expecting scale back decision imminently.
Roc Oil: $15,000 SPP at a 5% discount to market which closes on August 7.
Asciano and Macquarie Leisure are both more than $10,000 in the money but both are likely to be scaled back, especially Macquarie Leisure given there is only $18 million available versus $100 million for Asciano.
Assessing the capital raising pipeline
Here is the list of other known upcoming offers in the pipeline which we're considering:
ALE Property Group: did a $29m placement at $2.25 and a 1-for-2 entitlement offer at $1.50 with non subscribers receiving a premium through an institutional book build. Shareholders can apply for extras worth 20% of entitlement. Retail offer closes on August 28.
Amadeus Energy: currently in trading halt bedding down capital raising.
Antares Energy: two entitlements to $15,000 SPP at 21c with details still to come.
Australand: 7-for-10 entitlement offer at 40c with ability to apply for the greater of double your entitlement or 100,000 extra shares. Closes on August 21 and trades September 2.
Challenger Diversified Property Group: 4-for-7 entitlement offer at 40c to raise $130 million. Can apply for 50% of entitlement in extras and $20m retail offer closes on September 9 and trades September 21.
Energy & Minerals Australia: $15,000 SPP at 21c with dates still to be released.
Every Day Mining Services: 1-for-5 offer at 6c but can't apply for extra. Closes on August 18 and trades on August 24.
Goodman Group: $1.5 billion-plus capital raising including 1-for-1 entitlement offer at 40c with ability to apply for extra. Closes September 4.
Hills Industries: completed $39.3 million placement at $1.40 with SPP to come but no details yet.
Linc Energy: raised $77 million through a placement at $1.40 in August 2009 with a $15,000 SPP at the same price to come.
National Australia Bank: two $15,000 SPP entitlements at $21.50 a share which closes August 21 and trades August 31.
Transpacific Industries: 1-for-1 entitlement offer at $1.20 but can't apply for extra. Closes August 17.
Whitehaven Coal: $15,000 SPP at $3.05 after $185 million placement. Dates still to be finalised.
Virgin Blue: 1-for-1 offer at 20c with unlimited ability to apply for extras. Closes August 28 and starts trading September 9.
Mayne Report RSS Feeds
The Mayne Report now has RSS feeds for you. We have bundled our best articles into a simple and easy delivery for you. Add an RSS feed to your personal reader, iGoogle, MyYahoo, or blog. It's quick and easy to do and means you're always up to date with the latest Mayne Report activity.
Video Blog and podcasts
Watch the video or get the podcast of discussing Rupert Murdoch's decision to charge users for online newspapers on Thursday's ABC Midday News.
Reviewing the week ending July 31, on Sky News Business program Business View.
Click here to get the latest TV appearences and Mayne Report videos via itunes.
Cornwall cartoons for The Mayne Report
Former Fairfax and Crikey cartoonist Mark Cornwall has been contributing his satirical commentary to the Mayne Report since March 2009. Here is a collection of his best cartoons and there are now some amusing animations he has begun. Go here to see his animations and below are some new offerings:
All the recent share trades
Below is our "world's biggest small share portfolio" current spreadsheet as of:
August 7, 2009: portfolio of 701 holdings worth $44,567. Overall paper loss of $17,757 and average holding worth $63.
We reduced our holding by almost 100 shares in the last month. This diluted the value by $37,000 which halved the average holding. Check out the other spreadsheets from previous dates here.
Here are all the trades since the last edition:
August 6
Eastern Star Gas: sold 367 at $1.03
GME Resources: sold 60,000 at 6.8c
Northern Energy: sold 14,200 at 37.8c
Cockatoo Coal: sold 45,500 at 37.1c
August 5
Antares Energy: bought 1,600 at 31.5c
August 4
Southern Gold: sold 3,700 at 10c
Sundance energy: sold 990 at 11c
Macquarie Fortress: sold 770 at 13.5c
Village Roadshow pref: sold 190 at 71.5c
Brisconnections: sold 990 at 52c
August 3
Carlton Investments: sold 17 at $14.90
Cluff Resources: sold 71,490 at 0.5c
Wam Active: sold 520 at 92c
Webster Ltd: sold 390 at $1.20
July 31
Djerriwarrh: sold 98 at $4.42
July 30
Atlas Iron: sold 149 at $1.94
DKN Financial Group: sold 726 at 41.5c
Neptune Marine: sold 520 at 58.5c
NIB Holdings: sold 380 at 92c
Runge Ltd: sold 490 at 67c
Skilled Group: sold 262 at $1.06
Sth Crs Elect Engineering: sold 331 at $1.02
Stuart Petroleum: sold 425 at 63c
Sun Resources: sold 6,760 at 8.8c
Troy Resources: sold 138 at $1.42
Zimplats holding: sold 27 at $8.05
Press Room
Click the link to get the latest radio and AGM audio via itunes so you can listen on your ipod or iphone on the go.
774 ABC Melbourne - Thursday, August 6. The Mayne Report's Shane Marden talking with Lindy Burns about his new photography book child of Tibet - a lost innocence.
774 ABC Melbourne - Wednesday, August 5, with Lindy Burns discussing the new BHP chairman and the outgoing Don 'don't argue' Argus
774 ABC Melbourne - Wednesday, July 29, with Lindy Burns discussing the Macquarie AGM, BHP-Billiton negotiations and NAB bank fees.
Wrote this letter that was published in The AFR - Thursday, August 6, 2009
The Mayne Report Rich List
Since we began compiling the Mayne Report Rich List documenting every Australian currently or previously worth more then $10 million, it has grown in numbers and popularity such that no other feature on our website can match it for traffic.
We're now up to 1370 entries, although some are italicised, denoting that they are no longer worth more than our $10 million cut off. Send us through any tips or suggestions of anyone you think deserves a spot on the esteemed Mayne Report rich List Here are our latest entries, some of which have come courtesy of the latest edition of BRW's excellent Rich List:
Terry Streeter: the former Western Areas chairman made a fortune on a 1998 nickel tenement deal with his old colleagues but in July 2009 the WA Supreme Court ordered he pay $66 million in compensation suggesting all was not right with the deal and his wealth may be in decline. The BRW claims $251 million.
Declan Carnes: owner-manager of one of the top performing branches of the Bank of Queensland went on $10 million buying spree racking up luxury real estate, industrial land and residential property for development.
That's all for now.
Do ya best, Stephen Mayne
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