We couldn’t do ourselves justice if we didn’t make some mention of Qantas (ASX: QAN). We noted the headline from Bloomberg News, “Qantas’s Dixon Tells Staff Airline in ‘Sweet Spot.’” Clearly this ‘Sweet Spot’ must have materialised at some point after the Airline Partners Australia / Qantas takeover died. The inside running is that Dixon will [...]
May 23rd, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 0 comments | ContinuedArchive for Kris Sayce
Kris Sayce began his financial career in the City of London as a broker specializing in small cap stocks listed on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). At one of Australia's leading wealth management firms, Kris was a fully accredited adviser in Shares, Options and Warrants, and Foreign Exchange. Kris was instrumental in helping to establish the Australian version of the Daily Reckoning e-newsletter in 2005. In late 2006, he joined the Melbourne team of the leading CFD provider in Australia.
Rio Tinto & BHP Up Over 20% This Year, Doubling the All Ords
It was another choppy week for the All Ordinaries, which managed to eke out a miniscule gain of 0.3%, finishing down by 50 points on Friday from the record high posted the day before. Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) continued to tread water above AUD$90 as speculation about a possible takeover receded (was it ever really a [...]
May 22nd, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 0 comments | Continued
Qantas Chair Margaret Jackson Resigns and So Does the APA Website
After hearing that Airline Partners Australia had finally decided to rule out any further attempt at buying Qantas (ASX: QAN), we were reminded of the immortal ‘dead parrot sketch’ from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. To paraphrase, “This takeover is no more! It has ceased to be! It’s expired and gone to meet its maker! It’s [...]
May 18th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 1 comment | Continued
Macquarie Paid CEO Allan Moss $33 Million, Is He Worth It?
To be honest, we don’t care how much Alan Moss, chief executive officer at Macquarie Bank (ASX: MBL) earns. Is it really any skin off of your correspondent’s or anyone else’s nose if Emperor Moss earns $33 million a year? Clearly $33 million is more than most people need. Arguably no-one, however good there are [...]
May 17th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 3 comments | Continued
Resources Boom, Drought Clash As Newcrest Uses Region’s Emergency Water
It is almost like a scenario from Geoffrey Robertson QC’s television series, Hypotheticals, the series of programs in which the eminent Queen’s Counsel poses various hypothetical scenarios to a panel of ‘celebrities’ asking them to make a decision that could have dire consequences either way. The real life hypothetical was played out by Orange Council [...]
May 16th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 1 comment | Continued
Qantas Drama Leaves Coles to Show How Private Equity Takeovers Work
What a positively dull weekend compared against last weekend’s mishaps and blunders. The private equity deals will continue to arrive, and the political watchers will be keeping an eye on the latest Newspoll which is due to be released in The Australian today. On the private equity front the Qantas takeover drama isn’t quite over. [...]
May 14th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 0 comments | Continued
Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton Merger More Likely Than Private Equity Takeover
After a week such as this we are almost hoping that things will quieten down next week. Qantas, the Budget and then rumours of BHP Billiton taking over Rio Tinto. The first two we’ve covered extensively this week, so even though it is tempting to finish the week as we started it, we’ll switch to [...]
May 11th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 2 comments | Continued
Qantas Board Should Resign Over Failed Takeover Bid
We’ve received more feedback on the Qantas (ASX: QAN) saga than any other topic this year. Most of the questions appear to centre around the perceived or actual conflicts of interest by the board; the now seemingly low-ball offer; and the incompetence of Airline Partners Australia and Qantas management. Reader Don Nixon, he asks, “Are they [...]
May 10th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 0 comments | Continued
Qantas Takeover Shenanigans Overshadow Australian Tax Cuts
Nevermind Qantas for a moment, tax cuts for everyone! Before we get too excited about the tax cuts just remember three things. First, any money that the government hands back in tax cuts is your money anyway. Second, that despite its ‘generosity’ the government will be left with a $10 billion profit (in government circles [...]
May 9th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 1 comment | Continued
Qantas Takeover Saga Lurches from One Embarrassment to Another
Yesterday we were reluctant to use a particular phrase in describing the debacle surrounding the closing stages of the Qantas (ASX: QAN) takeover bid by Airline Partners Australia. The phrase that we didn’t use, but which we have no such problems with using now, is to compare APA with the Keystone Cops. We can almost picture [...]
May 8th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 4 comments | Continued
Qantas Takeover Dies Due to Samuel Heyman Missing Deadline
After hearing that the Qantas (ASX: QAN) takeover by Australian Airline Partners was supposedly back on again after an earlier announcement that they had not reached the 50% threshold in order to trigger an automatic two week extension, we thought it may be a good opportunity to read the rules and regulations governing a takeover. [...]
May 7th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 1 comment | Continued
Countdown begins on Qantas takeover bid
It’s turning into an epic of outlandish proportions. It is a cliffhanger with greater suspense than the classic ‘Who shot JR?’ in the 1980′s. The whole of the sharemarket will be looking at Qantas long after the ASX closes for business today. The consortium, Airline Partners Australia have until 7pm this evening in order to [...]
May 4th, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 0 comments | Continued
Retailers Celebrate RBA Decision to Leave Interest Rates Alone
The Reserve Bank of Australia decided that the threat of further inflationary pressures must be over and therefore thought the best option was to sit tight and leave interest rates where they are. Not surprisingly, those that would/could have suffered the most from an interest rate rise – retailers – were quick out of the [...]
May 3rd, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 0 comments | Continued
Free market solution to climate change will be rubbished
The other story of interest we noted was in the Australian Financial Review under the headline “Market key to climate change.” Interesting, we thought, which ‘crazy’ capitalist pig has suggested such a thing. Now, as we may have mentioned previously, science wasn’t one of your correspondent’s strong points at school, so our ability to say [...]
May 2nd, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 0 comments | Continued
All Politicians Should Be Like Nicole Cornes
Whenever we travel interstate we always make a point of buying a copy of the local newspaper. We find it useful when it comes to jotting these notes to understand what the hot topics are – what is on the mind of the man on the street, what families are discussing around the kitchen table [...]
May 2nd, 2007 | Kris Sayce | 1 comment | Continued
