The paper bonanza
MICHAEL WEST
It may be week one of profit season '09 yet the capital raisings are coming thick and fast.
Judgement may Lift some spirits
Michael West The judge's remarks in the Lift vs Merrill Lynch case could provide some hope for Opes clients.
Retailers up in arms over PacBrands grab
Pacific Brands is direct-selling all of its brands, and its retailers are not happy.
Grey skies for Qantas
Michael West
Alan Joyce doesn't have an easy job running Qantas, but he can use the "It wasn't my fault" defence.
What's in it for City Pacific investors?
Michael West City Pacific investors would like to know the book value of the Gainsborough Greens project.
Storm, City Pacific clients in dire straits
Michael West
Many clients of Storm Financial and City Pacific are in dire straits - here is a sample of recent correspondence.
CBA marginally hurt by Storm
Michael West CBA may well be under fire for last night's abortive capital raising but the bank is likely to get most of its money from the CGI margin loans to Storm clients.
PaperlinX in race against time
Michael West PaperlinX is said to be close to pulling off some asset sales to shore up its balance sheet - and it would want to be.
Cash is king for MMG
Michael West Macquarie Media Group's board has come to its senses and will not be prepaying any business level debt, commiting to maintain the group's healthy cash balance.
Lend Lease out-Babcocks Babcock
MICHAEL WEST
Lend Lease appears to have scored a particularly generous set of terms for the management rights over Babcock & Brown Communities.
Prevention is better than cure
Michael West Before the dust from the blow-up of Storm Financial even begins to settle it's worth pondering whether heavier regulation of financial services will have been worth it.
Ventracor's white-knuckled ride
Michael West Ventracor blew up last week after it failed to raise the $10 million in required to get it through clinical trials to June next year. The company is now up for sale.
Cash hoarding sharpens deflationary spiral
Michael West The Government is throwing liquidity into the system but the banks are clinging onto it, refusing to lend it out.
The rush to raise capital
Michael West NAB, Westfield, Incitec, Sonic ... there's a deluge as everybody hops in before the shorting ban comes off next week.
Bad timing and poor ethics
The rush of capital raisings reflects a market-wide strategic mistake, and may even come with a bad look as in NAB's case.
Asciano shellacked
Asciano's 60% share plunge may have been triggered by capital raising concerns and a Citi report.
Readers' feedback
Our yarn this morning about the banks lobbying hard in Canberra for tax exemption of interest income has sparked something of a furor.
The Chronicles of Executive Greed II
Valad directors get a pay rise, despite the company's shares tanking.
The dark heart of the CDS
This item is from somebody who knows a bit about the CDS market ... we certainly couldn't have said it better ourselves.
Opes Prime talks fail
Opes Prime settlement talks have fallen in a heap and the word is that Merrill Lynch was the hold-out.
Sovereign risk - decoupling is dead
Sovereign risk has now come to the fore with Iceland going kaput, Hungary teetering and yesterday ... Argentina.
The Chronicles of Executive Greed
We are starting a series today: The Chronicles of Executive Greed. Today's culprit is Mark Rowsthorn, the chief executive of Asciano.
Investment bank pay - not all doom and gloom
While the likes of equity capital markets people, stockbrokers and structured finance people are doing it hard, other players are doing quite nicely.
GPT passes the hat around
Foundering property group GPT is passing the hat around in a monster capital raising.
Valad near death
Valad teeters on the brink of obsolescence. If the instos are angry with GPT they are fuming from the nostrils over Valad.
