Parochialism is stock in trade for Australian business media. To wit, from the AFR:
Ouch. Chinese private equity fund Hony Capital is down $425 million on its investment in ailing Santos.
The oil price has plunged a further 40 per cent since Hony came to the rescue in early November, 2015 as part of the temporary fix to the Santos balance sheet which also included a rights issue, a cut in dividends, and big cost reductions.
Hony, through its quaintly named investment vehicles United Faith Ventures and Robust Nation, holds 9.81 per cent of Santos.
Now I’m, not going to stand here and defend Hony. The investment was stupid (or, at best, early) as has been clear over many months. But what about widening the lens a little? Plenty in the press have been telling folks to buy oil on the way down and the sell side has been shocking. Only JPM has an “underweight” call on STO. CS, Bernstein and Macquarie all have “outperform” ratings, UBS and Mornginstar have “buys” on it.
There is an almost limitless supply of egg to throw around when it comes to Australian LNG.
