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NEWS 109 GOLD COAST: 2018 Commonwealth Games Host City Saturday, 26-5-12 goldcoast.com.au Bad news abounds but Aussie still keeping pace with greenback IT’S getting beaten up by Europe and China but the Australian dollar refuses to give in. The little Aussie battler is still below parity with the US dollar but is holding its ground above the US97.00¢ mark. Easy Forex senior dealer Francisco Solar said weakness in the US economy had helped limit the Aussie dollar’s slide. ‘‘Had the economic numbers not turned sour in the US, the Aussie may be very much lower than where we are now,’’ he said. He said uncertainty over Greece’s election on June 17 and whether it would stay in the eurozone was limiting the Aussie’s losses. The week started off with G8 leaders, at their summit in Chicago, pushing for a pro-growth approach as a way to solve the eurozone crisis. The new approach gave investors some optimism and the Australian dollar reached a high of US99.36¢ on Tuesday evening. Then Germany walked in to spoil the mood. An informal summit of European Union leaders ended on Thursday morning, Australian time, with Ger- many at odds with everyone over the issue of eurobonds. French President Francois Hol- lande argues that getting the Euro- pean Central Bank to issue its own bonds would help debt-laden coun- tries such as Spain and Italy, who are paying 6 or 7 per cent interest, get cheaper financing. Germany, whose two-year bor- rowing rate reached a low of 0.07 per cent on Wednesday, opposes eurobonds and continues to see budget cuts and tax hikes as the sol- ution to the crisis. Adding to the negative news was the release of May economic data from several European nations and China, which showed that manufac- turing activity in those countries was slowing. Despite all this bad news the Aust- ralian dollar was trading at US97.60¢ at noon yesterday. Suit trips deal SHARES in iron ore miner Flinders Mining have plunged by almost 20 per cent after court delays pushed its proposed $554 million takeover by a Russian steelmaker past the expiry date of the deal. At 3.50pm Flinders Mining shares were 3¢, or 18.8 per cent, lower at 13¢. Flinders Mines (FMS) and Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works OJSC (MMK) had agreed MMK would acquire 100 per cent of FMS- issued shares by June 30. But the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk region of Russia adjourned proceedings brought by MMK minority shareholder Elena Egorova, who argues the planned acquisition would adversely affect her investment, until July 2. Flinders Mines said the adjourn- ment was disappointing but it would press ahead with an appeal listed for May 30. Eureka explains TAKEOVER target Eureka Energy has shrugged off criticism about its new $50 million debt facility after suitor Aurora Oil & Gas threatened to withdraw its offer. Aurora said the debt facility was too costly and onerous and could be drawn down without shareholder approval. Eureka is a US-focussed shale oil and gas explorer and producer and plans to use the money to meet funding requirements due soon to develop its flagship Sugarloaf project in Texas. It said in a statement it wanted to set the record straight on Aurora’s claims about the facility struck with the Macquarie Bank. ‘‘It delivered certainty of funding, without which it would have been vulnerable,’’ Eureka said. Aurora has affirmed that it will not withdraw its $107 million cash offer. Sick fish costly SOMETHING fishy is afoot at Clean Seas Tuna as a mystery illness is killing its stock of yellowtail king- fish, adding at least $17.5 million to its full-year loss. The gut enteritis problem affect- ing the fish had worsened since Feb- ruary, wiping out 38 per cent of its 2012 stock and 17 per cent of its 2011 stock, Clean Seas said yesterday. The fish-farming company added that experts had found that fish which survived the illness were hit by secondary infestations due to their weakened health. Help was being sought from over- seas to research the primary and secondary diseases, Clean Seas said. The writedown will be added to Clean Seas’ underlying result for the year to June 30, which it says will be similar to the $14.7 million pre-tax loss posted in the 2010-11 financial year. Energy boss pulls plug on $25 million Kooralbyn buy NICK NICHOLS [email protected] GOLD Coast businessman Murray Bailey has blamed deteriorating market conditions and the poor state of the Kooralbyn Resort for his decision to pull out of a $25 million deal to buy the