Mayfair boss Mawhinney run down at last
Fixed income fund spruiker James Mawhinney has played a cat-and-mouse game with the regulator for nearly five years. Now he’s been banned from fundraising or marketing financial products for two decades.
- Analysis
- Investing
Value is back, but for how long?
The pandemic has offered value stocks, such as banks, a rare opportunity for strong earnings growth, and value fund managers are storming ahead.
Lithium boom 2.0 drives $4b merger, supply push
This year’s lithium price boom will prove more durable than the last and can withstand an acceleration of new lithium supply, according to the two Australian listed companies that struck a $4 billion battery minerals merger on Monday.
- Live
- Need to Know
Revamped vaccine rollout could speed up jabs for over-50s
Australians aged over 50 could receive their vaccines by the middle of the year after changes agreed at national cabinet. Follow updates here.
- Opinion
- Tech crackdown
What do we do when Google does evil things?
The ACCC’s win showed that even turning off location history isn’t enough to tell Google not to keep a history of your location, writes John Davidson.
Calls to reform the tax system to end ‘stopgap measures’
The Coalition won’t further extend temporary personal income tax cuts for 10 million low- and middle-income workers, prompting calls for major reforms to the taxation system to end ‘stopgap measures’.
Solomon Lew’s Just Group sued over unpaid rent
In what could be the first of many legal battles between retailers and landlords, an investment company is suing Solomon Lew’s Just Group over unpaid rent.
The untold story of how two university friends hatched the perfect crime only to be undone by the desire for more.
Companies
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
ASIC worked hard for Mawhinney’s scalp
When a Federal Court judge banned Mayfair 101 founder James Mawhinney for 20 years, the court exposed his brazen efforts to bypass consumer protection laws and take advantage of the ‘sophisticated investor’ loophole.
Oaktree offers Packer an exit, takes on Blackstone
The global investment giant has offered up to $3 billion, on behalf of another company, for James Packer’s 37 per cent stake in embattled Crown Resorts.
- Updated
- Investing
Mawhinney had to be stopped ‘to protect public’, judge says
With almost $210m frozen in investor funds, a court has found the founder of Mayfair engaged in “reprehensible” conduct.
Maritime Super says it’s still up for a merger
Maritime Super has hit back at claims it will be left little more than a shell company following an investment outsourcing deal with Hostplus, and is still on the hunt for merger opportunities.
Why Rex’s Canberra check-in is good for the ACT economy
The regional air carrier says its new flights between Sydney and Canberra will generate $191 million of economic activity in the capital over the next 20 years.
Tilt snags a better takeover offer, ends bidding war
Tilt Renewables has locked in a more lucrative and final takeover deal at $NZ8.10.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Oaktree offer gives Crown a second big suitor
Oaktree’s offer to help Crown Resorts fund a buyout of James Packer shows a second global giant is prepared to bet the casino company will come through its current storm.
Markets
ASX edges to fresh 13-month high; tech stocks suffer
The Australian sharemarket closed slightly higher; Oaktree to fund $3b Packer exit from Crown; QIC, AGL Energy heat up bidding war for Tilt; Medibank appoints new CEO; Centuria to merge with Primewest; Orocobre, Galaxy agree to $4b merger. Follow the latest here.
NAB, Perpetual urge RBA to pursue digital currency
NAB and Perpetual executives said an RBA pilot to test the viability of a central bank-issued digital currency points to a future of ‘programmable money’.
Bitcoin’s 15pc price plunge linked to regulatory tightening
Regulators may add more rules for crypto around cross-border transaction reporting, threshold transaction reporting, suspicious transaction reporting, and know-your-client obligations.
Forager outpaces rival funds in roaring value rebound
A value portfolio from Forager Funds performed better than any other over the past year, propelled by the rebound in share prices from the pandemic lows.
- Opinion
- Cryptocurrencies
Why the Coinbase listing is bad news for bitcoin believers
While the IPO might validate the importance of cryptocurrencies as a speculative asset, it’s a noteworthy irony that so-called bitcoin maximalists also consider the platform a brazen sellout.
Opinion
Stagflation is a growing threat to the global economy
Over the next few years, loose monetary and fiscal policies will start to trigger persistent inflationary, and eventually stagflationary, pressure. In due course we could even witness the return of 1970s-style malaise.
Contributor
Ready for a boom in green manufacturing
Labor will spend $35 billion turning Australia into a renewable energy superpower with a modernised grid powering new industries.
Contributor
Why APRA’s naming and shaming will worsen super fund returns
The regulator’s plan to single out underperformers will lead to risk-averse investment decisions, mediocre performance and weaker economic growth.
Contributor
Urban exodus of upsizers shifts property demand
The pull of the city centre has been weakened. Spreading out has big implications for property prices, public transport and taxes.
Contributor
ASIC probing long wait for insurance payouts
Only a few small businesses have lodged claims for coverage they paid for – and the way it has been handled by the sector is only part of the problem.
Investigative journalist and columnist
Drop border spin, pull out vaccine stops
By lagging in the vaccine race, Australia risks being left behind and relinquishing its world-leading position in managing the pandemic.
