Conglomerates

Adani’s financing safety-net rests on Indian banks

30 Jan 2023

Gautam Adani looks locked out of capital markets after a short-seller attack wiped $48 bln off the market value of his companies and caused bonds to tumble. Indian lenders have capacity to step in. What they do next will reveal the extent of state support for the tycoon.

Adani’s buy now, pay later fundraise could sting

26 Jan 2023

The world’s third-richest man Gautam Adani won anchor investor backing for a $2.4 bln share sale by his flagship company, including from Abu Dhabi’s wealth fund. Yet an Adani group selloff resulting from a short attack means terms that were meant to reward buyers could hurt them.

Short-seller attack raises Gautam Adani stakes

25 Jan 2023

Hindenburg reinforces how the $230 bln empire of the world’s third richest man is closely held, overvalued, and dismissed by Wall St. The upstart’s record of exposing U.S. fraud will make India sit up. But Adani is a giant target, and too many powerbrokers have a lot to lose.

Toshiba buyout heralds a big step back for Japan

20 Jan 2023

A deal for the $15 bln conglomerate is finally in sight. Foreign investors, who agitated for years, are likely to sell control back to local owners less inclined to shake up a national icon. Domestic policy shifts may also stifle local private equity before it can get rolling.

LVMH has smarter way to tackle succession dilemma

11 Jan 2023

Bernard Arnault picked his daughter Delphine to run the luxury giant’s Dior brand. If she proves her mettle, she may win the race among her siblings to eventually replace the 73-year-old tycoon. Naming one heir would help LVMH extend its success to the next generation.

Singapore looks boxed in with Li Ka-shing

9 Jan 2023

Co-investing with Hong Kong’s top tycoon once seemed like a no-brainer but sovereign fund Temasek may sell its 20% of CK Hutchison’s ports business. It owns a hefty slug of the company’s retail unit too. Geopolitics complicate any exit from these bold private investments.

GE healthcare spinoff gets unduly glum prognosis

4 Jan 2023

The industrial giant’s newly listed MRI-to-ultrasound division flatlined on its debut as a $25 bln listed company, trading 40% below what peer valuations would suggest it’s worth. A discount plagues parent GE too. The apple hasn’t yet fallen far enough from the tree.

Flu-remedy shortages sap investor misperceptions

21 Dec 2022

Drugmaker GSK spun off $35 bln Haleon in July with legal issues, high debt and low expectations, but strong demand for children’s Advil and other medicines are providing a salve. Similar splits in media, oil and tech have defied the odds, too. Contrarian bets can be therapeutic.

Vietnam’s Tesla faces daunting Nasdaq road test

7 Dec 2022

Electric-car maker VinFast has filed for a U.S. IPO. It is unprofitable, has only just gone all-in on battery power, and its dependency on parent Vingroup may be a turnoff, too. The young marque could make a case for a $5 bln valuation, but investors will kick the tires hard.

Mukesh Ambani will take credit where it’s due

6 Dec 2022

The Reliance boss is pushing into consumer lending and might trim his stake in the $220 bln conglomerate to fund the move. A star-banker hire, and huge customer base are pluses. Still, there’s good reason for the tycoon to play down his ambition in this booming corner of finance.

Buffett places classic chips in $4 bln Taiwan bet

15 Nov 2022

His Berkshire Hathaway now owns 1.2% of TSMC. The semiconductor giant’s stock has taken a beating this year, in part on fear China might invade Taiwan, its HQ. But the company has a near-monopoly in cutting-edge tech. Such traits have long appealed to the Oracle of Omaha.

Capital Calls: Twitter ads, Supervoting stock

11 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: Elon Musk is giving big brands an easy out – and a drain on advertising is harder for Twitter to overcome than Facebook; a dual-class share structure enabled the ousted CEO of TuSimple to team up with his co-founder and sack the board.

A decade after split, Mondelez eats Kraft’s lunch

19 Oct 2022

The two food companies were once housed under Kraft’s brand. After a breakup 10 years ago, Mondelez bought smaller food businesses and stayed the course. Kraft plunged into a $80 bln deal with Heinz, and spent years integrating. Returns show big mergers don’t always pay off.

Capital Calls: Netflix struts

18 Oct 2022

Concise views on global finance: The $109 bln streaming service reversed its subscriber losing streak and reminded rivals of its first-mover advantage.

Capital Calls: TSMC

13 Oct 2022

Concise views on global finance: The $324 bln Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing barely addressed questions regarding U.S. technology export controls on China during its earnings call.

Samsung stares at use-it-or-lose-it cash dilemma

7 Oct 2022

Cooling demand for chips and smartphones hit operating profit at the South Korean trade bellwether. It’s trying to catch up to rivals on multiple fronts, and a crashing won cuts the cheque it could write for overseas M&A. Deploying its $77 bln war chest is getting trickier.

Beware spins from Danaher’s well-oiled M&A machine

4 Oct 2022

The $200 bln conglomerate plans to separate yet another division, this time packaging and water filtration. Its acquisition nous generates strong returns, but recent castoffs have disappointed. Transferring the parent’s kaizen-based system to its progeny is proving difficult.

Capital Calls: Buffett’s Berkshire successor

4 Oct 2022

Concise views on global finance: The Omaha oracle owns $100 bln of stock in his conglomerate. His potential successor Greg Abel’s purchase of $68 mln of stock last week – after selling shares in a subsidiary for $870 mln in June – is too small a move toward Buffett’s standard.

Samsung climate inertia is by-product of Seoul’s

20 Sep 2022

The $274 bln conglomerate's 2050 net-zero goal underwhelms next to those set by Apple, Intel and others. Blame South Korea’s power-market monopoly and regressive renewable policies. With investors and customers demanding action, Samsung's corporate heft will be put to the test.

Mukesh Ambani pulls off one shade of overseas M&A

19 Sep 2022

The boss of $212 bln Reliance has so far failed in his hot pursuit of big flashy targets, the types of deals that tripped up his tycoon rivals a decade ago. Ambani’s quiet penchant for buying foreign technology to further his domestic clean energy goals looks much smarter anyway.