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The big picture Australian regulators want to work for a pan-Asian regulatory framework, writes Elizabeth Fry Moves to create a fund vehicle that could be sold across Asia and compete [...]

Asia Investor base shifts from hedge funds to outright investors, says Elizabeth Fry Asia's primary convertible bond market is powering ahead. There is little bad news coming out of the [...]

Pensions The government is being urged to take note of longevity risk, writes Elizabeth Fry The recent removal of Chris Bowen as minister of financial services as part of Australian [...]

healthcare Private equity firms are scouring the world for deals, with Carlyle securing two deals and competing for a third this week alone. TPG and Carlyle won a bidding war [...]

HEALTHCARE TPG and Carlyle Group, the US private equity groups, yesterday won a bidding war for Healthscope, Australia's second-largest private hospital chain, with an offer of A$1.99bn (US$1.7bn). Healthscope's board [...]

Australia's opposition coalition attempted to frame Julia Gillard, the new prime minister, as an inept steward of the nation's finances as election campaigning began at the weekend. The polls, set [...]

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board yesterday made a A$3.47bn ($3bn) bid for an Australian toll road operator spun out of Macquarie Infrastructure Group six months ago. The bid for [...]

mining A dispute between Rio Tinto and Canada's Ivanhoe Mines over a huge Mongolian copper and gold project has escalated after the Vancouver-based company suggested it was opening the door [...]

mining Rio Tinto has ended months of speculation by confirming plans to swap its shares in Ivanhoe Mines for a direct stake in Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project, [...]

Chinese demand boosts trade figures Australia's central bank held interest rates steady yesterday in spite of unexpectedly strong trade figures and worries about rising wage pressures. The country recorded its [...]

Greenpeace has accused Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour and other international companies of buying products from an Indonesian pulp and paper producer that it claims is destroying rainforests in violation of promises [...]

MINING News analysis Pressure on the government from heavyweights has paid off, writes Elizabeth Fry The Australian government's swift move to water down a proposed mining super-profits tax is a [...]

Move puts Labor in position for election Effective tax on profits cut to 22.5% Julia Gillard, Australia's new prime minister, has bowed to the demands of the powerful local mining [...]

Chalco, the second-largest aluminium producer, has pulled out of a A$3bn ($2.5bn) deal to develop a bauxite refinery in Australia, blaming a drop in aluminium prices and difficult global conditions. [...]

Chalco, the second-largest aluminium producer, has pulled out of a A$3bn (US$2.4bn) deal to develop a bauxite refinery in Australia, blaming a drop in aluminium prices and difficult conditions. The [...]

Julia Gillard, Australia's new prime minister, has caved in to the demands of the powerful mining industry and watered down the controversial resources super profits tax as she clears the [...]

Providence Equity Partners, the US private equity group, yesterday announced that it had bought an Australia-based private education business for A$660m (US$554m) from another private equity group, Australia's Champ Private [...]

Julia Gillard, Australia's new prime minister, yesterday said her first priority would be to resolve an impasse with the mining industry over a controversial proposed resources profits tax. Mining groups [...]

Julia Gillard, Australia's new prime minister, said yesterday that her first priority would be to resolve the impasse with the mining industry over a controversial proposal to impose a resources [...]

Julia Gillard, Australia's newly crowned prime minister, has declared a truce with the country's powerful mining industry over a controversial new resources tax, saying she would 'throw the doors open' [...]

Profile Julia Gillard's ascendancy to the most powerful political office in Australia was sealed when the ruling Labor party's power brokers cajoled her on Wednesday to go head to head [...]

Rudd challenged by deputy for Labor head Party brokers worried about fall in popularity The political future of Kevin Rudd , Australia's prime minister, is hanging by a thread after [...]

Legislation The Australian Tax Office has deferred a ruling on taxing foreign private equity firms, says Elizabeth Fry The Australian Tax Office has once again deferred a scheduled decision on [...]

Australia Debate rages over the government's proposal to levy a super tax, writes Elizabeth Fry Australia's large superannuation groups have united to back the government's controversial plan to fund changes [...]

Elizabeth Fry reports on a range of proposed solutions to the challenges of an ageing population The changing demographics of Australia's population is an important focus of a review of [...]

