Capital Calls: Wall Street B-team arrives in D.C. 23 Sep 2021 Concise views on global finance: U.S. senators sent SPAC managers letters questioning incentives in blank-check vehicles.
Capital Calls: Forbes catches SPAC wave 27 Aug 2021 Concise views on global finance: The business brand and magazine has agreed to merge with a blank-check firm in a $630 million deal, upping its value since last time it changed hands.
Pork feud stirs up another giant China risk factor 26 Aug 2021 WH Group is embroiled in a nasty clash with the octogenarian chairman’s son, who alleged financial misdeeds after being ousted. Denials didn’t prevent $2 bln of lost market value. Succession quandaries in graying corporate China add one more item to a growing investor checklist.
Capital Calls: Salmon, M&S, Sydney airport, BHP 20 Aug 2021 Concise views on global finance: SalMar places $1.3 bln order for Norway Royal Salmon; the UK retailer’s improving fortunes may ward off predators; the Australian firm provides scant evidence for rejection of a $16 bln takeover bid; Santiago dings the Aussie miner over water use.
Capital Calls: Oatly, Sonos/Google 16 Aug 2021 Concise views on global finance: The Swedish oat milk producer’s decent results are only good in parts; Sonos gets a boost with a preliminary trade ruling that Google infringed its patents.
SPAC five-year plans fall short of Soviet accuracy 12 Aug 2021 AppHarvest, a greenhouse grower that completed a SPAC merger earlier this year, cut its 2021 sales forecast by nearly two-thirds. Revenue-free firms float on five-year projections, but a series of early stumbles show most long-term forecasts are practically a stab in the dark.
Chicken deal hatches from family-history egg 9 Aug 2021 The $4.5 bln sale of U.S. producer Sanderson Farms to Cargill and Continental Grain comes as U.S. chicken prices and the company’s own stock are both on a roll. Boss Joe Sanderson has no family interested in taking over. That doesn’t force a sale, but it’s one more nudge.
Capital Calls: Moderna, Qualcomm, US tax, ViacomCBS 5 Aug 2021 Concise views on global finance: The Covid-19 vaccine maker is looking past the pandemic; the telecoms group is offering $4.6 bln for Veoneer; U.S. Democrats are trying to close the carried-interest loophole; ViacomCBS is betting "South Park" can boost its streaming service.
What a bucket of chicken wings might tell the Fed 25 Jun 2021 U.S. poultry prices are on a tear. Wings are the priciest of all. There are reasons of supply, like feedstock inflation and labor shortages, and of demand. Some may be transitory, as the central bank hopes. But it’s more complex than just going back to pre-Covid times.
Syngenta plants listing seed in rich Chinese soil 23 Jun 2021 The Swiss agrochemical giant’s Beijing-backed owners are cultivating a Shanghai IPO with a possible $60 bln valuation. That’s punchy. But with local investors desperate for global exposure and farm-produce prices soaring, an ambitious price tag may be achievable.
CNH pays hefty price for driverless tractor ride 21 Jun 2021 The Italian-American agricultural equipment group is paying $2.1 bln for Raven Industries, which makes tech for autonomous farm machines. With few cost savings, the multiple of almost 40 times EBITDA looks rich. CNH will need a big sales boost to harvest a decent return.
Global Britain’s winners and losers take shape 16 Jun 2021 The UK’s first major post-Brexit trade deal grants zero-tariff and zero-quota access to Australian agricultural exporters, with little obvious in return. The pact may not hit Britain’s farming sector too hard. But it will form the template for future and bigger trade agreements.
Capital Calls: U.S. malls are a tale of two REITs 14 Jun 2021 Concise views on global finance: Shopping center operator Washington Prime filed for bankruptcy protection, but the outlook is a bit rosier for premium mall owners.
Capital Calls: Medline’s money machine 7 Jun 2021 Concise views on global finance: Blackstone and partners’ purchase of a majority stake in the $34 bln medical equipment maker could generate a big windfall for its founding family, without the clan members handing over the keys to their empire.
Capital Calls: Russia and US, Clothing IPOs, Food 3 Jun 2021 Concise views on global finance: The Kremlin tells its national state fund to get out of greenback-denominated assets; Rent the Runway thinks about going public; the FAO’s global food index hits its highest level in nearly a decade.
Nutty berry deal sows competitive seeds Down Under 28 May 2021 Battles like Blackstone’s for Crown, BetMakers’ for parts of Tabcorp and KKR’s for PEXA position Australia for a bumper year of contested M&A. Plentiful money and growth in buyers, bankers and bravado all play a role. A two-sided, 16-bid fruit-farm fight already portends excess.
Capital Calls: Airbus signals liftoff, Bill Gates 27 May 2021 Concise views on global finance: The global aircraft industrial complex got a boost after the European plane maker said it hopes to churn out more of its A320 short-haul workhorses per month than expected; Microsoft founder’s huge private investment vehicle under scrutiny.
Guest view: How companies can cut deforestation 20 May 2021 Yet more destruction of the Amazon last year raises climate-change fears. Former Brazil Finance Minister Joaquim Levy argues the key to ending this economically unsound treatment of rainforests lies in a mix of animal-tracing tech, integrated farming and better use of pastures.
UK-Aussie trade talks expose post-Brexit tangles 20 May 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to lower tariffs for goods from Down Under. A deal would bring only a little more growth, cost UK farm jobs, and set a benchmark for negotiations with others. It’s getting harder for Johnson to ignore the tradeoffs after leaving the EU.
EU’s new supply-chain stick delivers fair whack 16 Apr 2021 Germany and others plan to make firms liable for human rights and environmental abuses by suppliers. The financial gains derived from outsourcing justify the legal stretch. Scandal-wary giants like Nestlé already self-police their sourcing. Hefty fines are an added incentive.