Transurban expands into Qld for $7b

A consortium led by toll road owner Transurban has agreed to buy Queensland Motorways for $7bn. Source: AAP

TOLL roads operator Transurban has extended its reach, leading a consortium that has bought several Brisbane toll roads from the Queensland government for around $7 billion.

The consortium beat other bidders to acquire Queensland Motorways' 73.5 kilometres of roads and bridges for $6.67 billion, plus stamp duty of $384 million and transaction costs of $447 million.

The Queensland Motorways portfolio comprises the Logan and Gateway motorways, CLEM7 tunnel, Go Between Bridge and Legacy Way, which is expected to begin operating in June 2015.

Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton said the Brisbane toll roads were high quality assets that would help grow earnings for Transurban securityholders.

"Clearly, this is a portfolio of attractive assets with all the characteristics of our existing networks in Sydney and Melbourne, and the attractive demographics of the Queensland market," Mr Charlton said.

He rejected suggestions the price was too high, saying the roads had substantially longer remaining concession lives than Transurban's other toll roads.

The acquisition price did not include the savings and benefits that Transurban could make from operating efficiencies, such as improving call centre operations, credit and billing functions, and tolling systems, Mr Charlton added.

"I don't think people understood how much value was there, or flagged, before the transaction occurred," he told reporters.

Transurban believed it had beat the nearest bidder by less than one per cent, Mr Charlton said.

Morningstar analyst Adrian Atkins said the acquisition made strategic sense for Transurban.

"Transurban doesn't have any assets in Brisbane at this point in time, it's a core market in Australia, and there should be some back-office synergies," he said.

"It's a growth area, where you might expect there to be more opportunities in the future."

Transurban securities, which last traded at $7.27, are in a trading halt while the company raises $2.74 billion through the issue of new securities to help fund its share of the acquisition.

Transurban holds a 62.5 per cent stake in the consortium that successfully bid for Queensland Motorways, and will operate the Brisbane network.

The other members of the consortium are AustralianSuper, with a stake of 25 per cent; and Tawreed, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which has an interest of 12.5 per cent.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Franklin says crash 'just an accident'

Swans player Lance Franklin says he is truly sorry for crashing into five parked cars in Sydney. Source: AAP

AFL superstar Lance Franklin says he wasn't on the phone or speeding when he crashed into four parked cars and he admits he's frustrated at being back in the spotlight for another off-field incident.

Franklin has been fined $405 and lost three demerit points over the crash, but Sydney won't be taking action against their $10 million recruit.

The Swans forward says he didn't see a car parked on the left as he drove his girlfriend's sponsored 4WD through the Sydney suburb of Rose Bay on Wednesday night, clipped it and then slammed into three other cars after the airbags went off.

"I wasn't texting at all. I wasn't doing anything. I wasn't speeding," he said before Swans training at the SCG on Thursday.

"It was just an accident, accidents happen and as I said I'm so great (sic) that no one was hurt in this case and for the people's cars that were hit, we can get them fixed up as soon as possible and move on."

He said he was shocked and shaky after the accident, but also annoyed at himself.

"Obviously there's frustration, more for myself than anyone," he said.

"I don't want to see myself in the spotlight. Obviously I've found myself in it again but I just want to move forward as quickly as possible and get on to this week's game."

Police interviewed Franklin at the scene on New South Head Road and gave him a breath test, which returned a negative reading, before issuing him with a ticket for negligent driving.

Sydney coach John Longmire said the club accepted Franklin's explanation and he'll play against Melbourne on Saturday.

"Ultimately he's here to play football and it was a really unfortunate thing that happened last night but we're here to prepare today and prepare for Melbourne this week and that's what we'll continue to do," Longmire said.

"The police spoke to him for half an hour after the incident and they're satisfied with what Lance said as well. So we'll get into football mode."

He was driving his model girlfriend Jesinta Campbell's $77,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, given to her as part of her role as a brand ambassador for the carmaker.

The car was towed away with significant damage to its front end and there's speculation the incident may affect Ms Campbell's deal with Jeep.

