Bayer’s rude health lays better path for breakup 11 Jan 2023 Activists including Jeff Ubben are piling into the $58 bln German seed and drug maker. Its cheap share price, thanks to the dire Monsanto deal, has for years dangled the promise of a lucrative carve-up. Improvements in the pharma unit and a CEO change make it more likely now.
Capital Calls: California flooding 11 Jan 2023 Concise views on global finance: Heavy rainfalls have revealed the cracks in California lawmakers’ disaster spending measures, that have helped to prepare for fires and earthquakes.
Capital Calls: Transatlantic chemicals deal 28 Nov 2022 Concise views on global finance: A potential acquisition of Univar by $10 bln German chemical distributor Brenntag makes sense, but investors may fear a bidding war.
Energy crisis gives beermakers a lasting hangover 26 Oct 2022 Heineken’s shares fell 10% after reporting weaker-than-expected sales. Inflation is eroding punters’ disposable income, making it harder for brewers to raise prices like in previous crises. Soaring costs for fuel and wheat, which bite next year, pose a further threat to margins.
Capital Calls: Food fight 23 Aug 2022 Concise views on global finance: Retailers like E-Mart are cutting food prices amid surging costs, risking a sector-wide race to the bottom.
Wine IPO is a very rich toast to affluent India 12 Aug 2022 The country’s largest producer Sula has plenty to cheer but more competition from Australia and sluggish growth are some reasons not to pop the cork at 86 times earnings. With a growing crowd of massively overpriced stocks targeting India’s wealthy, investors can be picky.
Global food crisis demands urgent Western response 25 Jul 2022 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed up food and energy costs around the globe. The most urgent problems are in poorer countries, write William Rhodes and Stuart Mackintosh. Rich nations offered insufficient help for Covid-19. International bodies can do better this time.
Russian grain deal gives food crisis a partial fix 22 Jul 2022 Moscow has agreed to lift a blockade on 20 mln tonnes of Ukrainian grain. That should reduce the scale of a Middle East food crisis, and ease prices which remain high versus 2021. Still, Russia could always renege on the new deal.
Guest view: Global hunger fight means no biofuel 6 Jun 2022 Food supplies have shifted rapidly from surplus to shortage. Sarasin’s Henry Boucher argues Western governments have a way to stop prices spiralling further. It entails prioritising food over fuel, and scrapping states’ biofuel mandates.
Explosives maker crosses its breakup wires 24 May 2022 Incitec Pivot unveiled plans to spin off its fertiliser arm. TNT rival Orica trades at a big premium, suggesting a split should lift the $5 bln market value. Unless CEO Jeanne Johns can allay investor fears about volatile agriculture markets, however, this demerger will be a dud.
Egypt’s hunger pangs are like 2011, but worse 19 May 2022 A decade ago the soaring cost of bread helped unseat Cairo’s long-term ruler, Hosni Mubarak. In 2022 food prices are rising faster, and Egypt’s population and debt are bigger. The more prices rise, the trickier the tradeoff between enraging financial and domestic constituencies.
India stands between world and food riots 16 May 2022 A ban on wheat exports is a messy but partial U-turn on India’s pledge to feed the world with its grains. The move protects consumers at home at the expense of farmers. Globally, it will exacerbate food security woes and shift the focus onto the country’s critical rice exports.
Capital Calls: Coinbase is conjoined to crypto 11 May 2022 Concise views on global finance: The exchange saw users and volumes fall, revenues slashed and lost over $400 mln in the first quarter. When cryptocurrencies slump, Coinbase has no choice but to follow.
Fertiliser makers face long wait for free lunch 11 Apr 2022 Soaring gas prices are making products of crop nutrient producers like Norway’s Yara and Austria’s Borealis unaffordable for farmers. Subsidising the companies might be the least bad way to avoid a food inflation crisis. Waiting for grains to fail will store up bigger problems.
Bayer has 29 bln reasons to say bye-bye to CEO 29 Mar 2022 Four years on, the 61 bln euro group’s Monsanto purchase has left it with cancer litigation and a clunky structure. Its current worth may be 32% less than the value of its bits, arguing for a breakup. That’s hard while boss Werner Baumann, the deal’s architect, is in place.
American pigs also need pandemic readiness 28 Mar 2022 African swine fever is in the western hemisphere for the first time in 40 years. Unlike, say, in China, U.S. mainland hog farmers and bacon lovers benefit from a zero-ASF reality for now. But far more than the $23 bln of annual economic output is at stake if the virus gets in.
Russian wheat squeeze sows seeds of global unrest 9 Mar 2022 Prices of the grain soared to record highs following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, a major producer. A previous spike in 2007 led to riots in Africa and Asia while pushing up subsidy costs. This time major importers like Egypt already have low reserves, spelling greater trouble.
Aussie conglomerate daringly bucks breakup trend 14 Feb 2022 As GE and J&J dismantle their empires, Wesfarmers is expanding its stationery-to-lithium sprawl by acquiring drugstores and maybe a veterinary service. Its Home Depot-like Bunnings chain helps the disparate parts equal the A$60 bln sum, but one bad deal risks debunking the model.
Climate-change money will flow freely to Plan B 24 Dec 2021 COP26’s so-so outcome makes damaging temperature rises more likely. At some point, optimal portfolios may require guns and canned food. Until then investors will lean towards shares in Syngenta, Veolia and other companies that aid adaptation to global warming not just mitigation.
Capital Calls: Couch-potato habits help Roblox 9 Nov 2021 Concise views on global finance: The video game app’s shares surged 36% on Tuesday after it said sales nearly doubled in the quarter.