IN BRIEF

TECK RUMOURS Canadian company Teck has done nothing to douse speculation it is buying into Fortescue Metals Group, telling investors its push into the iron ore sector will target assets that are already producing. Teck chief executive Don Lindsay said his company "won't get into the iron ore business through project development", in comments that imply Teck will instead target companies with operating iron ore mines. Fortescue is Australia's third-biggest listed iron ore producer and plans to almost triple its production in coming years.

WHITEFIELD DIVIDEND Investor Whitefield has declared an unchanged final dividend of 8.5? a share, payable on June 6. Net profit rose 120 per cent to $18.7 million, although stripping out the gain

from the purchase of Sylvastate,

the rise was a more modest

28 per cent.

MEDIBANK CHIEF Medibank Private has appointed Paul Koppelman as chief financial officer. The government-owned insurer said Mr Koppelman's skills would prove invaluable as it went through a "significant transformation". Mr Koppelman joins Medibank from Pacific Brands, where he was general manager, corporate finance. He has also served as CFO for the aluminium and commercial divisions of BHP Billiton,

as well as AXA Australian and New Zealand.

PILBARA PORT A new deepwater port for the infrastructure-starved Pilbara is a step closer after the West Australian government acquired land for the proposed Anketell port yesterday. But despite the development, the question of who will build the port remains unanswered. The government has issued notices of intention to take 4300 hectares of land 30 kilometres east of Karratha to build the facility to handle 350 million tonnes a year.

MEETING CALL Cyre Trilogy has gained a limited power of attorney from 1000 unit holders, who have about $65 million invested in four of the remaining Austgrowth property syndicates, to call for a meeting on June 4 to oust the fund manager, APGF Management, as the responsible entity, and install the Cyre Trilogy Group.