If Credit Suisse loves its bankers, set them free 21 Oct 2022 The Swiss bank may bring outside investors into its dealmaking unit, to insulate it from parental turmoil. The business could be worth up to $6 bln, valued in line with boutique advisory shops. Yet the best way to hit such a price tag is for Credit Suisse to cut it loose.
Capital Calls: Philip Morris/Swedish Match 20 Oct 2022 Concise views on global finance: The Marlboro maker has raised its already pricey $16 bln offer for the Swedish seller of nicotine pouches.
Credit Suisse legal tab is wildcard for investors 17 Oct 2022 The bank settled an old mortgage case without having to set more money aside. But the bill for future litigation, up to $1.6 bln on its own estimates, will erode earnings. The risk for investors in a looming rights issue is that further nasties bog down the bank’s restructuring.
Westinghouse deal will overpower immediate fallout 12 Oct 2022 Brookfield Renewable and uranium miner Cameco are teaming up to buy the company for $7.9 bln. Servicing and decommissioning nuclear plants generates steady cash flow, but the market reaction was toxic. There’s plenty of upside in Eastern Europe and the energy transition, however.
Capital Calls: Peloton races tough economic cycle 6 Oct 2022 Concise views on global finance: The $2.9 bln fitness company is laying off staff for the fourth time this year in a turnaround bid for survival.
Mutual funds’ private bets could use more daylight 14 Sep 2022 The tech stock rout has done little to dent money managers like Fidelity or T. Rowe Price’s zeal for unlisted companies. In some cases, such holdings have performed better than public shares. Yet illiquid stocks bring fresh risks, and disclosure on how they are valued is patchy.
Capital Calls: SoftBank 14 Sep 2022 Concise views on global finance: The $62 bln conglomerate may be considering a third instantiation of its Vision Fund.
Capital Calls: Oil vs. ESG 13 Sep 2022 Concise views on global finance: The price of a barrel of Brent crude has fallen 30% since mid-summer, and over 10% in two weeks. If it stays below $100 a barrel, oil companies will start to become worse investments. That could help solve backlash to ESG investing.
Capital Calls: SPACs’ long shadows 12 Sep 2022 Concise views on global finance: While electric-vehicle startup Nikola is moving beyond its founder, both it and its SPAC-partner peers are mired in supply chain challenges, slipping deadlines and tumbling share price performance.
Capital Calls: UBS fintech U-turn, UK housebuilder 5 Sep 2022 Concise views on global finance: CEO Ralph Hamers cancels the $1.4 bln acquisition of robo-adviser Wealthfront; Countryside Partnerships accepts a 1.3 bln pound offer from UK rival Vistry just three months after rejecting a higher bid.
Intel makes chips look almost like infrastructure 23 Aug 2022 Brookfield is putting up half the cost of two $30 bln Arizona plants, at a rate somewhere between what Intel pays for equity and debt. Yet chips are riskier than traditional infrastructure, suggesting Intel is giving up more than its partner to make the deal work financially.
Cash buyers have whip hand in London office slump 17 Aug 2022 The value of the UK capital’s buildings could fall 12% in the next 18 months, Bank of America reckons. But private equity houses will struggle to swoop as high interest rates make debt-fuelled purchases uneconomic. Cash-rich pension funds will put a floor on price declines.
Capital Calls: Walmart whiplash 16 Aug 2022 Concise views on global finance: The U.S. mega-retailer revised its profit forecast yet again, just weeks after sounding the alarm.
Capital Calls: Tech bros give Allbirds the boot 9 Aug 2022 Concise views on global finance: The maker of popular nondescript sneakers with a purpose is getting tripped up on demand. Its stock price pounding may make it vulnerable to a takeover.
Banks’ private-credit fightback may underwhelm 4 Aug 2022 JPMorgan and Deutsche are trying new ways to fend off lenders like Ares, who are displacing them in funding buyouts. Holding onto loans for longer or launching funds mean lower returns and tough competition. Their best hope is that the booming $1.2 trln sector deflates by itself.
Capital Calls: Uber’s cash starts to flow 2 Aug 2022 Concise views on global finance: The $56 billion car-hailing service is growing rapidly and has started generating positive cash flow. It’s still overvalued, though.
Credit Suisse revamp risks being bad copy of UBS 27 Jul 2022 Like its rival in 2012, the $14 bln group is shrinking its trading businesses and cutting costs to focus on wealth management. Yet heavy losses and dicey markets will constrain new CEO Ulrich Koerner, who has never run an investment bank. A respectable valuation may take longer.
UBS’s growth dip cements discount to U.S. rivals 26 Jul 2022 Shares in Ralph Hamers’ $50 bln bank fell 6% after wealthy clients all but stopped investing new money in the second quarter. It’s a setback for his strategy, which rests on boosting revenue. Reversing the trend is key to earning a valuation multiple closer to Morgan Stanley’s.
Why is Tiger dodging family office-dom? 19 Jul 2022 Chase Coleman’s main fund has lost about 50% in the year to May. Often this would prompt others, who struggle to recoup losses, to return cash. But Tiger’s fee structure enables it to keep going. That’s a more transparent way of doing things as long as managers stick around.
ESG is more of a muddle than a fiddle 19 Jul 2022 Environmental, social and governance investing is under the spotlight. In this episode of The Exchange podcast, Bridgewater’s sustainable finance gurus Karen Karniol-Tambour and Carsten Stendevad explain how ESG’s main problem is a lack of clarity over its goals.