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Star Entertainment offloads Brisbane's Queen's Wharf precinct in $53m deal

Star Entertainment offloads Brisbane's Queen's Wharf precinct in $53m deal

Sky News AU16 hours ago
Star Entertainment will finally offload its share of the Queen's Wharf precinct in Brisbane, ending months of speculation.
In an announcement made just before 11am on Tuesday, Star said the new deal was almost identical to the one made in March.
It will see the ASX-listed casino sell its 50 per cent stake in the Queen's Wharf precinct to Hong Kong Consortium Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium, who each already own 25 per cent of the building.
Star will receive $53m in total through the deal, of which the first $45m was paid back in March and the remaining $8m to go through by November 30.
The deal will ease the burden on Star, which was facing having to cough up its share of the $1.4bn in debt tied to the Queen's Wharf precinct.
Star Entertainment will also take two-thirds of the Dorsett and Andaz hotels, which are currently being built on the Gold Coast by the Hong Kong consortium.
Shares in Star jumped 29 per cent to $0.115 on Tuesday following the announcement.
The statement said the deal had been approved by US-based owners Bally's Corp.
'The key aspects of the transaction are materially consistent with the Heads of Agreement announced to the ASX on (March 7),' the statement said.
Star first struck a deal to sell the complex back in March, before it was revealed the deal was unlikely to be completed by July.
Talks stalled and Star was forced to pay its business partners $10m as part of a termination agreement, and a further $31m before September 5.
Tuesday's announcement said the transaction would be completed in two separate stages.
Firstly, Star will completely exit from the Brisbane precinct. The Gold Coast assets are subject to separate conditions that are due to be completed by the second half of 2026.
The deal will significantly improve the embattled Star Entertainment's financial position, with the latest financial results showing it will get more than $700m in liabilities and $350m in development costs off its books through the sale.
Originally published as Star Entertainment offloads Brisbane's Queen's Wharf precinct in $53m deal
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Biocurious: In clinical terms, Singular Health ensures the right arm knows what the left arm is doing
Biocurious: In clinical terms, Singular Health ensures the right arm knows what the left arm is doing

News.com.au

time21 minutes ago

  • News.com.au

Biocurious: In clinical terms, Singular Health ensures the right arm knows what the left arm is doing

