Rein company to be de-registered 'soon'

June 26, 2008 - 6:53PM
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Therese Rein's company Invisage will formally cease to exist next month, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has told parliamentary officials.

Mr Rudd added Invisage, a subsidiary of the prime minister's wife's Ingeus Ltd job placement network, to his statement of registrable interests on May 13.

Mr Rudd had earlier neglected to declare the company on the register of members' interests, which is meant to list all financial interests of politicians and their spouses.

He updated the record on budget day, saying: "I am advised this company is inactive and will be formally deregistered before 30 June 2008."

The latest register was tabled in parliament on Thursday, providing a glimpse into the private lives of politicians.

Mr Rudd added on his wife's behalf a line of credit from the Commonwealth Bank and a margin loan from CommSec, both for unspecified amounts, an upgrade from economy to business class on a Sydney-Brisbane Qantas flight on May 7, and patronage of three organisations.

Mr Rudd was given free membership of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge and a Virgin Blue Velocity Gold membership, art and a book from artist David Hart, and a set of cufflinks from the International CEO Forum.

He surrendered the art, book and cufflinks to his department.

Millionaire MP Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy added three investment properties in Potts Point to their portfolio.

Former treasurer Peter Costello recently received a free Foxtel installation in his electorate office, half a dozen bottles of Grange Hermitage from serviced apartment company Servcorp and a Kreepy Krawley pool cleaner from Sherwood Overseas Company.

Former union boss Greg Combet has bought a Canberra home and his wife Petra has sold an investment property in Melbourne.

Several politicians declared international travel variously sponsored by groups like the Australian Political Exchange, a company called Blue Oar and the Taiwanese government.

Mr Combet, Trade Minister Simon Crean and Environment Minister Peter Garrett have resigned as directors of the Chifley Research Centre, a Labor Party policy think-tank.

Mr Garrett also received a $300 tie from his French counterpart.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her partner Tim Matheson attended the Australian Formula One grand prix as guests of Panasonic Toyota Racing, while Liberal backbencher Alex Hawke declared receiving a gift voucher and hair care products from Maqbool Enterprises.

Labor backbencher Richard Marles reported selling his Holden Commodore on March 29, while opposition frontbencher Joe Hockey declared the sale of an investment property and his wife Melissa's car.

But independent MP Bob Katter had some trouble declaring his wife's financial affairs.

"Not providing information to me. Some shares and some houses," he wrote plaintively on his declaration.

"I assume my wife has property loans and other loans."

Apartment sells for record $20m

Jonathan Chancellor
June 4, 2008
POTTS Point in Sydney has prised Australia's record apartment price from Melbourne following a $20 million penthouse sale.

An undisclosed "prominent Sydney businessman" bought the apartment off the plan after Sydney City Council approved the development on Monday.

The two-level penthouse, with views across Woolloomooloo Bay towards the central business district, Sydney Harbour and the Opera House, will have 530 square metres of internal space and 115 square metres of balcony.

The Wylde Street sale trumps an $18.2 million off-the-plan penthouse sale in East Melbourne and the $16.8 million Sydney record sale in Macquarie Street's Bennelong block earlier this year.

The Ashington Group, chaired by mortgage broker Mark Bouris, bought the development site for $15.5 million last year, indicating it viewed Potts Point as one of the true urban villages of Sydney.

"The sale was a sign that buyers will act quickly for distinctive apartment product," Ashington's director, Craig Minahan, said yesterday.

The design by architects Tzannes Associates echoes the curved glazing and copper roofing in the neighbouring 1930s heritage-listed Wyldefel Gardens residential complex.

The nine apartments included in the development with the penthouse will have interiors by fashion designer Alex Perry.

"Ten Wylde Street is the latest of the prestige high-rise apartment blocks to have dotted the Potts Point skyline since Kingsclere was built in 1912," selling agent Jason Boon said.

Ashington will soon demolish the existing seven-storey building that has been a 38-unit serviced apartment block since the late 1980s. The six-storey glazed building next to Garden Island is expected to be completed late next year.

Ashington had initially planned to gut the existing tower, set on an elevated position at the tip of the peninsula, and create 14 apartments.

Top penthouse has $6m view

DANIEL BOURCHIER

25 June 2008

THE penthouse of Darwin's Pandanas Apartments may be out of the league of Territory first home buyers -- it has been valued at $6million.

The apartment -- which is expected to be kept by the developers -- covers half of the 28th floor of the Knuckey St skyscraper and includes a wrap-around balcony with panoramic views of Darwin.

The building -- the NT's tallest -- was officially opened with a glitzy top-floor party last night.

Gwelo Developments has co-ordinated the construction of the tower over the past four years and managing director Even Lynne said the completion of the tower marked a change in residential living in the Territory.

"The vision was to create a new level of luxury and lifestyle for Darwin's residents and visitors,'' he said.

"Pandanas Apartments will be a catalyst for the revitalisation of Darwin, setting a new benchmark for luxury holiday accommodation for the area.''

