Never popular with infrastructure owners (who’d have thought?), the very principles of the competiton policy have come under sustained attack in recent years, writes Bernard Keane.
BHP Billiton
Kohler: Chinalco’s default position
If the Chinese aluminium firm wants genuinely to compete with the BHP bid for Rio Tinto, it would have to offer all cash, and probably about $US200 billion of it, writes Alan Kohler.
Three cheers for Queensland’s coal royalty slug
Whilst no-one likes tax rises, Wayne Swan and Anna Bligh should be congratulated for together slugging the North West Shelf and Queensland coal miners with a $1.1 billion tax rise for 2008-09, writes Stephen Mayne.
Don Argus’s China syndrome melt down
BHP-Billiton chairman Don Argus is getting close to hysterical xenophobia with his warnings about China Inc, writes Stephen Mayne.
Morning Market Report
The highlights and lowlights of this morning’s sharemarket activity.
Blogwatch: the BHP goes to Rio edition
Rio says not yet … Would Rio really be better off? … Banks help BHP out in time of need.
BHP goes hostile on Rio with crafty all-scrip bid
The BHP-Billiton board has ignored Chinese concern and passionate pleas for restraint and gone ahead with its hostile takeover bid for Rio Tinto, writes Stephen Mayne.
Market down again, worst losing streak in 26 years
More blood on the laptop and LCD screens this morning in trading rooms and offices around the country as the market shed another 80 points in its worst losing streak for 26 years, writes Glenn Dyer.
Australian market plunges into uncharted territory
The Australian stockmarket is in uncharted waters today after falling for the 10th consecutive day, something that seems to have never happened before, writes Glenn Dyer.
Morning Market Report
The highlights and lowlights of this morning’s sharemarket activity.
Stephen Mayne’s boardroom dreaming
The December issue of The AFR Magazine has sparked plenty of debate by naming a so-called “Dream Team” board. BHP-Billiton chairman Don Argus is pictured on the cover as our best chairman and then nine other directors are listed. Only two of them make my top 10 directors.
Rudd’s Rio test
Kevin Rudd and the new Labor Government have just received a big nudge from China about the BHP Billiton move for Rio Tinto.
Tips and rumours
The rumour out Bennelong way is that the Exclusive Brethren have given their members special permission to vote at this election. Might at the very least help John Howard’s salvation locally.
In contrast to the experiences of other ex-pats regarding absentee voting, the High Commission in Wellington New Zealand were well prepared and I voted […]
Chilean quake gives BHP the shakes
We had a stark reminder today of just how vulnerable BHP Billiton is to events beyond its control… like earthquakes, writes Glenn Dyer.
Uh oh … Is China heading for a crunch?
The Chinese economy is overheating, threatening the huge resources expansion here in Australia, as well as the immediate future of BHP Billiton’s ambitions for Rio Tinto, writes Glenn Dyer.
Trujillo’s million’s just don’t measure up to performance
The AFR’s very detailed Salary Review 2007 was published yesterday and it makes for interesting reading. Sadly, it is again Telstra boss, Sol Trujillo, who captures the eye, writes Adam Schwab.
$A and commodities down on US fears
Gathering fears that the second round of the subprime mortgage crisis will prove deeper and nastier than the first. is driving the sell off of high yield currencies, like the Aussie and NZ dollars, and commodities, writes Glenn Dyer.
More gloom in world markets: should BHP wait a bit?
The Financial Times summed up the mood nicely in a headline on its website on the weekend: “Gloom envelopes world markets.” And there’s more to come, despite the BHP Billiton stalking of Rio Tinto, writes Glenn Dyer.
Can BHP defy the market gloom?
How desperate is BHP Billiton to get its Rio Tinto bid up? There was a flood of leaks and tips from the BHP camp to weekend papers in London about all sorts of deals and moves. Glenn Dyer reports.
Morning Market Report
The highlights and lowlights of this morning’s sharemarket activity.
Rio takeover is great for Australia
Analysts are already estimating synergies of up to $5 billion from a BHP-Rio merger and plenty of those would come from closing Rio Tinto’s extravagant London head office and running the entire $500 billion empire out of BHP-Billiton’s Lonsdale Street head office in Melbourne, writes Stephen Mayne.
BHP tempting fate with Rio tilt
BHP Billiton is already the biggest mining company in the world, is there any value in it getting bigger? asks Glenn Dyer.
Kohler: What a beautiful, impossible, merger it would be
That BHP is going for Rio Tinto is, in some ways, a sign of desperation … but, oh my, what a beautiful merger it would be, writes Alan Kohler.
