It takes two

NEWS that the Rudd government has granted in-principle approval for Nomura-controlled Chi-X to establish a new sharemarket in Australia in competition with the Australian Securities Exchange throws up twin challenges.

BHP to cop $1b hit to profits

THE aftermath of the global financial crisis is forecast to have wiped more than $US1 billion ($1.13 billion) from BHP Billiton's December half profit, due to be reported by the world's biggest miner on February 10.

Foster's wine earnings feel the pinch

EFFORTS by Foster's chief executive Ian Johnston to turn around the group's struggling wine division have been stymied by recessionary conditions in the US, a rising Australian dollar and a shift by many drinkers to cheaper, low-margin wine labels.

Capital raisings hit record $90bn

CAPITAL raisings by listed companies, and insider trading investigations, have soared to record levels as financial markets players claw their way back from the effects of the financial crisis.

Capital raisings surge to $90b

CAPITAL raisings by listed companies have soared to record levels as financial markets players claw their way back from the effects of the financial crisis.

Mother's Shares Helped Son Earn Bonus

WHEN Martin Soust, boss of the Melbourne biotechnology company Select Vaccines, was allegedly in danger of losing an end-of-year bonus because of the company's poor share price performance, the corporate watchdog claims he turned to his mother for a helping hand.

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Kloppers Lets Rio Do All The Talking - For Bhp

Marius Kloppers got on his feet in Melbourne yesterday and said as little about BHP's bid for Rio Tinto as possible, which is the way he and his advisers want to keep it for the moment. With BHP's first formal submission seeking clearance for a takeover now in front of Europe's Competition Commission, and the value of its share-exchange offering sitting about 8 per cent above Rio's share price, the reality is the less the mining behemoth says for the moment, the better.

Investors Show Faith In Hardie

MORE share buybacks and a 140% lift in dividend have pushed James Hardie shares to their highest this month, despite the building materials company revealing a 32% slump in second-quarter earnings because of the crash in the US housing market.

Tax Change Still Clear As Mud

THE election-eve takeover tax bombshell dropped by the assistant Treasurer, Peter Dutton, continues to cause consternation. This is despite a second "clarifying" statement on Tuesday that corrected the first one by stating that share exchange takeovers-in-progress will not be caught.

No One Home To Answer Taxing Questions On Law Changes To Share-based Bids

The timing of Dutton's announcement has created consternation so close to an election.

Hong Kong Exchange's Potential Is Stuff Of Dreams For Isolated Asx

LAST month in Hong Kong I paid a visit to Ronald Arculli, the urbane chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the company that runs Hong Kong's stock exchange, and as Arculli regaled me with a series of astonishing growth statistics, a light bulb went on. I realised that while there were business angles to the Australian Stock Exchange's takeover of Sydney Futures Exchange last year, the deal really occurred because the ASX didn't have anything better to do.