Malcolm Maiden

Malcolm Maiden

Malcolm Maiden analyses and comments on business, the markets and the economy.

Kiwis show way in handling a boom

Malcolm Maiden Our Reserve Bank has rates on hold

Malcolm Maiden

Big whine makes KKR glass half-full

Malcolm Maiden dinkus

Malcolm Maiden Consumer sentiment plunged in May after Joe Hockey delivered his budget. New surveys show that it hasn't got worse in June, but it hasn't improved much, either.

Malcolm Maiden

Postal pain problems swell the bag

Malcolm Maiden The job cuts Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour confirmed on Tuesday are heavier than they appear to be, and still don't solve the long-term problem the group faces.

Draghi makes plans for stronger Europe

Malcolm Maiden Like Clint Eastwood's gun-toting cop Dirty Harry, Draghi had asked bond traders if they felt lucky.

Deflation: The toxic crisis confronting Europe

Malcolm Maiden The first job for central banks in countries hit head-on by the 2008-09 global crisis was to avoid an economic depression.

Treasury will rue the day it cut the CAMAC

Malcolm Maiden CAMAC was a hidden gem: Tony Abbott's government should not have killed it.

Malcolm Maiden

Reserve Bank quiet on Hockey budget

Reserve Bank of Australia building

Malcolm Maiden The Reserve Bank still has rates on hold, but consumer sentiment is the wild card. It doesn't get mentioned in the central bank's latest statement, but could decide when rates move, and in which...


What the RBA's June statement didn't say

The Reserve Bank of Australia

Malcolm Maiden The key to what the RBA does next is what it did not say in its June statement.

Spinoff or spin? Just follow the Westfield money

Malcolm Maiden dinkus

Malcolm Maiden Following the money is a useful way to analyse this week's Westfield standoff.

Lawyers to feast in unmapped terrain

Malcolm Maiden We are in uncharted waters after Westfield Retail Trust chairman Dick Warburton adjourned a meeting that was poised to vote down the Trust's participation in a $70 billion restructure of the...


Frank Lowy’s Westfield threat makes corporate history

Frank Lowy

Malcolm Maiden Frank Lowy's warning Westfield would independently split into separate Australian and international companies if a shareholder vote didn't go his way has resulted Australian corporate history.


Westfield $70b restructure a step closer


Malcolm Maiden The first shareholder vote on Westfield's complicated $70 billion restructure plan has overwhelmingly supported the deal, with almost 98 per cent of Westfield Group shareholders who voted supporting...

Decision day looms for Westfield

Malcolm Maiden dinkus

Malcolm Maiden Thursday's vote on the $70 billion restructure of Westfield Group and Westfield Retail Trust is going to be tight.

Malcolm Maiden

Insiders have the running, alas

Malcolm Maiden ASIC's new examination of leaks, spin and insider briefings confirms that the local market leaks like a sieve.

Malcolm Maiden

Thodey makes right calls for Telstra

David Thodey

Malcolm Maiden Telstra chief executive David Thodey celebrates five years in the job this week and his scoreboard is positive.

Malcolm Maiden

Steady as she goes, with an asterisk

Malcolm Maiden dinkus

Malcolm Maiden The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment joined the ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey in reporting post-budget consumer blues on Wednesday, but confidence surveys tend to...

Malcolm Maiden

Treasury buys time on last drinks

Malcolm Maiden Treasury Wine Estates' announcement on Tuesday that it had rejected a $3 billion takeover approach from US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) raised a common takeover question: will...

Malcolm Maiden

Who will uncork Treasury's potential?


Generic wine pic. Reuters.

Malcolm Maiden Treasury Wine Estates' revelation that it has studied and rejected a $3 billion takeover approach from US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) raises the usual question: will the target...

Tighten the reins on currency trading

Malcolm Maiden dinkus

Malcolm Maiden Market participants have been talking about the retail currency trading phenomenon for some time.

ADM still hovers in GrainCorp's vicinity and may pounce

Malcolm Maiden Wilmar International and First Pacific want a fast answer from Goodman Fielder after delivering a ''take it or leave it'' sweetener to their original $1.3 billion offer.