Australia’s biggest renewable energy company, Pacific Hydro, is under threat of takeover by a Spanish company Acciona in an $870 million deal announced at the end of March. The board of directors has unanimously recommended the takeover to its shareholder and normally, that would be that; another great Australian company sold off overseas due to the shortsightedness of Australian investment institutions.

Pacific Hydro operates wind power installations both here and overseas and is an important part of Australia’s energy future. As a concerned shareholder, I would prefer it to remain Australian-owned, even though I recognise that not every foreign takeover is necessarily a bad outcome.

In this case though, we might have got lucky. One Australian institution, Investment Fund Services, is not selling, at any price. They own 32% of the company and therefore they will probably stop the deal as it is conditional on 90% of the shareholders accepting it. Still, brokers are recommending that small shareholders should sell, otherwise they will be squeezed between the interests of large holders.

Some commentators are hoping that Investment Fund Services will itself mount a takeover for Pacific Hydro but that is problematical since IFS is a superannuation fund and normally, such funds are unable to borrow money. The best result would be that, Acciona, finding itself thwarted by IFS, withdraws its bid, leaving Pacific Hydro to get on with business. Let us hope this happens.

Glitch with Jaycar’s 2005 catalog

The April 2005 print issue of SILICON CHIP was accompanied by the 2005 Jaycar Engineering catalog which is very fine effort for this dynamic company. I trust that readers have enjoyed both the magazine and the catalog and that you will find the catalog a very handy reference for the coming year.

However, there was a problem with the packing of these catalogs. There is a chance that some Australian print readers may have received the New Zealand version of this catalog instead of the Australian version. With the exception of page 324, both versions of the Jaycar catalogs are absolutely identical except in regard to product pricing and the website identification at the bottom of the left-hand pages.

Australian Jaycar catalogs have the website listed as www.jaycar.com.au while New Zealand catalogs have the website listed as www.jaycar.co.nz

In addition, page 324 of the Jaycar NZ catalog gives store location maps for New Zealand, while the same page in the Australian catalog shows a range of burglar alarms.

Please check your catalog to see which version you have received. If you have been unlucky enough to receive a Jaycar NZ catalog instead of the Australian version, please return it to your local Jaycar store who will replace it or call 1800 022 888 and Jaycar’s Techstore staff will send out a replacement. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Leo Simpson