Franklin was on the other end of an accident involving a borrowed car in March when he lent his Mercedes to teammate Dan Hanneberry who crashed it.

Full forward Franklin, 27, moved from premiers Hawthorn to Sydney last October in a nine-year deal that raised eyebrows.

He is yet to capture the dominant form that made him such a success at Hawthorn, while Sydney has denied reports he has not settled into the club's culture and is a bad influence on their young players.

News Corp reported in February that paramedics were called to Franklin's Bondi flat on January 3, after he collapsed because of an apparent seizure.

In 2012, Franklin lost his licence for six months after he was caught speeding 40km/h over the limit in Melbourne's Brighton East.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Whitehaven cuts coal guidance

WHITEHAVEN Coal shares have fallen after the miner cut its full year production guidance by up to eight per cent due to operational problems.

The northern NSW miner revised its guidance from 10.7 million tonnes of saleable coal to between 9.8 million and 10 million tonnes.

The company has had to stop production in a section of its key Narrabri mine due to safety issues relating to roof supports.

A return to production is still two to three weeks away.

Production had also been hampered by previously disclosed geotechnical challenges at another mine, Rocglen, the company said.

Whitehaven shares dropped 4.5 cents, or 2.8 per cent, to $1.56.

Whitehaven had some good news last week when the Commonwealth Department of the Environment found the company's biodiversity offsets package for its controversial flagship Maules Creek project complied with approval conditions.

Development of the Maules Creek mine has been met with vocal criticism from locals.

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Heineken returns to growth in Europe

Brewer Heineken has returned to growth in its crucial Western Europe market in the first quarter. Source: AAP

HEINEKEN says it has returned to growth in its crucial Western Europe market in the first quarter, after a long period of stagnation.

Organic sales - a figure which strips out the effects of currencies and acquisitions - grew by 3.4 per cent.

However, the Dutch-based brewer's reported sales fell because of the strong euro and because its Eastern European sales shrank. Earnings were lower because of one-off gains in the same period a year ago.

Net profit was 143 million euros ($A214.25 million), against 227 million euros a year ago. Sales fell 2.6 per cent to 4.08 billion euros.

Heineken said that like-for-like sales in Western Europe, where it is the largest brewer, were up 1.8 per cent to 1.51 billion euros.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Picture perfect royals visit the zoo

IT was the picture perfect moment the world had been waiting for.

Royal baby Prince George giggled, smiled and played his way through just his second public engagement - a trip to the zoo with his parents Prince William and Kate on Sunday.

The trio arrived at Sydney's Taronga Zoo to visit the bilby enclosure named after Prince George as part of Australia's gift marking his birth on July 22 last year.

It was just the fifth time the royal tot, who is almost nine months old, had been seen in public on this trip.

Dressed in royal blue shorts and a striped, light blue shirt and blue shoes and socks, he appeared to wriggle mischievously in Kate's arms as the family strolled to the bilby enclosure.

For much of this royal tour of New Zealand and Australia, the eyes of the world have been trained on Kate and her fashion choices.

For the zoo, she had changed out of the dove-grey Alexander McQueen outfit she had worn to an Easter church service, into a lemon cream broderie anglaise dress.

At the enclosure, George met a bilby - also called George, then helped his parents unveil a plaque, renaming the enclosure the Prince George Bilby Exhibit.

Bilby keeper Paul Davies said the royal couple were relaxed with George inside the enclosure.

"All of a sudden they were just a family in the zoo," Mr Davies said.

He said at one point George wanted to grab the bilby's ear.

"I said 'he can touch the bilby', but they said no, he (the bilby) will have one ear less," Mr Davies said.

After the bilbies, George returned to Admiralty House and William and Kate viewed other animals at Taronga.

They fed tree kangaroos, strolled past giraffes, enjoyed a bird show, and took in the rhino conservation display.

At the bird show, the couple had galahs and owls swooping just centimetres above their heads.

Taronga Zoo bird trainer Brendan Host presented the bird show, before introducing the duke and duchess to two echidnas, a quokka and a koala named Leuca.

"I think Kate was very taken with Leuca," Mr Host, 27, told reporters after the show.

