Tech company collapse sparks shareholder battle with $14b chipmaker
Perth-based Nuheara collapsed into administration last August after it was unable to refinance a $2.5 million loan from Realtek, which was its largest shareholder, amid struggling sales and consistent losses.

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The Age
16 minutes ago
- The Age
Firehouse pub sale to raze the roof as long-time owner sounds siren for last drinks
Motel Molly, at 2 Shepherd Street, is a boutique, near-beachfront accommodation hotel featuring 16 rooms. The previous owners, the Knox Group, opened the doors in the past few months of 2022 after a comprehensive refurbishment. In Sydney's eastern suburbs, the 42-room, six-storey boutique accommodation asset, UME Potts Point at 39A Elizabeth Bay Road, has been sold to Carpe Diem Partners, which recently bought the sister boutique site, UME Potts Point, for about $7.98 million. The private fund is run by former Goldman Sachs banker Simon Wheatley and will add to its growing portfolio, which has a focus on developing more assets in the burgeoning co-living property sector. The combined Mollymook and Potts Point sales were worth about $20 million. HTL Property's Andrew Jolliffe and Andrew Jackson advised on the sales, while Ray White Commercial also worked on the Potts Point deal. Ampol HQ Fuel refiner and retailer Ampol is raising cash through the sale of headquarters in the heart of Sydney's south with a price tag of about $100 million. The 9475-square-metre site at 29 Bourke Street, Alexandria, covers four levels with a six-year lease to the group. There is an architecturally designed atrium, advanced end-of-trip facilities and a six-star NABERS Energy rating. The Colliers team of Michael Crombie, Adam Woodward, James Mitchell and Gillian Kaplan are advising on the sale. Ampol is also selling a portfolio of 13 development sites around the country. Included is a mix of metropolitan and regional locations, spanning five states with sites ranging from 1265 sq m to 3073 sq m. Included are properties Tumbarumba, NSW, and Portland, Victoria. They are undeveloped and come with flexible zoning in many locations. The ASX-listed group told investors on Wednesday that its first-half earnings before interest and taxes were expected to total $400 million, compared with $502.1 million reported last year. It said tighter refining margins and a 6.1 per cent fall in first-half sales volumes during the period were partly offset by stronger sales in its convenience retail operations. The portfolio is being sold by Cushman & Wakefield's Queensland-based Daniel Cullinane. Area 53 deal Known as Area 53, the 6.5-hectare site dedicated to life science and innovations in Sydney's north has been bought by joint-venture partners Wentworth Capital and BlackRock for $200 million. The property at 5-11 and 14 Julius Avenue, North Ryde, was the former home to CSIRO for nearly 60 years and other government tenants and is located within the Macquarie Park Innovation district, which is home to medical/pharma businesses including AstraZeneca and Cochlear. It comprises 12,000 square meters of purpose-built laboratory space alongside 40,000 square meters of surplus developable land. There is a 95 per cent occupancy of which government tenants account for 70 per cent of rental income.

