Australian Indexes Rebound 1%, Asciano in Takeover Talks

Marcus Jacob
01 Jul, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes rebounded 1% on the hopes that the deepening crisis in the euro zone may be averted on a last minute deal. Asciano surged after it confirmed a takeover offer from a Canada based fund.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes rebounded 1% on the hopes that the deepening crisis in the euro zone may be averted on a last minute deal. Asciano surged after it confirmed a takeover offer from a Canada based fund.[/R]

Australian market indexes rebounded on the hopes that the last minute proposal by Greece may bring an accord with international lenders.

Greece is technically in “arrears” after it missed its scheduled payment to the International Monetary Fund.

However, the focus has shifted to the next bond payment date on July 10. If Greece fails to strike a deal with the lenders and lose its access to the last tranche of its bailout fund under the European Stability Mechanism, Greece will enter into a default.

Australian dollar closed at 77.10 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover slipped to 746 million shares worth $4.6 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index jumped 56.70 or 1% to 5,515.70 and the broader All Ordinaries Index increased 54.80 to 5,506.

In commodities trading, gold slid US$4 to US$1,174 an ounce and Brent crude fell 0.73 to close at US$62.86 a barrel.

IPO

Mitula Group Limited soared 6.7% to 80 cents after the software developer priced its stock at 75 cents.

The stock opened at 85 cents and closed at 80 cents.

Australian Stock Movers

Asciano Ltd surged 16.8% to $7.77 after the rail freight and ports operator confirms that on 26 June it received a takeover bid from Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. at $9.05 per share or worth about $8.83 billion or US$6.81 billion in cash-and-stock.

The offer represents 36% premium to Asciano''s yesterday closing price of $6.65.

The company added that talks are in early stage.

Asciano was spun out of Toll Holdings in 2007.

Goodman Group increased 1.4% to $6.36 after the industrial property developer said its subsidiary Brickworks agreed to divest Coles Chilled Distribution Centre in Eastern Creek, New South Wales for about $253 million to the Singapore-based Mapletree Logistics Trust.

Money3 Corporation Limited soared 14.5% to $1.30 after the financial services provider said it had resolved a query regarding a previous loan product with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Sydney Airport Holdings Ltd jumped 6.2% to $5.29 after the airport operator agreed to lower the amount it charges to international airlines by 18 cents to $24 per passenger for one year beginning today.

However, the airport authority added the charges will increase by an average of 3.8% per year over the subsequent four years.

Tassal Group Limited soared 8.1% to $3.60 after the salmon producer agreed to acquire the De Costi Seafoods Business for $50 million in cash.

Woodside Petroleum Limited gained 1.3% to $34.66 after the oil and gas producer signed an agreement on front-end engineering and design phase for its Browse floating LNG project.

Woodside participating interest in the Browse resources will be 30.6% of net on 4.7 trillion cubic feet of dry gas and 138.6 million barrels of condensate.