Telecommunications

Chinese investors can soothe Xiaomi’s U.S. pains

15 January 2021

Investors wiped out $10 bln in market value from the Hong Kong-listed phone maker on its addition to a U.S. blacklist of firms that Americans cannot own. Yet others like China Mobile have seen local buyers piling in, offsetting the selloff. Xiaomi can expect similar.

Qualcomm’s Nuvia deal has kicker for next cycle

13 January 2021

The $176 bln chipmaker’s stock has risen 150% since rebuffing Broadcom’s offer in 2018. In that time, it fended off Apple and antitrust concerns. The $1.4 bln processor company fortifies Qualcomm’s business and gives it more control when familiar challenges come around again.

U.S. intruder cranks up European phone mast party

13 January 2021

American Tower is paying 7.7 bln euros for Telefonica’s 31,000 sites in Europe and Latin America. The rich price tag makes the Spanish firm a clear winner. By creating a new rival to leader Cellnex, the deal may also help peers like Orange or Deutsche Telekom sell their assets.

5G will zoom from myth to mass-market reality

23 December 2020

The mobile technology is much debated and little used. But falling prices mean most handsets sold in 2021 will work on new networks. Post-pandemic consumers may happily pay for extra reliability and speedier downloads. Commercial uses remain vague, but phone envy will kick in.

Vodafone finds better German M&A pain threshold

22 December 2020

Seven years after its Kabel Deutschland deal, the UK telco is paying $2.6 bln to buy out minorities like Elliott. That’s better than the 18 years taken to settle a similar saga with Mannesmann. But as with other “domination agreements”, holdouts are unlikely to have done badly.

Drahi’s hedge fund spat ends in acceptable defeat

16 December 2020

The telecoms mogul raised his lowball offer to buy out shareholders in his group Altice to 6.4 bln euros. That has won support from activists including Elliott, avoiding a legal tussle. Still, a final valuation below some peers suggests the gambit has partially succeeded.

Corona Capital: Vaccines

11 December 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: U.S. regulators prep to rubber-stamp the approval of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca will partner with Russia and its Sputnik V jab in a possible combination that could ease jitters.

Chinese Icarus escapes Ingram Micro unsinged

10 December 2020

HNA aggressively acquired overseas assets between 2015 and 2017, including hotels and even a stake in Deutsche Bank. The $7 bln purchase of the U.S. electronics distributor epitomized the binge, now being unwound. A sale at a higher price shows stable businesses retain value.

Cellnex M&A machine scales top of valuation tower

7 December 2020

After two years of frenetic dealmaking, the telecom-mast firm’s market value has hit 25 bln euros. With cash flow from existing contracts accounting for maybe 90% of that worth, it’s getting little credit for future M&A. As rivals belatedly muscle in, that may be just as well.

Corona Capital: Chevron, Boeing, OPEC, Orange

3 December 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Chevron cuts spending, prudently; Boeing orders are a solid step; OPEC makes up its mind; and Orange’s Belgian deal has some juice.

BuzzFeed draws Verizon exit map for dying brands

19 November 2020

The digital media firm is merging with once-hot HuffPost, and getting cash from the latter’s telecom-giant owner in the process. The deal is tiny for Verizon, which ends up with a minority stake in BuzzFeed. Yet it could be a template for a bigger clear-out of Yahoo and AOL.

Gatecrashers join Europe’s telecom tower M&A bash

17 November 2020

Vodafone’s mobile mast unit might be worth 14 bln euros when it lists. Telefonica, Orange and Deutsche Telekom are carving out their businesses. With half of Europe’s 700,000 towers still potentially up for grabs, acquisitive Spanish operator Cellnex faces some stiff competition.

Huawei plays its own muddled M&A game

17 November 2020

The Chinese telecom titan is offloading its budget smartphone brand Honor to save it from American sanctions. Like the forced sale of TikTok, the deal has eyebrow-raising aspects. There’s also no guarantee the buyer – a group of dealers and agents – will dodge U.S. regulators.

CK Hutchison nails its colours to the Cellnex mast

12 November 2020

The Spanish phone tower juggernaut is hoovering up 24,600 sites from Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s group. The 10 bln euro price is steep. But UK and Italian network overlaps should mean savings. Partial payment in Cellnex shares also gives Hutch a taste of any valuation boost.

Corona Capital: Walt Disney

12 November 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Walt Disney is light-years ahead on projections for its streaming business.

Nokia makes a meal of its Huawei free lunch

29 October 2020

The $19 bln telecom giant’s shares slumped after it slashed operating margins. New boss Pekka Lundmark is right to beef up investment to improve its 5G offering as China’s Huawei battles U.S. hostility. But right now Nokia is losing out on new business rather than snapping it up.

Corona Capital: Utah Jazz, Comcast, Kraft

29 October 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Utah Jazz’s owners sign off with a respectable return; Comcast shoots the light out on broadband; and Kraft rides the stay-at-home wave.

Samsung chairman bequeaths a tainted empire

25 October 2020

Lee Kun-hee, who transformed a noodle business into a smartphone and chipmaking colossus, has died at 78. The second-generation leader's mark on Korea Inc will endure, as do scandals that follow the family. Their challenge is to clean up the messy parts of his $355 bln legacy.

Corona Capital: Quibi

22 October 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Video streaming company Quibi’s failure is in spite of – not because of – the Covid-19 pandemic.

Corona Capital: U.S. tests, UK loans, Man U groans

21 October 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Abbott Laboratories has a bumper third quarter; UK banks look at a workaround for their Covid-19 loan problem; and Manchester United reveals a predictably ropey set of annual results.