EMEA

Buyout barons risk choking on their stuck assets

13 Mar 2025

Blackstone, KKR, CVC and their ilk have $3 trln of companies to sell. The backlog is too big for public markets or corporate buyers to absorb. That implies a new era for the industry of longer holding periods, lower returns, and a further push to win individual investors' cash.

Germany’s fiscal pivot gives Europe rare hope

13 Mar 2025

The nation known for anti-deficit orthodoxy faces an economic slowdown and US antagonism. Likely Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s response: boost spending by more than 500 bln euros. In this week’s Viewsroom podcast Breakingviews columnists discuss the jolt to the whole continent.

US-EU tariffs are a skirmish in riskier trade war

12 Mar 2025

Brussels reacted to Washington’s steel levies with 26 bln euros of measures on bourbon and other exports. The next steps could see Europe thwacking Big Tech, and President Trump targeting member states. Their effect is less predictable, and likely to be more painful for Europe.

How the World Bank can defend itself from Trump

12 Mar 2025

The US president is reviewing Washington’s membership of the global lender. Donald Trump could in theory quit the bank or just block its policies. Yet there’s hope for boss Ajay Banga, who has scope to argue that his work is surprisingly compatible with an ‘America First’ agenda.

Market jitters hand IPO wannabes a thorny dilemma

11 Mar 2025

The S&P 500 fell 3% on Monday and the VIX volatility gauge surged. Float candidates like Klarna and CoreWeave will hope things calm down, but high valuations and trade wars suggest otherwise. If trouble persists, cash-hungry buyout barons and others may have to take the plunge.

VW’s Porsche woes make case for leadership shakeup

11 Mar 2025

The $62 bln German carmaker expects faster growth and a robust operating margin in 2025. CEO Oliver Blume is getting a boost from new models and cost cuts. Yet the sports car marque, which VW controls and Blume also runs, is stalling. It’s a good time to get a second driver.

EU firms’ barriers to Russia re-entry are sky-high

10 Mar 2025

Groups like Renault and Inditex quit the country after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Contracts make it theoretically feasible for them to return. But even if a peace deal proves possible, the risks are too great for European groups to go back.

Italy’s great Generali game enters fateful round

10 Mar 2025

Rival investors are battling for control of the $52 bln insurer. A hostile takeover of Mediobanca and a new law could shift the power balance. Rival lender UniCredit might also play a role. The risk is that Generali’s governance becomes even more complex, echoing its past.

‘Merz spurt’ will see Europe CEOs rethink US pivot

7 Mar 2025

Donald Trump’s win made bosses from London to Rome even keener on a piece of the pro-growth action. Yet the US president’s tariffs and a fiscal boost from Germany’s Friedrich Merz are turning the tide. Surging stocks in Europe imply its CEOs may find more opportunities at home.

EU telcos face a long road to tech sovereignty

7 Mar 2025

Telecoms bosses gathering in Barcelona for their annual shindig talked up the use of AI and a European answer to Elon Musk’s Starlink. But the former depends on Silicon Valley tools, and the latter is tiny in comparison. Securing growth while developing EU champions looks tricky.

ECB fails to get the memo on Europe’s emergency

6 Mar 2025

The European Central Bank cut its key rate to 2.5%, but now looks coy about future monetary loosening. Its fears of the inflationary impact of a tariff war and higher defence spending look overblown. And geopolitical uncertainty calls for firm guidance, not excessive caution.

European airline tailwinds cloud M&A glide path

6 Mar 2025

Lufthansa and Air France-KLM shares leapt after strong finishes to the year, closing the gap with bigger $20 bln rival IAG. Eventually, Europe’s market could slim down to a small group including these players. Scope for a stronger 2025 makes it less clear who will buy what.

Schroders makes first steps towards bigger shakeup

6 Mar 2025

The 6.5-bln-pound fund group pledged to cut costs and grow assets in areas like private equity. Bigger questions over its size, business mix and M&A will be left for another day. The plan at least means new CEO Richard Oldfield may be in a stronger position to confront them.

Germany ends fiscal self-harm with bazooka bang

5 Mar 2025

Chancellor-to-be Friedrich Merz will ask the state’s lame-duck parliament to OK a 500 bln euro infrastructure fund and to exempt most defence spending from stringent budget rules. Berlin’s fiscal hairshirt has long prevented growth-friendly policy. The shift looks permanent.

Europe will struggle to slip US economic chokehold

5 Mar 2025

The continent relies on its erstwhile ally for defence, but also for finance, technology and energy. With Donald Trump’s return, those tight links have turned into vulnerabilities. Severing them is hard to imagine. The best Europe can do for now is credibly threaten retaliation.

Austrians dodge Gulf squeeze in plastics megadeal

4 Mar 2025

OMV and ADNOC will merge two plastics units. The Vienna-based $14 bln group had a weak hand because of exposure to high-cost Europe and the fact that the UAE-based giant is a key shareholder. But CEO Alfred Stern emerged with big dividends, decent governance and dignity intact.

Europe has money but few weapons for Ukraine

4 Mar 2025

US President Donald Trump has paused his country’s military support for Ukraine. Europe has the means to make up for it and plans to spend an extra $340 bln a year on its defence. But Kyiv still needs American weapons, which may force Europe to buy directly from the US.

Abrdn finds its missing vowels but not value

4 Mar 2025

New CEO Jason Windsor is renaming the $4.2 bln fund group Aberdeen and pledging to boost profit. Both steps are welcome but come amidst tricky markets and growing competition from index funds. Small wonder he is getting little credit for yet another turnaround from shareholders.

Europe’s defence push provides cover for tax raid

3 Mar 2025

US hostility to its erstwhile European allies heightens the need for the continent to rearm. Extra spending increases pressure on already stretched finances. But leaders who gathered in London over the weekend have a consolation of sorts: the crisis is an excuse to raise taxes.

EU banks’ M&A secret weapon nears sell-by date

3 Mar 2025

The ‘Danish Compromise’ lets Europe’s lenders buy insurers while shielding the capital hit. Yet Italy’s battle over $15 bln Banco BPM suggests the tool can also be hard to deploy. If financial groups fear regulators could withdraw the wheeze, maybe it’s no longer much use.