1. R.M. Williams defies recession fears

The Daily Tele says “R.M. Williams is reintroducing a key leather-working qualification as it seeks to double its manufacturing workforce to 1,000 and move to expanded premises in coming years.”

The Aussie icon, now owned by Fortescue Metals Group’s founder, Andrew Forrest and wife Nicola, employs 500 in SA but are set to increase that to 1000. “To that end, the company is reintroducing the Certificate III in Leather as a qualification and is also in the process of planning how to expand its manufacturing footprint,” the Tele reports.

R.M. Williams boots now retail for $649 for the core Comfort Craftsman range following a price rise earlier this year, and are renowned for their durability. For a time, French luxury brand company LVMH owned R.M. Williams and it has become a global luxury fashion brand, with flagship stores in cities such as New York and London. R.M. Williams lifted sales by 17% in the past financial year to about $220m.

2. Origin Energy could go foreign

The AFR tells us that a Canadian private equity giant —Brookfield Asset Management —along with a US-based partner EIG, are “… leading an $18.4 billion bid for Origin Energy [and have] assembled a $20 billion war chest which it plans to use this decade to turbocharge Australia’s faltering transition to clean energy.”

And a local investment company loved the news. “This is finally recognition of the real value of these assets,” said Yarra Capital Management managing director and head of Australian equities Dion Hershan.”

The group has offered $9 a share and the stock price spiked 34% to $7.83 yesterday.

3. A Perpetual No!

The AFR says: “An improved and swiftly rejected takeover bid for investment firm Perpetual by a hedge fund and private equity consortium has intensified the pressure on the company’s board as traders scrambled to close bets that the acquisition of Pendal Group would proceed.”

Meanwhile, the Pendal Group, which was once expected to be swallowed up by Perpetual, is now telling the market that talk about Perpetual walking away from the deal is “inaccurate and contrary to a certain and well-functioning market for corporate control.” But the Perpetual board was less supportive with the AFR reporting that “Perpetual’s board hit back, claiming it had a fiduciary obligation to consider its options amid interest from suitors.”

4. Hackers want a dollar

The SMH reports that “The suspected hackers behind the theft of Medibank data linked to 9.7 million customers have claimed they demanded a $US10 million ($15 million) ransom from the health insurer. “In a message posted on the dark web on Thursday morning, the ransomware group said they have released sensitive details of Medibank customers’ medical procedures.” Based on 9.7 million customers, these bums wanted $1 a customer to hand back the records, or that’s what they promised!

5. BHP is taking on Albo’s IR play

The Australian paints a picture of a Labor versus BHP battle over the Government’s proposed changes to wage bargaining. “BHP chief executive Mike Henry says there is ‘no case’ for multi-­employer bargaining in the mining industry, as Anthony Albanese on Thursday met with Senate crossbencher David Pocock and Labor left the door open to more concessions to get its industrial relations bill passed.”

Meanwhile the House of Representatives passed the bill by 80 to 56 votes yesterday, as the government signaled it was willing to make amendments in relation to the bill’s small business threshold and the single-­interest multi-employer bargain­ing stream criticized by business groups.