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Asian Businessman Li-Ka-shing plans to invest $US 25 billion in Australia. It is likely he will focus on infrastructural projects and the energy industry. He has already spent some $7 billion on acquiring Powercor and ETSA Utilities.

Many South African individuals have found business success in Australia, but some South African corporations have found it difficult to invest in the attractive Australian corporate economy because of cultural and economic differences. There are about 250,000 South Africans in Australia. South African investment interest in Australia is attractive because of legal and open South African currency movements; a 4% Australian growth rate; and the prospect of fleeing a 7.7% inflation rate, 19% prime lending rate, and a government budget deficit of 3.3% of gross domestic product.

SDI: What do you see as the differences between Australian PFI and the established UK PPP system? Minchin: It is a matter of function. Functions undertaken by many central governments [...]

Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) Radio Australia, and GWR, are British companies who are both investing time and money in the Australian radio market. The two companies are hoping that the success of Nova 96.9, DMGT's recently-launched commercial FM station in Sydney, is an indication that their investment in this industry is justified.

Last year's decision to remove restrictions on foreign ownership was expected to result in a flood of takeovers by foreign companies. So far this has not happened. The dismantling of protectionism was already encouraging rationalisation in manufacturing, while deregulation in the financial sector had led to a major search for foreign partners. Increasing internationalisation will improve Australia's attractions as a regional base.

This article examines the recent performance of Japanese stocks. Relevant points include signs that these stocks are recovering and reasons why Japanese stocks remain a sound investment.

Many high-technology corporations of Australia are being acquired by overseas concerns, especially in the United States, because of factors, including Australia's high taxation, trade deficit, and market size. Tax laws discourage investment, and the research and development tax was cut from 150% to 125% in August 1996. Telecommunications industry imports are growing and have increased the trade deficit for 1998-99 to $10 billion. Listing on the stock exchange is expensive for small companies that outgrow the Australian market, and it is simpler for those companies to be purchased.

The economic crisis in Asia has seriously affected the Chinese stocks listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, even though some financial experts believe that the crisis will not spread to China. Chinese stock prices fell as investors sold stocks with Asian connections. Some companies have announced financial restructuring, but others are pursuing growth plans.

There is concern that as the Asian economic crisis continues, that Asian investors will sell their properties in Australia. If too many properties are sold at once, the property values in Australia are expected to decrease when they should be increasing. Trusts are doing well in 1998 because they got hundreds of millions of dollars in new institutional funds.

Australia's new economic growth package is receiving a lot of praise from foreign and local business groups for its attractive features. The plan, called Investing in Growth, will give incentives to both local and foreign investors interested in manufacturing goods for export to Asia. The package also allocates an extra $349 mil in funding for research and development for a four-year period.

Australia has the potential to become a petrochemical giant in the Pacific Rim if several multi-billion-dollar programs are allowed to push through. However, foreign companies are dissuaded from investing in Australia as government policies do not encourage such investment. Foreign companies' woes include imposition of heavier taxes, costly coastal shipping, and a tendency toward leniency in antidumping measures.

The activities of the US stock market are reflected in the Australian market. Australia has lower its benchmark from a high in July 1996 of 7.5%, to 6% in Dec 1996. This is favorable but does can not remove the influence of US activities. An overview of foreign securities is given.

Economic recovery in the Asia Pacific region has resulted in increasing UK investment in the area. UK investments in Australia totalled 25 billion Australian dollars in 1993, up nearly 100% since 1986, with the UK accounting for 7% of all overseas investment in the country. Many UK firms see Australasia as a stepping stone to the lucrative southeast Asian markets, which is the world's fastest growing economic region.

The growing interest in central and eastern Europe is causing many UK and European companies to withdraw from the Australian market and concentrate on activities nearer home. Other European firms are pulling out of the market because they realise it is not a suitable base from which to target the growing economies in the Far East. However, some US companies have been more active in Australia, with a few substantial acquisitions taking place.

Australia must get A$250 billion in foreign investments by the year 2000, and is hoping to attract businesses which are pursuing the developing markets of Southeast Asia. However, the governmental bureaucracies are a flurry of wasteful activity, and mismanagement has run up enormous debts in the states, who then turn to the federal government for help. Another problem is the nation's high unemployment rate. Points in Australia's favor are the recent privatization of federal bodies, a A$10 billion tourism industry, and improved food processing and telecommunications industries.

Korea's Hotel Capital Ltd has expanded into the Australian real estate market with the purchase of the 234-room Crest Hotel. Hotel owner Kim Joo-Young explained that the transaction was the third overseashotel project approved by the government of South Korea. The new management expect to spend at least 5 million Australian dollars to renovate the hotel to upgrade it to first class status.

ACT The national Capital of Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory, is Australia's access to the national decision makers purchasing agencies of the Commonwealth Government. The territory has a [...]

TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPETITION IN 1991 1. The restructuring of Australian telecommunications in 1991 will create significant opportunities for American companies. First, the Australian government is proposing to combine the two major [...]