Mark Pownall

There have been few bright spots in M&A deals this year in what some are calling a 'cautiously willing' market.

The top of Perth’s legal world has shrunk slightly as the 10 biggest law firms recorded a combined net loss at partnership level following a three-year binge of global mergers focused heavily on th

The deal-making environment in Western Australia is as challenging as ever, as the once-buoyant mining sector recalibrates to the so-called ‘new normal’, which appears to be the old normal as far a

Big accounting firms don’t appear to share the gloom engulfing much of the resources industry in Western Australia, with the top players adding significant numbers to their partnership roll-calls.

Have we got the intellectual muscle to ride the cyclical downturn?

Construction contractor AusGroup has taken legal action against Mid West iron ore miner Karara Mining, suing the joint venture today after securing an injunction in secret hearings yesterday to pre

One of the challenges in running a university, like many not-for-profit operations, is the search for private benefactors to boost the funds available to offer their services.

I have often wondered aloud, and in writing, if billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s next career might be in politics.

The significant issue of female representation in the boards of Australia’s companies has been pushed to the background amid the rhetoric of the gender wars being waged in Canberra.

Andrew Forrest rarely steps into the footsteps of others.

A year and half ago I sat down with Leighton’s most senior property development management to talk about Kings Square.

One of Perth’s longest running private art businesses is restructuring to turn its main gallery space into a proposed artists’ collective, citing a crisis in the sector as rivals close their doors.

Car subsidies not the only one-way deals out there.

Does the ailing Australian car industry offer us the chance to fix the Commonwealth Grants process and make the GST allocations fairer?

Solving the city’s congestion problems may require the public to start paying the true cost of its travels.

Motoring clubs around Australia have launched a combined effort to make funding for roads a major issue at the federal election, amid increasing traffic chaos in Perth.

Founding director and chairman of Aquila Resources Charles Bass has sold off almost $6.2 million worth of shares, as part of moves that reduced his beneficial interest in the company to 10.7 per ce

China Southern Airlines might be a relatively new player in the eyes of Western Australia’s travelling public, but the aviation giant has an association with the state that dates back years before

THE near certainty of a Coalition government being elected in September, and the single-handed control of state leader Colin Barnett, have reshaped Western Australia's 2013 Most Influential list –

Julia Gillard is right to crack down on the advertising of gambling odds during sporting contests, but the prime minister's political opportunism masks her failure to have a policy on gambling that

A big population centre at Lake Argyle has been proposed by a Fremantle consultancy as the winning entry to an international competition. The objective was to balance the nation’s development with a northern capital.

What lessons can we learn from wine sector that we can apply to industry development in this state?The wine sector has intrigued me as a business journalist for the past two decades.

An event that brought out previously hidden Europhile tendencies proves a winner in a WA workplace.

It might be too early to crack the champagne but junior miners are certainly celebrating the weakening of the Australian dollar, which had lost its traditional connection with commodity prices and

LET’S face it, government budgets lost meaning a long time ago – at least as a kind of one-off announcement where everyone held their breath to see how they were affected.

It might be too early to crack the champagne but junior miners are certainly celebrating the weakening of the Australian dollar, which had lost its traditional connection with commodity prices and

What chance a theme park filled with remote-operated big boys’ toys in WA?

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s chief Greg Medcraft has warned that investors hungry for yield are going to be attracted to riskier investments as Australia’s interest rates

I have just returned from holidays in Europe and among the many things I noticed was the rows of bicycles available for hire in central London. They were, to me, a noticeably new addition to city.

The lines are becoming increasingly blurred between not-for-profit groups and business.

We need to get over our blinkered opposition to high-density living in Perth.

After four years advising Navitas founder Rod Jones as his biggest client, investment banker Jon Biesse is about to make the commitment full-time, stepping into the private world of business to run