Viewsroom: Disastrous debate, Italian soccer deal 1 Oct 2020 The first of the U.S. presidential debates was shambolic, with almost no substance on economic policy for investors or markets to sink their teeth into. On a lighter front, though, Italy’s Serie A soccer league has a chance to regain its glory. Breakingviews columnists discuss.
Corona Capital: Covid-19 tests, Bed Bath & Beyond 1 Oct 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Diagnostic company Quidel predicts a quarterly earnings bonanza; meanwhile the pandemic turns a struggling retailer into a winner, at least temporarily.
UK plc puts its money where Rolls-Royce’s mouth is 1 Oct 2020 Boris Johnson’s government is backstopping the struggling jet-engine maker with nearly 1 bln pounds in loan guarantees. Yet the support hinges on shareholders coughing up double that. It’s a reasonable way to prop up a vital British business while minimising taxpayers’ exposure.
Bayer’s dismal M&A harvest boosts breakup pressure 1 Oct 2020 The German drugs-to-seeds company’s shares collapsed after it said earnings will fall next year. On top of legal woes from the Monsanto acquisition, the crop science business has been hit by the virus, and tough competition. The case for separating its sickly units is growing.
Preferred wheels of nouveau riche worth a fortune 1 Oct 2020 Volkswagen is mulling a sale of Lamborghini, the beloved marque of crypto-traders and youthful sheikhs, Reuters reports. It might fetch $8 bln – a fat return on the reported $100 mln VW paid in 1998. CEO Herbert Diess’s battery-car focus makes disposing gas guzzlers an easy call.
Rare creature spotted in Finland: merger of equals 1 Oct 2020 Industrial groups Konecranes and Cargotec are crunching together. Shareholders of each will own half of the new 4 bln euro entity, equally feast on 100 mln euros in annual cost savings, and split the board evenly. Jointly picking the CEO makes for an unusually balanced alliance.