Latest news with #Cottesloe
News.com.au
7 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Counter Cycle: These takeover targets are glaringly obvious (but no one's talking about 'em)
Welcome to Counter Cycle with Nero Resource Fund founder and co-portfolio manager Rusty Delroy, a Cottesloe-based fund manager who has developed a reputation for taking the path less travelled in his investments. Today, Delroy muses on three miners who could fetch a takeover bid in the next 12 months. Mergers and acquisitions have been the name of the game on the ASX of late, with a confluence of coalescing factors coinciding to create new combinations across the resources space. Dealmaking partly comes from inefficiencies in the market. Aspects like access to capital, permitting and investor sentiment can undervalue companies against the fundamental cash generating potential of their key projects. Nero's contrarian portfolio manager Rusty Delroy looks for these inefficiencies, and identifying companies that could be subject to takeovers is one of the fund's key strategies. Big wins for Delroy's firm in recent years have come from the $385m sale of Lithium Power International to Chile's Codelco in 2023, and, in just the past fortnight, international copper juniors Xanadu Mines (ASX:XAM) and New World Resources (ASX:NWC), who have accepted respective $160m and $185m cash bids from overseas players. Add to that MAC Copper's (ASX:MAC) revelation of a $1.6bn cash offer from South Africa's Harmony Gold, snaring the mining giant the 50,000tpa CSA copper mine in Cobar, and it's clear strategics are ascribing value to projects well beyond that attributed by Aussie investors. M&A is often pro-cyclical (a synonym for bad) and the biggest takeover news in recent months has come in the hot, consensus pick, gold space. But bearish sentiment around other commodities means counter-cyclical M&A is on like Donkey Kong as well. While companies in the producing space are making strong cash flows, explorers, developers and single asset producers aren't getting credit for their potential earnings. "I think there's a robust enough forward outlook in the broader demand for commodities. At the same time, there are arguably quite distressed valuations down the curve," Delroy said. "Up the curve, the balance sheets are strong. In gold they're not just strong, they're extreme. "Anytime you've got a situation where up the curve has strong balance sheets and high margins, and down the curve has modest to low valuations, then that will precipitate M&A. And I think that's what we're seeing." The aforementioned deals have, barring any interlopers, come and gone. But Delroy thinks these other stocks are primed for corporate action in the next 12-18 months. Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS) Jupiter Mines has been on the radar since Exxaro paid ~A$1bn to acquire the majority 50.1% stake in the Tshipi Borwa manganese mine in South Africa through the acquisition of shares held by Ntsimbintle Holdings and OM Holdings (ASX:OMH). At the same time it paid the equivalent of 31.7c a share to take a 19.99% stake in Jupiter, the owner of the other 49.9% of the mine, a regular dividend payer that has the cost base to survive down swings in the manganese cycle. Even with a 43% bump on the day the deal was announced, Jupiter's shares are still trading at just 19c today for a market cap of $363m. "It's so glaringly obvious," Delroy said. "(Exxaro have) just paid the same sort of value for the other part of the joint venture. " In order to operate that asset with full discretion, they need to take control of Jupiter. It's a glaringly obvious fact. "It's such an off-the-radar commodity in an off-the-radar jurisdiction at an off-the-radar company. That to me would be the absolute standout in this market." Delroy says JMS is trading "substantially below what the clear natural owner has indicated they are willing to pay". But even if he is "completely wrong", Delroy noted shareholders get to receive a dividend in the mean time if Exxaro takes its time. St Barbara (ASX:SBM) Don't be surprised if St Barbara sees some corporate interest, Delroy says. The gold company is the ugly, unloved orphan of a deal in 2024 that saw now $5bn capped Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD) emerge with the prized Gwalia gold mine in WA's Leonora region and $330m-capped SBM walk away with the spoils of past M&A deals gone wrong at Simberi in Papua New Guinea and