In the M&A hall of shame, Rio Tinto’s top-of-the-market $37bn acquisition of Alcan (in CASH) is right up there. In this century, at least.
It was a truly disastrous deal that nearly killed the Anglo-Australian mining company and its after-effects are being felt to this day. Just ask Tom Albanese. Read more
We are, of course, talking about iron ore which has slipped into bear market territory overnight (defined here as 20 per cent fall from a recent high).
Message from the CEO of Bloomberg
Dear Client, Read more
Via UBS:
The Aussie banks are very good companies. They are profitable, resilient, well capitalised, well managed, shareholder focused and have a very strong industry and regulatory structure. However, following the significant leveraging of the Australian & NZ households over the last thirty years they are now low growth and remain heavily exposed to housing, funding markets & unemployment risk. Read more
No respite for gold producers in the southern hemisphere on Tuesday morning…
And no dead cat bounce splat for the gold price.
And to spell out why this is such an issue for the gold miners, we present the following thoughts from Citigroup. Read more
It was supposed to be one of the best trades of 2013 – buy mining stocks to get leveraged upside to the global economic turnaround. But as we approach the end of the first quarter, only one half of that equation is working. The world economy is recovering strongly but the big miners are being well and truly left behind – Australian Financial Review.
Yep, the miners as a ‘leveraged play on global growth” is not going exactly to plan: Read more
Remember Australia’s inverted yield curve in 2012?
Sam Walsh, the new Australian boss of Rio Tinto has probably never heard of Tony Pidgley, the chairman of upmarket UK housebuilder Berkeley Homes.
Which is a pity because Pidgley, adopted from Barnardo’s at the age of four by travellers, could give him some tips on how to run a cyclical business and maximise returns to shareholders. (Something, of course, his predecessor conspicuously failed to do). Read more
… they do things differently there.
If you thought Nathan ‘the Innocent Abroad‘ Rothschild had been badly treated in Indonesia, spare a thought for shareholders of Intrepid Mining. Read more
Move over Gulf Keystone; there’s a new wannabe supermajor in town.
It’s a small Australian exploration and development company called Linc Energy – tagline ‘Fueling our Future’ – and according to some hysterical media reports down under it’s found oil worth $20 trillion. Read more
The new Rio boss has a few nice words about his predecessor, followed by a flash of steel, in a letter to staff. And it’s about all you’re likely to hear from Walsh until annual results on Valentines Day. Read it after the jump: Read more
Time for some property porn.
It comes from the 2013 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey – a piece of work often quoted by bubble hunters and rubbished by the property bulls who babble on about flawed methodology. Read more
A final word on Thursday’s defenestration of Rio boss Tom Albanense (via JP Morgan).
What’s this? A new publicly listed bank?
And before you ask, we are not talking about Metro Bank or those RBS branches ear-marked for sale being rolled up into some Aim-listed shell vehicle. Read more
Having tracked (with some glee) last year’s gut wrenching slide in the iron ore price…
… it’s high time we made a few observations on the recent dizzying ascent of the steel making commodity. Read more
The price action in Southern Cross Media, the parent company of Sydney’s 2Day FM on Monday morning:
For non-Australia readers, it’s the station which did the royal prank call. Read more
So Glenn Stevens likes the nags after all.
Well, sort of.
For the first time since he took the helm of the RBA in 2006, the governor did not tinker with interest rates on Melbourne Cup day (a public holiday across parts of the country). Read more
Is the Reserve Bank of Australia intervening in the market to hold down the remarkably resilient Aussie dollar? That’s the question commentators and economists are asking themselves following the publication of data at the end of last week that showed a significant increase in the pace of foreign exchange accumulation (admittedly from a low very low base) in August and September. Read more
When commentators cast around for reasons to explain the strength of the Australian dollar in the face of falling iron ore and coal prices they all arrive at the same answer - haven bond buying by central banks/ sovereign wealth funds. In fact, we’ve also made that very point.
About that iron ore rally…
Presented without comment (well just a little bit).
Bumi Plc statement, Monday: Read more
Behold, some wondrous news for iron ore producers across the globe.
From Business Spectator: Read more
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