insto - Australian financial markets

Perth entrepreneur Kerry Stokes has surprised the market with his plans to merge his privately held WesTrac tractor business with his publicly listed media business.

The fate of the A$2 billion deal rests in the hands of institutional shareholders Perennial and Ausbil Dexia.

“I am going to take my time (deciding),” Ausbil Dexia chief Paul Xiradis told Fairfax newspapers.

To be approved, the merger requires the approval of 75 percent of non-Stokes shareholders at a meeting in April. The two institutions have just under 26 percent of the total votes among non-Stokes shareholders.

Below is a selection of moves among the top end of capital markets players and investment funds during the month of October:

The Australian arm of the international hedge fund industry body, Alternative Investment Management Association, announced Australia’s top performing hedge funds and money managers at the 2009 Australian Hedge Fund Industry Awards on Thursday 17 September.

• Russell Investments has secured the services of Greg Liddell as head of investment consulting for Australia. Liddell brings more than 20 years’ experience in the investment and uperannuation sector working across the spectrum of issues facing investors. He joins from Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) where he spent five years overseeing QIC’s implemented equities program. This program invested up to $17 billion in local and global assets managed in a multi-manager framework.
   

State Street has appointed Ian Martin as head of global markets and investor services businesses in Australia and New Zealand. It’s a natural progression from Martin’s current role as general manager of State Street global markets, Australia and NZ and head of foreign exchange, Asia Pacific. In his new role, Martin will be responsible for all of State Street’s Australian and New Zealand multi-asset class trading businesses, electronic trading, securities lending and the full range of investor servicing capabilities, including custody, unit trust, tax, fund accounting, and analytical services.

Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking has made several new appointments at the regional/Asia Pacific level:

Global response, local reaction

In early July, Insto magazine and Mallesons hosted a roundtable on future financial markets regulation, with participation from a wide-cross section of the industry.

• The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced a number of new appointments within its Australian equities team. David Goffage has been appointed head of equity capital markets in Australia, replacing Patrick Broughton who will be relocating from Sydney to London to take up the role of Head of ECM, EMEA & US.  Previously a managing director of RBS ECM Australia, Goffage has worked within the ECM team for more than nine years. Prior to this, he spent three years with Credit Suisse in London and two years in the ECM team at Bankers Trust in Sydney. 
   
• The RBS Australian equities team has also appointed Richard Hitchens as director, specialist quantitative sales, Roger Spellman as director, head of sales for Australian equities and Mark Tisdell as investor product sales specialist. Hitchens joins from Goldman Sachs where he held various roles including account management and quant research, which was successfully marketed across all major institutional clients.
   
• Sydney corporate law firm, Gilbert + Tobin, continues to expand its banking and finance practice, with debt capital markets and securitisation specialist Duncan McGrath joining the partnership. McGrath, who joined the firm in 2007 is banking and finance’s first internally appointed partner. This move follows the appointment in October 2008 of John Schembri as head of banking and finance.  John was formerly a partner with Freehills.

US car maker and icon of that country’s industrial might, General Motors, finally succumbed to the inevitable, and sought protection under US bankruptcy laws. This will give GM breathing space as it closes plants and restructures to cut costs.