Bolloré nears rare draw in messy Italian campaign 29 Nov 2019 Vivendi is to sell 20% of Mediaset, part of a broad truce with the Berlusconi-controlled broadcaster. The deal ends a wasteful legal row with little financial damage for Vivendi’s top investor Vincent Bolloré. Yet his larger Telecom Italia investment is still deep under water.
Ocado does enough to keep investors believing 29 Nov 2019 The 9 billion pound UK online retailer has signed an e-commerce deal with Japan’s Aeon. Ocado is loss-making, and fees are far-off. But like any tech player, its pitch is more about reassuring investors that a punchy valuation is underpinned by growing demand for its know-how.
South Africa heads for year of living dangerously 29 Nov 2019 Surging debt payments are squeezing public spending. President Cyril Ramaphosa will try to shrink bloated state firms like power utility Eskom, triggering ugly showdowns with unions that may hit the economy. Failure to face them down would douse reform hopes and hurt even more.
Review: India can reimagine tech and jobs, again 29 Nov 2019 Tata shook up the way people and technology work. Now artificial intelligence can help create employment, the Indian group’s Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran argues in “Bridgital Nation”. It’s a refreshingly contrarian view on the problem, even if many questions go unanswered.
Packaging sale can cure AB InBev’s hangover faster 28 Nov 2019 The $133 billion brewer’s U.S. bottle and can production unit is worth up to $6 bln. A sale of even a minority stake can bring net debt below 2 times EBITDA a year earlier in 2022. Soothing investor fears over indebtedness is worth having to rely on another company for vessels.
Action speaks louder than words on ESG issues 28 Nov 2019 Big index funds justify holding stocks with poor environmental, social and governance profiles by pledging to engage with their bosses. New research suggests this isn’t working. While there’s merit in naming and shaming, pension funds voting with their feet is more effective.
Viewsroom: Britain’s Brexit election 28 Nov 2019 The country’s two main political parties are slugging it out over spending pledges before the Dec. 12 vote. But the campaign is also about how soon the UK will leave the European Union and the terms on which it will trade with its nearest neighbours.
Telefonica’s self-activism is half a turnaround 28 Nov 2019 The Spanish phone firm is trying to revive its flagging fortunes before somebody else makes it. Carving out the sprawling and sluggish Latin American operations makes sense, if it leads to a sale. A real activist would demand more clarity on disposals, growth forecasts and costs.
UK watchdog gives bad finance a belated growl 28 Nov 2019 Britain’s financial regulator will ban the marketing of risky so-called minibonds to unsophisticated investors. The clampdown makes sense, but comes late, and may still leave loopholes. It highlights the limits of the FCA’s power, as well as the softness of its bark.
Credit card IPO shows good side of Indian banks 28 Nov 2019 A $1.3 bln float will let SBI Cards join the country’s most highly valued financial institutions and give buyout firm Carlyle a partial exit. Despite raging financial fires, the State Bank of India unit’s 36% return on equity demonstrates the power of well-run state companies.
U.S.-China fault line runs right through Hong Kong 28 Nov 2019 President Donald Trump grudgingly signed a law effectively backing the city’s anti-government protesters. He tried to soften the blow for Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Bipartisan U.S. support, though, shows antagonism will outlast precarious trade talks – or a change of leader.
Hardware glitch exposes Xiaomi’s missing software 28 Nov 2019 Handset sales at the Chinese group slumped 8% from a year earlier, to $5 bln, due to shrinking demand at home. Growth in internet services has also stalled. Absent a turnaround led by 5G devices, investors deserve a clearer idea of where Xiaomi's "new species" model is headed.
Who buys Bloomberg, the company, if the man wins? 27 Nov 2019 The $60 bln financial data firm’s founder Mike Bloomberg is running for president as a billionaire antidote to Donald Trump. Selling out would cleanly remove a giant conflict of interest. An LBO or purchase by Microsoft, IBM or an exchange like CME are a few potential options.
Nigeria’s closed border makes case for free trade 27 Nov 2019 President Muhammadu Buhari has shut the land frontiers of the continent’s largest economy to stop food smuggling. Drastic protectionism undercuts the pan-African commerce deal he signed this year. The damage inflicted on the economy will underscore the benefits of open markets.
Man City adds scrappy player to financial roster 27 Nov 2019 Silver Lake is buying about 10% of the Premier League club's owner, valuing the global soccer conglomerate at an eye-popping $4.8 bln. Victory on the pitch won’t be enough to satisfy the buyout shop’s investment goals. That may take winning in streaming, e-sports and even China.