Pandanas Apartments tower includes the 4-star Mantra Pandanas hotel, with 254 apartments as well as 62 residential apartments.

Of these 62, there are 47 luxury residential apartments -- only three have not sold yet -- beginning at $840,000, while only four of the 12 sub-penthouses left, with price tags of $1million to $1.3million, are left.

There are also two other penthouses that share the top floor and which will cost $3million when they go on sale this week.

Most of the apartments are open, but the rest will be operational by next month.

The Mantra Apartments also includes a restaurant, conference rooms, gym, and a day spa, with a hairdresser and gourmet deli set to open later this year.

The serviced apartments were opened in April and are run by the Stella Hospitality Group. Executive general manager Mark Hodge said the tower brings a new level of service.

"It is fresh, new and exciting, and is one of our biggest hotels in Australia,'' he said.

"It brings a new level of quality to the NT.''

A Quest in Australia's most liveable city

Quest Serviced Apartments is opening in Ipswich – Australia’s most liveable mid-sized city in the country’s fastest growing region. The move sees the Quest group continue its northern expansion, while providing high quality accommodation for the corporate sector including local businesses and visiting investors.
The property, due to open in late-June, is conveniently located next to the city centre near the Showgrounds, University of Queensland’s Ipswich campus, and Citiswich Industrial Park.
Quest Ipswich offers 64 stylish and comfortable apartments, in a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom accommodation.
The spacious and stylish apartments all feature internet access, LCD televisions and DVD/stereos, reverse-cycle air-conditioning, separate living and dining areas, and fully-equipped kitchen and laundry facilities.
Designed for the busy extended-stay corporate traveller, Quest Ipswich also supplies breakfast options, valet dry cleaning, pantry shopping, charge back at a number of local restaurants, and baby sitting booking services.
Businesses requiring conference or meeting room facilities will also be catered for at Quest Ipswich – for up to 60 delegates.
On-site car parking, solar heated swimming pool and BBQ area are other features of the property.
Quest Chairman and founder Paul Constantinou said choosing Ipswich was consistent with the group’s 20-year business philosophy of creating Quest properties where business demand dictated.
“Our property locations are chosen for their close proximity to business centres, restaurants, nightlife and shopping. We feel it’s important that guests are close to where they need to be to conduct their business and where they can have lifestyle options too.”
“Our focus is on delivering a value adding and consistent product to the business sector. New locations are selected only on the basis of existing or strongly emerging corporate demand.
Quest Ipswich is an $11 million development, and property number 114 in the Quest portfolio.
All new Quest properties are purpose built to a specific ‘Quest model’. The vision of Quest Serviced Apartments is to continue to be the market leader in the Serviced Apartment Accommodation industry.
The opening of Quest Ipswich follows recent openings in Alice Springs, (NT) and Mascot (NSW). Other Quest properties due to open this year are in Ivanhoe (VIC), Echuca (VIC), and Chermside (QLD).

Singapore's CapitaLand unit opens serviced residence apartments in 4 countries

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Southeast Asia's biggest property developer CapitaLand Ltd. said on Monday its unit The Ascott Group has so far opened this month four new serviced residences in four different countries across the region as it continues to expand its global presence.

Ascott has opened Somerset St Georges Terrace in Perth, Australia; Somerset Hoa Binh in Hanoi, Vietnam; Citadines Sukhumvit 8 in Bangkok, Thailand; and Somerset West Bay in Doha, Qatar.

Early this year, Ascott opened two properties in China, namely, Ascott Guangzhou and Somerset Emerald City in Suzhou.

Ascott's property portfolio spans 56 cities in 22 countries. The company operates about 15,000 serviced residence units globally, with a further 6,000 units under development.

Ascott was delisted from the Singapore Exchange on April 29 after its shares were bought by Somerset Capital Pte. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CapitaLand.

Quest Serviced Apartments Chooses IBM Cognos Software for Performance Management

- Leading serviced apartment provider will use IBM Cognos software to underpin business growth -

SYDNEY, JUNE 26, 2008 – Cognos, an IBM company and the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, today announced that Quest Serviced Apartments, Australasia’s largest and most successful operator in the serviced apartment sector, has selected IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence, IBM Cognos 8 Planning and IBM Cognos 8 Controller as its performance management platform for streamlining its operational forecasting, budgeting, reporting and planning.

Quest Serviced Apartments has 113 properties around Australia, New Zealand and Fiji and has built a successful award-winning franchise network over the past 20 years through offering attentive service and a philosophy of continuous improvement. The organisation is currently adding up to 12 properties a year with each one following a specific Quest model of well-appointed, fully-serviced, spacious accommodation particularly designed for the needs of the long-stay corporate traveller.

Under the terms of the deal with Quest, Cognos will install separate reporting systems with an integrated performance management dashboard for budgeting, tax, management and statutory consolidated reporting.

