Toyota eyes state coal for hybrid cars
Victoria’s brown coal could power Toyota’s next-generation hybrid under a multi-billion dollar plan being promoted by the car maker and developed by Japanese industrial giant Kawasaki Heavy Industries, according to The Australian.
The two companies are eyeing brown coal reserves in the Latrobe Valley with a plan to convert the coal to hydrogen and ship it in tankers to Japan, where it could be used to fuel vehicles of the future.
The scheme appears to have the support of the Victorian government, which is trying to market the state’s vast reserves of brown coal to export orientated projects.
WestSide mulls revised $178m bid from Landbridge
The aggressive move by China’s privately owned Landbridge on WestSide Corporation has raised questions about the port operator’s intentions for the Queensland coal seam gas player and triggered talk of a potential counter-offer, according to the Australian Financial Review.
WestSide said on Monday it was reviewing Landbridge’s increased $178 million cash offer, after the Chinese company snared a 19.9% take through off-market purchases, overtaking New Hope Corporation as its largest shareholder.
Shares in WestSide surged 15% to 38¢, their highest for almost 15 months, as investors realised the Chinese bidder, whose earlier approach was summarily dismissed by the Australian company, had serious intentions.
Former minister entangled in colourful world of Oakajee ‘saviour’
Former federal tourism minister John Brown has become entangled in the mounting controversy over mysterious Sydney deal-maker Roland Frank Bleyer, amid revelations of the pair’s business links and allegations of a $US400 million ($A431 million) “international fraud scheme”, according to The Australian.
Brown — who strongly denies any knowledge of the alleged fraud — was appointed the sole director of one of Bleyer’s key financing companies, Hayman Private Equity Australia, in 2009.
According to US court documents, Chicago businessman Ross Glickman is seeking to join both Bleyer and Hayman Private Equity Australia as defendants to a court case in which he claims to be owed $US400m over a US property deal that went sour in 2011.
Brown is not named in the documents, although he was the sole director of HPEA at the time of its dealings with Glickman.
The former Labor minister was declared bankrupt in December 2010.
