Australasian Resources
Billionaire Clive Palmer last night continued to attract the media spotlight after announcing that his Australasian Resources company would receive $5 million in funding and double the scale of its iron ore business. The announcement comes after Mr Palmer’s recent public statements regarding the governance of soccer in Australia, local politics and the future of domestic media. Page B4.
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Iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group yesterday finalised a US$2 billion capital raising, doubling its initial goal of US$1 billion and leaving the miner closer to having the funds required to enact its US$8.4 billion strategy to triple iron ore exports by the middle of 2013. “We were approximately five times oversubscribed for the initial US$1 billion and it was that reception .. that gave us the confidence to upscale it to the US$2 billion,” Stephen Pearce, chief financial officer at Fortescue, said. Page B5.
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A report by global law firm Squire Sanders into mergers and acquisitions around the world last year has revealed that Australia was the largest bidder in the world by value in regards to foreign deals. Around US$22 billion of mergers and acquisitions took place in Australia’s mining sector last year, while the US$3.85 billion takeover of local miner Macarthur Coal was one of the 10 largest mining deals around the world in 2011. Page B5.