Rob Sindel News Today

The independent directors of the cement group are now recommending shareholders accept the revamped $1.9 billion bid, with one-off dividends attached.

The French giant’s $4.3b takeover of the building products group, pivotal to Australia’s industrial development, isn’t without thorny issues.

It’s the biggest equity raising from an ASX-listed company to fund M&A since Atlas Arteria raised $3 billion last year to buy a stake in Chicago Skyway.

The firm has been caught studying a big offshore acquisition, and investors are trying to join the dots - but there’s a vacuum of information.

Prominent Perth-based director and former WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt predicts many Australian companies will eventually publicly back the Indigenous referendum.

Leading directors say that in the case of life or death, or with the threat of catastrophic damage to infrastructure, cyber ransom payments may be justified.

CSR chief executive Julie Coates says the big housing backlog will be a strong buffer against rising interest rates, as prices rise again in October.

Campbell Hanan will become the development and property management groups new chief executive and managing director, taking over from Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, who announced her intention to retire from the group in June next year.

Mirvac Group will lose its chair John Mulcahy and chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, as both announce their plans to retire.

CEO Julie Coates says both unemployment and interest rates are still very low by historical standards and housing demand will stay robust.