Australia

Australian political opposition to a proposed US$19.5 billion investment by Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. in Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd. was raised to a new level Saturday as two prominent members of the upper legislative house launched a joint advertising campaign calling for the ruling Labor government to block the deal, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move will have little influence on whether the proposed tie-up gets approval from the Australian government, because that decision lies solely with Treasurer Wayne Swan.

Buyers interested in Timbercorp's assets are lining up for a bargain purchase after the agribusiness investment group was placed into voluntary administration, Stock Journal reported. And now the path could be open for investors to launch a class action against such failed timber managed investment schemes, the financial advisors who peddled them or even the Federal Government for allowing them. The Shareholders Association of Australia said there was precedent against companies who had created a misleading prospectus and poor governance.

One of Australia's most extraordinary business stories of the past few decades is the spectacular rise and equally spectacular fall of the ABC Learning Group, analysis by The New Zealand Herald found. ABC began with one centre in Brisbane in 1988. By 2007 it had used hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers, shareholders and banks to grow into the world's second-biggest childcare operator with more than 2300 centres in Australia, the United States, Britain, and New Zealand. In 2007, it reported profits of more than $150 million.

The Reserve Bank of Australia said the nation has joined its global peers in recession, but the long-term prospects for growth remain sound, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The statement by RBA Governor Glenn Stevens that Australia's economy is shrinking matches a similar message from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan, both of whom this week signaled Australia is headed for its first recession since the early 1990s.

Kleenmaid’s 150 staff will lose their jobs after the Queensland-based upmarket kitchen and laundry appliance seller was put into voluntary administration, the Australian Associated Press reported. However, 25 employees will be asked to help with the administration process involving the company which had 20 outlets in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia and a $90 million turnover last year. A total of $27 million in customer deposits has also been lost, the administrator says.

There are many small tragedies within a global disaster like this, the Business Spectator reported, and one of them is Ventracor--for years one of Australia’s leading biotech prospects. Two weeks ago, Ventracor went into voluntary administration and is now, amazingly, facing complete closure. It has no debt and a technology that works: 400 people are walking around in the United States with its artificial heart whirring in their chests.

Debt-laden Australian miner OZ Minerals slumped almost 12 percent Tuesday after the government postponed a decision on allowing a A$2.6 billion dollar ($1.8 billion) takeover by China's Minmetals, Agence France-Presse reported. The market had hoped to see the deal approved when OZ Minerals shares were suspended on the Australian Stock Exchange Monday pending an announcement, but instead the government said it would not make a decision for 90 days.

The spreading of company tax debt is "a time bomb waiting to go off", according to Hall Chadwick accountants and business advisers partner Richard Albarran. An expert in insolvency and business recovery, Albarran said more companies than ever before are resorting to (voluntary) administration over taxes, Money Management reported.

US-based Primus Telecommunications Group, together with three affiliated holding companies, said it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy so it could undergo a restructure. The company will reduce its principal debt obligations and interest payments by more than 50 percent. The restructure will grant the company a three year extension on its debt maturities and will allow the company to continue operating as it is, The Australian reported.

New Zealand investors have nixed Babcock & Brown’s hope of staying afloat, rejecting a restructure proposal and an 0.1% payout on their $225 million investment in Babcock subordinated notes, The National Business Review reported. Babcock is now in administration, as the vote that was to be held later today in Australia will no longer take place. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu have been appointed as administrators. They will ask creditors to nominate a committee of representatives at the first meeting to be held on March 25.