long- dormant property. The deal was set to go uncon- ditional this week and settle in January, but mortgagee Wellington Capital’s Premium Income Fund announced on Wednesday that the contract had fallen through. Mr Bailey, who heads US-based renewable energy company EESTech Australia, yesterday told the Bulletin the deal in its current state involved ‘‘a lot of risk’’. He said he nearly walked away from the contract last Christmas. Mr Bailey initially laid plans to develop 400 approved home sites at Kooral- byn, which he said could service the mooted Bromelton industrial development. He said Bromelton was the main driver of his decision to buy Koor- albyn. ‘‘But given the current econ- omic climate and given the risk involved in trying to pre-empt the outcomes at Bromelton – all of these are components when you are looking at how long it will take to get a return,’’ he said. ‘‘We are absolutely interested, but we need to reassess the pricing and values of the assets out there. ‘‘We had a contract on the table with a price on it we weren’t pre- pared to meet under the current circumstances.’’ Mr Bailey also had an engineer inspect the property recently, rais- ing concerns about the state of repair of many of the buildings. ‘‘All of these outer buildings have been vandalised almost to the point that they have to be bulldozed.’’ He said some buildings had cop- per pipes and wiring stripped from them, as well as windows, alumin- ium joinery and fittings. But Wellington Capital’s manag- ing director Jenny Hutson (pic- tured) rejected suggestions that Kooralbyn had deteriorated since the contract with Mr Bailey was signed in May last year. Ms Hutson said Wellington had undertaken a number of improve- ments to Kooralbyn, including work on the golf course and a plan to refurbish the lodge – the resort’s first accommodation wing which has 30 apartments. Ms Hutson said while the golf course was not yet operating, it could be ready to do so in about eight weeks. She said Wellington Capital was likely to sell Kooralbyn in parts after receiving a number of inquir- ies in the past year, including ‘‘serious’’ interest in the lodge. Ms Hutson said Mr Bailey may return with another offer but it would have to be unconditional. The Kooralbyn Resort, west of Beaudesert, includes a golf course, 100-room hotel and a 36-room golf lodge, set across 350ha. Sailors on deck in swell abode LUCY ARDERN [email protected] twitter.com/lardern Mark Settree from Romark Design Constructions Pty Ltd and Chairman of Queensland Master Builders. MOST of the maritime interest is focused on Sanctuary Cove this week but a new addition to the luxury location might be enough to tempt boat lovers to step out on dry land at the Sover- eign Islands. It is the individual quirks of this home in Ken- sington Mews that make it stand out in the multi-million neighbourhood, despite the fact the construction cost is modest compared to some of the homes nearby. The mad boaties who own it, John and Rosalind Court from Brisbane, wanted a nautical theme incorporated into the design of the $1.8 million house to match their large yacht, which will soon be moored out the front. Builder Mark Settree, from Romark Design and Construction, created wave-shaped walls, portal windows, a bow shaped island bench in the kitchen and several stainless steel and timber features so the Courts would feel right at home here. ‘‘It is not the biggest house I have ever built or the most expensive but it is one of the nicest,’’ he said. ‘‘The concept is different and well executed. ‘‘You have to look to pick up the nautical features because it is not over the top.’’ Mr Settree said the curved walls were the big- gest challenge during the construction. ‘‘It is not easy to create that,’’ he said. ‘‘There were some other challenges in the complexity of the detail as well, regarding the timber work.’’ The perfectly circular lounge room is another unique feature of the house, which has four bed- rooms, three bathrooms, a powder room and a lap pool. The Courts have been waiting to build on the block since 2002, when they purchased the land for $439,000. It is understood the yacht they intend to tie up in front of it will be worth more than the house.
Transcript of goldcoast.com.au Eureka explains Energy boss pulls plug on ... · repair of many of the buildings....
NEWS 109GOLD COAST: 2018 Commonwealth Games Host CitySaturday, 26-5-12
goldcoast.com.au
Bad news abounds but Aussie still keeping pace with greenbackIT’S getting beaten up by Europeand China but the Australian dollarrefuses to give in.