Editorial
Politics
Revamped vaccine rollout could speed up jabs for over-50s
National cabinet has begun twice-weekly meetings, part of a ‘big reset’ for the struggling vaccination effort.
Australia risks becoming roadkill on climate: McKibbin
Describing China’s ambition to move away from a reliance on fossil fuels as ‘serious’, climate change policy adviser Warwick McKibbin says Canberra should lift its game or be left behind.
NSW Health won’t say if hotel quarantine staff have been vaccinated
Investigators have so far found no new cases after a family in quarantine somehow infected another family staying in the same hotel.
States to decide if travellers can quarantine at home, PM says
Vaccinated travellers may only need to spend a few days isolating at home compared with 14 days in hotel quarantine.
AFP undertook Leppington Triangle raids
Federal Police conducted dawn raids on the Canberra home of a senior public servant as part of an investigation into possible corruption.
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World
- Analysis
- Climate policy
China must wean itself off coal to meet climate goal
A US-China co-operation pledge on the environment has reaffirmed faith in Xi Jinping’s 2060 carbon neutrality target, but reducing the country’s reliance on coal remains a hurdle.
Global virus cases hit weekly record despite vaccinations
The data from Johns Hopkins University showing a 12 per cent increase in infections from a week earlier casts doubt on the hope that the end of the pandemic is in sight.
England’s ‘big six’ face expulsion from Premier League
Top soccer teams, including Manchester United, have joined with leading clubs in Europe for a new competition that would in effect replace the Champions League.
Gas is the new coal, with risk of $135b in stranded assets
As the falling cost of renewables makes the fossil fuel less competitive, some executives report a struggle to sell facilities fired by it.
Tesla with ‘no one’ driving crashes, killing two passengers
One victim was found in the front passenger seat of the 2019 Model S and the other was in the rear, Texas police said.
Property
New home sales nearly double in March
New home sales surged by more than 90 per cent in March as buyers scrambled to access the last and final phase of the HomeBuilder grant.
Rental markets more challenging than expected: Mirvac
Mirvac is on track to fully lease its first build-to-rent development in Sydney’s Olympic Park, but admits it has been a more challenging rental market than expected.
Daily Needs launches $265m raising for retail hubs deal
The property trust is acquiring seven retail centres from its parent, which is itself transforming into a broader funds management operation.
GPT forecasts increased earnings and distributions through 2021
The diversified property company is predicting an 8 per cent increase in earnings this year and says confidence is up across retail, industrial and office.
The secret to keeping cool in a property bidding war
The battle between two buyer’s agents for a prime, north-facing apartment in Melbourne’s Hawthorn shows how tactics can work in a hot market.
Wealth
- Opinion
- Shares
Telstra shareholder suffering might be over
Though the telecoms leader has been a serial underperformer over the past five years, its four-way split this year may help investors reconsider.
- Investigation
- Sharemarket
Big wheels keep on turning for the auto industry
How proactive investors can look beyond the well-known names to identify businesses that have benefited from the rebound but have capacity for more growth.
Investors defy tougher lending conditions to bid in hot market
Agents claim investors are surging back despite higher borrowing rates and even quarantine.
Technology
- Exclusive
- AI
Tech sector urges $250m budget cash splash on AI
The peak tech industry body has warned the government it has dramatically underinvested in programs to establish the country as a strong player in the artificial intelligence era.
- Exclusive
- Startups
How I became a tech entrepreneur at 50
Megan Avard’s son thought she was experiencing a mid-life crisis when she started her own business, but she has already won 16 per cent of Queensland’s local government as clients.
- Exclusive
- Funding
Automated property design start-up scores funds from Skip, AirTree
Property tech start-up Archistar is the result of almost two decades of work in the field of ‘generative design’ by Benjamin Coorey.
Work & Careers
- Exclusive
- International students
What pandemic? UQ’s foreign enrolments peak
The University of Queensland has enrolled a record number of international students in 2021, defying predictions that closed borders and negative messaging from the Chinese government would dampen demand.
- Exclusive
- Governance
Software company founder declares war on ‘toxic’ proxy firms
TechnologyOne founder and chairman Adrian Di Marco says influential proxy firms that advise shareholders on how to vote are an unelected and unaccountable scourge on corporate Australia.
Life & Luxury
- Explainer
- Coronavirus pandemic
What you need to know before you travel to NZ
For the first time in nearly 400 days, Australians and New Zealanders can travel freely between the two nations without needing a travel exemption or being required to quarantine. Here’s what you need to know.
Vaccinated travellers should avoid eating, drinking on planes
They should also avoid drinking, as being with maskless passengers does increase your risk of coronavirus exposure, despite the aircraft’s ventilation system.
Magic Millions, money laundering and a $4b crypto scam
The FBI is investigating the biggest investor in Australian horseracing over a scam that could have cost Australians $770 million, according to a former executive.
Mank: The drunken jester behind ‘the greatest movie ever made’
With this Oscar nominee, director David Fincher has made a glorious fable of Hollywood.
Lego heist thieves chase riches in bricks
There is serious money to be made from selling collectible editions of the Danish play things, and toy stores offer easy pickings for organised crime gangs.
