good or bad?

Kind of puts GMG in a good light, however puts th whole sector in a bad one.

Any more news on this CIC?

From SMH today



THE troubled property group Mirvac may have drained the sector of $1.1 billion as it moved to save its balance sheet through a capital raising, but has shocked investors with another round of asset write-downs and earnings downgrades.

Investors will now receive lower full-year distributions of 12.9c-13.6c per unit versus the previous guidance of 13.4c, based on a fall in net profit to $190 million, down from $199 million. There will be more deductions in the inventory and development divisions. Mirvac's capital raising has helped restore its crucial interest cover ratio back to above three times from the previous 2.25 times.

Under yesterday's deal, Mirvac will raise the cash via a fully underwritten $864 million institutional raising and a non-underwritten retail raising of $235 million, all at $1 a security. Mirvac last traded at $1.30.

Due to the continued weak conditions in the property market the group has written off $582 million, some $240 million from its investment property portfolio and more than $251 million from the property development business.

Its managing director, Nicholas Collishaw, said the new capital would accelerate Mirvac's strategy of increasing investment earnings and refocusing residential development work on large projects.

But brokers also questioned whether Mirvac was also building a war chest to take advantage of its weak peers.

At a recent conference Mr Collishaw predicted that in the next two to three years there would be "four to five trusts left, and Mirvac intends to be one of them".

But the recent resurgence of the trust sector led to market speculation that the next wave of mergers and acquisitions may be close at hand. Talk has also been ignited by the $8 billion that a collection of trusts have tapped investors for since the start of the year.

Trusts including GPT, Dexus, Stockland and Mirvac have tapped investors twice since October, all stating the intention to restore balance sheets. According to analysts, the fact they have had to go twice indicates the fragility of the books and how close many were to breaking covenants and not servicing interest repayments.

One broker said Mirvac could team up with Stockland to take over GPT and then split up the spoils. GPT rose 2c to 56c on strong turnover, while Stockland fell 26c to $3.22.

Others said Dexus could be reviewing Charter Hall, despite the entry of private investor John Gandel on its register. Lend Lease is also said to be running the numbers on GPT.

Valad, the ING and Macquarie Bank stable of trusts, is also under the spotlight and all have seen solid price gains recently.

Goodman was also a standout, rising more than 20 per cent as the market awaited news on its recapitalisation deal with Macquarie and another partner, possibly the Chinese Investment Corp (CIC).

The head of research for Goldman Sachs JBWere, Simon Wheatley, said strong returns from the trusts in the next six months were possible now most were "sustainably capitalised". He said the chances of Stockland taking over GPT were "very low"