Air Transportation

Wall Street enlists Main Street for IPO advantage

29 Jun 2021

Clear Secure’s underwriters are allocating 1% of its offering to trading platform Robinhood. That tips bankers off if the airport security firm creates retail buzz. If so, it should enable them to leave less value on the table while also giving Robinhood traders a chance to play.

American Airlines pulls a Wall Street stupidity

21 Jun 2021

As U.S. air travel booms again, the carrier is cutting flights party due to labor shortages, something taxpayer bailouts were meant to prevent. As Merrill Lynch and other investment banks learned during previous crises, pulling the trigger too quickly on firing is a bad move.

Airport security fast-tracker jumps the IPO line

18 Jun 2021

Clear, the U.S. firm that allows people to cut security lines for $179 a year, wants to go public. With vaccine checks on the horizon and the U.S. government as a new client, it has a promising path to fly as a public company, so long as its valuation stays in the $2 bln range.

Capital Calls: JPMorgan, French SPAC, Jessica Alba

17 Jun 2021

Concise views on global finance: Jamie Dimon bulks up his nascent UK digital banking offer by buying Nutmeg; France boosts its lowly SPAC league-table position with two blank-cheque vehicles; the Hollywood star’s consumer packaged goods company Honest encounters growing pains.

Airbus sprints past Boeing in two-horse race

3 Jun 2021

The European plane-maker’s short-haul jet is flying off the shelves, helping Airbus close the revenue gap as Boeing’s 737 MAX woes drag on. Yet the U.S. giant’s valuation premium is as big as it has been. Airbus’s recent surge could last. It’s about time the market catches on.

Capital Calls: Airbus signals liftoff, Bill Gates

27 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The global aircraft industrial complex got a boost after the European plane maker said it hopes to churn out more of its A320 short-haul workhorses per month than expected; Microsoft founder’s huge private investment vehicle under scrutiny.

Belarus plays airspace poker with a weak hand

25 May 2021

Irate western powers have banned flights over the Russian ally’s territory after it forced a Ryanair jet to land. Engaging in “air piracy” is easier for countries that can afford to lose overflight fees or are too big to fly around. Neither is obviously the case for Belarus.

Capital Calls: AT&T’s bankers, Blackstone in Italy

17 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The U.S. telecom giant’s unwinding of its purchase of Time Warner is a gift for advisers on Wall Street; a court rules that the U.S. private equity firm’s 2013 purchase of Corriere della Sera’s HQ was valid.

Thruppence: Lessons from a few border crossings

19 Apr 2021

Lockdowns are easing in some countries as vaccination efforts pick up. But professionals eager to get back on the road still need to become quick studies on the fine print of pandemic-era international travel rules. Three itinerant Breakingviews columnists share their notes.

Air France-KLM’s latest rescue tests marriage bond

6 Apr 2021

The European carrier is swapping a loan from the French state for hybrid equity and raising 1 bln euros from investors. The capital rejig should help it stay aloft if the recovery is delayed. But Paris’ increased stake will strain its already tricky relationship with the Dutch.

Capital Calls: Elon Musk, LeBron James

1 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Endeavor, Ari Emanuel’s entertainment group, is hoping the Tesla boss’s stardust will help a second attempt at an IPO; the basketball star’s stake in the Red Sox is a foil to Steve Cohen’s Mets deal.

Air-taxi SPAC only partly defies financial gravity

30 Mar 2021

German flying-cab startup Lilium is getting a U.S. listing at a $2.4 bln enterprise value. Cutting commutes from Philadelphia to Manhattan may appeal to the richest 4%. But with a 2024 take-off and plenty of rivals, including chopper firm Blade, it will be hitting crowded skies.

Frontier gets lift from puffed-up airline stocks

23 Mar 2021

The budget air carrier may be worth around $4.5 billion in its IPO, putting its valuation slightly higher than big peers like American. That’s a warranted premium when taken in isolation. But airlines have higher valuations than before the pandemic. That tailwind will disappear.

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.

Capital Calls: New York, Allegro exit

17 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The Big Apple reigns in a new ranking of global cities, but the prize isn’t what it was; shareholders in Polish e-commerce group Allegro sell down early.

Capital Calls: Netflix, ECB, Glass Lewis, Zalando

16 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The streaming service’s password-sharing crackdown twists the knife; the central bank worries about identifying bad loans; the proxy adviser’s sale underscores its place on Wall Street; the online fashion giant’s bold targets.

Viewsroom: Greensill/Credit Suisse, GE, Diversity

11 Mar 2021

Big names in finance, like Credit Suisse and tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, are suffering collateral damage from the UK supply chain lender’s collapse. The sale of aircraft leasing brings GE closer to CEO Larry Culp’s light-bulb moment. And working from home risks a diversity disaster.

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.

GE’s aircraft deal is another long goodbye

10 Mar 2021

The conglomerate is merging its plane-leasing unit with Ireland’s AerCap. Boss Larry Culp will, for now, be stuck with just under half of a highly leveraged business. Investors in GE know that divestments can take years and that, in the meantime, they can't expect a clean break.

GE is getting tantalizingly close to take-off

8 Mar 2021

Merging the aircraft leasing unit with rival AerCap may not erase debt that weighs on the U.S. conglomerate. But it would leave a sleeker GE with more options to raise cash. Boss Larry Culp has to navigate politics, though. And like Baker Hughes, risks to execution loom large.