"She didn't realise the koala would smell the way it did because they eat eucalyptus leaves.

"I think she just really enjoyed the moment."

The royals posed with Leuca and the echidnas with iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the background.

This was Australia - as much as the royals - on show.

As he touched the koala, William commented: "This is the moment everyone's been waiting for."

The couple also heard about a number of Australia's endangered species at the bird show - and appeared to take a keen interest.

Taronga Zoo volunteer Meghan was in the audience at the bird show and said the duchess looked "incredible".

"She's stunning, she's perfectly put together, there's never anything out of place."

Michael, 49, at the zoo with his three-year-old son Jimmy, described George as "quite a handsome little man.

"And the duke and duchess; they're a beautiful couple of course."

He said Jimmy "wanted to have a little bit of a play" with the young prince, adding that he hoped the royals had a "great day out" at the zoo.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Lucky' boy falls 200m, fractures leg

AN eight-year-old boy has being hailed as "incredibly lucky" after he survived a 200m fall and suffered only a fractured leg.

The boy fell from a viewing platform at Dangars Falls, near Armidale, and slid 200m down a slope, after climbing through the cordoned area to retrieve a personal item on Saturday.

"Just below the platform is a walkable area, but he's slipped again somehow," NSW Ambulance duty operations manager Inspector Neale Waters said in a statement.

"It was a slide and roll affair and the momentum kept him going.

"He came to rest about 200m from the viewing platform. What's stopped him from falling to the bottom, I don't know. It's about a 300m drop so there was another 100m to go."

Insp Waters described the boy as "incredibly lucky".

A NSW Ambulance paramedic went to the boy's aid, taking a splint "because we were told the patient had a fractured femur before we went down to him".

"(The boy) had a talk to mum and dad," Insp Waters said.

"There were civilians down there who had a CB radio which helped us a lot. We had no communication."

A helicopter winched the boy out after five hours.

The boy was flown to Tamworth airport before being taken Tamworth Base Hospital. He is in a stable condition.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

George makes light of royal duties

FINALLY it was Prince George's turn to be the star of the Royal Show Down Under.

Dressed in dark blue shorts, a striped blue-collared shirt, dark socks and shoes, and wriggling in his mum's arms, he made his much anticipated Australian debut on day five of the Cambridges' visit.

But he had to compete with a bilby, also named George, for the cutest in show.

The occasion was the naming of the bilby enclosure at Taronga Zoo's Australian Nightlife Display in honour of the young prince, part of Australia's gift after his birth in July last year.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge played second fiddle to their little man on Sunday as he undertook his first official engagement, albeit away from the loud and large crowds that have been flocking to see the royals.

Dad William worked his magic to get the two Georges to overcome their initial shyness, encouraging bilby George with some food while mum Kate held the prince close to the glass divider.

Before long, the curious prince was quite taken with the bilby.

Keeper of Australian Fauna Paul Davies took them on a guided tour of the indoor display, which included echidna, spinifex hopping mice and feather-tailed gliders well as bilbies.

"It was awesome. They were just like any other family," Mr Davies said after.

"Prince George was so lively. So many kids of that age don't like the dark - it is like moonlight in there - and run out screaming. Not Prince George."

Afterwards, George helped unveil the plaque and accepted presents - the beginning of a long career of officiating at similar ceremonies for the near nine-month-old - before returning to Admiralty House.

It was his second public function of the three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand, where he "hosted" a play group event with other babies his age at Government House.

He has been kept on the sidelines for much of the visit - still too young for the full rigour of the tour.

His parents, however, have been undertaking a hectic schedule with visits to the Opera House, Blue Mountains, Royal Easter Show and Manly Beach in Sydney, and a whirlwind trip to Amberley RAAF base and Brisbane on Saturday.

It continued on Sunday with the duke and duchess continuing the visit to the zoo, feeding tree kangaroos, walking past giraffes, enjoying a bird show, and taking in the rhino conservation display.

Kate wore a pretty, deep lemon/cream broderie anglaise dress by an independent designer who didn't want to be named, and sky high tan wedge sandals, and William was in blue jeans and a blue check shirt with his sleeves rolled up.

