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Mergers and Acquisitions

Empty Zimmermann shelves pictured at David Jones, Perth CBD, on Friday. Supplied

BusinessPremiumBuyers circle David Jones as brands strip stock from stores

Australian and overseas suitors are circling David Jones, its administrators say, as the collapsed department store chain searches for a buyer while fashion brands pull stock from stores across the country.

Ryan Johnson

Labor MP Jags Krishnan speaks at a media conference in Willetton to respond to claims he is being sued by a New York businessman.

Mergers and AcquisitionsPremiumFresh fight emerges as Dr Jag’s Spectrum Health sold

A fresh financial dispute linked to Labor politician Jagadish Krishnan has emerged just days after the medical clinic empire he co-founded was sold for more than $40 million.

Matt Mckenzie

RAC boss Rob Slocombe and IAG chief executive Nick Hawkins at the signing of the insurance deal in May 2025.

Mergers and AcquisitionsPremiumAnalysts see RAC Insurance delivering higher boost for IAG

UBS now reckon that the purchase of RAC Insurance could increase IAG’s annual profits by about 10 per cent — up from IAG’s “mid-single digit” forecast.

Sean Smith

Peet’s Brabham masterplanned community

Mergers and AcquisitionsPremiumPeet sale would cost $110m and put senior roles under review

Ingenia plans to retain Peet’s name but review its management and staffing if the sale proceeds. Rival bidders want the deal scrapped, with $10m due to Peet if Ingenia quits to accept a superior bid for itself.

Ryan Johnson

The North West Shelf’s North Rankin A platform.

Oil & GasPremiumShell quits North West Shelf after 40 years in $2b sale

The sale will mark Shell’s exit from a project it helped found in the 1980s and later tried to control through an unsuccessful takeover bid for Woodside.

Sean Smith

APM executive chair Megan Wynne.

Mergers and AcquisitionsPremiumUS acquisitions to push APM revenues through $3 billion

The purchases of occupational healthcare businesses Workcare in March and Medcore in August will make a bigger impact this year, lifting APM’s revenue and profits after a flat 2025-26.

Sean Smith

BGC now has sufficient franking credit to potentially distribute up to $769.6m in tax-free dividends to the family behind the company.

ConstructionPremiumBGC sitting on $770m dividend as pipe repair bill soars

New accounts show the Buckeridge family flagship now has sufficient franking credits to potentially distribute up to another $769.6m in tax-free dividends to Len Buckeridge’s heirs.

Sean Smith

Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott speaks at the company’s AGM on Thursday.

Mergers and AcquisitionsPremiumWesfarmers sees opportunity for deals in tougher economy

Wesfarmers’ busy and large business development team is “drilling a bit deeper” on potentially stressed acquisitions that could prove a fit for the Perth-based conglomerate.

Sean Smith

Peet built an estate in Burns Beach

Commercial PropertyPremiumWarburg’s new offer puts Ingenia’s $993m Peet deal at risk

Warburg Pincus has lifted its offer to $5.45 a security and brought in Australian Retirement Trust-backed Discovery Parks as rival AVID gets six weeks to make its case.

Ryan Johnson

Austal chair Richard Spencer at the company’s annual general meeting in Fremantle on Tuesday.

Mergers and AcquisitionsPremiumAustal has ‘no idea’ on Pentagon contract tactics

The shipbuilder’s AGM heard the US may allow South Korean bidder Hanwha to restructure loss-making contracts carried by Austal’s US shipyard, having refused to do the same for Austal.

Sean Smith

Woodside Energy chief executive Liz Westcott.

EnergyPremiumWoodside to walk from Timor gas project with $285m

The Australian company’s decision to sell a one-third interest in the Greater Sunrise gas fields off Timor-Leste will give the impoverished nation full control of a development of the huge resource.

