From Computershare to Macquarie, the time-honoured practice of dropping bad news when no-one is looking was on display again last Friday. So here’s what you may have missed…
Babcock and Brown 
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.
Auditors pocket millions while asleep on the job
Collapsing markets have shown once more that the multi-national firms paid millions of dollars to audit public companies financial statements have been asleep on the job, writes Adam Schwab.
Golden Circle finally falls to foreigners after B&B plunder
Iconic Queensland pineapple cannery and fruit juicer Golden Circle is finally being sold to a food multinational — Heinz, writes Michael Pascoe.
ASX complicity on the “Macquarie Model” under the pump
The ASX Guidance Note talks tough on future floats but this is largely irrelevant because the “Macquarie Model” is a dead parrot., writes Stephen Mayne.
Corporate come-uppances: How the mighty have fallen
With the long awaited collapse of the Babcock & Brown virtually all the charlatans have now fallen back to earth, with only Macquarie emerging, severely bruised but for the time being, still standing, writes Adam Schwab.
How much did the UBS cheerleaders make out of Babcock?
Swiss investment banking giant UBS has long been the preferred adviser to Babcock & Brown and they have pocketed well over $50 million in fees, writes Stephen Mayne.
Oz Minerals’ disgraceful ex gratia payment
While Phil Green and Babcock provided cover, Oz Minerals yesterday quietly announced one of the most disgraceful ex gratia payments ever seen by an ASX company, writes Adam Schwab.
The Green brothers: a tale of greed and envy
Only last year, Phil Green was worth more than $500 million. Now, he has been pushed from his role as CEO and his wealth is probably less than $50 million, subject to debt, writes Adam Schwab.
Nosworthy gets a promotion as Phil Green departs
Babcock & Brown stalwart Elizabeth Nosworthy has been promoted to chairperson of the struggling investment bank, writes Adam Schwab.
Babcock shuffles the deck chairs as shares plummet
Which suits play where doesn’t really matter too much when you’re dealing with $50 billion in debt and a crisis of investor confidence, writes Stephen Mayne.
Babcock flick passes new Children’s Hospital to tax haven
Babcock and Brown has sold its stake in Victoria’s new $1.1 billion Royal Children’s Hospital, the state’s biggest ever public private partnership, writes Stephen Mayne.
Babcock holds the line as debt-laden funds hit new lows
It seems bizarre for Babcock & Brown to have a $750 million net profit forecast when about half of this is expected to come from one deal. Stephen Mayne reports.
Briefly Business: MFS Octaviar, Craig McDermott, B&B
MFS/Octaviar has officially reached rock bottom … McDermott bowled out by cash woes … Babcock & Brown (B&B) is in the sights of US private equity … Get your own internet domain
