Acquisitions

A merger between Bluescope Steel (ASX:BSL) and Arrium (ASX:ARI) (formerly OneSteel) may be a possibility.

• Arrium has rejected the unsolicited takeover offer by the Asian consortium, led bouth South Korean, Noble Group.

Construction materials supplier Boral (ASX:BLD) says it will purchase assets and operations from Wagners Group for $173 million. Quarry, concrete, and land assets in Darling Downs, South East Queensland, and Townsville are the assets Boral will be buying.

Boral said the Wagners assets included in the deal had revenue of $115m in 2009/2010, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of approximately $17m.

There may be a new round of merger and acquisition corporate activity surrounding the Real Estate Investment Trusts or REITs sector. There has been a recovery of the commercial property market in Australia that may spur the increased M&A activity.

Australian banker, Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) has become a major shareholder in aircraft leasing company Air Lease Corp, having made an investment of US$125 million ($126 million). Commonwealth Bank CEO Sir Ralph Norris is a former head of Air New Zealand.

Australia's largest provider of pathology services, Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) have initiated their acquisition strategy. The company purchased KBL-BML-Unilabo and Woestyn Laboratory in Belgium for $54 million. The company also bought Physicians Automated Laboratory, Inc., (PAL) of Bakersfield, California, for $30 million.

Australian investment company, Premier Investments (ASX:PMV) is on the search for retail acquisitions. The company owns fashion brands and outlets such as Just Jeans, Portmans, Jacqui E and Dotti. Just Group operates 1024 stores in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa under Just Jeans, Portmans, Jay Jays, Dotti, Jacqui E, Peter Alexander and Smiggle brands.

Broking House RBS Equities (Royal Bank of Scotland) have compiled a list of public Australian companies listed on the stock exchange which can be seen as takeover targets. Companies in the list include: WCB, FGL, MCC, GCL, ESG, PDN, MSF, GNC, PRU, IAU, WHC, RHL. The report lists almost 30 companies to the value of $45.6 billion, which have become attractive to potential acquirers, especially foreign bidders, because of global supply shortages in energy and food.

Ansell (ASX:ANN), a healthcare and industrial products producers (known for producing condoms and gloves), has established four global business units to support company growth through acquisitions. "To support this strategy, four global business units are being established," Magnus Nicolin the Ceo of Ansell has stated. The company has installed mergers and acquisitions and finance teams to be led by CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Rustom Jilla.

Macarthur Coal's (MCC) bid for Gloucester Coal
(GCL) has collapsed as Noble Group, the target's largest shareholder (at 87.7 percent), failed to persuade its investors to back the deal. Noble noted on their website: "Noble Group wishes to announce that the merger proposal between Macarthur and Gloucester was soundly defeated by shareholders in a vote held in Hong Kong at 2.30pm today."

Tatts Group Limited (TTS) has bought NSW Lotteries from the state government. The public gambling, wagering and lottery company will be given a 40 year licence to run the gaming. The deal is worth just over $1 billion. Taxpayers will benefit from the sale.