You are currently browsing the Online Stockmarket Trading Update blog archives for July, 2009.
Macquarie Telecom (MAQ) today announced it has entered into a Share Sale Agreement with CITIC 1616 Holdings Limited , one of the leading wholesale voice service providers in Asia. Macquarie Telecom agreed to sell to CITIC 1616 its wholly-owned subsidiary Macquarie Singapore Pte Limited for cash consideration of SGD10.5 million (subject to adjustment). The transaction is expected to complete by the 31 of July 2009. In addition, Macquarie Telecom will be CITIC 1616’s preferred partner for its Australian inbound and outbound Voice and Data traffic. Conversely CITIC 1616 will be Macquarie Telecom’s preferred partner into Asia. The strategic partnership with CITIC 1616 means that Macquarie Telecom will expand its reach into the Asian region by leveraging CITIC 1616’s extensive presence in the region. CITIC 1616 has points of presence worldwide for interconnection, with over 350 telecom operators in 62 countries. Its wholly own subsidiary, CPCNet, is also the leading MPLS VPN service provider in Asia.
Mr. David Tudehope, the Chief Executive Offer of Macquarie Telecom, said “we are excited about entering into a new strategic partnership with a telecommunications enterprise of the size and reach into the Asia market of CITIC 1616.” ”Our new relationship with CITIC 1616 will strengthen our Asian reach, particularly into China. The sale of our Singapore business will generate additional capital for the continued expansion of our Hosting and Data businesses,” Mr Tudehope said. “We are pleased that our new partner CITIC 1616 shares Macquarie Telecom’s passion for customer service and believe both our customer bases will benefit from this new strategic partnership.” Mr. Norman K. T. Yuen, the Chief Executive Officer of CITIC 1616, said: “This new strategic partnership will create significant business synergies and mutual benefits through reciprocal traffic between CITIC1616 in Greater China and Macquarie Telecom in Australia as well as other collaborative opportunities.”
The Premier, John Brumby, today announced the AquaSure consortium had been awarded the contract to build Australia’s biggest desalination plant, which will secure Victoria’s water supplies, deliver as many as 1700 direct new jobs and help ease tough water restrictions.
Mr Brumby said the Victorian Government selected AquaSure, consisting of Suez Environnement, Degremont, Thiess (a subsidiary of LEI) and Macquarie Capital Group (a subsidiary of MQG) to build the $3.5 billion desalination plant, with key features including a guarantee to deliver desalinated water by the end of 2011; value for money for water users; delivery of water to meet Victoria’s high water quality standards; flexibility to supply between 0 and 100 per cent of the plant’s capacity in block increments; proven and secure desalination technology; and security of finance for the project in a constrained global economy.
“I am delighted to announce today that AquaSure will build Australia’s biggest desalination plant near Wonthaggi,” Mr Brumby said. “This desalination plant will be operational from the end of 2011 and is critical to securing water supplies for Melbourne, Geelong and to wns in Western Port and South Gippsla nd. Our Government is committed to Victoria’s Desalination Project because we must deliver a solution that is not rainfall dependent in an era of climate change. Together with the Food Bowl Modernisation Project and Sugarloaf Pipeline, our new desalination plant will help ease water restrictions. I expect these projects will see our water storages begin to recover in 2012 and restrictions progressively eased. Mr Brumby said AquaSure had committed to additional features and projects, to ensure Victoria’s desalination plant was not only Australia’s biggest, but Australia’s most advanced, including secure underground power supply; commitment to renewable energy projects to offset the plant’s energy use; minimizing the impact on the local environment, including continued use of Williamson’s Beach and the best possible visual amenity at the plant site; and delivering benefits to the local community, such as a new broadband fiber optic cable and a secure local water supply.
Other local projects to be delivered with the desalination plant include a $12 million in road upgrades, many of which are underway and development of a housing strategy for workers coming to the region. Financial close on the contract will occur by 4 September. AquaSure will begin construction in October on the desalination project, which will include the plant at Wonthaggi, the 86-kilometre transfer pipeline to connect to Melbourne’s existing network, the underground power source and renewable energy projects.
Continuing its push into new mining services markets, Industrea Limited (IDL) today announced that Cockatoo Coal (COK) has awarded a $30 million per annum contract for its Baralaba Coal Mine to Industrea subsidiary, Huddy’s Mining Services. The contract includes a fully integrated range of advanced mining services, including provision of a Senior Site Executive, equipment, operators, maintenance, service and support and drilling and blasting services. The contract term is for 18 months with an 18 month extension. Located around 50 kilometres north of Moura, Queensland, the Baralaba Coal Mine produces 300,000 tonnes per annum of pulverised coal injection and thermal coal for export from the Port of Gladstone.
Industrea Managing Director and CEO, Robin Levison, said the contract win demonstrated the success of Huddy’s diversification into new markets outside its strong base in Mount Isa. “Huddy’s has long been recognised as the leading supplier of diverse mining and earthmoving activities in the Mt Isa region. Since our acquisition of Huddy’s last year we have successfully exploited synergies with the Industrea group by expanding into new areas for Huddy’s such as the coal industry, winning new contracts with Rio Tinto Coal in the Hunter Valley and Bowen Basin,” Mr Levison said. “Cockatoo Coal is an expanding producer in the Bowen Basin and we are excited by the prospect of further growth in its operations, having won the new customer against tough competition based on our strong record in mining safety and productivity.” Cockatoo Coal Managing Director, Mark Lochtenberg, said “Cockatoo Coal has ambitious plans to boost production at Baralaba to a target of 60,000 tonnes per month during the next 24 to 36 months, while applying a disciplined cost management focus. We see Huddy’s Mining Services as the perfect partner in our growth plans, as it has an excellent fit with our people and product offering. Huddy’s has all the latest equipment and a strong safety record, with a competitive cost structure for the current economic environment.”
