Carnegie Wylie Wants Credit Where It's Due

The Age

Thursday April 5, 2007

Mark Hawthorne

WELL, there's already the Qantas deal. And Alinta. And Coles (assuming Kohlberg Kravis Roberts gets back in the game after Wesfarmers' move). But apparently investment bank Carnegie Wylie feels it needs more work to do.

At least, that's the reason given for buying up AMP's 90 per cent interest in credit cops Dun & Bradstreet Australia.

"It's always been part of our strategy to have a few irons in the fire apart from investment banking," said John Wylie, an adviser to Coles on the planned sale of the company.

Carnegie Wylie bought the interest in D&B from AMP, which backed chief executive Christine Christian in a management buy-out way back in 2001. Also exiting was D&B international, which kept a 2 per cent stake after the buy-out.

In the statement announcing the deal, Wylie's partner, Mark Carnegie, who captured the advisory gig on the Qantas deal, said there was "a real cultural symmetry" between the two companies.

Full Disclosure certainly noticed the same azure hue used for both logos on the letterhead.

Nevertheless, our local D&B will remain part of the global D&B family, meaning it will keep its access to D&B's global database of credit information - useful, when you make your money writing credit reports.

High five for wi-fi

TELSTRA'S wireless hotspots have hardly captured the imagination - or the wallets - of consumers.

The telco admits the wi-fi internet hotspots, located at coffee shops and burger joints across the country, are used by a merest handful of laptop-toting businessmen.

In order to boost their profile, and keep major clients happy (read Starbucks and McDonald's), Telstra has signed a deal with Nintendo to provide owners of Nintendo DS game systems free access to the network.

Nintendo has sold more than 500,000 of the wi-fi-enabled portable DS units in Australia, and gamers will be able to play wirelessly at any Telstra wireless hotspot for free.

For those older DS users who bought the Nintendo browser attachment, the deal means free wi-fi internet access.

Solly's broadsides

AFTER four decades in the rag trade, Solomon Lew knows how to cut and run.

Lew has left the country after selling his 5.9 per cent stake in Coles - duly sending Melbourne into a game of "Where's Solly?".

Key Premier Investments staff closed ranks about the location of their boss yesterday, refusing to even confirm that he had left the country.

Lew has indeed gone overseas, but last time it was reported he had gone on holiday the billionaire's Toorak mansion was promptly burgled. Photographers have informed Full Disclosure that security has been stepped up, suggesting a lengthy trip for the cashed-up retail boss.

Lew certainly hasn't retreated to the Mediterranean (his usual holiday destination) for a relaxing cruise. His 45-metre yacht Texas was still moored at Docklands yesterday - it is relocated to the northern hemisphere every summer, where Lew uses it to entertain some of his high-flying friends.

Visitors have included former Coles boss Peter Bartells and trucking magnate Lindsay Fox.

But, even if boats weren't on the agenda, Lew did at least fire one parting shot across the bows of the Coles board, in particular aimed at chief executive John Fletcher.

An official statement from Lew made reference to the company's "failed management" that allowed "a CEO with no retail knowledge to pursue inane strategies which have been disastrous".

Late in the day Coles flacks fired back, pointing out just how poorly the retailer's share price and profit numbers performed under Lew's chairmanship, between 1991 and 1995.

Dig deep for Tunnel

POTENTIAL buyers of Sydney's embattled and near-vacant Cross City Tunnel, which has been put on the block by administrators KordaMentha, shouldn't hope for a bargain.

KordaMentha partner Martin Madden is handling the sale - he is the man responsible for one of the company's most successful deals.

Madden was put in charge when the Dampier to Bunbury gas pipeline in Western Australia went bust in 2004. The pipeline was finally sold for $1.86 billion - with absolutely no loss to the creditors or the syndicate of 28 banks that funded the project.

The 16-member syndicate of local and international banks that this week appointed KordaMentha must be hoping Madden can pull off another miracle with the tunnel.

Media: big deal!

THE first day of Australia's new media landscape, following the proclamation of more relaxed ownership laws, and Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd promptly announces a $850 million purchase - a Canadian casino company. PBL's move to acquire Canada's Gateway Casinos Income Fund with Macquarie Bank on such an auspicious day says much about James Packer's appetite for Australian media stocks.

Our also-ran battlers

THERE is some frightening news for Australia's two traditional car companies - Holden and Ford - lurking in the latest car sales data from VFACTS.

Rival Toyota, which has quickly marched through the ranks to become the global leader in car sales, is on the verge of selling as many vehicles in Australia as both Holden and Ford put together do.

In March Toyota was the top-selling company in Australia with 21,390 vehicles sold, ahead of Holden on 13,454 and Ford on 10,074.

If you look back at the March figures from just four years ago, in 2003, Toyota sold 13,514 vehicles, compared with Holden's 14,109 and Ford's 9294.

© 2007 The Age

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