NewsBite

Chanticleer

This Month

The Martha Stewart documentary on Netflix went down well with Coles CEO Leah Weckert.

What our top CEOs read, watched and listened to in 2024

From business books to crime thrillers and podcasts, here’s what our CEOs did in their spare time this year.

  • Anthony Macdonald and James Thomson
Macquarie’s Viktor Shvets says investors face plenty of uncertainty in 2025, but not as much risk as they think.

Macquarie’s Viktor Shvets nailed 2024. Here’s what he thinks will come next

No economic cycles? No mean reversion? Macquarie’s top global strategist’s radical view of markets challenges investors to consider how the world has changed.

  • James Thomson
Plenty of CEOs have been to the US to consider how AI could change their businesses this year.

How CEOs are using AI, from driverless forklifts to bird counts

Everyone’s doing it, but are they doing it properly? Here is a fascinating snapshot of what Australian companies are doing with artificial intelligence.

  • Anthony Macdonald and James Thomson
ANZ boss Shayne Elliot has taken another hit from angry investors.

Elliott’s bonus hit shows how grumpy ANZ investors really are

Local fund managers are clearly unhappy with the board’s approach to risk management. Shayne Elliott is wearing a lot of their grief. 

  • James Thomson
US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell was recast as The Grinch.

The Fed just killed the Santa rally

Jerome Powell gave investors a rate cut. But what sent Wall Street plunging was his message for 2025.

  • James Thomson
Advertisement
Jim Chalmers won’t help ASX investors in the long run.

MYEFO has short-term gain and long-term pain for investors

Growing government spending will help prop up tepid ASX profits. But investors should fear the longer-term issues that are being created. 

  • James Thomson
In hindsight, Xero picked up CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy on the cheap. The board has renegotiated a new paypacket, which it says puts her in line with other US-based tech company CEOs.

Xero CEO’s pay rise shows how to earn corporate Australia’s big bucks

There is one way to earn the big money, and it isn’t linked to market cap, importance to Australia’s economy or even shareholder returns.

  • Anthony Macdonald
You know Christmas is coming when last-minute bids start flying.

Santa quashes Bain Capital’s big Aussie buyout, for now

Behind the flurry of statements, there’s a game of M&A chess. Insignia Financial is this year’s Christmas special.

  • Anthony Macdonald
Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo says senior leaders should be back in the office.

WFH is a mess for ASX giants. It will only get messier

While Australia’s biggest companies have accepted hybrid work is here to stay, they remain uneasy about its impact. The debate is far from settled.

  • James Thomson
The focus on unlisted assets in super has been growing in recent years.

Super’s $500b unlisted asset problem isn’t going away

APRA has found another area where near enough just isn’t good enough for Australia’s large and systemically important super sector. 

  • James Thomson
Trust between public and private markets investors is at rock bottom.

Private equity’s musical chairs rub salt into sore wounds

These trades drive public and private markets investors further apart when they need each other more than ever.

  • Anthony Macdonald
Residential mortgages are increasingly the preserve of the wealthy.

The 3 housing charts that should make young people furious

New data shows how housing is slipping even further out of the reach of younger people. The election will kick off a new debate on the problem.

  • James Thomson
Healthscope chief executive Greg Horan has been trying to secure deals with insurers.

Only one thing can end the $22b private health war

Brookfield’s latest fund injection into Healthscope is more evidence of the need for the government to step in to try to resolve a desperate and messy issue.

  • James Thomson
Australian Retirement Trust’s head of global real assets Michael Weaver has signed another investment to cap a big year.

The $330b fund busting big super’s ‘buy and hold’ myth

Australian Retirement Trust’s real assets arm has been the biggest driver of infrastructure and utilities deals in Australia and New Zealand this year.

  • Anthony Macdonald
David Di Pilla’s HMC Capital has been sold off worse than its new listing, DigiCo Infrastructure REIT.

Lapped up at $5, unloved at $4.30 – Di Pilla’s year-end IPO shocker

How do you turn on sentiment if nothing has changed and at a time of the year when institutions turn off the taps?

  • Anthony Macdonald
Advertisement
The private credit sector is hot, but its local pioneers are selling out.

There’s a private credit boom, but Australian pioneers keep selling out

The sale of Wingate to CapitaLand marks the third big buyout of a private credit shop this year. Are founders picking the top of the market or is it a play for bigger growth?

  • James Thomson
Tim Pallas has overseen a sharp rise in Victoria’s debt.

Business won’t miss Pallas, but there’s no easy fix for Victoria

With two years before the next state election, it seems likely that Tim Pallas’ exit will mean a shift in messaging rather than a shift in fiscal strategy.

  • James Thomson

10 curveballs for investors (and no, they’re not all bad)

The market is heading into 2025 with a spring in its step. But Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid sees risks to both the downside and the upside.

  • James Thomson
Vanessa Hudson, Vik Bansal and Andrew Irvine.

Profit-bashing won’t help Australians become better off, CEOs warn

Politicians and regulators going after big business was one of the features of 2024. Has it gone too far, and if so, what can be done to restore the balance?

  • James Thomson and Anthony Macdonald
Qantas’ unravelling soon after reporting a record profit hangs over corporate Australia.

Political CEOs get tangled in their own red tape

Something has to give – and the coming year is the time for business to try to skew the balance back to a more even keel.

  • Anthony Macdonald

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/chanticleer