BRIEFS
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 29, 2011
ENGINEERINGDowner issueLess than half of Downer EDI's retail shareholders took up their right to take part in the company's $279 million capital raising, sparked by a writedown on its multibillion-dollar Waratah contract in January. The contractor yesterday said 49 per cent of eligible shareholders subscribed for 13.2 million shares worth $42.8 million under the entitlement offer. A retail bookbuild will now be conducted for the remaining 13.5 million shares. The offer follows a successful institutional raising last month, which raised $192 million.AGRICULTURECotton rally to endThe rally that drove a sharp rise in cotton prices is ending as farmers from Texas to NSW plant crops and replenish stockpiles. Cotton will drop 51 per cent to $US1 a pound by the year's and, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts and traders. Output may rise by 11 per cent to 127.5 million bales in the next year, faster than a 3 per cent rise in demand to 120 million bales, the US Department of Agriculture estimates.PLATINUMZimbabwe woesShares in platinum miners operating in Zimbabwe and South Africa have been sold off due to heightened risk associated with the countries. Aquarius Platinum was hit yesterday after saying it was striving to comply with rules in Zimbabwe that will require 51 per cent of all foreign-owned businesses to be owned by indigenous Zimbabweans. Aquarius shares fell 6.87 per cent to $5.42, while shares in Zimplats, which is reviewing the progress of a mine expansion in Zimbabwe, fell 8 per cent to $13.COPPEREquinox backedEquinox Minerals says an independent proxy voting firm has backed a share issuance under the copper miner's proposed hostile takeover of Canada's Lundin Mining. Equinox said International Shareholder Services Inc, a corporate governance analysis firm and proxy adviser, had advised its clients to vote for a resolution to issue shares to Lundin as part of the $C4.8 billion offer. Lundin has rejected the offer in favour of a merger with another Canadian company, Inmet Mining.FARMINGBrighter outlookFarmers are the most optimistic in three years, after widespread summer rain and favourable commodity prices, according to the food and agribusiness bank Rabobank. Rabobank said that despite flooding in some regions more farmers expected the agricultural economy to improve rather than worsen. Sentiment had been rising for eight quarters, and investment intentions and expectations on income and production had lifted.PHARMACEUTICALSAvexa 'milestone'Avexa says it has reached a "significant milestone" thanks to an agreement with the US drug regulator over the company's anti-HIV drug apricitabine (ATC). Avexa said it met the US Food and Drug Administration, and the remaining "regulatory pathway to final approval" for ATC had been agreed.
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald