Leighton’s Wal King: ‘I was a lame duck CEO’
Exclusive | Former Leighton Holdings chief Wal King said he had become ostracised within the construction company to the point of being “somewhat of a lame duck” CEO when the company is alleged to have paid a $42 million bribe to win a major project in Iraq.
Equities rally to be tested by data, earnings
Before the Bell | The rally in global equities, triggered by the US avoiding a debt default, will be tested by a raft of data and corporate earnings this week ■ Residential land data Monday ■ SPI up 22 points ■ $A at US96.64¢
Tax Office targets rich in audit offensive
Almost 20 per cent of Australia’s wealthiest people will be audited by the Australian Taxation Office this year, as the Abbott government looks for unpaid taxes in its bid to return the federal budget to surplus.
Fears NSW fire fronts could merge
Updated | Firefighters across NSW are again preparing for worsening conditions with high temperatures and hot, dry winds forecast to sweep the state, following the declaration of a state of emergency on Sunday.
Quadrant revs up Burson Auto for $450 million IPO
The rush to the public markets continues apace with Quadrant Private Equity the latest to line up an initial public offering, this time plotting the $450 million float of Burson Auto Parts.
State economies expected to lift: CommSec
Western Australia remains the top performer but the fortunes of all the states and territories are expected to improve following the election of a new federal government, according to CommSec.
Why Europe is a key economic risk
The truce in the United States’ debt ceiling crisis is gives economists time to worry about all the other potential sources of a global economic crisis.
Republicans seek to lay blame and unite after shutdown
Weakened and divided after a bruising budget standoff and the 16-day US government shutdown, Republicans have been bickering over who to blame for the resulting damage to their party brand.
Westfield helps bring LAX into 21st century
Shopping mall giant Westfield has spent $US79.8 million putting in place the dining and non-duty free retail options at Tom Bradley International Terminal as part of airport LAX’s $US1.9 billion upgrade.
Coalition may relax Huawei NBN ban
The Abbott government could relax the ban on equipment from Huawei being used on the national broadband network even if security concerns over the Chinese company are not fully allayed.
Signatures to go in payments shake-up
A seismic shift will occur in the payments world in Australia from July next year: your signature will disappear.
Wealthy win from housing policy
Negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts are inflating house prices, favouring investors and locking first-home buyers out of the market.
Money in the blood: NovaPort’s Currie follows family footsteps to success
In its first three years, NovaPort’s Wholesale Smaller Companies Fund has returned 18.2 per cent a year, compared to a loss of 2.6 per cent a year in the Small Ords.
Goldman wins contract to sell FKP-managed stake in Metlifecare
--90x60.jpg)
Goldman Sachs has snared a lucrative contract to sell the FKP-managed Retirement Villages Group’s $190 million stake in the New Zealand listed Metlifecare.
Airbnb effect: tourists shun hotels for private stays
More than 30,000 tourists stayed in private homes this year, in a trend that puts home owners in conflict with commercial tourism operators.
Local online betting brands win reprieve
Exclusive | Global wagering giant William Hill has reversed its Australian strategy and is set to keep its local Sportingbet and Centrebet brands.
Home auction clearance rate dips to 71.6pc
Auction clearance rates in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra were lower at the weekend.
FutureLearn offers first online course
FutureLearn a new British MOOC offering large-scale, free learning online has gone live, competing with US companies edX and Coursera.
Sitting ovation for timeless design
Everyone deserves a good chair. With more than a nod to modernism, architects John Henry, Brian Steendyk and Sam Marshall and designer Richard Peters choose their favourites.
Ken Phillips: The warrior for the little guy
Catholic-schooled ex-teacher Ken Phillips knows what it’s like to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Now he’s parlayed his way into a position of political influence.
99designs headed for Asian expansion
Online graphic design marketplace 99designs is preparing to launch in Asia, the company’s chief executive Patrick Llewellyn has revealed.
Gucci in $US144m counterfeiting win
Global fashion empire Gucci has been awarded $US144.2 million in damages from online sellers of counterfeit merchandise.
Cheap eats: Pork bun on Michelin menu
Mak Kwai Pui started with one 15-seater restaurant, but when queues were hours long, word got around.
National
Fears NSW fire fronts could merge
Updated | Firefighters across NSW are again preparing for worsening conditions with high temperatures and hot, dry winds forecast to sweep the state, following the declaration of a state of emergency on Sunday.
- State economies expected to lift: CommSec
- Coalition may relax Huawei NBN ban
- Greens attack Coalition’s ‘one-stop’ environmental approvals
- Wealthy win from housing policy
- Government moves on financial audit, MRRT
- Leighton’s Wal King: ‘I was a lame duck CEO’
- Home auction clearance rate dips to 71.6pc
- Tax Office targets rich in audit offensive
- NAB pressed by Anchorage to sell farm debt: report
Rosecorp’s Wallarah House in ruins
A newly-listed historic homestead belonging to property developers Bob and Margaret Rose and family-owned developer Rosecorp, has been destroyed in fires sweeping Catherine Hill Bay on the NSW’s central coast.
Opinion
Growing risk that homes are only for the haves
In the 1970s home ownership rates were very similar in all household income categories, but that is no longer the case. Today there are 25 per cent more homeowners in the top income quintile than there are in the bottom.
Education needed to make most of agriculture’s big chance
This should be Australian agriculture’s moment. After all, global food demand is forecast to increase 60 per cent by 2050, with 70 per cent of that rise in Asia.
