SPACs can reverse listings decline with SEC’s help 7 Apr 2021 Blank-check vehicles are flawed, but they bring new businesses to public markets. If the hot first-quarter pace keeps up, SPACs could double the number of firms traded on U.S. exchanges in maybe four years. Even if activity slows, it’s a reason watchdogs may treat them gently.
Dimon’s mega-missive has more spin than substance 7 Apr 2021 The JPMorgan chief’s annual open letter offers trenchant views on capital rules, stress tests and the fintech threat. Then there’s the other 50-odd pages. Lengthy musings on leadership and racial justice say more about the cult of the CEO than the case for investing in the bank.
Applovin IPO is magic money chest for KKR 7 Apr 2021 The private equity giant invested $400 million in the mobile app and gaming company in 2018 and helped it expand. Now that the firm is seeking a valuation of up to $30 billion, the buyout baron is going to turn a tidy profit. Relations with Apple could be the only small hitch.
Investment behemoth IPO can fly without Reddit mob 7 Apr 2021 Asset management platform Allfunds will list in Amsterdam. Its model of channelling banks’ clients into funds means it will miss the amateur share trading frenzy. But its 1.2 trln euros of assets, profitability and growth record make a mooted 7 bln euro valuation attractive.
Guest view: Making the most of a new SDR ration 7 Apr 2021 As advanced economies emerge from the pandemic downturn more quickly than poorer ones, Kevin Gallagher and Jose Antonio Ocampo call for a new allocation of Special Drawing Rights and suggest ways that this IMF quasi-currency can be channelled to the countries in direst need.
Capital Calls: Trucking IPO 7 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Startup TuSimple will be listing shares via a traditional initial public offering.
SocGen fund sale is good enough to spur copycats 7 Apr 2021 The French bank is set to sell its passive investing unit to Amundi for 825 mln euros. While below some estimates of 1 bln euros, CEO Frederic Oudea’s price is adequate and he’s solving a strategic problem. Other banks with subscale fund arms, like UBS, may follow suit.
Covid-testing IPO is bet on long hypochondria 7 Apr 2021 German diagnostic tester Synlab is planning to float with a mooted $7 bln valuation. A receding pandemic may mean its 38% revenue growth in 2020 isn’t repeated. But the price reflects that, and consumers may well continue to obsess about other aspects of their health.
CVC’s Toshiba bid puts a breakup on the table 7 Apr 2021 The buyout barbarians at Tokyo’s gates may be offering more than $20 bln for the conglomerate. Toshiba has been struggling amid governance issues. But its assets could collectively be worth more than double CVC’s bid. Carving up the company could give shareholders a better deal.
Didi’s IPO could be as bumpy as Dida’s 7 Apr 2021 The Chinese ride-hailing firm is navigating toward public markets and a $100 bln valuation. Its smaller, similarly named rival's listing effort has stalled in Hong Kong after hitting regulatory, legal, and operational potholes. Didi will have to buckle up for a comparable ride.
Yellen global minimum tax is step too far in D.C. 6 Apr 2021 The U.S. Treasury chief is on board with an OECD initiative to end a race to the bottom on company taxes. It’s a logical goal for most big economies. But nailing a global pact is tough. It would also mean one more fight in Congress, where Joe Biden needs to pick his battles.
Robo-suit SPAC paints dystopian financial future 6 Apr 2021 Former First Boston banker Brian Finn is using other people’s money to buy Sarcos, a robot maker in which he’s already an investor. The conflict-laden deal was negotiated in mere weeks. If Sarcos’ bionic product succeeds it will be a deal to remember. Doubly so if it fails.
Vax surplus will be Uncle Sam’s hardest soft power 6 Apr 2021 America’s supply of Covid-19 jabs is burgeoning. The nation will soon have a surplus. The U.S. says it won’t trade these for political favors. But giving the glut away will still pay strategic and economic dividends. Vaccines are the opposite of a Trump-style zero-sum game.
The Exchange: What’s ahead for global art market? 6 Apr 2021 Sales fell some 22% to $50 bln last year, the biggest recession in the art market since the financial crisis. Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, discusses the impact of Covid-19, taxes and geopolitics, the rise in online sales and how NFTs are attracting nerds to art.
Chancellor: Hwang has company in Keynes and Graham 6 Apr 2021 Long before the failed Archegos manager was even born, Benjamin Graham, tutor to Warren Buffett, and J.M. Keynes were teaching the perils of speculating on stocks with oodles of debt. It’s worth remembering their stories as Credit Suisse, Nomura and others count their losses.
