BREAKFAST DEALS: Clive Peeters bargains

The collapse of whitegoods and electrical appliance retailer Clive Peeters could present opportunities for rivals Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi.

Clive Peeters

The collapse of whitegoods and electrical appliance retailer Clive Peeters could present opportunities for rivals Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi, according to The Australian Financial Review, with administrator McGrathNichol tipped to embark on a store sell-off. Meanwhile, Western Australia businessman Rick Hart – who sold his eponymous retail business into the business in 2005 and until November last year sat on the Clive Peeters board – has declined to comment on whether he could be interested in buying back his business, according to The West Australian. While last year's alleged $20 million employee fraud case and recent weak margins and consumer confidence served to damage the business, the Sydney Morning Herald says the collapse of a mooted share issue to two unnamed parties this week was the final straw for Clive Peeters.

ANZ Banking Group

Across to banking, and ANZ Banking Group has been tipped to emerge with a majority stake in Indonesian lender PT Bank Panin. Bank Panin's core shareholder, the Gunawan family, has reportedly hired UBS for an auction of its 46 per cent stake – leaving ANZ in pole position, given its existing 38 per cent stake, surplus capital and the importance of Indonesia in its oft-discussed Asian expansion plans. Sources have told Reuters the sale, which is expected to bring in about $1.66 billion, has been in the works for some time and will likely attract Chinese interest. But an ANZ spokesman was tight-lipped, saying only the lender had a "long-term strategic partnership” with PT Bank Panin. ANZ has already expressed interest in a majority stake in Korea Exchange Bank, with chief Mike Smith saying at the end of April the lender would be "remiss” not to take a look. The 51 per cent stake owned by US private equity fund Lone Star has been valued at $US4 billion.

Fortescue Metals Group

The prospect of 30,000 jobs at risk isn't something any government wants to stomach, but such is the fire in Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest's belly over the government's proposed resources super profits tax. The billionaire head of iron ore player Fortescue Metals says $17 billion worth of project expansions – at Solomon project and Western Hub – have been put on hold as a result of the resources rent tax. He has also tipped that more Australian assets could fall into foreign ownership because not only will local owners no longer be able to find relevant financing, but international firms will be encouraged by the prospect of a 40 per cent charge to taxpayers on loss-making projects. Without going into detail, Forrest said Fortescue had already received two approaches, warning that the government of China will become the only source of revenue for the mining industry should Australian companies lose their ability to obtain financing deals. Fortescue, which knocked back an offer of some $US6 billion in debt financing from China last year, last month said it was considering tapping global capital markets and mulling a sell-down of its magnetite iron ore projects to help fund the developments of its Solomon deposit. Reuters reported executive Russell Scrimshaw saying in April that there were a "number of Chinese parties very interested in participating in magnetite projects with FMG.”

BHP Billiton, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan

There is a "certain logic” to BHP Billiton buying a potash producer rather than developing its own supply, according to Canada's Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, long considered a takeover target for the world's biggest miner. Potash Corp chief Bill Doyle declined to comment on whether the company had been approached by the world's biggest miner, saying only that whoever chose to make a play for the company would need to pay some serious money. BHP – which bought Athabasca Potash Inc. in March and is tipped to make a decision on its multi-billion-dollar Jansen project in the Canadian province by next year – might struggle to become a key player in the sector any time soon, he suggests, given it takes seven years to bring a potash mine to full production. "Time is the biggest barrier to entry in the potash business, no matter who you are,” Bloomberg quotes Doyle as saying. Canada's relatively attractively company tax rate (23 per cent vs. a 57 per cent rate proposed under the RSPT) would also boost the attractiveness of further Canadian investment.

7-Eleven, ExxonMobil, Caltex

US oil giant Exxon Mobil hasn't cried too long about the collapse of its deal to sell 300 of its stores for $302 million to Caltex, which was stymied by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission late last year. According to The Australian, Exxon has struck a deal with convenience store giant 7-Eleven, with an announcement expected shortly. Exxon Mobil Australia chairman John Dashwood said this week that the company was "not in the business of being a shop."

Wrapping up

Petronas has flagged further purchases in Australian liquefied natural gas projects, with its Australian chief Majid Khalil saying the Malaysian company is looking for opportunities to expand, according to Bloomberg. Petronas holds a 40 per cent stake in the Gladstone LNG project in Queensland; its partner, local oil and gas company Santos, has been looking to sell down part of its stake. Santos managing director David Knox is confident an announcement will be struck, but says the process had complicated by the resources rent tax. Elsewhere, private equity giant Blackstone Group is tipped to open an Australian office in four months, while the newly appointed head of CUB at Foster's, John Pollaers, has told The Australian Financial Review of his hopes of leading the Melbourne-based brewing giant one day.