The AustralianEdition 1 - All-round CountryTUE 28 JUN 2005, Page...

The Australian
Edition 1 - All-round CountryTUE 28 JUN 2005, Page 020
GLOBAL BUSINESS BRIEF


Banking.....................................................
MACQUARIE Capital, MacBank's new $1billion cash box, has paid pound stg. 75 million ($178million) for 65 per cent of BBC Broadcast, a former BBC subsidiary which handles subtitles on BBC programs.
-- Page 19
CHALLENGER Financial Services will establish an investment management company, Kinetic Investment Partners. Its principals are Richard Sharp and Jonathan Findlay, formerly of the small companies team at HSBC Asset Management.
WESTPAC CEO David Morgan has been elected chairman of the Australian Bankers Association. He follows ANZ chief executive John McFarlane, who has completed his two-year term in the role.
INCOMING CBA CEO Ralph Norris will take up his position in September after leaving Air NZ on August 31.
BANK of Queensland has priced a $653 million residential mortgage-backed securities issue in the Australian bond market. The Series 2005-2 Reds Trust Issue is the second Australian dollar transaction by BOQ. The Class A1 notes, valued at $634.5 million and with an average life of 2.46 years, were priced at 21 basis points over the one-month bank bill swap reference rate.

Media and entertainment.....................................................
QUICKFLIX listed at a 25 per cent discount. It hit the market at 15c, down 5c, and closed 7c or 35 per cent lower than the issue price.
-- Page 25
TRADING in shares in PartyGaming, owner of the world's biggest online poker business, began on the London Stock Exchange yesterday in the biggest flotation there for four years. The IPO was priced at 116p per share, valuing the group at pound stg. 4.64 billion ($11.05 billion).
THE magazine subsidiary of Bertelsmann, Gruner + Jahr is closing its magazine operations in the US, having sold off two remaining business journals. The US subsidiary, G+J USA Publishing sold Inc and Fast Company to US publisher Joseph Mansueto.

Economics.....................................................
THE GST has been a ``stunning success'', but there are still difficulties, says KPMG.
-- Page 23
STEEL exports from China more than doubled in the first five months of the year compared with a year ago. Exports between January and May rose 171 per cent to 9.4 million metric tons.

Resources.....................................................
THE plan to pipe gas from PNG to Australia is on the verge of securing enough customers to justify its $3.5 billion cost.
-- Page 19
SPHERE Investments has added gold and base metals to its line-up in West Africa, being granted four licences to explore in Mauritania's northern provinces. Mauritania hosts Sphere's advanced Guel el Aouj iron ore project. Sphere also has oil and gas permits in neighbouring Mali.
INTERNATIONAL Goldfields will restart exploration at the Evanston project in WA after being granted the final three mining leases for the project.
OIL demand may rise by as much as 2 million barrels a day this year, says Michael Smith from BP. China's demand may rise by 500,000bpd this year.
SANTOS has increased its interest in Egypt after being awarded an exploration block in conjunction with Devon Energy and Teikoku Oil in the Western Desert. The joint venture must spend $US5 million ($6.5 million) over the first three years at the North Qaran Block, drilling two exploration wells and processing seismic data.
A CONSORTIUM led by state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum has discovered India's biggest natural gas field in a southern state, with reserves valued at $US50 billion that will almost double the country's production and ease energy shortages. The gas reserve will yield 20 trillion cubic feet of gas. The company has an 80 per cent stake in the consortium, while Canada's Geoglobal Resources and India's Jubilant Enpro each own 10 per cent.

Agribusiness.....................................................
TASSAL Group has appointed Allan McCallum to replace David Williams as chairman. Mr McCallum is also deputy chairman of GrainCorp and a director of fertiliser firm Incitec Pivot.

Industrials.....................................................
CARTER Holt Harvey shares rocketed 14 per cent yesterday after US-based parent company International Paper flagged a possible sale of the business.
-- Page 19
NYLEX said a brokers' briefing may have sparked the heavy selling that saw its price fall on Friday. Nylex said it was not aware of any unannounced information that could explain the heavy selling on Friday when its shares dropped from 28.5c to 25c. But it said managing director Glen Casey had delivered a presentation to Citigroup on Thursday afternoon, which may have caused the selling. Nylex said the share price movement had happened alongside a fall in the All Ordinaries and coincided with possible ``year end tax sales''.