Multiple patient imaging costs the US health system US$30 billion a year Singular's 3Dicom software provides a 'rail' to connect disparate image archives The company has launched a pilot program with the US hospitals intermediary, Provider Network Systems (PNS) For all the advances in medical imaging, clinicians face a simple everyday problem that in the US costs the health system US$30 billion a year. The issue? A patient is scanned at one facility but a doctor at another cannot access the image. As a result, the patient is sent off for a duplicate scan – which wastes more than money. 'This means unnecessary exposure to radiation and delays in diagnosis and treatment intervention and having to rebook consultations,' says Singular Health Group Ltd (ASX:SHG) chief operating officer Dr Martina Mariano. 'The whole process is highly inefficient.' Singular PACS a punch in giant US imaging market The nub of the problem is that the images reside in separate Picture Archive Communications Systems (PACS) within a hospital. In the US, parties such as ASX champion ProMedicus (ASX:PME) are entering contracts with large hospital groups that overhaul group-wide imaging systems at great cost. But for the time being the market remains highly fragmented and – as a result - the clinical right arm doesn't know what the left arm is doing. 'When it's not cost effective for them to replace the existing infrastructure … they need a bolt-on solution to transfer the data,' Mariano says. Developed over many years, Singular's 'PACS agnostic' 3Dicom software is a secure 'rail' that connect the facilities. 'We are a bolt-on solution,' Mariano says. 'We connect into those systems and enable the clinical provider outside of the network to receive those images.' Difficult cancer operation spurs a bright idea Perth-based Singular is making a concerted push into the US market, where it has entered a pivotal tie-up with Provider Network Systems (PNS), an expansive Managed Service Organisation (MSO). Given Singular's convoluted evolution, Mariano says there's been some investor confusion about the company's charter over the years. The company was founded in 2017 by Perth oncologist Dr Jason Tan, who had tackled a difficult inoperable ovarian cancer case. He developed the tech to convert the standard two-dimensional images in a Dicom format to interactive 3D models that could be used in virtual reality (VR) applications. Dicom is 'digital imaging and communications in medicine', a worldwide standard for medical images 'He could put the VR headset on and look at the anatomy of the patient to understand the relationship between the organ and the tumour mass,' Mariano says. 'That was very hard to see from standard 2D images." Needless to say, the operation succeeded. A new Singular focus Singular's business has evolved since then. The company itself was founded in 2018 as MedVR by Denning Chong, a Perth-based lawyer and venture capitalist, and the current CEO. Having by then adopted its current moniker, Singular listed on the ASX in February 2021, having raised $6 million at 20 cents apiece, After considerably more capex, the VR tool evolved to the 3Dicom viewing software. 'Rather than just working on VR, this conversion meant the software could operate on any consumer-grade device,' Mariano says. 'The company then added further functions, including the ability to share medical imaging records in a full-secure way (including between providers and patients). 'We can share the Dicom files – the imaging data - but also the attached reports.' The software enables medical professionals to visualise standard CT, MRI and PET scans in 2D and 3D in real-time, with built-in collaboration features. 3Dicom also deploys AI models to streamline clinical workflows, thus preventing misdiagnosis, enabling preventative diagnosis and stratifying patients according to risk. MSOs the way to go in US market Singular is preparing for its US rollout of 3Dicom, which the US Food and Drug Administration approved in October 2022. But it's one thing to have a you-beaut device approved and another to achieve commercial sales at scale. Singular cites an addressable US market of US$19 billion, across 1.3 million physicians. Under the software-as-a-service model, the company licenses the product at US$800 per practitioner, per year. But signing them up one-by-one will never cut it. Singular's business-to-business approach involves selling through the MSOs, which act as an intermediary between the hospitals, the physicians and the health insurers who pay the bill. 'The MSOs and the insurers manage multiple hospitals and clinicians. So, you can capture a lot of users in the one go,' Mariano says. Pilot project takes off In mid-June Singular inked a 'binding enterprise agreement' with Provider Network Systems, worth an initial $2 million. Ultimately, PNS covers 3.7 million insured patients. In the initial pilot phase, PNS will deploy 1000 3Dicom licences at facilities in Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas. PNS buys the licences for US$800 apiece, with a further US$500,000 payable on 'satisfaction of AI model marketplace and image repository development and integration'. If PNS is happy after the six-month pilot, a national rollout will ensue. Mariano says PNS alone spent US$1.5 billion a year on duplicate images. 'Even reducing this by 5% would be an incredible opportunity,' she says. 'MSOs get a fixed budget from the health insurers, so the only way to they can make money is by improving operational efficiencies.' The pilot program will quantify the cost savings. Despite its importance, the PNS tie up is non-exclusive. Indeed, the company has also carried out small pilots with other parties. Singular has also fielded interest from universities and associated teaching hospitals. This is in view of deploying 3Dicom for commercial and academic use. Bolstering the balance sheet In conjunction with the PNS deal, Singular raised $8 million at 35 cents per share. Having taken an earlier $500,000 cornerstone stake, PNS subscribed for a further $150,000 in the raising. Singular reported June quarter receipts of $498,000, taking the year's tally to $639,000. These inflows pertained mainly to the PNS deal. After quarterly operating cash burn of $324,000, the company has cash of $13.7 million. 'This is enough to fund the pilot and the national rollout," Mariano says. Singular shares have gained threefold over the last 12 months, valuing the company at a tad under $100 million. US first, then the world Currently, even the fast-growing Pro Medicus accounts for about 10% of the US medical imaging market. 'There's space for multiple players and all of them can make money even with a smaller market share,' Mariano says. 'So, there will still be lots of lack of interoperability.' She says Pro Medicus is not a direct competitor and 'we would be open to direct conversations and potential collaborations'. Mariano says Singular has been fortunate to secure a partner to navigate the complex US healthcare landscape. 'Because we are small, we can adapt quickly and in a way the meets the requirements of our customers and end users.' She says US entrants need to be clear on how they will be paid. Generally, that's either by way of reimbursement or proving a quantifiable saving to a party such as an MSO. 'The market is moving fast so you need to be agile and able to adapt quickly.' While Singular's – er singular – focus is on addressing the needs of MSOs and health plans, Mariano says the lack of interoperability is a worldwide issue. 'Our ultimate goal is to roll out 3Dicom globally'.

