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Core
activities at Kings Cross, by Michael West - 1st December
2004
(Credit:
The Australian)
(Mediaman is assisting 'The Australian'
with this scandal)
ASX announcement 30.11.2004: 'SGT: Form 38DD, Appendage
B (69) – Singtel Optus – Application for
Change of Name and Registered Business Address.
'Singapore
Telecommunications Limited (SingTel Optus) has applied
to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission
(ASIC) for a change of name to SinTel Optus. Group
head office has been transferred to Darlinghurst Rd,
Kings Cross (above Club X, Nude Girls Live), as part
of a group restructure designed to focus on core activities.'
A
SinTel spokesman said yesterday the move reflected
the significant increase in revenues from its phone
sex operations which are now believed to contribute
$150 million to group cash flow.
'The
upside is huge,' he said. 'We are expecting synergies
to provide a fillip to the bottom line when our retail
chain of Nokia Shops is up and running.'
If
Paully O'Sullivan and the gang from SinTel were sniggering
about Ziggy's Casey donovan kerfuffle last week, they
just got it back in shovels.
It
emerged yesterday in a judgment at the NSW Supreme
Court that SinTel is quite a player in the internet
porn segment, via telephone line access. The court
found against SinTel for under-reporting the time
clients of international porn merchant Gilsan were
on the phone getting their porn. Pecuniary judgment
has been reserved, although claims and counter-claims
are in the order of $US30 million to $US40 million.
Cor!
activities
DO
you want to get hot? Call Marge now. Are you lying
on your bed, draped only in frilly, commercially sensitive
documents? Call Marge now.
Do
you want to blow a whistle? Call Marge, call now.
Do you want to get down and dirty with a hot, sexy
scoop? An expose? Call Marge, we are waiting for your
call. Are you inside? We like it. Call Marge for an
intimate chat. We're waiting for your call. Ooh, ahh.
T3
or not T3
BANKS
pitching for a role in the sale of T3 have a dilemma.
There's a horrid price-war wreaking destruction on
profit margins in the mobile phone sector. But they
have to be nice to Telstra.
Vodafone
has just crashed Hutchison's Chrissie Party, seeing
and raising Hutch's $49 plan (plus $200 worth of calls)
with its own $49 plan ($230 worth of calls). Telstra
and SinTel – ooh yeah, nasty – are yet to
respond.
Anyway,
seeing as Telstra shares had rallied 4 per cent in
three weeks, The House of Sachs found a 'reasonably
compelling short-term investment case' on relative
value and an Aussie dollar play for foreigners. Screw
the eyes up and there's a silver lining in that old
Telstra cloud. Goldman's price target is now $5.20,
up from $4.91, and nearing the Government's desired
$5.40 sale price on the third and final tranche.
Switzerland
calling
NESTLED
peacefully in the tax haven of Zug, the boys from
Glencore seem to be taking an almost unnatural interest
in the Xstrata bid for WMC. (Xstrata is 40 per cent-owned
by metals trading house Glencore.)
Amid
the snowclad peaks and verdant fields, the boys have
been reading the Hornsby Advocate (not to be confused
with the SinTel Optus's in-house publication The Horny
Advocate) to keep abreast of merger and acquisition
activity in the Asia-Pacific.
A
bloke called Bill Harcourt, who writes a finance column
for the Advocate, mentioned that he wasn't thrilled
with the Xstrata bid a couple of weeks ago, due to
Glencore's stake in Xstrata and the 'recent' departure
of infamous commodities trader Marc Rich. Last week,
the Hornsby Advocate featured a letter to the editor
from none other than Rich's lawyer in Switzerland
pointing out that Rich and Glencore parted company
10 years ago.
Maybe
he's just an avid reader of the Advocate but didn't
think the paper would be interested in the local government
issues of Zug.
Meanwhile,
WMC eased 5c to $7.21 yesterday, as Xstrata handed
down its bidder's statement. The stock is way above
the $6.35 on offer from the Swiss as the takeover
arbs reckon a higher bid is odds-on.
A
rival offer from the likes of Rio or BHP is likely
but no sure thing. And they won't be in a hurry. Should
commodities keep running, there is a high chance of
a counter. And once a bidding duel began, the final
price would be well in excess of $7.21.
If
the market falters, not so. The boards of Rio, BHP
and other contenders will only enter the fray if they
take the view that China will keep booming, Dubya's
deficit is under control and commodities are still
in big demand.
Then
there's WMC's uranium, which nobody is making a fuss
about. Regulatory intervention is not out of the question.
WMC will explore every opportunity to block the offer.
You can bet a few Collins Street jobs on that.
Media
The
Australian
Articles
SinTel
won't confess its sins, by Michael West - 7th December
2004
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