Millions of reasons for sighs as deep as Timor Sea

Up until February, West Atlas was leased by Coogee Resources.

The former owners of Coogee include the family of the West Australian entrepreneur Gordon Martin, with a 60 per cent stake, and Babcock & Brown, which owned 35 per cent.

The business was put up for sale last October when Babcock was facing its own demise and wanted to sell its stake.

Perhaps the relief at not having to answer for West Atlas's problems is some small comfort to Martin, who sold the business for a reported $413 million in February  well down on boom-time expectations of $600 million to $1 billion.

Spare a thought for the current lessee, PTT Exploration and Production. Company filings by Seadrill, the owner of the West Atlas oil rig, show it is leased at $US255,000 ($304,000) a day. At estimates of 50 days to fix the problem, that's a cool $15 million in rig fees alone.

Myer heads for IPO

While there is some shadow play about whether Myer is heading towards an initial public offering, appointments of leading broking firms would seem to put the issue beyond doubt. The Herald has been told three firms  Goldman Sachs JBWere, Macquarie and Credit Suisse  have secured roles as lead managers to a float, with suggestions things will happen sooner rather than later.

Merrill Lynch is believed to have also performed well in the beauty parade, securing a role as co-lead manager or some such title in a float slated to value the company at $1.5 billion.

Of course, plans for floats are always fluid, so all eyes will be on Myer's September 11 annual results for full confirmation. But the word is, don't be surprised if there is a prospectus in production or even near completion. Sharp-eyed observers have noted the results briefing weighs in at a suspiciously long 1 hours, adding to conjecture that a little more than the results will be discussed.

Two-lane highway

So who rules the roost at Macquarie Infrastructure Group about proposed internalisation plans? Is it the independent directors bravely protecting the interests of shareholders as they gamely sort out the best course of action? Or is it  as many darkly suspect  Macquarie Group managers promoting the deal in the interests of their parent? Fears of the latter were given a kick along last week when The Australian Financial Review attributed to Mark Johnson, the decidedly non-independent chairman of MIG, the suggestion that MIG would buy out Macquarie's management rights.

Interesting news from a Macquarie Group veteran such as Johnson, and no small threat of a fee given MIG's sister

fund, Macquarie Airports, is rattling the tin for unitholders to hand over $345 million to Macquarie Group.

But what of the independent directors, led by the independent board committee chairman, Paul McClintock? We asked him whether Johnson spoke for the independent directors.

A spokeswoman replied: "No he does not."

Beyond all doubt

Happier news about Jeff Conyers, the Bermuda-based independent director of Macquarie Airports, whose wife, Edith, runs a business that has substantial ties to Macquarie Group. Substantial enough to mention Macquarie Group in the press release when the business was launched in 2007, anyway.

Under Macquarie Group's corporate governance rules, an employee of Mrs Conyers's company is responsible for checking the independence of Mr Conyers. Another of Conyers's links to Macquarie Group  apart from his independent role on Macquarie Airports  is as a director of MIG.

Fortunately, Macquarie Infrastructure Group's independent directors have assessed Conyers's independence for themselves.

The result? Well, of course he's independent.

Fondness for credit

Concerns keep hovering over the hefty funding task facing the listed utility fund Spark Infrastructure Group.

Spark posted a result ahead of market expectations yesterday, with underlying profits jumping to $117.2 million for the six months to June.

Its shares bounced 4.7 per cent, but the result also showed Spark funded less than 20 per cent of its capital expenditure on power infrastructure through cash flows, with the rest coming from debt. Although it has conservative gearing levels compared with some of its debt-laden peers, analysts at Credit Suisse reckon the dependence on credit is unsustainable.

They say Spark  which has $225 million in debt maturing late next year  will have to raise equity at about the same time as its capex task will double in the next few years.

However, in an encouraging sign for the sector, the gas pipeline business APA Group yesterday reached a deal with its bankers to refinance $1 billion, also maturing next year.