In addition, once fully implemented, the IBM Cognos software will provide the Quest Group with an overall view of the business to meet its internal management reporting requirements across its four business units - franchise management, new franchise establishment, property development and property investment . The integrated dashboard solution will be used to unify the organisation's financial reporting and lay the foundation for continued domestic and international franchise expansion and performance management.

The decision to select IBM Cognos software follows four months research during which Quest performed a detailed needs analysis and considered separate offerings for each component of its requirements. At the end of the process, Quest decided to choose a single service provider based on IBM Cognos’ ability to deliver the complete spectrum of business intelligence functionality on a single platform, simplifying deployment and use.

“Choosing IBM Cognos software is a defining moment in our business as we go about implementing a true business performance management solution,” said Doug Hutchinson, Chief Financial Officer, Quest Serviced Apartments.

“Cognos stood head and shoulders above other providers in terms of its technology offering and this was backed up by the positive feedback we received from our general enquiries.

“We’re very comfortable with IBM’s acquisition of Cognos and were also impressed with the level of contact we had with senior Cognos management during our selection process and their understanding of our needs. They grasped our requirements quickly and were able to demonstrate a solution which was substantially more integrated, incorporated better functionality, is easier to use and required less administrative support than other players,” said Mr Hutchinson.

IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence (BI) provides decision makers at all levels of the enterprise with groundbreaking capabilities to better manage performance by delivering a consistent, accurate view of all business information. As a complete, flexible product, IBM Cognos 8 BI easily integrates into existing infrastructures with multiple systems and data sources. Its simplified BI environment improves user adoption, enables better decision-making, and provides a robust foundation for departmental BI, enterprise BI and performance management. In addition, by implementing IBM Cognos Controller and IBM Cognos Planning, Quest will obtain a transparent, accurate and timely enterprise view of financial performance.

Business Intelligence, financial consolidation and financial planning are key elements of the IBM Cognos Performance Management System, which combines technology, best practices, analytical applications and solutions, and a broad network of partners into a single performance management solution for customers.

IBM Cognos software will be progressively implemented at Quest over the next eighteen months with IBM Cognos Planning due to go live in November, IBM Cognos Controller in December, and IBM Cognos BI for management dashboards and Balanced Scorecard reporting during 2009.

“Once IBM Cognos is fully deployed, we’ll be able to harness knowledge of the underlying financial performance of the company so that we can better plan and model for future business growth. We’re also comforted by the fact that we’ll have a quality IBM Cognos support team on hand during and post implementation,” said Mr Hutchinson.

Lesley French Sales Executive Australia and New Zealand, Cognos an IBM Company, said “We are delighted to have been selected by Quest Serviced Apartments as a key IT provider to sustain and support their growth path. This agreement highlights Cognos’ ability to create business benefit solutions that can scale with companies regardless of their size, industry sector or competitive framework.”

Quest Serviced Apartments book Cognos BI

Complete spectrum of BI functionality delivered on a single platform
Andrew Hendry 27/06/2008 10:38:07

Serviced apartment provider, Quest Serviced Apartments, has begun streamlining its operational forecasting, budgeting, reporting and planning for the 113 properties it operates around Australia, NZ and Fiji.

Quest's fully-serviced apartments are aimed primarily at long-stay corporate travellers.

It's new solution will be based around the IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence, Cognos 8 Planning and Cognos 8 Controller as its performance management platform.

Under the deal Cognos will install separate reporting systems with an integrated performance management dashboard for budgeting, tax, management and statutory consolidated reporting.

Quest said the Cognos software will provide an overall view of the business in order to meet management reporting requirements across its four business units - franchise management, new franchise establishment, property development and property investment.

Quest CFO Doug Hutchinson said that Quest's current business systems were disparate and that the company was seeking to bring together systems used in franchises and the corporate office.

"We're not really in that sense replacing existing systems, we're introducing a new system - something that we haven't had before. We're replacing our internal planning processes, which are largely manual and Excel-based solutions, with a much more robust method for business planning," he said.

Hutchinson said Quest looked at solutions from all the major vendors as well as some of the smaller players, and contemplated stand-alone solutions for planning, consolidation and other BI applications.

"But from our point of view we saw a real benefit in a single service provider. Ultimately the Cognos solution was the best fit for our needs."

The performance management dashboard will unify Quest's financial reporting and provide a basis for continued performance management and franchise expansion both locally and abroad.

"We're looking at substantial improvements in data quality, the speed at which we manage our business, and substantial reduction in timeframes for planning processes. It will also assist from a management point of view - shifting the role of planning away from the finance domain into the respective business units and departments," Hutchinson said.

The new software will be progressively implemented over the next eighteen months with Cognos Planning due to go live in November, Cognos Controller in December, and Cognos BI for management dashboards and Balanced Scorecard reporting during 2009.

"We've already in the last week begun work on the project so there will be progressive deliverables over the next 18 months. Our first priority is our planning system - we'll be building components of the data warehouse and progressively bringing on other business systems, reservation systems and so on into that environment to aid the transparency capabilities of analyzing our business performance," Hutchinson said.