PRESS DIGEST-Australian Business News - Nov 12

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) Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has revealed last-minute plans for a A$1.5 billion rival bid for Babcock & Brown Infrastructure (BBI). RBS says it will reveal details of the plan if a bid by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management is rejected. RBS has been trying to gain control of BBI assets since August, including a proposal in September. BBI has A$9.2 billion of debt and is currently undergoing a recapitalisation plan to save it from collapse. Page 12. -- The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has approved supermarket retailer Woolworths' A$88 million acquisition of hardware wholesaler Danks, dismissing fears the sale could reduce competition in the A$36 billion market. Woolworths and its United States joint-venture partner Lowe's plan to build 150 big-box stores over the next five years. Hardware market leader Bunnings has plans to open at least 10 to 14 new stores next year. -- Qantas Airways chief executive Alan Joyce yesterday revealed plans for the airline to introduce Frequent Flyer cards embedded with computer chips that will function as boarding passes. Mr Joyce said the new cards had the potential to halve check-in times and reduce travel stress. Qantas is currently overhauling its domestic check-in operations, in a bid to stop its customers defecting to cheaper rivals such as Virgin Blue and low-cost Tiger Airways. Page 12. -- Perth-based miner Centaurus Resources yesterday announced plans to merge with Glengarry Resources, which has an A$8 million-plus cash balance. The Centaurus board has recommended that shareholders agree to the merger, with the cash being used for the development of an iron ore mine in Brazil. If successful, the combined group will have an expected market capitalisation of about A$35 million, including A$8.5 million in cash. Page 14. -- THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au) BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have been warned by West Australian Premier Colin Barnett to accept an increase in royalties, as both companies need the government to pass a new legislation to achieve their Pilbara merger. BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers and Rio counterpart Tom Albanese met with the premier yesterday. Mr Barnett said the meeting was straight forward and productive. "The major point I stressed is that I would want to see full royalties applied to both BHP and Rio projects," he said. Page 19. -- The chairman of timber company Gunns, John Gay, yesterday conceded that it could take five years to get its controversial Tasmanian pulp mill running.

At its annual meeting in Launceston, Mr Gay told shareholders that he was confident the mill -- already five years in the making -- would be financed in the long term. Although refusing to give a timeline for construction, Mr Gay also conceded that the total cost of the project had blown out to A$2.5 billion from the original A$1.5 billion. Page 21. -- Singapore based telecommunications company Singtel yesterday announced that, for the time being, it would not float its Australian subsidiary, Optus.

Chief executive Chua Sock Koong said the company had no intention to float Optus. "I did see the speculation and I really don't know where it came from," said Ms Chua. Optus posted a total revenue of A$2.2 billion for the September quarter, an increase of 7.4 percent. Earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation came in at A$509 million, an increase of 6.4 percent. Page 19. -- Bernie Ripoll, the head of a parliamentary inquiry into collapsed investment group Storm Financial, says he will deliver his findings by November 23. Mr Ripoll is expected to recommend a new fiduciary duty, which will require financial planners to act on the best interest of their clients. The inquiry will also seek tougher education standards, qualification for advisers, and an overhaul of disclosure rules, to clearly inform customers of all product risks and how advisors are remunerated. Page 19. -- THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au) The coal industry spent just A$35.2 million on clean coal projects as part of its Coal21 fund last financial year, less than 0.1 percent of the A$52 billion in export revenue earnt from black coal. The amount spent was a fraction of the A$1 billion financial commitment to clean coal technologies over 10 years touted by the Australian Coal Association. The funds were spent on carbon-capture and storage projects including the ZeroGen project and the Callide Oxyfuel project, both in Queensland, as well as the Otway Stage 1 project in Victoria. Page 1. -- According to Ferrier Hodgson, the administrator of agricultural projects operator Great Southern, each of the companies within the operator are insolvent and the company should be wound up. In its report, the administrator could not specify how much would be recouped or how much unsecured creditors would receive in the event of liquidation. Great Southern has debts of A$600 million, and went into administration in May of this year. The company's banks appointed McGrathNicol as receiver. Page 3. -- French based Axa SA and AMP have asked the directors of Axa Asia Pacific to review its rejection of a proposed A$11 billion takeover offer. The call from Axa SA and AMP comes in light of the recent rise in the value of AMP shares, which jumped nearly 10 percent since the takeover bid was released. "That premium has gone higher as the AMP stock price has gone higher over the past couple of days; in our view that warrants serious consideration by the independent directors," said Craig Dunn, chief executive of AMP. Page 3. -- The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's chairman, John Schubert, yesterday warned that a one-size-fits-all approach to the regulation of Australian financial service organisations would unnecessarily burden local companies.

Speaking at the bank's annual meeting in Perth, Mr Schubert said Australian banks had performed relatively well throughout the global downturn, unlike their global peers. Australian banks had weathered the storm and come through the other side in a strong position, he said. Page 5. -- THE AGE (www.theage.com.au) Telecommunications company TransACT, Canberra's main provider of broadband and pay television, has had its infrastructure sale offer rejected by the fledgling national broadband network (NBN) company. TransACT is eager to sell all or some of its infrastructure to NBN Co. Industry insiders say one of the reasons NBN Co decided not to purchase TransACT's assets is that much of the company's network duplicates Telstra's. B1. -- Adventure wear retailer Kathmandu will sell its shares for A$1.70 each, the bottom end of its indicative price range. Private equity owners Goldman Sachs JBWere and Quadrant Private Equity will exit their stake, in what analysts view as a disappointing outcome. Underwhelming demand for Kathmandu stock means vendors will miss out on nearly A$40 million in profit. Founder and former owner Jan Cameron has said she will launch her own adventure wear chain of shops, aiming to undercut the prices of her old business. B3. -- The head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Graeme Samuel, is intensifying pressure on Asciano and DP World, the two big players in the tightly controlled waterfront industry. Sydney Ports is currently reviewing the five bidders short listed for developing the third stevedore site at Sydney's Port Botany. Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports is believed to be in the running for the contract, but insiders say the presence of Hutchison in Brisbane's waterfront reflects a lack of competition in the stevedoring industry. B3. -- Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS (Sydney Newsroom [phone]; [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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