They posed with the echidnas with William commenting: "This is the moment everyone's been waiting for."

The royal couple started Easter Sunday at a church service at St Andrew's Cathedral and will end the day by flying to Canberra, where they will be based for the rest of the tour that ends after Anzac Day services on Friday.

They'll have a rest day on Monday. On Tuesday, they'll be in Yulara and visit Uluru in the Northern Territory.

Another picture perfect moment on what has been a picture perfect trip so far.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ita's tail wreaks havoc across NZ

ROADS are closed, roofs blown off, and thousands of homes and businesses left without power as storms lash much of the country.

The fire service had received 844 emergency calls by 4pm local time on Thursday, with about a quarter coming from the West Coast of the South Island.

Winds of up to 140km/h from the tail end of Cyclone Ita caused havoc in Buller, blocking roads and knocking out power to almost all the region's 4500 customers.

Buller Electricity chief executive Erik Westergaard says only the small town of Karamea has power, and that's through a diesel generator.

"I had to go outside because a pole was about to fall over and the wind picked me up and shifted me 10m across the road," Mr Westergaard told AAP.

As he spoke, a sheet of iron blew over the building and landed on the fence surrounding the Westport substation.

"We've got three crews out in the field, but they can't go anywhere because trees are blocking the road, but we know they're safe."

Further south, Cobden Bridge at Greymouth was closed because of strong winds and a welfare centre has been set up so stranded motorists can spend the night at Greymouth Baptist Church.

Earlier, about 15,000 Auckland customers of Vector Energy had lost power after fallen trees and other debris knocked out power.

Vector's crews were gradually restoring power as the storm moved south and by 7pm about 2300 customers were still facing a blackout.

Hundreds of people in the Rotorua area were also without power after gales and heavy rain brought down trees and power lines.

Numerous roads were closed in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel during the day by fallen trees and power lines, and flooding.

By the evening, New Zealand Transport Agency said State Highway 2 between Western Drain and Awakeri in Bay of Plenty was still closed by fallen trees.

Coromandel's Kopu-Hikuai Road reopened as far as the Whangamata turn-off, but remained closed from there through to Tairua.

Senior Sergeant Rupert Friend, of Waikato Police District, said there was still surface water in areas where roads were open and he urged extreme caution by all drivers "as now it is dark the surface water is harder to see".

The bad weather also caused Interislander ferry sailings to be cancelled and a landslip that resulted in two Oriental Parade properties in Wellington being evacuated.

MetService meteorologist Dan Corbett said the weather would gradually improve over Easter weekend as the tropical low drifted south.

"The intense band of rain and strong to severe gales will sink south to engulf central parts of New Zealand by the end of Thursday, followed by slowly improving weather in the far north," he said.

"The wet and windy weather will still affect eastern parts of the South Island early on Good Friday, but it will improve gradually here too as the tropical low drifts south away from the country."

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bodies recovered from NSW mine

THE bodies of both men who died in a Hunter Valley coal mine collapse have been recovered.

Phillip Grant, 35, from Maitland and 49-year-old Cessnock resident Jamie Mitchell died when a wall collapsed in the Austar Coal Mine in Paxton on Tuesday night.

They had been working 500 metres below the surface and 10 kilometres along the mine.

Workmates attempted to save them on Tuesday night but were forced to leave the mine because of safety fears, with both men pronounced dead just after midnight on Wednesday.

Police confirmed they had recovered Mr Mitchell's body about 8am on Thursday with Mr Grant's body recovered just before 5pm.

Police have established a crime scene and the mine will remain closed indefinitely.

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Vic man in court over partner's murder

A man wanted over the fatal stabbing of his partner in a busy Melbourne street remains at large. Source: AAP

A MELBOURNE man allegedly murdered his partner after they'd been in court about a family violence order, a court has heard.

Craig McDermott, 38, is charged with murdering his de facto wife of 18 years, Fiona Joy Warzywoda, in a Sunshine shopping strip on Wednesday.

McDermott, of Sunshine North, briefly appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Thursday afternoon.

MORE TO COME

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