Packer, Murdoch accept Ten Network board positions, Shares lower: Economy Roundup

Ten Network has confirmed James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch have accepted an offer to join the company’s board in mid-December, while executive chairman Nick Falloon has also confirmed he will step down.

In a somewhat cryptic statement, Falloon confirmed Murdoch and Packer would be joining, and had agreed that “appropriate board protocols will be put in place”. The statement does not confirm what these are.

The company said Falloon will accept the offer to stand down as executive chairman following the annual general meeting on 9 December.

“We are pleased Mr Packer and Mr Murdoch have accepted our offer to join the Ten Holdings Board, and agree that appropriate Board protocols will be put in place,” Falloon said.

Packer is now the largest shareholder in the company with an 18% stake. “It is good to be back in the free-to-air television industry. I am confident in the future of free-to-air and of Network Ten”, he said.

Murdoch also made a statement, saying that he looks forward to “working collaboratively with the company on its multi-channel strategies and working with the other directors to grow value for all of the company’s shareholders”.

NextDC, the data hosting company founded by former Pipe Networks chief executive Bevan Slattery, has lodged a prospectus with the ASX ahead of a mid-December float.

The company said in a statement it hopes to raise $40 million through the float, which will be fully underwritten by Moelis & Company and RBS Morgans. NextDC has already raised $20 million.

“In addition to the initial equity of $20 million and the $40 million IPO capital raising, the company has secured a credit approved finance facility of $40 million provided by a major Australian bank,” the company said.”

“With total equity and debt funding of up to $100 million to complete its initial facilities in Brisbane and Melbourne and targeted expansion into Sydney, the directors believe that NextDC will be well-positioned to meet the requirements of corporate and government customers in its initial data centre facilities and target markets during the coming years.”

Meanwhile, shares in Woodside Petroleum have dropped nearly 7% this morning as Royal Dutch Shell announced it would offload $3.3 billion in the company. Just after opening at 10.15 AEST, Woodside shares were down 6.3% to $42.97.

Shell said the company would sell about one third of its stake in Woodside, which currently sits at 34%. The sale was underwritten by UBS.

“We will increasingly focus our investment in Australia through direct interests in assets and joint ventures, rather than indirect stakes,” Shell chief executive Peter Voser said in a statement.

“We are looking forward to working with Woodside on important new growth projects where we are partners,” Voser said.

Seven Group Holdings has upgraded its guidance, with the company announcing EBITDA and net profit for 2010-11 are now expected to be 15% higher than forecast.

Chief executive Peter Gammell said the company as continuing to perform well, and that the merger with WesTrac has performed strongly “with a strong mining market driven by NSW coal and WA iron ore underpinning a positive outlook for the remainder of FY11”.

“We now expect WesTrac to exceed the forecasts outlined in the Scheme booklet and to deliver an EBITDA of approximately $240 million excluding any earnings from National Hire (consistent with the Scheme Booklet assumption),” Gammell said.

Sharemarket lower on weak Wall Street result

The Australian share market has opened lower this morning, following a weak lead from Wall Street where weak financial stocks brought the market down.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 23.5 points or 0.5% to 4754.9 at 12.10 AEST, while the Australian dollar gained some ground to $US101.38.

AMP shares lost 0.8% to $5.29 as Commonwealth Bank shares dropped 0.5% $48.60. NAB shares dropped 0.4% to $25.90 as Westpac gained 0.1% to $23.32.

Reuters is reporting Qantas is currently undertaking a review of its A380 operations following last week’s engine catastrophe.

The publication is reporting that according to an airline source, Qantas uses its engines at high thrust levels, and the airline is currently reviewing this process to determine whether it could have played a part in the engine failure.

Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly has said she will appear before the Senate inquiry into competition in the banking industry.

“I look forward to appearing at the inquiry to outline Westpac’s thinking on a range of issues impacting customers, shareholders and the sector,” she said in a statement.

“The national interest requires well thought through responses to what are very complex issues,” she said. “To ensure there is effective reform, and not unintended consequences that in the long run would hurt the community, it is essential that the sector plays its part in the inquiry’s deliberations.”

Origin wins Queensland approval

Origin Energy’s joint venture with ConocoPhillips has been given regulatory approval by the state government.

“The stringent conditions contained in the Coordinator-General’s report, including detailed on-going monitoring and reporting requirements, should give the community confidence that the project will meet the high standards required during construction and operation,” Australia Pacific LNG project director Page Maxson said in a statement.

In the United States, president Barack Obama has defended the Federal Reserve after Chinese officials criticised the Fed’s latest proposal to spend new money on $US600 billion worth of government bonds.

“I will say that the Fed’s mandate, my mandate, is to grow our economy. And that’s not just good for the United States, that’s good for the world as a whole,” Obama said.

“And the worst thing that could happen to the world economy, not just ours, is if we end up being stuck with no growth or very limited growth,” he said.

On Wall Street, stocks fell due to poor performances in the financial sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45.94 points or 0.4% to 11,398.14.