Insights

Buying in resources buoys local market, volumes below average ahead of budget.

Ramsay has hired Lazard, the first time it has hired the investment bank, to help it acquire Generale de Sante, a French health care provider.

The $1.4bn bid for PanAust by state-owned Guangdong Rising signals China's confidence in its own economic outlook and a conviction it can shift that economy's emphasis towards consumption.

Guangdong Rising has offered $2.30 cash per share for mining exploration company PanAust.

BSkyB's plans to consolidate 21st Century Fox's pay-TV businesses in Germany and Italy make commercial and strategic sense for Rupert Murdoch, who has seen the benefits of a purer play.

The International Energy Agency has admitted they badly underestimated solar PV's potential and now foresee the potential for solar to be the biggest source of power by 2040. But based on current trends we're bound for 6 degree temperature rise with coal remaining the king.

Analyses across 189 countries illustrates that life satisfaction is weakly linked to wealth once per capita GDP goes beyond $10,000 per capita. Given this, why pursue economic growth without regard to its potential impacts on future generations' safety and well being?

Family business boards are lagging behind their non-family counterparts according to research out of Harvard. The news is worst when it comes to finding and keeping fresh talent.

In Guangdong, the carbon market is proving a key battleground in China's green versus growth dispute with non-participants callling it 'unfair' and 'too costly'.

Politicians have no reason to commit election suicide by addressing real tax reform, which is why this serious issue should be taken out of their hands. A new and external approach is needed.

West Antarctica Ice Sheet has 'passed the point of no return', studies find, meaning scientists must now revise sea level rise estimates upwards.

During the global financial crisis, the ALP implored Australians to consider its stimulus packages in light of the national interest. Joe Hockey's budget cuts are likely to elicit a cooler response.

We now know ARENA's future is bleak, but a clause in its standard contracts provides the government with the power to also abandon already underway and funded projects. This could leave developers stranded with half-finished projects and big debts if they didn't make sure this clause was removed.

The budget will give road projects a handy boost but as congestion continues to escalate, solutions are needed to ensure that new roads are leading us somewhere instead of nowhere.

Investment bank says mining sector has turned corner, tips Rio as market outperformer.

Reduced demand weighs on NPAT but group expects improved result for full year.