Atlantic Gold in Canada's Nova Scotia. It's looking to hive off the Canadian stuff into a separate vehicle and become purely focused on PNG, where regulatory squabbles have created noise around its proposed 200,000ozpa Simberi sulphide expansion project. The project would deliver 2.2Moz of gold between FY26 and FY38, with FID expected in Q2 or Q3 2026, pending the outcome of a tax assessment which is under dispute between SBM and the PNG Government. "I think St Barbara is a standout target with a 6 to 12-month view, I really do," Delroy said. "And I know that's a hard one, because it was the ugly stepsister after the Genesis process and it was spat out with such disgust. "But we're in a completely different landscape gold price-wise, there's a clear path there on both assets if you've got any degree of patience over a two or three year view to be meaningfully producing from them. "That is a corporate target and/or they've announced they're looking to spin out their Canadian asset. Does that precipitate and corporate piece? Who knows, it's possible." Delroy says Winsome, which owns the Adina lithium project in Canada's James Bay region, is a leftfield possibility. The battery metal is trading miles into the cost curve, which means prices are way too low to incentivise new production right now. But we've seen plenty of counter-cyclical M&A in the lithium space, notably Pilbara Minerals' (ASX:PLS) scrip takeover of Latin Resources last year and Rio Tinto's (ASX:RIO) $10bn cash splash on Allkem. Winsome's Adina in Quebec hosts 78Mt of spodumene ore at 1.15% Li2O, with a potentially lower cost pathway to production thanks to an option over the mothballed processing plant at the nearby Renard diamond operation. "If you're a lithium company that's got any ability to think outside the cycle you've got to be having a look at something like that and thinking maybe you tuck it away cheaply," Delroy said. "Now I think that's a real leftfield, off-the-radar, place to do some work. Whether or not (it happens), let's see. "Unfortunately, most mining executives are not counter-cyclical, they're pro-cyclical." Stockhead does not provide, endorse or otherwise assume responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article.
News.com.au
21-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Wallabies star Kurtley Beale selling final Sydney property
The 95-cap Wallaby legend and Western Force player Kurtley Beale is cutting his ties with Sydney property. Having sold his Randwick home last year, Beale and wife Maddi are now selling their Paddington apartment. While the apartment at 11/228 Moore Park Road, Paddington has been an investment property over recent years, Beale did live in the one-bedroom bolthole when he was training at Allianz Stadium. The Paddington Barracks building on Moore Park Rd sits opposite the homebase of the Waratahs. McGrath Paddington agent Georgia Cleary has given a $780,000 guide for its June 6 auction. The ground-floor apartment with a deep courtyard cost $380,000 in 2007, the same year Beale played his first game for the Waratahs as an 18-year-old. Data shows the 68sq m unit was offered for rent in August 2020, in the pandemic, at $480 a week, which was well down on its $630 a week offering in 2019. The last one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment without parking in the building was sold for $825,000 last July. This one first sold for $388,800 after Walker Corp designed the $28m, 75-unit apartment complex in 1999, with it completed in 2001 by Australand. The late developer Lang Walker had secured the 3400sq m site from the Metropolitan Water Sewerage & Drainage Board for $6.25m. Beale and Maddi, who have two children, have recently bought in Cottesloe, the popular beachside Perth suburb. They spent $2.2m on a new three-bedroom apartment in the Elizabeth Residences, named after the 1839 shipwreck 200m from the Cottesloe shore. The two-level apartment is within a boutique complex of eight, set five doors from the beach, which was pitched as being perfect for a professional couple, downsizers or retirees, as well as a small family. All up there is 238sq m of internal and external living space, and a further 30sq m of stacker parking for two cars, and small storage. Beale secured $4.725m for his former Federation Randwick home, which he bought for $2.651m in 2015. It had been a longtime rental since his time playing for the Waratahs, with stints in the UK and France taking him away.
