Capital Calls: Beyond Meat’s faux chicken 5 Jan 2021 Concise views on global finance: The plant-based meat company’s shares jumped 5% on news KFC will offer its product. The extra value assumes benefits beyond selling buckets of substitute fried chicken.
The Aussies are coming! The Aussies are coming! 5 Jan 2022 Two pension fund managers Down Under are buying a New Zealand hospital chain for $500 mln. It’s a small sign of things to come. As the country’s $2.4 trln superannuation sector grows, consolidates and invests more directly, it will sail beyond the Tasman Sea for takeover targets.
China Mobile punches up direct-listing numbers 5 Jan 2022 A year after getting run out of New York, the telecom titan sold $8 bln of equity in Shanghai while initiating a $13 bln stock buyback in Hong Kong. Deploying its bloated cash pile is overdue, but such contortions also support the idea of listing shares without raising capital.
Fanatics takes Topps at rock bottom 4 Jan 2022 The flashy new winner in U.S. collectibles is buying its old-school rival’s unit. It comes months after Fanatics effectively busted Topps’ deal to merge with a SPAC by grabbing the official American baseball-card business from 2026. Now Fanatics is sweeping up its victim, too.
SPAC deal hiccups are rarer than they ought to be 4 Jan 2022 EToro, an Israeli rival to retail trading platform Robinhood, just cut its worth by over 15% in a deal with a blank-check company. Stretched valuations suggest there should be more rejigs like this in SPAC world. But sponsors have powerful incentives to forge ahead regardless.
TPG reads the room with $9.5 bln IPO 4 Jan 2022 The buyout firm founded by David Bonderman and Jim Coulter is aiming for a valuation only a whisker richer than peers Apollo and Carlyle, and far below giants Blackstone and KKR. Even with TPG’s trendy ESG stylings, restraint is wise. Investor goodwill matters more than new cash.
Tencent’s Sea rejig keeps most people happy 4 Jan 2022 The Chinese tech behemoth is selling part of its stake in its $120 bln Singaporean peer. Sea also plans a revamp of its supervoting shares so that founder Forrest Li retains control. Li, Tencent and even Beijing can cheer. Minority investors have the least reason to be enthused.
Microsoft and Satya Nadella to be tech standouts 4 Jan 2022 The $2.5 trln software giant has outpaced most Silicon Valley peers over several years. A slowdown might seem inevitable. But the company’s CEO since 2014 is poised to deliver again. That could make him the most successful second-generation tech boss ever in market value terms.
Financial products we’d rather not see in 2022 4 Jan 2022 Breakingviews is readying a new metaverse-based buy-now-pay-later digital-asset trading platform. Here are a few of the shiny new opportunities that could pop up in the coming year, from a melding of SPACs with NFTs to a new crypto-churn account.
Africa’s lofty data-centre prices have solid roots 4 Jan 2022 After deals in Nigeria and Kenya, $50 bln U.S. operator Digital Realty is buying most of South African rival Teraco. The $3.5 bln price tag is eye-catching given the risky location. But the continent’s growing population and rising data demand make the long-term numbers add up.
The Exchange: Riding the high-tech fitness boom 4 Jan 2022 Signa Sports United is a network of web shops and fulfilment systems for cycling, team sports and outdoor kit. Its CEO Stephan Zoll speaks to Dasha Afanasieva about going public through a Ron Burkle-backed SPAC, and how punters are spending big on sophisticated bikes and rackets.
Capital Calls: BlackBerry’s demise is a warning 4 Jan 2021 Concise views on global finance: Life support ends on Tuesday for the once ubiquitous phone's operating system. When cult gadgets lose their edge to devices that do much more, the descent can be inexorable.
Theranos jury draws a line between hype and lies 4 Jan 2022 Elizabeth Holmes, who touted non-existent capabilities for her now-defunct blood-testing startup, has been convicted of defrauding investors. If it stands, she faces jail time. Even in Silicon Valley, there's a limit to how flagrantly founders can fake it until they make it.
Nio’s European road trip will earn bragging rights 4 Jan 2022 The Chinese electric-car maker will win foreign fans with a marketing splurge. While it may take years to grab a big share of the $120 bln global market for battery-powered rides, even modest success abroad can put it ahead of rivals, boosting its sales and stock in 2022.
Apple’s $3 trillion valuation is ripe fruit 3 Jan 2022 Boss Tim Cook’s company could be bruised by risks like challenges to the app store and uncertainty in China. Yet the iPhone giant is not badly overvalued despite tripling in market cap in less than four years. It’s still tasty enough to evade the law of large numbers.
Tesla at $1 trln must do more than just deliver 3 Jan 2022 Elon Musk’s automaker added $100 bln of market value after serving customers with almost a million vehicles in 2021. The shares tend to pop when Tesla exceeds expectations. But maintaining its valuation will turn the focus onto more ambitious and difficult promises.
U.S. Bancorp sails haplessly into political storm 3 Jan 2022 The lender’s $8 bln purchase of MUFG Union Bank wouldn’t have troubled regulators unduly a year ago. But Democrats want to get tough, and the Republican chair of the FDIC has quit in protest. The politicization of Wall Street cops may slow M&A, but it may not help consumers much.
Disappearing students drag down U.S. higher ed 3 Jan 2022 What once seemed like a pandemic-driven downturn in college enrollment now looks like the start of a broader slump for all but the most elite schools. In 2022, the winners in the education business will be those attending to the Ivy League.
Great CEO Resignation invites the Great Agitation 3 Jan 2022 Bosses are retiring at a record clip, leaving companies scrambling for experienced leaders. At the same time, activists are revved up. As companies grapple with restless staff, supply chain challenges and economic uncertainty, investor cage rattlers will ramp up their campaigns.
Macau watchdogs will double down on digital yuan 3 Jan 2022 As casino operators prepare bids for new licenses in the $37 bln gambling hub, investors fear regulators will tighten their grip on Sands, Wynn and MGM. One clever way to start would be by forcing them to adopt China’s new virtual currency.
Wall Street will find ways to satisfy crypto envy 3 Jan 2022 Banks have mostly been shut out of the $2 trln digital asset craze. Many want in, but they will have to deal with murky regulation, a 24/7 market and patchy legal protections. A fight for profit and customers may also obscure other risks in a market untested by the mainstream.