Sean Smith

Peet built an estate in Burns Beach

Commercial PropertyPremiumPeet feels chill as rival bid lands for suitor Ingenia

There has been yet another twist in the $2 billion-plus tussle for Ingenia Communities Group, which will likely leave Perth-based residential developer Peet out in the cold.

Daniel Newell

Critical Minerals CEO Tony Sage at the company's rare earths deposit near Qaqortoq, Greenland.

MiningPremiumSage ready for Greenland with nod from European Lithium

Tony Sage’s push to develop one of the world’s biggest rare earths deposits has cleared a corporate hurdle.

Ben Harvey

P&N Bank boss Andrew Hadley.

BankingPremiumP&N lifts profit despite tough backdrop

The $30.4m profit, up 7.6 per cent on the 2025 financial year’s $28.3m, was supported by 5 per cent growth in loan volumes and a 7.6 per cent rise in deposits.

Sean Smith

Peet’s Brabham masterplanned community

Commercial PropertyPremiumPeet shares plunge as Warburg presses ahead with Ingenia bid

Peet shares were dumped as much as 13 per cent on Tuesday putting the Perth developer’s proposed sale to Ingenia in jeopardy. 

Ryan Johnson

Peet’s Brabham masterplanned community

BusinessPremiumWarburg’s ‘best and final’ Ingenia offer has a deadline

Ingenia’s plan to buy Perth developer Peet faces a Monday test as a US private equity firm circles the company and threatens to blow up the deal.

Ryan Johnson

Deloitte is in the firing line over the use of AI to prepare a taxpayer-funded report.

AccountingPremiumUniversity merger report AI errors only ‘minor’: Deloitte

Education bodies and critics of the suggested merger between the University of WA and Murdoch and Curtin universities have expressed alarm that AI would be used to inform such an important decision.

Sean Smith

The two brands had 51 stores across Australia and New Zealand

RetailPremiumMore Cue stores to close as buyers line up with rescue bids

Receivers of popular womenswear brands Cue Clothing and Veronika Maine will close another 26 stores as they ready the collapsed retail empire for a possible sale.

Daniel Newell

Austal has been building ships for the US Navy and US Coast Guard in the US for nearly 20 years.

ManufacturingPremiumAustal shares soar as Hanwha bid takes shape

Austal says it has extended the due diligence period and was negotiating with Hanwha on a potential transaction in the $US1.05 billion to $US1.2b ($1.7b) range flagged in August.

Sean Smith

The WA Government is exploring a three-way university merger.

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exclusive
Artificial intelligencePremium
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Deloitte’s WA uni merger report littered with AI errors

The document, which supports a WA Government push for a merger of three universities, includes references with incorrectly titled research papers and wrong publication dates.

Sean Smith

Visiting IAG chief executive Nick Hawkins.

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InsurancePremium
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IAG offers to quit NRMA in WA to win RAC approval

The concession will test part of the new mergers regime that allows for an anti-competitive deal to be approved if it is in the public benefit.

Sean Smith

There’s a special provision in the proposed bill that has caught a few eyes authorising the Minister to onsell WA’s freight rail network in full, or in part, to a new buyer. 

Herd on the TerracePremiumThe giant exit clause in freight rail buyback plan

It sparks the question: why include such a clause unless the Government is genuinely considering vending parts of Arc onwards to a third party?

Rosemount will be returning to its origins.

RetailPremium‘Full circle’ as TWE sells Rosemont back to Oatley family

Australian vintner Treasury Wine Estates has sold three brands from its extensive portfolio to the billionaire Oatley family, part of a strategy to shift focus back to its luxury origins.

Ben Westcott

Contractors are chasing deals that increase their exposure to data centres.

Mergers and AcquisitionsPremiumSouthern Cross, GenusPlus strike $200m of acquisitions

Southern Cross is paying as much as $112.1m for Melbourne-headquartered Entire Operations, while GenusPlus has struck a $NZ65m ($81m) for NZ telco contractor Universal Communications Group.

Sean Smith