The Age
16 minutes ago
- The Age
The properties about to test Collingwood's cool credentials
The US fund bought the 22-storey building from Challenger at a serious premium in 2019. Challenger, which paid $81 million in 2011, held the tower on its books at $165 million. At the time of AEW's off-market purchase, the 19,213 sq m building was raking in $10 million a year in rent giving the deal a tight 4.9 per cent yield. While not giving much away, AEW says it has achieved a 52.8 per cent increase in rental income in the six years it has owned the tower. It's understood that's on a fully leased basis, and the tower's occupation rate is currently about 83 per cent with new tenants still taking up space. CBRE's Kiran Pillai, Scott McGlone and Nikola Jackson with Cushman & Wakefield's Leigh Melbourne, Nick Rathgeber, Josh Cullen and Morgan Briscoe have charge of the listing. 'Thirty-one Queen Street has been a dominant performer in the leasing market over the past three to four years, underpinned by one of the best examples of a ground-up refurbishment,' Pillai said. 'Given the asset's exceptional fundamentals, central-CBD location and low-risk cashflow, we expect strong interest from high-net-worth privates, syndicators and funds,' Melbourne said. The decline in CBD values appears to have bottomed out with a series of big-game bargain hunters, ranging from cashed-up locals to offshore behemoths lured back to the market. Hong Kong private equity property company PAG is understood to be running the ruler over Dexus' Flinders Gate complex. Its current book value stands at $265.5 million with Dexus is reportedly hoping for around $260 million. Last year PAG snagged 367 Collins Street for $340 million from Mirvac, a 20 per cent discount to its peak value. The move also comes as Singapore-listed Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust revealed it had sold 357 Collins Street to Harry Stamoulis for $195.3 million. The final price – about current book value – will clock in at $192 million, after lease incentive liabilities are paid out. Frasers paid a staggering $222.5 million 10 years ago. Heavy lifting on High Developers are expected to swoop on a huge building on Armadale's swanky High Street. The building which houses Armadale's Goodlife Gym at 1216-1230 High Street, comes with a price guide of $25-$30 million. The property is on a 1926 sq m parcel of land stretching back to Willis Street at the rear. Records show the Tauber family paid $1.62 million for the property in 1986. The gym includes a pool. Packed to the eyeballs with frock shops, bridal boutiques, cafes and homewares, High Street has a vacancy rate of just 2.3 per cent, according to Fitzroys' retail vacancy report, Walk the Strip, with rents commanding as much as $2000 a square metre. Last year, the auction of 1047-1051 High Street dragged on for two hours with 900 bids volleyed between two parties. The corner double-storey office and shop, on 500 sq m of land, eventually sold for $11.4 million. The Goodlife building is for sale through Cushman & Wakefield's Daniel Wolman, Oliver Hay, Hamish Burgess and Leon Ma with Teska Carson's Matthew Feld. There's a bit of choice on the strip at the moment. Lawyer and investor Peter Mitrakas is selling a 1585 sq m parcel of land at 23-27 Osment Street near Armadale Station for about $20 million. And five strata owners at 1097-1111 High Street are hoping to sell their building – on a large 1733 sq m site on the corner of Huntingtower Road – for about $30 million. East Melbourne A local private investor has paid about $13.5 million for the old Melbourne IVF fertility clinic at 344 Victoria Parade, a much-storied building in East Melbourne's medical precinct which won awards when it was built in the early 1990s. While the vendor, veteran investment group Henkell Brothers, was seeking closer to $15 million for the three storey-office, it nonetheless made a tidy profit. Henkell Brothers bought the 2444 sq m building from the late Richard Pratt's Pratt Industries in 1995 for just $3.92 million – after it passed in at a mortgagee auction for $2.9 million. It was a bargain even at the time. The Victorian Public Service Association had been ready to pay $7.12 million for the city-fringe office, but the deal fell through after the sale of its CBD office to theatre impresario David Marriner collapsed. CBRE agents Nick Peden, Sandro Peluso, Jamus Campbell and Mark Granter negotiated the deal. 'The campaign attracted significant interest, with several unconditional offers received from both local and international investors – an unprecedented result for a vacant property,' Peden said. The building had been the home of Melbourne IVF's fertility clinic for many years but the baby-maker is off to Hines' new 15-storey timber building, T3 at 36 Wellington Street, across the road. AirHub Growthpoint Properties is testing the market's appetite for industrial investments offering up a six-property portfolio at Melbourne Airport. The AirHub portfolio, currently on Growthpoint's books with a $127 million value, covers a 25-hectare chunk of land around the airport with net lettable space of 139,707 sq m. They're being offered individually or as a job lot. Tenants include Australia Post, Unipart Group, Direct Couriers and Laminex.

Sydney Morning Herald
16 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
ASX set to slide, Wall Street mixed; Tesla falls, Alphabet surges
Wall Street is hanging near its records on Thursday, though the calm surface of the US stock market is hiding some roiling moves underneath. Alphabet is rising, and Tesla is tumbling following a jumble of profit reports from big US companies. The S&P 500 was 0.3 per cent higher in afternoon trading, coming off its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones was down 174 points, or 0.4 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4 per cent higher. The Australian sharemarket is set to retreat, with futures at pointing to a fall of 33 points, or 0.4 per cent, at the open. The ASX lost 0.8 per cent on Thursday. Alphabet climbed 1.9 per cent after the company behind Google and YouTube delivered a fatter profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It's leaning more into artificial-intelligence technology and said it's increasing its budget to spend on AI chips and other investments this year by $US10 billion ($15.2 bilion) to $US85 billion. That helped push up other stocks in the AI industry, including a 1.1 per cent rise for Nvidia. The chip company was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500 because it's the largest on Wall Street in terms of value. But an 8.8 per cent drop for Tesla kept the market in check. Elon Musk's electric-vehicle company reported results for the spring that were roughly in line with or above analysts' expectations, and Musk is trying to highlight Tesla's moves into AI and robotaxis. Loading The focus, though, remains on how Musk's foray into politics is turning off potential customers, and he said several rough quarters may be ahead as 'we're in this weird transition period where we'll lose a lot of incentives in the US' Stocks have broadly been rallying for weeks on hopes that President Donald Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will lower his stiff proposed tariffs, along with the risk that they could cause a recession and drive up inflation. The record-setting gains have been so strong that criticism is rising about how expensive stock prices have become. That in turn puts pressure on companies to deliver solid growth in profits in order to justify their gains. Chipotle Mexican Grill also helped weigh on the market despite delivering a profit for the spring that topped analysts' expectations. The restaurant chain's growth in revenue came up short of expectations, and its stock fell 13.8 per cent.