While US authorities have taken legal action against failed companies, ASIC, Australia’s so-called corporate watchdog, has laid no criminal charges and only a smattering of civil actions against the villains of the GFC.
Babcock and Brown
ASIC slow off the mark to act on collapsed companies
It appears that ASIC is almost frozen in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Former Babcock chief: short-sellers responsible for fall of company
One of Crikey’s all-time favourite corporate directors, Elizabeth Nosworthy, fronted the Babcock & Brown liquidators hearing in Sydney’s Federal Court yesterday and remained steadfast in her own abilities.
Somber outlook as Macquarie share price continues to founder
The so-called global economic recovery doesn’t seem to be rubbing off on Macquarie Group.
Babcock hearing misses the point: look at the execs
While the Babcock & Brown circus continues in the Sydney Federal Court, business commentators seem to be missing the point.
Green denies ‘optimistic profits’ at Babcock & Brown
Phil Green is having his day in court. Well not really. Yesterday was actually the first day of a public examination of Babcock & Brown by the company’s liquidators.
Shareholder unrest leads to call to oust Everest board
The largest shareholder in Everest, Wingate Financial Services, recently sent a letter to other Everest shareholders encouraging them to vote against the incumbent directors.
Business As Usual: Paper cuts in US and good news and bad for Murdoch … Hockey just doesn’t get it …
US newspapers are feeling the pinch as circulations continue to drop, Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott launch predictable responses to the government’s wholesale changes to the business of financial advice and other business news.
Proxy advisers need to draw the lean, er line, somewhere
The attacks on proxy advisers stepped up once more last week after two corporate partners from law-firm Mallesons penned an op-ed piece in the Financial Review.
The rise of proxy advisers sparks interesting debate
The notion that boards have no incentive to overpay executives or that remuneration consultants are “independent” makes Alice in Wonderland look like a piece of non-fiction.
Residential property: bubble, bubble, toil and trouble
Property is a slowly moving beast, but as Japanese and American home owners found it, is can be quite a terrifying one as well.
John Durie’s extraordinary Alinta takeover gaffe
It’s a bit rich to attack CEOs for massaging the numbers and then get them so wrong yourself, as John Durie did today about the Alinta takeover in his analysis of the excessive payout to departing Lihir Gold CEO Arthur Hood in The Oz.
Macquarie Airports’ mid-air collision
Looking at the gruesome scene evolving at Macquarie Airports Group is not altogether different from driving past a multi-car pile up, with the unit holders playing the crash victim roles.
APRA squibs it on executive pay
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has drastically watered down its executive pay guidelines, so financial executives can once again rest easy.
Fourteen more join the billion dollar loss club
The numbers are in and it’s now official: 2008-09 was the worst profit season in Australian history. Who would have ever thought 14 different companies could lose more than $1 billion in a single financial year?
Sean Howard’s dawn raid sent Lend Lease packing
At 6am on Wednesday, Sean Howard arrived at the Melbourne retirement village he owns with Trevor Kennedy … Alan Kohler takes up the tale.
How Matthew Perrin wiped out in China
The former head of surf brand Billabong, Matthew Perrin, had grand dreams of expanding his wealth and business interests in China, but found himself up the… creek, without a paddle.
Crikey roll call: the GFC’s corporate casualties
Two years on and the global financial crisis has claimed two major scalps — corporate managers and equity investors.
Morning Market Report: Market & Dow up, Babcock & Brown news
Marcus Padley reports on the highs and lows of today’s markets.
Babcock & Brown political donations will be missed
When the helium-driven investment bank Babcock & Brown collapsed into the arms of the administrator last Friday, the major political parties lowered their flags to half mast, writes Alex Mitchell.
Record 52 companies join the $100m loss club
The 2008 interim profit season officially finished at close of business on Friday but quite a few late-comers are still dribbling out losses, writes Stephen Mayne.
Could we get forty losses exceeding $100m declared for the month?
Our list of every Australian public company that has ever announced a net loss of more than $100 million shows that we had a record 29 entries in 2007-08, writes Stephern Mayne.
Babcock knocking on heaven’s door
Babcock and Brown — once a strapping, cocksure investment bank — has been reduced to a withered wreck, writes Adam Schwab.
Green and Groves: the gap between rhetoric and the real economy
If we’ve learnt anything from the spate of corporate collapses this year, it’s that rhetoric and the real economy can be poles apart, writes Andrew Crook.
