Michael West

Hostilities boil over into world war spree

Michael West Here we are sitting pretty at the tail end of the biggest boom in history. You could be forgiven for thinking things were not too bad.

World war spree is declared

Michael West Here we are sitting pretty at the tail end of the biggest boom in history. What with interest rates at a 50-year low, unemployment at just 5.

Michael West

Dressing down local rag traders

Michael West Lisa Ho hit the wall after only last month jettisoning plans to list on the stock exchange.

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Michael West

Mateship, it is obvious, can come at a high price

Michael West Give a man a coalmine, make him rich, and what does he do? Tells everybody he's not your mate.

Michael West

Battle for Trust Company

Michael West The Perpetual takeover bid is a thing of dreams for long-suffering shareholders in Trust Company of Australia. For Trust Company's other suitor however, it is a nightmare.

Michael West

Serco's lack of transparency leaves much to be desired

Michael West The British multinational operating Australia's detention centres welcomes asylum seekers.

Michael West

What is Serco hiding?

Michael West The influx of asylum seekers may be a matter of national acrimony but there are those who welcome the boats with open arms and broad smiles.

Michael West

When regulation buck stops with consumer

Michael West In the financial arena, it is the victim rather than the perpetrator who is increasingly at fault.

Michael West

RBA fast becoming the ultimate Aussie battler

Michael West You’ve got a macking big loan with the bank but the value of the family home is falling. Turns out, the RBA knows your pain.

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Michael West

Going cheap: gold worth $170 million up for grabs

Michael West Unlike a bank, If you go to the Perth Mint with your gold, you can cash it that afternoon.

Michael West

Empire strikes back to shred butterflies by law

Michael West The grotesque assault on shareholder democracy by the penny dreadful, Empire Oil and Gas, proceeds apace.

Michael West

How 15,000 investors were swept over the Rubicon

Michael West W hen David Coe and his fellow directors made the fateful decision to buy Rubicon they quickened the demise of their Allco Finance Group. Rubicon was the Trojan Horse which brought Allco unstuck.

Michael West

How 15,000 investors were swept over the Rubicon

Michael West Highwire mezzanine loans and extraordinarily high fees cost unwitting investors dearly.

Michael West

If it looks like a duck and quacks like one ...

Michael West 'Let me say a little about this facility. It is not a 'bailout' fund for banks. 'Bailouts' usually mean stumping up public funds to inject capital to an institution whose solvency is in question.

Executive Pay

Companies use loopholes to buy shares

Michael West Australia's top companies spent $1.5 billion last year buying shares for executives, exploiting loopholes in disclosure laws.

Michael West

A bit more enforcing would help

Michael West What do you tell a person who just lost their life savings in a managed investment scheme; a mortgage fund, a plantation scheme, a Banksia, a Westpoint or a Storm Financial?

Michael West

All-star cast likely to include the fat lady

Michael West As Kelly Slater was knocking out Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson in the finals of the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast last week, there was another knock-out going on up the beach at Snapper Rocks.

Michael West

When Drake's empire came crumbling down

Michael West Even as the life savings of his investors were frozen in his foundering mortgage funds, Gold Coast financier Peter Drake was still travelling the world trying to raise more money.

Michael West

Intrepid 'pressured partner' to sign away rights: claim

Michael West When Intrepid Mines faces off in court in Indonesia with its former partner Paul Willis in May, at the core of the showdown will be the events of April 21, 2008.