Ten Bagger: Tin's fundamentals are still striking for John Forwood
Ten Bagger: Tin's fundamentals are still striking for John Forwood

News.com.au

time21 minutes ago

  • News.com.au

Ten Bagger: Tin's fundamentals are still striking for John Forwood

Welcome to Ten-Bagger, where Lowell Resources Fund chief investment officer John Forwood gives us his take on a sector of the ASX resources market full of value. This month, John talks his conviction in the tin market. Tin is a small market. At around 350,000tpa of demand, the trade in tin close to 100 times lighter than copper and 10 times smaller than nickel. But it's no less important when it comes to the future of energy. Miniaturisation hurt tin prices as hand-held devices got smaller and their components more efficient over the course of this century, over half of the end user market coming from the solder that glues together electronic circuit boards. But rising technologies like electric vehicles, battery storage and AI have ensured demand is now on a solid platform. At the same time, supply has been fragile with Indonesia and Myanmar's large alluvial deposits subject to environmental crackdowns and few new hard rock mines brought online in recent years. While tin remains niche and will never be a big part of the Lowell Resources Fund (ASX:LRT) portfolio, its chief investment officer John Forwood says strength in the tin price – US$33,805/t today – and those fundamentals make it a market to watch closely. "Rule of thumb, what I work on is tin is worth 3x as much as copper," Forwood said. "Half a percent tin grade is one and a half percent copper equivalent, or slightly better at the moment. "Tin recoveries generally are significantly lower – if you're in the 70s you're happy but you probably wouldn't be happy getting that from a copper flotation plant. So there are some differences. "(But) the demand side and the price response in a long-term sense is very good for tin (and) the supply side is where it gets a little murky." That's a great fundamental setup for continued price strength, with China, Indonesia and Myanmar all countries with a lack of transparency when it comes to the status of their operations. Market movements Prices were spurred on by a clampdown on alleged illegal mining and the confiscation of five private smelters in Indonesia last year, although the conclusion of a long-running corruption investigation has stirred strong exports out of the South-East Asian nation in 2025. Myanmar's autonomous Wa State has also recently announced the award of licences after a two year ban, alleviating supply constraints for refiners in China. But prices remain strong, an indication customers are still concerned about their ability to ensure a stable source of supply. Forwood says it's a "head scratcher" as to why there haven't been more tin mines opened in recent years with prices at historically strong levels. The high-grade Bisie tin mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was the last hard rock operation of substance to open in 2018, and caused a supply shock when the temporary takeover of North Kivu province by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels prompted a short-lived closure earlier this year. A couple are still waiting in the wings. "The Achmmach project in Morocco, it was Kasbah Resources and now it's been privatised, that's moving towards production but that's been 15 years that's been talked about in feasibility terms," Forwood said.* "The Heemskirk tin project in Tassie (owned by Stellar Resources (ASX:SRZ)), it's been a long time trying to get that to a critical point into production." *Majority owner Atlantic Tin was recently acquired by Hong Kong based Xingye. Sky's the limit Forwood's stock of choice in the ASX tin market is Norm Seckold-chaired explorer Sky Metals (ASX:SKY). It owns two tin projects in historic alluvial fields in New South Wales. The first priority is Tallebung, a historical mine site near Condobolin which sits to the south of Aurelia Metals' (ASX:AMI) Peak and Hera gold-copper mines. The second is Doradilla, located to the south of Bourke in the state's northwest. Tallebung is the most advanced, carrying a resource of 15.6Mt at 0.15% Sn and 0.03% WO3 for 23,200t tin and 433,940mtu of tungsten trioxide. An exploration target has also been posted of 23-32Mt at 0.14-0.17% Sn. It seems low grade, but Sky thinks it may have cracked a long-running processing challenge at the project by testing Tomra ore-sorters to upgrade the material. "It does seem to be exceptionally responsive to XRF ore sorting, the Tomra technology. I went up and had a look at their pilot plant in Sydney at Castle Hill. It's quite remarkable," Forwood said. "Obviously it doesn't sort the fines component, but depending on where they set the dial, to put it in very simplistic terms ... they can increase the grade by more than 5x. "So it means you're going from a 0.2-odd per cent head grade to a 1% head grade. " If you think of that in copper terms, it's 3% copper, roughly, and treating a fifth of the amount of ore that actually gets mined." The trick will be to see if works on a commercial scale, but Forwood is also optimistic about the growth potential of the deposit, with drilling funding extensions to the tin resource as well as high grade silver around its edges. Seckold, best known as the chair of Indonickel giant Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) and also the chair of billion dollar critical minerals play Alpha HPA (ASX:A4N), is joined on the company's board by young geologist Olly Davies as MD, former Aurelia MD Rimas Kairaitis and exploration veteran Richard Hill, most recently chair of the board of copper developer New World Resources (ASX:NWC) ahead of its takeover by Kinterra Capital.

