Good morning,

The former chief executive of Bellamy’s Organic has accused the infant nutrition company’s Chinese owner of breaching foreign investment rules and overseeing ageist and sexist practices, Jared Lynch reveals today. Tarsi Luo, also known as Xiao Luo, claims she was fired in August after she complained about a gaping gender pay gap and warned the company about adhering to its Foreign Investment Review Board obligations. China Mengniu acquired Bellamy’s in 2019 for $1.43bn, resulting in its delisting from the ASX. FIRB approved the takeover on the condition the majority of directors at Bellamy’s were Australian resident citizens. But Ms Luo, in documents filed with the Federal Court, alleges she reported to and was managed by Yan Luo, head of business development at China Mengniu, and not to Bellamy’s local directors.

The continuing impact of Clough’s collapse is now being felt further and further away. It has, as Nick Evans and Perry Williams report today, thrown fresh uncertainty over a $6.2bn Pilbara fertiliser project with Perdaman Chemicals boss Vikas Rambal confirming he will be forced to delay a final investment decision on the Burrup manufacturing plant. Mr Rambal told The Australian that Clough’s collapse this week was not a crippling blow to Perdaman Chemical and Fertilisers’ long-running plans to build a urea plant on the Burrup Peninsula, but said he would be forced to delay giving the go-ahead on the $US4.2bn ($6.2bn) project.

Overseas, Wall Street is higher, snapping five days of subdued trade, but US recession concerns remain. Oil prices are up after five sessions of declines as China reopens. Local stocks are set to open higher.

Five things you need to know

• Federally funded energy rebates for households to help with soaring power bills would be funnelled through state governments in exchange for NSW and Queensland capping coal prices, under fresh compensation demands being brokered overnight with the Albanese government. More

• Link Administration has ceased talks with Canada’s Dye & Durham, with the parties unable to agree on a fair price for part of Link’s business and the suitor unable to firm up its offer with the necessary funding. More

• Investors have dumped engineering group Downer EDI after it shocked the market by revealing historical accounting irregularities and slashing its annual profit guidance by up to $60m. More

• OnePath Life – a life insurance company sold by ANZ just over three years ago to Zurich Financial Services – is being sued by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission for allegedly failing to act with good faith during claims handling. More

• Mining giant BHP is quietly planning for the possible early closure of the company’s flagship coking coal mines in Queensland, its financial accounts show, with the company pointing to the state’s windfall royalty hike for the decision. More

The Markets

CEO Survey 2022

China risk barely gets a mention in The Australian’s CEO survey – this year with 90 responses from the country’s top business leaders.

An ongoing shortage in skilled workers is one issue raised repeatedly, along with surging power prices and the threat of intervention in the market by government. Also on the list of concerns: new industrial relations laws allowing multi-employer bargaining, which some say could unleash havoc.

And after a complete management capitulation to working from home, many CEOs want staff back for more days in the office, both for their own good and that of companies. Despite a tight labour market, they are not afraid to say so.

Read more

Ticky Fullerton

"Philip Lowe has found himself caught on the wrong side of an economic cycle with his seven-year term set to expire just as interest rates are likely to peak."

Read the full story here

DataRoom

Noni B owner Mosaic Brands is being discussed as a possible takeover target by its own managers, directors or shareholders. The Australian listed apparel company is chaired by Richard Facioni and run by Scott Evans, and currently its market value is only $51m and its share price is 27.5c. Before the pandemic, its share price was $2.28. More

Margin Call

It’s not often the murky world of Perth small-cap mining industry share deals has a bright spotlight shone on it, but that’s exactly what is happening in the court battle between West Australian mining heavyweight Grant Davey and former Patterson’s and Euroz broker Tim Kestell.

Kestell is suing Davey for 50 million shares of Lotus Resources, the ASX-listed owner of the Kayelekera uranium project in Africa that was once the property of Paladin Resources.

Those 50 million shares in the project are now worth in the vicinity of $11m. Not a bad claim for what was effectively an introduction fee for Kestell. More