National Australia Bank (NAB) and Goldman Sachs JBWere (GSJBW) today announced an agreement for NAB to acquire 80.1% of Goldman Sachs JBWere’s private wealth management business in Australia and New Zealand, which will be branded JBWere, with Goldman Sachs JBWere retaining the remaining 19.9%. JBWere will remain a centre of specialist expertise, focused on delivering advice driven wealth solutions to high net worth clients, and become a portfolio business of NAB’s wealth division, MLC & NAB Wealth. The alliance incorporates a strategic distribution relationship which enables GSJBW to distribute certain products to JBWere on an exclusive or preferred basis.
NAB will outlay $99 million for JBWere, with additional performance related consideration payable dependent on revenues generated by the business over a period of three years. The contribution to NAB Group earnings and ROE is not expected to be material in the first year.
JBWere is a leading wealth advisory business with more than 22,000 active client relationships, assets under advice exceeding $38 billion, and funds under management of around $10 billion. JBWere advisers will retain full access to the existing range of services, investment research and products currently available through Goldman Sachs JBWere, as well as accessing additional services from NAB and MLC.
“JBWere’s pre-eminent reputation for providing wealth management services to high net worth individuals and National Australia Bank’s strong footprint in business and private banking is a great combination,” National Australia Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Cameron Clyne said. “Our Australian Wealth business, MLC & NAB Wealth, has a long history in developing and nurturing wealth management businesses that service private wealth and institutional clients under their own distinct brands, including JANA and Godfrey Pembroke. “At the NAB strategy update in March, I indicated private wealth was a business with significant upside and JBWere adds to our capability and brands in that area,” Mr Clyne said.
Cyclopharm Limited (CYC) is pleased to announce it has entered into a Joint Venture with Alfred Health Solutions (AHS) to provide medical imaging services to Macquarie University Hospital (MUH). This strategic initiative represents a rare opportunity to provide a fully aligned and integrated diagnostic, therapeutic and research platform at Macquarie University Hospital. The alliance also represents a key milestone in Cyclopharm’s mission to continue to develop solutions that improve patient care outcomes. The Joint Venture will provide patient’s at the new hospital and neighbouring suburbs access to state of the art imaging facilities including Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning. PET is clinically proven to better identify the location and extent of certain active cancer cells in the body and is the fastest growing nuclear medicine diagnostic imaging modality in the world.
MUH is a $180 million development that will establish a major medical precinct within the Macquarie University Research Park to complement the Australian School of Advanced Medicine (ASAM). ASAM offers advanced training for doctors, in surgery and medical research and brings together world class clinicians, researchers and medical educators to create an innovative training program with a focus on future trends in medicine. AHS and its partner Alfred Medical Imaging are an outstanding collection of dedicated radiology and nuclear medicine specialists. Alfred Medical Imaging have experience in neurological, musculoskeletal, interventional, gastroenterological, respiratory and endocrine disorders and specialise in modern imaging techniques such as vascular Computed Tomography (CT) of the brain, heart and lower limbs. Cyclopharm’s facilities at MUH represent the first commercial radiopharmaceutical production centre to be located within a hospital in Australia. The site will house a cyclotron and a commercial isotope production facility. The facility will focus on the manufacture and development of a number of injectable radiopharmaceuticals used in PET scanning.
Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) today signed an agreement with Leighton Contractors (LEI) to create the Upper Hunter Valley Alliance which will deliver a $152 million program of works on the Hunter Valley Rail corridor. The program incorporates two works packages designed to increase the coal carrying capacity of the Hunter Valley Rail network. In alliance with ARTC, Leighton Contractors will be commissioned to undertake all civil and track works in accordance with the ARTC 2009 – 2018 Hunter Valley Corridor Capacity Strategy from Singleton to Mus wellbrook (Upper Hunter 1) and Muswellbrook to Werris Creek (Upper Hunter 2). Leighton Contractors will be supported by sub-alliance partners Parsons Brinckerhoff, Coffey Geotechnics and KMH Environmental.
ARTC CEO David Marchant explained that the ongoing upgrade of the Hunter Valley rail corridor is essential if the network is to keep pace with increasing demand for c oal from the region. “Demand for Hunter Valley coal is set to grow exponentially by 2012. The program of works to be undertaken by ARTC and Leighton Contractors is part of ARTC’s strategy to maintain the Hunter Valley rail network ahead of future market demands,” Mr Marchant said. “ARTC is work ing with the Hunter Valley coal industry and the Australian Government to ensure that rail ‘steps up to the plate’ and delivers an efficient connec tion between the Gunnedah Basin and the Newcastle ports. Leighton Contractors General Manager NSW/ACT, Mike Metcalfe, said the announcement reflected the company’s ability to provide comprehensive rail and civil infrastructure solutions to major customers, such as ARTC. “This program is pivotal for the future success of the Hunter Valley and Leighton Contractors is ready to deliver the works efficiently and effectively,” Mr Metcalfe said.
Leighton Contractors is one of Australia’s leading contracting and project development groups with over $9.6 billion work in hand, employing more than 9,000 people across Australia and New Zealand. The company services clients across a range of industries and sectors including resources, construction, telecommunications, energy, infrastructure and facility management.