The little Aussie battler is stillbelow parity with the US dollar butis holding its ground above theUS97.00¢ mark. Easy Forex seniordealer Francisco Solar said weaknessin the US economy had helped limitthe Aussie dollar’s slide.
‘‘Had the economic numbers not
turned sour in the US, the Aussiemay be very much lower than wherewe are now,’’ he said.
He said uncertainty over Greece’selection on June 17 and whether itwould stay in the eurozone waslimiting the Aussie’s losses.
The week started off with G8leaders, at their summit in Chicago,pushing for a pro-growth approachas a way to solve the eurozone crisis.
The new approach gave investorssome optimism and the Australiandollar reached a high of US99.36¢on Tuesday evening.
Then Germany walked in to spoilthe mood.
An informal summit of EuropeanUnion leaders ended on Thursdaymorning, Australian time, with Ger-many at odds with everyone overthe issue of eurobonds.
French President Francois Hol-lande argues that getting the Euro-pean Central Bank to issue its ownbonds would help debt-laden coun-tries such as Spain and Italy, whoare paying 6 or 7 per cent interest,get cheaper financing.
Germany, whose two-year bor-rowing rate reached a low of 0.07per cent on Wednesday, opposeseurobonds and continues to see
budget cuts and tax hikes as the sol-ution to the crisis.
Adding to the negative news wasthe release of May economic datafrom several European nations andChina, which showed that manufac-turing activity in those countries wasslowing.
Despite all this bad news the Aust-ralian dollar was trading at US97.60¢at noon yesterday.
Suit trips dealSHARES in iron ore miner FlindersMining have plunged by almost20 per cent after court delays pushedits proposed $554 million takeoverby a Russian steelmaker past theexpiry date of the deal.
At 3.50pm Flinders Mining shareswere 3¢, or 18.8 per cent, lowerat 13¢.
F l inders Mines (FMS) andMagnitogorsk Iron & Steel WorksOJSC (MMK) had agreed MMKwould acquire 100 per cent of FMS-issued shares by June 30.
But the Arbitration Court of theChelyabinsk region of Russiaadjourned proceedings brought byMMK minority shareholder ElenaEgorova, who argues the plannedacquisition would adversely affecther investment, until July 2.
Flinders Mines said the adjourn-ment was disappointing but it wouldpress ahead with an appeal listed forMay 30.
Eureka explainsTAKEOVER target Eureka Energyhas shrugged off criticism about itsnew $50 million debt facility aftersuitor Aurora Oil & Gas threatenedto withdraw its offer.
Aurora said the debt facility wastoo costly and onerous and could bedrawn down without shareholderapproval.
Eureka is a US-focussed shale oiland gas explorer and producer andplans to use the money to meetfunding requirements due soon todevelop its flagship Sugarloaf projectin Texas.
It said in a statement it wanted toset the record straight on Aurora’sclaims about the facility struck withthe Macquarie Bank.
‘‘It delivered certainty of funding,without which it would have beenvulnerable,’’ Eureka said.
Aurora has affirmed that it willnot withdraw its $107 million cashoffer.
Sick fish costlySOMETHING fishy is afoot atClean Seas Tuna as a mystery illnessis killing its stock of yellowtail king-fish, adding at least $17.5 million toits full-year loss.
The gut enteritis problem affect-ing the fish had worsened since Feb-ruary, wiping out 38 per cent of its2012 stock and 17 per cent of its 2011stock, Clean Seas said yesterday.
The fish-farming company addedthat experts had found that fishwhich survived the illness were hitby secondary infestations due totheir weakened health.
Help was being sought from over-seas to research the primary andsecondary diseases, Clean Seas said.
The writedown will be added toClean Seas’ underlying result for theyear to June 30, which it says will besimilar to the $14.7 million pre-taxloss posted in the 2010-11 financialyear.
