Coronavirus

Capital Calls: Grab, Gaming, SocGen, Stellantis

3 August 2021

Concise views on global finance: The Southeast Asian super-app delivers some of the goods; Tencent shares tank after Chinese state-media criticism; the French lender’s investment bank overhauls goals; the carmaker hikes operating margin targets to a chunky 10%.

Sanofi M&A punt soothes France’s Covid-19 shame

3 August 2021READY SOON

The $131 bln drugmaker bought U.S-listed Translate Bio for $3 bln. CEO Paul Hudson gets a leg up in hot mRNA technology, which trounced the French group’s traditional vaccines during the pandemic. Shareholder returns look distant, but the cost of standing still may be higher.

Capital Calls: Aussie oil deal, Fund services M&A

2 August 2021

Concise views on global finance: Santos’ improved and agreed offer for Oil Search comes at a discount to its rejected first attempt; Sanne’s dealmaking poker face looks set to be vindicated.

Capital Calls: China, Disney, Banks, P&G, Fintech

30 July 2021

Concise views on global finance: The SEC wants more disclosures on IPO risks related to Beijing regulators; plus Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit, EU stress tests, consumer prices, and Qatar’s investment in an African fintech.

Capital Calls: U.S. GDP

29 July 2021

Concise views on global finance: Supply chain woes are tripping up solid U.S. economic growth. GDP grew 6.5% in the second quarter, a big miss from estimates of 8.5%.

Capital Calls: Bank mergers, GlaxoSmithKline

28 July 2021

Concise views on global finance: U.S. lender Citizens helps make the case for consolidation with its $3.5 billion acquisition of New Jersey-based Investors Bancorp. A pandemic drug bounty may help the UK pharma group’s CEO Emma Walmsley see off activist Elliott.

IMF skims over non-viral risks to global economy

27 July 2021

The emergence of new highly infectious Covid-19 variants could wipe about $4.5 trln off global GDP by 2025, the international lender warned. Its economic update pays less attention to policy missteps, market ructions, or more bankruptcies. Yet these also pose a threat to growth.

Capital Calls: Duolingo IPO valuation

26 July 2021

Concise views on global finance: The language learning app has increased its price by almost 20%.

Capital Calls: Volvo, Moderna, Mediobanca

21 July 2021

Concise views on global finance: The Swedish automaker boosts its appeal ahead of a possible IPO by buying out its Chinese joint venture partner; joining the S&P 500 will cut both ways for the vaccine maker; another Italian tycoon ups his stake in the Italian investment bank.

UK healthcare M&A revolt leaves sickly prognosis

20 July 2021

Investors in hospital operator Spire blocked a $1.4 bln takeover by an Australian rival, in the latest sign of pushback to takeovers. Yet reaching a similar value on its own looks tricky given lingering virus effects. Tensions with rebel shareholders are an added complication.

Capital Calls: BBQGuys go easy on the hot sauce

20 July 2021

Concise views on global finance: An e-commerce company for grill connoisseurs is going public via a blank-check company with a valuation that befits its side-dish status.

UK virus cost-benefit discounts human psychology

19 July 2021

Britain lifted Covid-19 restrictions, diverging from states like Israel. On the face of it, the financial benefits of reopening outweigh the ongoing costs from living with the virus. But as with previous false dawns, if consumers remain fearful the recovery won’t motor.

Zoom kicks off expensive call centre M&A contest

19 July 2021

The videoconferencing star will pay $14.7 bln for software group Five9. Diversifying makes sense as economies reopen, but a thin 13% premium may invite counterbids, or prod rivals like Microsoft to partner up too. Rich prices and fuzzy synergies promise an uncertain payoff.

Europe’s Zoom finds home-working boom has downside

8 July 2021

TeamViewer lost $1 bln of market value after it said customers who panic-bought last year are now paying less. The remote-software group’s shares have retraced to pre-Covid levels. The whole episode distracted from its real goal: connecting machines, rather than people.

Chancellor: Paying the piper for pandemic recovery

2 July 2021

The war on Covid-19 proved remarkably expensive. The U.S. federal deficit ran to $3.4 trillion last year. As the crisis eases, policymakers are thinking about how to foot the bill. Past wars have brought forth new taxes. Consider some fresh sources for raising government revenue.

Capital Calls: It sure feels good to be a banker

1 July 2021

Concise views on global finance: Global deals in the first half of the year broke all records.

Vaccine passports are a patchy travel fix

1 July 2021

European Union passes went live on Thursday. But even within the bloc there are quibbles over standards and risks from viral variants. At a global level, rifts are amplified. Even with a central authority and consensus on approved jabs, governments can impose their own curbs.

The Exchange: Niall Ferguson on human error

29 June 2021

The historian joins Pete Sweeney to discuss his latest book on disasters, natural and man-made, and why so many governments got Covid-19 so wrong. They debate which political model looked best after the pandemic and whether historians can make a difference at times like these.

Why 2021 is a sweet spot for economic policymakers

29 June 2021

Economies are rebounding, low interest rates mean debt service costs are at historical troughs, and finance ministers and central bankers are pulling in the same direction. But “Pandexit”, as a new BIS report calls it, will make officials’ jobs harder again after this year.

Getlink’s Brexit blues may have happier M&A ending

25 June 2021

The $9 bln Channel Tunnel operator has been hit by travel curbs and reduced UK-France trade. Shares a fifth below pre-Covid peaks don’t reflect recovering traffic flows or duty-free sales. A decades-long concession increases the appeal to yield-hungry infrastructure funds.