Capital Calls: WFH deals, Suez Canal, NorNickel 29 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Fintech firm Broadridge pays a full price for trading platform; with the waterway clear, all sides will be taking up positions for a legal battle royal; the Russian nickel producer cashes in on high copper prices.
Europe’s UK vaccine threat has risky logic 23 Mar 2021 Brussels may block shipments of Covid-19 jabs to Britain amid a spat with AstraZeneca. Its ultimate threat would be to limit supplies of other remedies too, such as Pfizer’s. Even if the worst outcome is avoided, the result will be less efficient supply chains and costlier drugs.
Capital Calls: Leon Black, Happiness index 22 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Apollo’s founder still has his imprint on the Museum of Modern Art and Dartmouth College; people are proving surprisingly resilient in the pandemic, a recent poll suggests.
Aramco’s next share offer is just as hard a sell 22 Mar 2021 The $1.9 trln Saudi oil giant’s annual results showed Covid-19 scars. If Riyadh sells more shares, Aramco’s low costs and spare capacity may be appealing to non-Saudi investors that largely sat out its 2019 IPO. But many environmental, social and governance red flags remain.
Office landlords can live with homeworking shock 19 Mar 2021 Firms like HSBC hope working from home will let them cut costs. Goldman Sachs thinks it is a fad. Yet even if employees spend more time at home, their needs and social distancing rules will limit how much space can be freed up. The slump in office property stocks looks overdone.
Cox: Global vax race is lesson in risk appetites 18 Mar 2021 The widening gap between the jabbed and the jab-nots, with the U.S., UK and Israel light years ahead of Europe and Canada, isn’t just about healthcare systems. It’s about culture, too. Some societies are just better at embracing innovation and putting faith in technology.
Viewsroom: The jabbed and jabbed nots, Jardine 18 Mar 2021 Vaccination programmes are running apace in the UK, U.S., Israel and other nations, but they have worryingly stalled in Europe. This reflects more than just differing health systems, Breakingviews columnists argue. Plus, more on the shakeup of a historic Hong Kong trading house.
Capital Calls: Airline IPO, Turkey’s central bank 18 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: U.S. regional air carrier Sun Country Airlines’ IPO pop is justified by positive cash flow; Turkey shows how emerging-market policymakers face trickier choices than their rich-world peers.
Corporate debt party will survive rate storm 17 Mar 2021 Rising government bond yields are dragging up companies’ borrowing costs. Yet the premium that investors demand to buy debt issued by firms is still relatively low. Central banks’ asset buying and the prospect of lockdowns lifting mean credit markets will avoid too big a tantrum.
The Exchange: Will home working outlive Covid-19? 16 Mar 2021 The pandemic has relocated many office workers to their studies and dining tables. Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom tells Dasha Afanasieva that many companies will continue working from home two days a week. But allowing too much flexibility could bring diversity risks.
Capital Calls: Elon Musk, AstraZeneca 15 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The electric-vehicle maker’s jocular new title of “Technoking of Tesla” tests the theory that deeds matter more than words; fears over the drugmaker’s vaccine risk further delaying the re-opening of Europe’s economy.
Caymans may provide shelter in buyout storm 15 Mar 2021 Lowball takeover bids from bosses at China Biologic and Sina are tempting investor lawsuits in the Caribbean islands. Such M&A valuation challenges understandably have petered out in Delaware. Minority shareholders in Chinese companies, however, could use some extra protections.
Biden’s vaccine pledge looks too modest 12 Mar 2021 The U.S. president wants to make shots available to all Americans by May 1 – but vaccine production rates and real-time data like air traveler numbers show things are moving quicker. Wall Street may also be underestimating how fast sectors from aviation to hotels will recover.
Hong Kong bankers size up office return risk 12 Mar 2021 A Covid-19 outbreak in a gym has forced HSBC, Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas to send staff home. It comes as the finance hub rolls out vaccinations and bank bosses elsewhere talk up the virtues of workplaces. Getting back to normal, whatever that looks like, will be a long slog.
Capital Calls: Digital art 11 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: A blockchain-protected work by Beeple sold for $69 million at Christie's.
Capital Calls: McKinsey, Celebrity SPACs 10 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: McKinsey’s new boss isn’t new enough; the SEC tells investors to be careful of celebrities bearing SPACs.
Guest view: Consider a debt for vaccines program 9 Mar 2021 Such plans may help reduce currency mismatches in jab distribution, reduce the need for “new money” and avoid overloading balance sheets with unsustainable pre-existing debt. Epidemiologist Cristina Valencia and banker William Rhodes argue for piloting the idea in Latin America.
The Exchange: World Bank President David Malpass 9 Mar 2021 The Covid-19 crisis has exposed the economic and other inequities between the world’s richest and poorest countries. The World Bank’s boss discusses these challenges, ranging from vaccination drives and debt relief to the existential threat of climate change, with Rob Cox.
Capital Calls: TV’s royal boost, Shared offices 9 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan is a boon for ViacomCBS’s streaming ambitions; IWG’s revamp depends on a workplace revolution.
U.S. stimulus is map for infrastructure bonanza 8 Mar 2021 Senate passage of $2 trln in economic aid offers hope for new roads and bridges. The slim Democratic majority used a parliamentary trick to bypass Republicans, which they can also apply to Biden’s pricier spending priority. Companies should brace to pay some of that bill.