Business News

Babcock & Brown (BNB), a global investment and advisory firm based in Sydney has voluntarily requested for the suspension of its shares from trade. Company said that it has asked for the suspension because it has not received a final response from its lenders in relation to a refinancing proposal. At present there is no announcement about the resume of share trade but the trading halt is expected last till next week.

Alcoa (AAI), the third largest producer of aluminium followed by Rio Tinto (RIO), Alcan and Rusal has announced that it will reduce its global workforce by 13%, or about 13,500 positions, by the end of this year through targeted job cuts, curtailments and plant closures and consolidations. The company also said it will eliminate an additional 1,700 contractor jobs and that it has instituted a global salary and hiring freeze.

Announcement of asset write-down drops the share price of Australia’s largest project development and contracting group, Leighton Holdings (LEI). This announcement sends the Australian market an alarming message that the crisis situation which prevailed last year will continue even this year. The share price of the company has gone down by 10% in spite of the company’s powerful management team and strong balance sheet.

Qantas (QAN), the world's second oldest continuously operating airline’s chairman Clifford has been appointed as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ (KKR) senior advisor. KKR is a leading global alternative asset manager. The core of the Firm's franchise is sponsoring and managing funds that make private equity investments in North America, Europe, and Asia. KKR appointed Leigh Clifford was the former CEO of Rio Tinto (RIO), a multinational mining and resources group.

Allco Finance Group's (AFG) chief executive officer David Clarke who was employed for the last 18 months to rescue the company from debt has resigned with a fall in share market. Last November AFG was valued at $52 million. On April 2007, when Clarke joined the company, the share price was about $11.50. The appointment of Clarke was considered as a historic, key movement for the company.

HFA Holdings (HFA), an Australian hedge-fund manager has said; negative media coverage was the cause for its drop in share price and not its financial position. The share price dropped 98 per cent since its peak last July. The share price of HFA closed at 4.9 cents last week which was well down on its $1.10 April 2006 listing price. It is said that, HFA could be compelled to write down $604 million worth of goodwill and management rights from its balance sheet.

Singapore Airlines (SIA), the national airline of Singapore, has defended the claims made by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that, it has broken the law by setting high freights and securities surcharges. The competition regulator said that, Singapore Airlines has imposed high charges on the Australian exporters for sending the goods to Middle East.

Commonwealth Bank (CBA), the largest bank in Australia, defends its highly ranked executives in breach of disclosure rules during the issue of $2 billion capital raising. CBA disagreed by saying that, rules were not broken when it warned a small group of shareholders regarding the bad debt raise before a public announcement. The bank said that the information was not materially significant so there was no need to warn the public earlier.

Shareholders of Babcock & Brown Power (BBP), the largest wind power producer of Australia are planning to file a lawsuit for misleading and deceptive behaviour. The outburst came after the announcement made by B&B, parent of BBP, about refinancing, after the acquisition of Alinta (ALN), an Australian energy infrastructure company.

Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC), a multinational financial service company, is expected to save $400 million by 2011 as a result of acquiring St George Bank (SGB). The bank estimated that it would gain $365 million in the next three years due to 20-25% of cost reduction and this figure has been upgraded because of the takeover. It is also expected that, about 2000 staffs will be sacked in this merge.