News.com.au
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- News.com.au
First Drive: 2025 Mini JCW Editions
Ever heard of a Mini midlife crisis? As men of a certain age suddenly buy motorcycles and take up triathlon, the fairer sex seems irresistibly drawn to the Mini brand once hitting their forties. From Double Bay to Toorak and Cottesloe to Noosa, the well-dressed and well-heeled love a Mini badge, and the sportier the better. The BMW-owned Brit brand has unleashed its sportiest-of-all versions, delivering five different John Cooper Works (JCW) petrol and electric models – hatchbacks, SUVs and Convertible. Beside normal Minis they bring improved performance, better road-holding, fancier cabins and lashings of JCW's signature black and red colouring. The added mongrel expands the target market too. Image-conscious chaps rejecting basic three-cylinder cute-faced Minis can seemingly better accept these race-bred versions. MINI MAGIC JCW magic's been sprinkled on the three-door petrol Cooper hatch (from $57,990 plus on-roads), its EV equivalent ($63,990), two-door petrol Convertible ($64,990), Aceman electric city SUV ($65,990) and larger petrol Countryman all-wheel-drive SUV ($70,990). 'Mini is about the go-kart feeling, and when you look at John Cooper Works, this is about pinnacle go-kart feeling,' explained Mini Australia GM Alex Brockhoff. But do all JCW Minis qualify? Soft tops, top-heavy SUVs and electric motors feel a long way from the tiny lightweight original Minis that won Monte Carlo Rallies and at Bathurst in the 1960s. We wanted to find out. We were given the five JCW variants and the tight, twisty track at RACQ's Mobility Centre in Brisbane for some Italian Job-esque shenanigans. First up, the electrics. These already lose tradition points by being Chinese assembled, whereas petrol-powered Minis still hail from Oxford in England. Shorter than a Toyota Yaris, the three-door Mini E hatch is a tiny unit, but boy it looks ready for cornering mischief. In Go Kart Mode there's 190kW and 350Nm offered, and it's the quickest front-wheel-drive Mini sold, hitting 100km/h in 5.9 seconds. All that torque arrives at first squeeze of your right toe, and despite weighing a quite lardy 1650kg, this JCW E darts into and around corners with kitten-like playfulness. There's mega pull out of turns thanks to the e-motor, and a cosmic fake sound gives whooshing accompaniment. But I could live without cheesy applause and a cheer when moving into its fastest drive mode. IT'S ACE MAN The electric Aceman's next, which outdoes the hatchback for visual clout with squared-off lights and muscled wheel arches. It also brings a more family-friendly rear seat and boot: 300L still isn't much, but there's 90L more than the three-door. This larger EV tips scales at 1745kg, so needs an extra half-second to find 100km/h using the same 190kW/350Nm e-motor. There's still fun aplenty, but not quite the zip and eagerness to change direction. It wins as an all-rounder, but peak joy is found elsewhere. Is it in the JCW Countryman? We're now in something with a combustion engine, ready to burn petrol. Hurrah! Which will cost you – its 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder drinks at 7.7L per 100km, and demands the priciest 98 fuel. The Countryman straddles small/medium SUV size, and is the most powerful, quickest thing in JCW's stable with 233kW/400Nm and 0-100km/h in 5.4 seconds. It's also, at up to $80k drive-away, Audi Q5 money. Gulp. Key for our track test, this not-mini Mini is 200kg lighter than the electric Aceman, despite being a good deal larger – much more rear and boot space – and with all-wheel-drive. I welcome the appreciated vibration and noise (albeit forced through speakers) of a petrol engine, and good grief this top-heavy lump can shift. On track it's superb for a family SUV. Yes, there's body roll, but standard adaptive suspension gets set to lowest and raciest, throttle response is eager and the steering sharp. It's quickest here and with all-wheel-drive control, but it's tough to find those promised go-kart qualities. GO KART MODE For that, try the cheapest and least powerful: the petrol JCW hatch. Also a four-cylinder turbo, its 170kW/380Nm brings 100km/h in 6.1 seconds – all you need from a hot hatch. At 1300kg it's 350kg under its electric equivalent, and it immediately shows. Here's your proper plaything with romping, stomping torque and a love of corners. Its tininess means it darts around like an angry fly, and Go Kart mode's traction control allows a healthy dose of old-school lift-off oversteer before throwing the safety net. There's not the all-out mechanical smarts and mad dog of, say, a Hyundai i20N or i30N, but there's still fun in spades. Lacking for the true enthusiast is a manual gearbox – a slick seven-speed dual clutch auto's the only option for all petrol JCWs – but we're reminded barely anyone bought them when offered. Shame. My final drive's in the pricey Convertible. It's a dash slower than the hardtop, but who cares when you can be a pretend rally hero with sun on your face and exhaust barking behind? Even so, fun Convertible posing makes better sense in a $13,000 cheaper Classic model. The petrol JCW hatch is my pick, but there's benefits to all. Cabins are standout; a tasty blend of funky and luxury. Faux leather seats are sculpted, heated and with lots of racy red stitching; Harman/Kardon covers your audio, a 240mm central OLED screen is delightful and there's goodies like glass roof, wireless charging, surround view cameras and all the key useful safety kit. We couldn't test their on-road manners. It's buyer beware here, as previous JCWs have been – at best – very firm, and at worst, spine-smashing. But we must celebrate the Works badges on each of these Minis. It's a long and varied range, and it's joyous the cheapest and purest of the breed still comes out on top. For this go-karting fan anyway.