Lesser known universities miss out on philanthropy
Opinion | In 2011, the latest year for which official statistics are available, total university revenue was $23.7 billion and, of that, $366 million was from donations and bequests. In other words 1.5 per cent of income was from philanthropic giving.
World
Tapering talk tips March move
US policymakers will pare the monthly pace of asset buying to $US70 billion from $US85 billion at their March 18-19 meeting, according to the median of 40 responses in a Bloomberg survey of economists after the government shutdown slowed fourth-quarter growth.
- US housing finance agency seeks $US6bn from BoA: report
- JPMorgan nears record $US13bn deal with US authorities
- Fugitive UBS exec arrested in Italy
- Republicans seek to lay blame and unite after shutdown
- Bribes, not brains, all it takes to get into top Chinese schools
- Questions linger over Shanghai free trade reforms
- Taxpayer sold short in Royal Mail flotation
- Silvio Berlusconi’s ban from holding office reduced
Authors accept censorship as the price of sales in China
Chinese readers of Ezra Vogel’s sprawling biography of China’s reformist leader Deng Xiaoping may have missed a few details that appeared in the original English edition.
Business
Leighton’s Wal King: ‘I was a lame duck CEO’
Exclusive | Former Leighton Holdings chief Wal King said he had become ostracised within the construction company to the point of being “somewhat of a lame duck” CEO when the company is alleged to have paid a $42 million bribe to win a major project in Iraq.
- Allan Gray attacks pay at Newcrest
- Bega mulls increased Warrnambool bid
- Westfield helps bring LAX into 21st century
- BlueScope goes green in China
- NAB pressed by Anchorage to sell farm debt: report
- AGL, Shenhua vie for MacGen plants
- Heated clash fuels gas debate
- Banks in the firing line of angry customers in Senate inquiry
The end of the affair: Woolworths retracts its bid for Hong Kong’s ParknShop
All takeover bids come to an end but it’s disappointing when a promising one doesn’t get off the ground.
Technology
FutureLearn offers first online course
FutureLearn a new British MOOC offering large-scale, free learning online has gone live, competing with US companies edX and Coursera.
- NBN Co calls in Telstra’s Milne
- To Catch Up, Walmart Moves to Amazon Turf
- Google surges through $US1000 as mobile pays off
- This is war (for an industry’s soul)
- Apple loses some of its magic touch with iOS 7
- Scramble seen for Apple’s latest iPad mini
- Optus says ‘yes’ to $8.8m refund to customers
- Lenovo to run ruler over BlackBerry’s books
Twitter’s non-active account holders dog IPO
About 36 per cent of people who have joined Twitter say they do not use it, a percentage that could become significant as the company marches toward its IPO.
Markets
Equities rally to be tested by data, earnings
Before the Bell | The rally in global equities, triggered by the US avoiding a debt default, will be tested by a raft of data and corporate earnings this week ■ Residential land data Monday ■ SPI up 22 points ■ $A at US96.64¢
- More buoyant $A, sharemarket gains tipped
- Why Europe is a key economic risk
- Freelancer’s float at eye-popping valuation
- Quadrant revs up Burson Auto for $450 million IPO
- Money in the blood: NovaPort’s Currie follows family footsteps to success
- Nobel winner Shiller warns US on debt crash
- Increased competition from Virgin squeezes return on Qantas fares
- Low inflation leaves RBA with leeway for later cuts
- Baillieu Holst posts small profit after integration
Another side-effect of the Fed’s stimulus: too few bonds
As investors respond positively to the lifting of the threat of a United States debt crisis, attention has quickly turned to the other Washington institution which has had a significant bearing on markets in recent times.
Personal finance
Wealthy win from housing policy
Negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts are inflating house prices, favouring investors and locking first-home buyers out of the market.
- Home auction clearance rate dips to 71.6pc
- Housing dearth frustrates buyers
- Defence Housing rises to the top of Hockey’s IPO list
- Tax Office targets rich in audit offensive
- Tapering talk tips March move
- $80bn man sticks to the fundamentals
- Boom of doom as well-heeled downsize homes
- How to turn capital into retirement income
- Low returns are the future
Signatures to go in latest payments shake-up
A seismic shift will occur in the payments world in Australia from July next year: your signature will disappear.
Lifestyle
To sleep, perchance to dream at 38,000 feet
Most of us have wrapped a pillow around our neck on a long-haul flight to no avail.
Ski trip on the lake of the sky
California’s Tahoe ski region is every bit as enticing as Colorado’s – minus the Australians.
Cityscapes braced for change
As controversy over Barangaroo continues, the question is whether good architecture needs to be beautiful.
Networked distribution is the future of food
Every Thursday, city types and local residents wander in to a Melbourne cafe to collect large boxes of fruit and vegetables.
Latest TV
Cheese wars
Bega Cheese is considering raising its bid for Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory as it battles Murray Goulburn and Canada’s Saputo for control of the nation’s fourth largest milk processor.
Defence Housing eyed for privatisation
Exactly what public asset Treasurer Joe Hockey might privatise to shore up the federal budget has been a hot topic, with Defence Housing Australia now tipped to go on the block.
Boral’s new play
Boral chief executive Mike Kane talks to Financial Review Companies & Markets editor Nabila Ahmed about the Australian housing recovery and the outlook for the company in Asia.
RBA’s Stevens worries over dollar
Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens says he’d like to see a lower Australian dollar.
