Companies & Funds

Activist hitches long ride on Nissan’s turnaround

12 Nov 2024

Fund Effissimo bought a stake in the sickly Japanese carmaker, sending shares up 13%. The $9 bln marque already unveiled bold cost-cutting plans, and there is limited scope to push for more. It’s a risky bet CEO Makoto Uchida can pull it off amid an increasingly tough market.

Singapore’s banking giant DBS is coming of age

12 Nov 2024

The $90 bln Singapore lender will start returning capital to shareholders through share buybacks. Incoming CEO Tan Su Shan will retain sufficient firepower to pursue bold M&A, though changing US policy in its Asian backyard may merit a cautious turn.

Gulf IPO may be Delivery Hero’s only tasty morsel

11 Nov 2024

The Frankfurt-listed group is selling 15% of Talabat in Dubai. A potential $13 bln valuation would mean an arm with a third of its sales is worth more than Delivery Hero itself. Yet beyond the Gulf, a value-boosting breakup looks hard given the business overall makes a loss.

European airlines’ tough summer adds to M&A logic

11 Nov 2024

Carriers such as $8 bln Lufthansa and $2 bln Air France-KLM saw rising costs and competition on Eastern routes from Chinese rivals. The logical response for EU players is to look West instead. Bidding for Portugal’s state-owned TAP would drive much-needed consolidation.

Reality-TV president will co-produce media shakeup

8 Nov 2024

Spotify star Joe Rogan and newspaper baron Jeff Bezos offered glimpses into how the industry is evolving. Broadcasters are also up against fickle consumers inundated by pricey streaming choices. The business models and deals taking shape can now expect input from Donald Trump.

Wood Group saga is a masterclass in M&A self-harm

8 Nov 2024

Shares in the energy-services group were already miles below where suitors Apollo and Sidara had offered to buy. Now they’ve halved after Wood Group garbled a message about future losses. The likely upshot is shareholders accept a third offer – even lower than the first two.

Rubber meets road for divergent buyout-shop models

7 Nov 2024

Strong quarterly results and the US election lifted enthusiasm for Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR. After pursuing different paths to gather nearly $3 trln of combined assets, however, their opportunities and risks vary. Those leveraged to insurance are under fresh pressure.

Vaccine makers exposed to political pathogen

7 Nov 2024

President-elect Donald Trump wants Robert Kennedy to ‘run wild’ on public health policy. Details, as usual, are sketchy, and it may be hard to put the anti-jab activist in an official administration role. Even with him as a senior adviser, though, Moderna and GSK lack immunity.

HSBC can stand strong in a fragmenting world

7 Nov 2024

The $170 bln bank is uniquely dependent on East-West linkages at a time when global tensions are rising. Yet it weathered the last US-China tit-for-tat fairly well. And supply-chain shifts could even boost the lender, if CEO Georges Elhedery can help it adapt to new trade flows.

Taiwan’s silicon shield wants for reinforcement

7 Nov 2024

Taipei’s exports to the US are surging thanks to chip giant TSMC, but Donald Trump's threatened tariffs would undermine those. How far the president-elect would go to protect the island from Beijing, especially if trade weakens, is unclear. It's time to boost spending on defence.

Elon Musk’s biggest conflict is with Donald Trump

6 Nov 2024

The CEO was enriched Wednesday after shares of Tesla rose by $100 bln following Trump’s victory. From contracts to regulations, Musk’s political and business interests worryingly overlap. Eventually he could become the nexus of Chinese and US leaders’ fractious whims.

Burberry buyer would need steel-plated trench coat

6 Nov 2024

Shares in the $4 bln UK luxury group rose after a website reported that Moncler was eyeing a bid. But the returns on offer look low, while boosting the brand will be costly. Possible suitors require deep pockets, and the patience to wait a long time for any kind of payback.

India’s stock market has a rising local flavour

6 Nov 2024

Food delivery app Swiggy is taking orders for its $1.3 bln IPO, shrugging off the risk of getting caught in any US election-induced global volatilty. It underscores both an urgency by its backers which include SoftBank and an increasingly domestic ownership of equities.

China-EU trade Plan B looks too fiddly

6 Nov 2024

The People's Republic is pushing for alternatives to the bloc's tariffs on imported Chinese electric cars. One idea is minimum pricing. But that mechanism is hard to implement and could also undermine the attraction of local manufacturing. That limits the room to manoeuvre.

French fries make a tasty $11 bln takeover target

5 Nov 2024

Lamb Weston, which sells spuds to McDonald’s and others, is under pressure from pushy investor Jana. A bolder turnaround plan could get messy and leave it a hard-to-value oddball anyway. It’s a better side dish for a peer like agribusiness giant Cargill or cereal company Post.

Schroders can stop slide by getting grip on costs

5 Nov 2024

The $6.6 bln asset manager’s shares fell over 10% as it warned of clients withdrawing funds. Once first among UK equals, Schroders now suffers from a humdrum valuation, and a lack of scale. New Chief Executive Richard Oldfield can at least tackle its bloated expenses.

India’s slowdown is touching the untouchable

5 Nov 2024

Shoppers have cut back on the basics for years. The latest company earnings suggest austerity is shifting from the rural poor to urban folks, from biscuits and milk to clothes and cars. Giants like $215 bln Reliance and Unilever are starting to reflect a souring economic reality.

Verizon would be wise to hold on $20 bln deal

4 Nov 2024

Two big investors claim that broadband builder Frontier is worth more than what the wireless titan is paying for it. The numbers already look shaky and there’s no other suitor, so there’s little reason to sweeten the bid. The fraying fiber transaction is better left to unravel.

Schneider fails first test of CEO succession plan

4 Nov 2024

The French electric equipment maker ousted Chief Executive Peter Herweck after finding him slow in the execution of his strategy. The $150 bln group needs to be fast in hot markets like data centres. But firing its boss after 18 months shows its decision-making is also wanting.

German M&A flurry is powered by lasting tailwinds

4 Nov 2024

Teutonic deal volumes are below their 2021 peak, like everywhere else. Yet a burst of activity, including the $15 bln privatisation of DB Schenker and $16 bln Covestro sale, show signs of life. Radical changes to the country’s industrial model imply an enduring rebound.