BREAKFAST DEALS: Rio relief

Rio Tinto can start fighting with Ivanhoe Mines again after the Mongolian government backed away from its push to renegotiate the Oyu Tolgoi agreement. More details of Gina Rinehart's court battle with her children are revealed, as three seek her removal as head of the family trust. Meanwhile, Fairfax Media has found a buyer for its regional radio assets, but 2UE and 3AW are still on the rack. Finally, former competition tsar Graeme Samuel settles one court feud and opens another, Woodside Petroleum's Peter Coleman has distinguished himself from predecessor Don Voelte in East Timor, and precisely who is going to control Foster's might be up in the air if the spike in SABMiller shares is anything to go by.

Rio Tinto, Ivanhoe Mines

It looks like Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines can get back to feuding exclusively with each other over the multi-billion dollar Mongolian Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project, now that their stake in it is secure. The Mongolian government has backed down from a recent push to renegotiate the deal signed with Ivanhoe in 2009 that gives the government a 34 per cent stake in the project, as well as an option to increase its share to 50 per cent in 30 years time. The Mongolians wanted to rework the agreement so they could gain a greater share of the $US10 billion project sooner. Rio publicly mused that the move from Ulan Bator could simply be chest-beating in the lead up to elections to be held next year and together with Ivanhoe bluntly rejected the suggestion. The 2009 agreement states that for a renegotiation to take place all parties would have to consent, once Rio and Ivanhoe made their intentions clear, the Mongolians had nowhere to go. The only way to get a bigger slice of Oyu Tolgoi would be to go above the agreement with creative legislation, but that would weaken Mongolia's credentials as a long-term destination for international investment. Now that the apparent threat to their common interests has been dealt with, there's nothing stopping the tensions between Rio and Ivanhoe re-emerging. Rio doesn't own a direct stake in Oyu Tolgoi but it is working as developer of the mine thanks to its 49 per cent stake in Ivanhoe. The two miners have crossed swords over details of the project, which is considered to be the largest untapped copper resource in the world (and will also be a formidable source of gold once it's up and running). It's expected by many that Rio will have a tilt at the rest of Ivanhoe, which has a current market cap of $US11.9 billion, to gain full control of Oyu Tolgoi, when restriction clauses expire in January.

Meanwhile, Rio looks set to catch some of the action from China Guangdong Nuclear Power, with reports that the company is poised to rekindle its bid for London-listed uranium miner Kalahari Minerals, which would then trigger a compulsory bid for Australian-listed uranium explorer Extract Resources. Just to recap, Rio owns 14.9 per cent of Kalahari, which was being courted by Guangdong in March with an offer of 290 pence per share, or 650 million pounds ($1.03 billion). However, the talks were derailed by the Japanese Fukushima nuclear disaster, and as China froze all planning approvals for nuclear power plants, the talks with Kalahari were dropped. But according to media reports, Guangdong is set to offer Kalahari 270 pence a share, a 14 per cent premium to its current trading price. And given Kalahari's large stake in Perth-based Extract (43 per cent), Australian takeover rules will require Guangdong to put a bid in for Extract if it wins Kalahari.

Gina Rinehart, Hancock Prospecting

The public battle over the late Lang Hancock's legacy looks set to enter a new chapter, with daughter Gina Rinehart's three eldest children – Hope Rinehart Welker, Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock – suing her in the NSW Supreme Court to have her removed as trustee of the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust. The late mining magnate set up the family trust, which covers about 25 per cent of the company he founded, Hancock Prospecting, for the benefit of his four grandchildren. Judge Paul Brereton rejected Rinehart's request to have the case dismissed and all details kept secret, adding that her overall control of the company won't be affected if she doesn't yield control over "every single share”. The youngest daughter Ginia Rinehart is siding with her mother, after claiming that she was wrongly named as a plaintiff in the case and is listed with the defence. The news rekindles memories of Rinehart's bitter courtroom battle with her stepmother Rose Porteous, Hancock's third wife. Last month, Hancock Prospecting secured a long-awaited $1.2 billion deal with Indian conglomerate GVK Power and Infrastructure over Rinehart's Alpha, Alpha West and Kevin's Corner projects after six months of talks.

Fairfax Media

Five months after Fairfax Media said its radio assets were up for grabs, its chief executive, Greg Hywood, has secured the sale of the media company's regional radio stations to the low-profile regional network Grant Broadcasters for an undisclosed sum. The deal, announced to the ASX on Friday evening, covers South Australia's 5CC, 5AU, 5CS, 5RM and Magic FM, and Queensland's 4BU, Hitz FM and Kix FM. According to the announcement, Grant Broadcasters should get control of the stations later this month and while the deal looks good for the family-owned regional operator, Fairfax is still waiting for a compelling proposal for its tabloid metropolitan stations – Sydney's 2UE and Melbourne's 3AW. In June, it was reported that former Fairfax chairman Ron Walker had led a syndicate of wealthy Melbourne families to pitch an informal offer to buy 3AW as well as Melbourne broadsheet The Age. The deal was rejected by Hywood and Walker's replacement Roger Corbett. KPMG Corporate Finance advised Fairfax on the Grant Broadcasters deal.