Mozambique’s gas loss could be green energy’s gain 6 Apr 2021 Islamic State attacks near future LNG sites have shattered the African state’s dreams of gas production. Plants planned by Total and Exxon Mobil constitute 8% of current world demand. If they are never built, a mid-decade price spike may hasten a global pivot to renewable power.
Newspaper bidding war puts ESG on the front page 6 Apr 2021 Beneficent billionaires led by hotelier Stewart Bainum offered $680 mln for Tribune, topping a bid from hedge fund Alden. The white knights want to help U.S. newspapers like the Baltimore Sun find civic-minded owners. Yet price will decide if social good beats capital returns.
Rosier IMF forecasts are riddled with inequalities 6 Apr 2021 The international lender upgraded its global growth forecasts for this year and next. But there is a gulf between haves and have-nots, across countries and within them. Some of the sound advice it is doling out to mitigate the problem may be hard for governments to implement.
Capital Calls: Bling deal 6 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Signet, the owner of jewelers Zales and Kay, is buying rental firm Rocksbox.
Credit Suisse’s spring clean has barely started 6 Apr 2021 Risk chief Lara Warner and investment bank boss Brian Chin are leaving after the Swiss bank unveiled a $4.7 bln hit from Archegos’ collapse. New board investigations should include deeper soul-searching over recent scandals. Restructuring and business disposals may be necessary.
Air France-KLM’s latest rescue tests marriage bond 6 Apr 2021 The European carrier is swapping a loan from the French state for hybrid equity and raising 1 bln euros from investors. The capital rejig should help it stay aloft if the recovery is delayed. But Paris’ increased stake will strain its already tricky relationship with the Dutch.
Capital Calls: Icahn’s new CEO, Google vs. Oracle 1 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Activist investor Carl Icahn takes on a GE veteran adept at building businesses up and breaking them down; why Google’s win in the U.S. Supreme Court ought to benefit startups too.
Infrastructure profit takes many diverging paths 5 Apr 2021 America’s decrepit hardware needs an upgrade, but not all will create the kind of rewards that lure capital providers. Water treatment is one example. President Biden’s first task will be to separate the publicly desirable from the privately investable. There’s room for both.
Wall St may get greater of two bank capital evils 5 Apr 2021 Financial firms just lost a regulatory perk that had allowed them to guzzle Treasuries with abandon. They may yet get a reprieve since looser leverage limits help the central bank too. But if the Fed tightens other capital rules instead, lenders could be even worse off.
Trains deal takes regulatory risk on a round trip 1 Apr 2021 Canadian Pacific can effectively close its $25 bln takeover of Kansas City Southern before watchdogs approve the deal, because of a quirk of U.S. rail regulation. Sellers’ shareholders get paid out. But the combined company shoulders regulatory risk in a more complicated way.
Review: Rwanda, Africa’s good-news story gone bad 1 Apr 2021 Under Paul Kagame, the Land of a Thousand Hills has gone from genocidal hellhole to wannabe African Singapore. In feting the ex-guerrilla president, donors and investors ignored autocracy and murder. Michela Wrong’s “Do Not Disturb” may force Davos to rethink its guest list.
UK’s Gupta merits net zero rescue in all senses 1 Apr 2021 The steel entrepreneur’s tottering industrial empire is a tricky candidate for a state bailout. But it could give the government a chance to decarbonise a major source of emissions. Done smartly, it may help Britain hit green goals and stabilise a perennially flaky sector.
Corporate America has its born-again moment 1 Apr 2021 Covid-19 trashed profitability in the second quarter last year. April 1 kicks off a new period that, for many U.S. companies, will look stellar by comparison. If 50%-plus year-on-year earnings growth comes to pass, it might even justify current valuations.
Cox: Europe really needs to get its shot together 1 Apr 2021 From Rome to Paris and beyond governments are imposing further travel and other restrictions, many for reasons that look more petty, political and punitive than sanitary. That’s energy better spent on the best way to exit the health and economic crisis: vaccinating people.
Benettons avoid crash at end of Italian road feud 1 Apr 2021 Atlantia, part-owned by the clothing-to-infrastructure clan, looks set to sell its motorway unit for 9 bln euros to a group led by state investor CDP. The sale should end a row with Rome and cut debt. For the new owners, rising investment means the returns will hardly be racy.