Natixis does more of the wrong type of innovation 27 Nov 2019 The Paris-based lender has taken a lead in lowering risk-weights to spur green lending. That’s diverted attention from past trading goofs. The suspension of a senior trader on procedural grounds will not help the regulator see it as a solver rather than a creator of problems.
Bankers’ pensions are a sideshow in CEO pay row 27 Nov 2019 Lloyds may slash Antonio Horta-Osorio’s retirement allowance to 15% of base salary, from 46% previously. As with Standard Chartered’s Bill Winters, a cut was overdue. Still, bank bosses’ pay lags that of housebuilders and oil majors. Investors’ energies are better focused there.
Alibaba listing opens new front in Tencent rivalry 27 Nov 2019 Hong Kong investors can own both Chinese tech giants after the e-commerce firm’s $11 bln local offering. If regulators permit, the pair will soon be fighting over mainland shareholders, as well as digital payments and cloud computing. Tencent’s scarcity value has been downgraded.
Hadas: GDP is a measure ready for retirement 27 Nov 2019 The fuss over China’s revised growth statistics points to peak uselessness of the 85-year old Gross Domestic Product. Too many countries mess with a number which gives slow, blurry readings of the economic pulse, especially for megacities. The future is “now-casting”, and more.
Uber love-hate cycle becoming tech’s new norm 26 Nov 2019 Success has brought the ride-hailing app loyal customers, but also bitter enemies. Car-sharing startup Turo, which has attracted the ire of U.S. auto rental firm Enterprise, shows it’s a problem for other disruptors too. Turo has a good case, but that’s not always enough.
Colony Capital is easy target even minus politics 26 Nov 2019 Activist investor Blackwells Capital wants Tom Barrack, the real-estate veteran and backer of Donald Trump, ousted as the asset manager’s CEO. Barrack has probably been distracted. But lousy returns on Colony’s stock and poor governance are enough to justify a shareholder revolt.
Guest view: Europe beating U.S. in antitrust race 26 Nov 2019 American regulators are getting ready to put big tech companies through their paces. But it’s Europe that has been keeping big companies in check for years – and other countries are starting to look to the EU for leadership. A new study shows the U.S. is falling badly behind.
French 5G auction gives telcos a measured thwack 26 Nov 2019 Paris’s sale of spectrum for superfast networks will cost the likes of Altice and Orange over 2 bln euros. But all four telcos get a decent slice of bandwidth, and will pay less than in Germany or Italy. With the sector bruised by price wars, too much greed would have backfired.
Merger Monday is cold comfort in longer M&A slump 26 Nov 2019 Deals from LVMH, Novartis, Charles Schwab and peers added up to an impressive-looking $70 bln. Yet 2019 transactions volumes are lower than last year, despite record stock markets, and M&A valuations are falling. Trade wars and growth fears have to ease for a sustained pickup.
Aramco IPO could disappoint Saudi on a new front 26 Nov 2019 The oil giant has takers for most of its $25 bln offer. Yet its 1.5% listing is too small to give the local bourse a big bump up in MSCI’s key emerging-markets index. The gap between the 5% listing originally touted equates to tens of billions of dollars of foreign money inflows.
Canada’s Aussie gas station bid needs more fuel 26 Nov 2019 Quebec-based Couche-Tard has offered $7.3 bln including debt for Caltex to expand its filling station empire Down Under. At more than 9 times EBITDA the price looks good, while rival bidders are scarce. A mooted real estate IPO is Caltex’s best hope to squeeze out more value.
Banks Down Under have further depths to plumb 26 Nov 2019 Westpac is parting ways with both its chairman and CEO, days after a money-laundering scandal erupted. The $58 bln Aussie lender becomes the latest of the Big Four to replace its top brass. Persistent rot suggests investors may be underestimating the cost of the cleanup.
Japan is surprise bright spot for India’s Paytm 26 Nov 2019 The $16 bln payments giant is thriving in a similarly cash-addicted nation. Flush with cash raised from Ant Financial and others, it could get an extra Tokyo boost as SoftBank leads a rejig with local app Line. Like its startup peers, Paytm may find foreign shores lucrative.
The Exchange: Kill your terminal 26 Nov 2019 Traders resent expensive tools like Bloomberg and Eikon, but they need them to chat. Goldman-backed Symphony, at $20 a month, wants to break in. CEO David Gurle talks about the challenges of compliance, his deal with China’s Tencent, and the future of finance software.
Mexico slowdown puts president in fiscal bind 25 Nov 2019 Lopez Obrador wants to increase welfare spending without sacrificing budget targets. That’s now unlikely after a recent recession and probable slow growth in 2020. But avoiding a budget deficit could put him at odds with the populism he espouses, and which brought him to power.