Centro, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Centro boss Robert Tsensin has warned angry shareholders that if they don't take the $3.4 billion restructure deal currently on the table, they could be hit with even bigger losses. The terms of the current deal would eliminate Centro's $2.9 billion external senior debt while the group would be left with no substantial assets except $100 million to be shared amongst the shareholders. At present the feeling is the Centro Properties Group shareholders are supportive of the deal, which would create a new listed trust called Centro Retail Australia, but the mood at Centro Retail Trust is a different story. According to the Australian Financial Review, Tsensin says rejecting the proposal would result in a "highly uncoordinated receivership process”, which would be made even harder under the current global economic climate and domestic retail market conditions.

Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers has had a small victory in its Centro class action from angry investors by getting a new judge to oversee the case. The case before the Federal Court was originally handed to Justice John Middleton, who also presided over the battle between the corporate regulator and serving Centro directors. Judge Middleton had some disparaging things to say about some PwC partners at the conclusion of that case and according to the Sydney Morning Herald, lawyers for PwC have successfully argued that he could be perceived as being biased. The case will now be handled by Justice Michelle Gordon who has a crowded dance card already, as she's also hearing the class action brought against ANZ Banking Group over its fees.

Graeme Samuel, DFO

Still in the courtrooms, and former consumer watchdog boss Graeme Samuel has reportedly reclaimed control of his family business, settled his differences with his DFO business partners and opened up a new legal battle with a former close associate and ex-director of his family trust. According to The Australian, Samuel settled his case with his DFO business partners David Goldberger and David Wieland, which centered on $8 million in excess cash from DFO asset sales that had been stranded for almost a year, only to open up a new legal fight with former confidant Geoff Porz. The former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is said to have taken the reins at Samfa and Lyngrae, which were once part of a blind trust charged with managing Samuel's 25 per cent interest in DFO shopping centres. Porz removed himself from the trusts last year as DFO's holding company Austexx threatened to collapse.

Woodside, Bechtel

Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman has made perhaps his most important decision yet to distinguish himself from predecessor Don Voelte by putting onshore processing for the Timor Sea gasfields back on the table. The proposed Greater Sunrise gas field would be East Timor's largest resources project, but Voelte angered the Timorese government by emphatically ruling out onshore processing, a structure that would create jobs for locals in an industry where it's arguably been left short-changed before. Under Coleman, Woodside's preferred option is still for a 'floating' processing plant, but according to the Sydney Morning Herald, the East Timorese government said in a recent meeting with Secretary of State for Natural Resources Alfredo Pires that Coleman expressed a willingness to revisit the option. This claim was not denied by Woodside, whose minority partners in the project include Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips and Osaka Gas.

Still on gas, and while US construction giant Bechtel has yet to encounter any "unusual” problems in its preparation to construct the three major LNG developments in Gladstone, its chairman Riley Bechtel has flagged labour shortages as an issue. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Bechtel (Australia) managing director Andy Greig says the construction timelines still look achievable because the company hasn't encountered "any unusual challenges”. However, according to the Australian Financial Review, the chairman of the company that bares his name says locals won't meet the demands of the $45 billion in projects and Bechtel will have to source expert labour from New Zealand and elsewhere.

New Hope, Washington H Soul Pattinson, Robert Millner

It looks like Robert Millner's coal company New Hope could come up empty handed from its sale process and he'd still have something to smile about. Millner's investment house Washington H Soul Pattinson holds 60 per cent of New Hope and even if the sales process doesn't secure a bid, the share price spike has made Soul Pattinson almost half a billion dollars and according to the Australian Financial Review, Hunter Green's Charlie Green says the investment company would face a tax bill of up to $1.1 billion if New Hope were to be sold at his price target of $7.33. Meanwhile, New Hope is facing a bit of a headache in Queensland after coal mines in southern Queensland were shut down amid concerns that blasting in the area was producing toxic gas that could find its way to nearby rural communities.

Wrapping up

No sooner had Foster's agreed to a takeover offer from the world's number two brewer SABMiller, that rumours emerged that the suitor could be taken over by world number one Anheuser-Busch InBev. Inbev shares booked their sharpest rise in three years at the end of last week after a report from a Brazilian news website said the two brewing giants were in talks over an $US80 billion deal. However, analysts quickly poured cold water on the idea, saying that a bid would not be in line with InBev's preference for organic growth. Turning to sellers of Foster's beer, and Woolworths has been forced to adjust the terms of an $800 million loan after finding banks just couldn't meet it, even when it's coming from Australia's top retailer. Woolworths has some company in the debt markets with Origin Energy successfully pricing $500 million in senior notes in the US market for its Australia Pacific LNG project. One company that's run out of luck with its debt is pub group National Leisure and Gaming, which has been placed in voluntary administration despite being the owner of one of Sydney's biggest gaming venues, Canley Heights El Cortez. But Sims Metals is ready to try its luck, launching a share buyback of up to 10 per cent of its stock while the markets are volatile. And finally, the wife of disgraced Burrup Fertilisers founder Pankaj Oswal, Radhika Oswal, has won the dubious honour of racking up one of the largest personal tax debts in Australian history in the eyes of the Australian Taxation Office, a lazy $186 million, says the Australian Financial Review.