Spain’s Big Oil beast has balance sheet work to do 2 Oct 2015 Repsol’s balance sheet looks stretched. It’s good it has exceeded its $1 bln asset sale target but the $13 bln Talisman deal leaves a burden. It will struggle to finance capex and dividends in a $50- $60 oil environment. It needs a game plan for its forthcoming strategy day.
Alibaba delivery arm is a financial blind spot 2 Oct 2015 The Chinese e-commerce group is a minority investor in the business that arranges delivery of billions of its packages. Yet Alibaba has spent over $6.3 bln on logistics-related deals in the past three years. Even if the investments make strategic sense, shareholders are in the dark.
Wall Street a lousy judge of Supreme Court rulings 1 Oct 2015 Big decisions on issues like Obamacare can roil the stocks of winners and losers. Yet fragmented opinions, obscure language and arcane topics make distinguishing between the two surprisingly tough. The top tribunal’s return on Monday may prompt an investor run on legal advice.
Online lending unicorns like SoFi need stamina 1 Oct 2015 The student loan refinancing startup raised $1 bln this week, and online loan shop Avant pulled in $325 mln. The involvement of smart investors suggests these multibillion-dollar upstarts have room to run. More important, though, is whether they can endure the credit cycle.
Guest view: A big dividend from investing in data 1 Oct 2015 U.S. officials haven’t collected employer training information in two decades. It’s one example of a larger problem. Peter Scher, JPMorgan’s head of corporate responsibility, says more public and private funding of data gathering and analysis would help the U.S. economy grow.
Abu Dhabi pullback shows shifting sovereign sands 1 Oct 2015 Emirati fund Mubadala has sold a $3.6 bln loan portfolio jointly held with GE. It may be driven by the U.S. conglomerate’s turn away from finance. But the decision by its Gulf partner to follow is a sign of how sovereign investors have lost their risk appetite.
Carney hits potential sustainable-finance goldmine 1 Oct 2015 U.N. goals, a U.S.-China pact and papal concern are all fine ways to highlight global development issues. The problem is financing the $4 trln a year needed to solve the issues. The BoE governor’s idea to make companies lay out climate-change risks is one promising approach.
Rob Cox: Poland risks backsliding on free markets 1 Oct 2015 The country’s unparalleled success since communism’s fall owes much to its embrace of a liberal economic agenda. As elections approach, the rhetoric from leading politicians suggests a worrisome slippage from the principles that make Poland the envy of its European neighbors.
Insider trading is distraction in Fed leak saga 1 Oct 2015 If the U.S. central bank let something secret slip in 2012, that’s trouble for Janet Yellen’s team. But a Financial Times-owned service suspected of receiving the tip may fairly argue it was doing journalism. Unless the leaker benefited, enforcers are on a wild goose chase.
Garrett-Cox demotion could herald Alliance breakup 1 Oct 2015 The Alliance Trust CEO will step down to lead the struggling investment firm’s asset management division. Katherine Garrett-Cox will have to meet tough performance targets, or lose her mandate. Activist Elliott wanted more, but her probation is still a coup.
Bayer weakens itself via mistimed plastics IPO 1 Oct 2015 The German drug giant has slashed the size of its plastics arm’s listing by 40 pct and cut the price by a quarter, blaming China and VW woes. As the proceeds will be used to lower its own debt, its balance sheet will be weaker than it could have been. Bayer should have waited.
Commerzbank ought to consider merging with HVB 1 Oct 2015 The German lender makes poor returns, while its domestic rival’s Italian parent UniCredit could do with more capital. Putting Commerz and HVB together, ideally in an all-share merger, could help. It could also help Germany achieve a speedy exit for its Commerz stake.
Emerging market debtor crisis likely and needless 1 Oct 2015 An IMF study shows that emerging market borrowers have taken full advantage of stimulative post-crisis monetary policy. Higher rates are set to bring more defaults and a liquidity squeeze. Such woes could be avoided easily, if companies and investors turned away from debt to equity.
Darty may squeeze more from French suitor 1 Oct 2015 The electricals retailer is mulling a merger with French rival Fnac. Darty would get 45 pct of the merged group, ease its strained balance sheet and enjoy some cost savings. Even though 14 pct shareholder Knight Vinke supports the plan, there’s room for improvement on price.
New ANZ boss stuck in strategic mid-ocean 1 Oct 2015 Mike Smith is leaving as CEO of the $55 bln Australian lender after eight years. Beefing up in Asia has proved less lucrative than he hoped. Yet a slowing home economy and tightening regulation mean successor Shayne Elliott may have to stay centered somewhere in between.