Mark Beyer

A CONSORTIUM of three local engineering companies has beaten its big competitors to win the single largest contract on the expansion of the Varanus Island gas processing plant.

LAST June, Perth investor Barry Patterson surprised the market by staking $10 million to take a controlling stake in struggling office supplies company National 1.

NICHE insurance company St Andrew’s Australia has obtained regulatory approval to operate a new life insurance company.

Ric Stowe’s The Griffin Group agreed early this month to investigate building a pulp mill at Collie but, as Mark Beyer reports, its real agenda is to build its energy division.

THE Water Corporation has completed a renewal of its board, with the appointment of Brian Hewitt and Brendan Hammond as non-executive directors.

AT first glance QPSX seems to be just another relic of the dot.com boom.

PERTH law firm Steinepreis Paganin worked on more Initial Public Offerings last year than any other law firm in the country, a national survey has found.

Dozens of Western Australian small business owners have completed Curtin Business School's growth program. Mark Beyer spoke to two graduates about the lessons they have learned.

DEMAND for Western Australian commercial property remained strong throughout 2003 and, despite the tightly held nature of this sector, the year was notable for a number of record-breaking deals,

PATERSONS Securities and Euroz Securities have strengthened their position as the top Western Australian broking firms in equity capital raisings.

2003 was a stellar year for large and innovative business deals in Western Australia. Mark Beyer, Tracey Cook and Noel Dyson detail the year's best.

WHEN Kerbing West director Brian Kennewell enrolled in Curtin Business School’s growth program, he had more than 20 years of business success behind him.

MARKETFORCE emerged as the big winner among those competing to do business with the Western Australian government, signing a $134 million advertising contract.

A SMALL group of Perth-based corporate advisory firms have established a growing niche in equity capital raisings for Western Australian businesses.

THE three remaining directors of financial planning firm Smith Martis Cork & Rajan have been ordered to pay ousted managing director Joseph Martis $737,000 plus interest for his stake in the business.

FORMER Ernst & Young tax partners Dan Fogarty and Ian Crisp have joined forces to establish a specialist tax practice targeting the corporate and resource sectors.

WINEMAKER Palandri is seeking to bolster its balance sheet by raising $7.5 million through an issue of convertible notes.

THE State Government has confirmed that three types of stamp duty will be abolished on January 1.

WHEN the nominations for the Business Elite survey started to roll in, we thought many people had already switched to holiday mode.

THE Port of Albany is looking forward to an investment boom next year with major exporters due to spend about $100 million.

WOODSIDE has pledged to maximise local content on its next big project, the $1.5 billion Enfield project, despite choosing to send a key component of the work overseas.

OCKERBY Real Estate, one of Western Australia’s largest residential real estate firms, is switching its banking business from BankWest to Challenge Bank.

WA Business News subscribers have voted on the State’s top business people. Mark Beyer reports.    

Western Australia’s exports of processed food have doubled in value over the past decade and are now worth more than $1 billion. Mark Beyer reports on a WA success story.

THE latest round of changes to State Government taxes could lead to a significant shift in the way businesses are bought and sold.

KAILIS & France Foods has gone to extraordinary lengths to build its food export business, recently investing $15 million to upgrade its Osborne Park factories to meet the exacting demands of its export customers.

THE vast majority of small and mid-sized companies in Australia expect to grow at a much faster rate than the economy as a whole next year, a new survey has found.

PLANS by listed tech company Natural Intelligence to reinvent itself as a telco have raised the hackles of investors concerned about less-than-fulsome disclosure.

OSBORNE Park-based finance broker Connaught Capital has become Centrepoint Finance after linking up with the national commercial finance group of the same name.

PB Foods, the parent of dairy manufacturer Peters & Brownes, has agreed to invest $7 million to expand production of super premium ice cream for the Japanese market.

IT’S something a breath of fresh air when all the talk around town is focused on the likelihood of a pre-election tax cut.

PERTH’S three existing law schools will face added competition in 2005, with Edith Cowan University and Curtin University planning to expand their legal studies programs.