One of the biggest scandals to hit Australian sport was exposed yesterday when champion rugby league team Melbourne Storm was found to have breached salary cap rules imposed on clubs [...]

One of the biggest scandals to hit Australian sport was exposed yesterday when champion rugby league team Melbourne Storm was found to have breached salary cap rules imposed on clubs [...]

World View PAUL BETTS ELIZABETH FRY The move yesterday by John Elkann, the grandson of the late Gianni Agnelli, into the chairman's seat at Fiat marks the return of an [...]

BANKS Lender's hopes of supremacy quashed Regulator's ruling surprises investors Australia's competition watchdog blocked National Australia Bank's A$13.3bn (US$12.2bn) acquisition of Axa's majority-owned Asia Pacific arm , dashing its hopes [...]

MINING Peabody leads race for Australian group New Hope and Xstrata still circling Noble Group has walked away from its attempts to own a quarter of Macarthur Coal, leaving the [...]

NON-LIFE INSURANCE French group's unit to be carved up Battle underlines focus on region National Australia Bank yesterday confirmed it had agreed to buy Axa's majority-owned Asia Pacific arm for [...]

The Queensland state government has appointed five banks to run a A$7bn (US$6.4bn) share float of Queensland Rail's coal and freight arm that would be Australia's biggest initial public offering [...]

New Zealand The nation has a lot of plus points, says Elizabeth Fry New Zealand's favourable time zone and low cost base has emboldened the Pacific nation to go head [...]

A large number of Chinese companies are being sued in the US, writes Elizabeth Fry While Hong Kong became the world's largest market for initial public offerings last year, the [...]

The private equity owner of Loscam, an Australian-based supplier of pallets, has appointed banking advisers to assist with a stock market listing that could raise A$800m ($720m). An initial public [...]

Reports that the Australian government plans to hit the mining industry with a new tax - which could cost BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto a combined $5bn a year - [...]

Infrastructure Deal could see Australia's SWF gain a 20% stake in Transurban, says Elizabeth Fry The Future Fund, Australia's sovereign wealth fund worth A$64.3bn ([pounds sterling]35.3bn, $93bn, [euro]57.2bn) is in [...]

TRAVEL & LEISURE Jetstar, owned by Qantas Airways, and Malaysia's AirAsia confirmed yesterday they are in talks about a partnership to cut costs and consolidate their positions as the lowest-cost [...]

Offshore gas rush boosts Australia HK records lowest jobless rate for year Companies in key sectors in Australia, Thailand and Malaysia are reporting shortages of labour, underscoring the relative strength [...]

BANKS National Australia Bank yesterday made an offer for Axa Asia Pacific Holdings that trumps a competing bid from Axa, its French parent, in partnership with the Australian wealth manager [...]

Australia's tax office proposed tough rules yesterday for taxing gains on private equity investments, sparking a call from the buy-out industry for the government to step in to clarify tax [...]

travel & leisure The Australian government will scrap some of the ownership restrictions on Qantas Airways to increase the national carrier's ability to compete for capital and play a bigger [...]

oil & gas ExxonMobil and its joint venture partners in a $15bn liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea have secured $14bn in project financing, and construction is due [...]

General financial Deadline of seven days to accept bid Axa, of France, and AMP, the Australian wealth manager, have sweetened their bid for Axa Asia Pacific as the French insurer [...]

OIL & GAS Woodside Petroleum, Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, plans to raise A$2.5bn (US$2.3bn) in new equity to boost its deteriorating balance sheet and fund future liquefied natural [...]

Pluribus and partner Guggenheim buy titles Effort to capitalise on strength of brands Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch's eldest son and a director of his News Corp media empire, has withdrawn [...]

Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 5.7 per cent in November, increasing the likelihood that the Reserve Bank of Australia, the central bank, will continue raising interest rates as the [...]

The French have always loved comic books. Every Christmas, new editions of old Tintin albums or the latest adventures of Asterix invariably find their way under the Christmas tree. But [...]

BHP Billiton has agreed to sell its Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Australia for $340m, a project that cost it $2.2bn to build and was shut down after only one year [...]

oil & gas Green light for $15bn LNG project Biggest investment in country to date ExxonMobil and its partners have agreed to press ahead with a $15bn liquefied natural gas [...]