Energy boss pulls plug on$25 million Kooralbyn buyNICK [email protected]
GOLD Coast businessman MurrayBailey has blamed deterioratingmarket conditions and the poorstate of the Kooralbyn Resort forhis decision to pull out of a $25million deal to buy the long-dormant property.
The deal was set to go uncon-ditional this week and settle inJanuary, but mortgagee WellingtonCapital’s Premium Income Fundannounced on Wednesday that thecontract had fallen through.
Mr Bailey, who heads US-basedr en ewab l e ene rgy companyEESTech Australia, yesterday toldthe Bulletin the deal in its currentstate involved ‘‘a lot of risk’’.
He said he nearly walked away
from the contractlast Christmas.
M r B a i l e yinitially laid plansto develop 400approved homesites at Kooral-byn , which he
said could service the mootedBromelton industrial development.
He said Bromelton was the maindriver of his decision to buy Koor-albyn. ‘‘But given the current econ-omic climate and given the riskinvolved in trying to pre-empt theoutcomes at Bromelton – all ofthese are components when youare looking at how long it will taketo get a return,’’ he said.
‘‘We are absolutely interested,but we need to reassess the pricingand values of the assets out there.
‘‘We had a contract on the tablewith a price on it we weren’t pre-pared to meet under the currentcircumstances.’’
Mr Bailey also had an engineerinspect the property recently, rais-ing concerns about the state ofrepair of many of the buildings.
‘‘All of these outer buildings havebeen vandalised almost to the pointthat they have to be bulldozed.’’
He said some buildings had cop-per pipes and wiring stripped fromthem, as well as windows, alumin-ium joinery and fittings.
But Wellington Capital’s manag-ing director Jenny Hutson (pic-tured) rejected suggestions thatKooralbyn had deteriorated sincethe contract with Mr Bailey wassigned in May last year.
Ms Hutson said Wellington had
undertaken a number of improve-ments to Kooralbyn, includingwork on the golf course and a planto refurbish the lodge – the resort’sfirst accommodation wing whichhas 30 apartments.
Ms Hutson said while the golfcourse was not yet operating, itcould be ready to do so in abouteight weeks.
She said Wellington Capital waslikely to sell Kooralbyn in partsafter receiving a number of inquir-ies in the past year, including‘‘serious’’ interest in the lodge.
Ms Hutson said Mr Bailey mayreturn with another offer but itwould have to be unconditional.
The Kooralbyn Resort, west ofBeaudesert, includes a golf course,100-room hotel and a 36-room golflodge, set across 350ha.
Sailors on deckin swell abodeLUCY [email protected]/lardern
Mark Settree fromRomark DesignConstructions Pty Ltdand Chairman ofQueensland MasterBuilders.
MOST of the maritime interest is focused onSanctuary Cove this week but a new addition tothe luxury location might be enough to temptboat lovers to step out on dry land at the Sover-eign Islands.
It is the individual quirks of this home in Ken-sington Mews that make it stand out in themulti-million neighbourhood, despite the fact theconstruction cost is modest compared to some ofthe homes nearby.
The mad boaties who own it, John andRosalind Court from Brisbane, wanted a nauticaltheme incorporated into the design of the$1.8 million house to match their large yacht,which will soon be moored out the front.
Builder Mark Settree, from Romark Designand Construction, created wave-shaped walls,portal windows, a bow shaped island bench inthe kitchen and several stainless steel and timberfeatures so the Courts would feel right at homehere.
‘‘It is not the biggest house I have ever built orthe most expensive but it is one of the nicest,’’ hesaid.
‘‘The concept is different and well executed.‘‘You have to look to pick up the nautical
features because it is not over the top.’’Mr Settree said the curved walls were the big-
gest challenge during the construction.‘‘It is not easy to create that,’’ he said.‘‘There were some other challenges in the
complexity of the detail as well, regarding thetimber work.’’
The perfectly circular lounge room is anotherunique feature of the house, which has four bed-rooms, three bathrooms, a powder room and alap pool.
The Courts have been waiting to build on theblock since 2002, when they purchased the landfor $439,000.
It is understood the yacht they intend to tie upin front of it will be worth more than the house.