Kodak says it is confident it can meet debt obligations
Kodak says it is confident it can meet debt obligations

The Advertiser

timean hour ago

  • The Advertiser

Kodak says it is confident it can meet debt obligations

The more than 130-year-old Eastman Kodak Co has expressed caution about its business operations but says it is confident it will be able to work out upcoming debt obligations. "Kodak has debt coming due within 12 months and does not have committed financing or available liquidity to meet such debt obligations if they were to become due in accordance with their current terms," the company wrote in a regulatory filing. The Rochester, New York-based company said that it had $US155 million ($A239 million) of cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, with $US70 million held within the US. Kodak said in a statement on Tuesday that the going concern language in its regulatory filing is essentially a required disclosure because its debt comes due within 12 months of the filing. "Kodak is confident it will be able to pay off a significant portion of its term loan well before it becomes due, and amend, extend or refinance our remaining debt and/or preferred stock obligations," the company said. Last year Kodak said that it would end its retirement income plan in order to pay down debt, according to The Wall Street Journal. Kodak Chief Financial Officer David Bullwinkle said in a statement on Monday that the company expects to know by Friday how it will satisfy its obligations to pay all pension plan participants and foresees completing the reversion by December. Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Eastman Kodak Co is credited with popularising photography at the start of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was first brought down by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology. Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 after struggling with increasing competition, continuing growth in digital photography and growing debt. The company wound up selling off many of its businesses and patents while shutting down the camera manufacturing unit that first made it famous. It received approval for its plan to emerge from court oversight a year later. At the time, Kodak was looking to recreate itself as a new, much smaller company focused on commercial and packaging printing. Kodak is now nearing completion on a manufacturing plant to create regulated pharmaceutical products. The company already makes unregulated key starting materials for pharmaceuticals. Production at the retrofitted facility is expected to start later this year. Shares slid more than 20 per cent in midday trading. The more than 130-year-old Eastman Kodak Co has expressed caution about its business operations but says it is confident it will be able to work out upcoming debt obligations. "Kodak has debt coming due within 12 months and does not have committed financing or available liquidity to meet such debt obligations if they were to become due in accordance with their current terms," the company wrote in a regulatory filing. The Rochester, New York-based company said that it had $US155 million ($A239 million) of cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, with $US70 million held within the US. Kodak said in a statement on Tuesday that the going concern language in its regulatory filing is essentially a required disclosure because its debt comes due within 12 months of the filing. "Kodak is confident it will be able to pay off a significant portion of its term loan well before it becomes due, and amend, extend or refinance our remaining debt and/or preferred stock obligations," the company said. Last year Kodak said that it would end its retirement income plan in order to pay down debt, according to The Wall Street Journal. Kodak Chief Financial Officer David Bullwinkle said in a statement on Monday that the company expects to know by Friday how it will satisfy its obligations to pay all pension plan participants and foresees completing the reversion by December. Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Eastman Kodak Co is credited with popularising photography at the start of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was first brought down by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology. Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 after struggling with increasing competition, continuing growth in digital photography and growing debt. The company wound up selling off many of its businesses and patents while shutting down the camera manufacturing unit that first made it famous. It received approval for its plan to emerge from court oversight a year later. At the time, Kodak was looking to recreate itself as a new, much smaller company focused on commercial and packaging printing. Kodak is now nearing completion on a manufacturing plant to create regulated pharmaceutical products. The company already makes unregulated key starting materials for pharmaceuticals. Production at the retrofitted facility is expected to start later this year. Shares slid more than 20 per cent in midday trading. The more than 130-year-old Eastman Kodak Co has expressed caution about its business operations but says it is confident it will be able to work out upcoming debt obligations. "Kodak has debt coming due within 12 months and does not have committed financing or available liquidity to meet such debt obligations if they were to become due in accordance with their current terms," the company wrote in a regulatory filing. The Rochester, New York-based company said that it had $US155 million ($A239 million) of cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, with $US70 million held within the US. Kodak said in a statement on Tuesday that the going concern language in its regulatory filing is essentially a required disclosure because its debt comes due within 12 months of the filing. "Kodak is confident it will be able to pay off a significant portion of its term loan well before it becomes due, and amend, extend or refinance our remaining debt and/or preferred stock obligations," the company said. Last year Kodak said that it would end its retirement income plan in order to pay down debt, according to The Wall Street Journal. Kodak Chief Financial Officer David Bullwinkle said in a statement on Monday that the company expects to know by Friday how it will satisfy its obligations to pay all pension plan participants and foresees completing the reversion by December. Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Eastman Kodak Co is credited with popularising photography at the start of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was first brought down by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology. Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 after struggling with increasing competition, continuing growth in digital photography and growing debt. The company wound up selling off many of its businesses and patents while shutting down the camera manufacturing unit that first made it famous. It received approval for its plan to emerge from court oversight a year later. At the time, Kodak was looking to recreate itself as a new, much smaller company focused on commercial and packaging printing. Kodak is now nearing completion on a manufacturing plant to create regulated pharmaceutical products. The company already makes unregulated key starting materials for pharmaceuticals. Production at the retrofitted facility is expected to start later this year. Shares slid more than 20 per cent in midday trading. The more than 130-year-old Eastman Kodak Co has expressed caution about its business operations but says it is confident it will be able to work out upcoming debt obligations. "Kodak has debt coming due within 12 months and does not have committed financing or available liquidity to meet such debt obligations if they were to become due in accordance with their current terms," the company wrote in a regulatory filing. The Rochester, New York-based company said that it had $US155 million ($A239 million) of cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, with $US70 million held within the US. Kodak said in a statement on Tuesday that the going concern language in its regulatory filing is essentially a required disclosure because its debt comes due within 12 months of the filing. "Kodak is confident it will be able to pay off a significant portion of its term loan well before it becomes due, and amend, extend or refinance our remaining debt and/or preferred stock obligations," the company said. Last year Kodak said that it would end its retirement income plan in order to pay down debt, according to The Wall Street Journal. Kodak Chief Financial Officer David Bullwinkle said in a statement on Monday that the company expects to know by Friday how it will satisfy its obligations to pay all pension plan participants and foresees completing the reversion by December. Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Eastman Kodak Co is credited with popularising photography at the start of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was first brought down by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology. Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 after struggling with increasing competition, continuing growth in digital photography and growing debt. The company wound up selling off many of its businesses and patents while shutting down the camera manufacturing unit that first made it famous. It received approval for its plan to emerge from court oversight a year later. At the time, Kodak was looking to recreate itself as a new, much smaller company focused on commercial and packaging printing. Kodak is now nearing completion on a manufacturing plant to create regulated pharmaceutical products. The company already makes unregulated key starting materials for pharmaceuticals. Production at the retrofitted facility is expected to start later this year. Shares slid more than 20 per cent in midday trading.

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