Corporate Governance

Modi win will underpin India’s market exuberance

20 May 2019

Exit polls suggest the prime minister’s ruling BJP alliance is headed for an easy win. Continuity will ease fears of reckless spending. Narendra Modi’s return also should keep stock valuations stretched as expectations for reform overshadow signs of an economic slowdown.

Nissan chief makes useful scapegoat for everyone

17 May 2019

Hiroto Saikawa may stay longer than expected at the $30 bln Japanese carmaker. Nissan is in shambles, but there's a case for letting him clean up the worst of it, then hiring a more charismatic successor. If he makes things worse, Renault has a stronger argument for merging.

Miners have a shot at earning green halo

16 May 2019

Vale’s dam disaster was a reminder of the industry’s social and environmental pitfalls. At the same time, the likes of BHP and Glencore can tout their ability to supply future low-carbon economies. ESG activists punished coal, but they’re in position to reward diggers, too.

EssilorLuxottica’s boardroom truce is fuzzy

13 May 2019

Chairman Leonardo Del Vecchio and his French counterpart have asked their lieutenants to jointly lead strategy at the $54 bln eyewear giant. The ceasefire averts damaging litigation at the newly merged group. But it won’t make the search for an external CEO much easier.

Facebook investors could benefit from a breakup

10 May 2019

The $532 bln group’s co-founder wants U.S. regulators to undo its WhatsApp and Instagram deals. Those units are hard to value and spinning them off would be costly. Yet valuations of peers like Snap and Twitter imply that Facebook could be worth 20% more once carved into three.

Viewsroom: Oil M&A fight may end with no winner

9 May 2019

Occidental boss Vicki Hollub corralled BofA CEO Brian Moynihan and investor Warren Buffett to her side to seal a $38 bln offer for Anadarko. Her tactics scared off rival bidder Chevron but may alienate her own shareholders. Plus: Malaysia’s reform efforts since the 1MDB scandal.

HNA’s Hong Kong spat is a sign of worse to come

9 May 2019

The indebted Chinese conglomerate is stuck in a bizarre boardroom brawl at Hong Kong Airlines. The sight could lead buyers to demand steeper discounts as HNA unwinds a $50 bln acquisition spree. Creditors like China Development Bank have cause to be anxious.

Toyota and Honda may want to rev up in China

8 May 2019

The Corolla maker’s operating profit grew a mere 2.8 pct in its latest fiscal year. Toyota’s outlook is also modest while rival Honda cut sales forecasts across the board. The Chinese market, though struggling now, could yet provide some refuge from Donald Trump’s trade warpath.

Cox: Ghosn affair shoves Japan two steps back

2 May 2019

Harsh treatment by prosecutors has amazingly elicited some sympathy for the Nissan boss. Neither greed nor running the automaker like a deity is a crime. And the presumption of guilt on other matters is unseemly. It may scare off foreign executives just as Japan Inc goes global.

Finance’s green activists see path to climate hope

1 May 2019

An annual Wall Street-heavy confab on environmental risks is offering plenty to worry about. But a group of 340 investors like CalPERS and AXA is notching up wins, including against Equinor, Shell and other polluters. More concerted pressure can help slow global warming.

Capitalists on defensive even as good times roll

30 Apr 2019

There’s a sense of foreboding at the annual Milken confab in LA. The U.S. economy is robust and valuations frothy. But last year’s tax cuts are history and a downturn may be looming. That could redouble the need to address tough challenges like diversity and inequality.

Boeing’s supine owners invite tougher co-pilots

29 Apr 2019

Investors rejected a fresh call for an independent chair of the $214 bln plane maker. Its boss, Dennis Muilenburg, has been slow to respond to the 737 MAX crisis, and resolving it is more than a full-time job. If owners won’t tighten oversight, regulators and politicians will.

Deutsche Bank chair faces shareholder reckoning

29 Apr 2019

Failed merger talks with Commerzbank are another blot on Paul Achleitner’s seven-year tenure at the German lender. A vote against Bayer bosses suggests investors are becoming more vocal. With his own May 23 judgment day looming, Achleitner has a tough job arguing for continuity.

Shell has cover to take the high ground in Brunei

26 Apr 2019

A shareholder group wants the $260 bln energy giant to use its clout in the tiny Asian state to press for gay rights. Shell will be cautious of fallout elsewhere, but talks are possible. It has the leverage to open meaningful dialogue too. A fix, though, won’t be quick.

Renault M&A plan is lesser of two evils for Nissan

26 Apr 2019

The Gallic carmaker is once again pushing for closer integration with its partner, Nikkei says. If the Japanese company were to win concessions, such as board seat parity or an equal stake in a merged group, a deal would make more sense than the current mess.

Hyundai Motor’s U-turn may stutter in South Korea

25 Apr 2019

The $29 bln automaker's first quarter sparkled, good news after a loss the previous period. New models revved sales despite a slowdown in China and U.S. safety issues. Worsening economic conditions in its home market, however, could put this turnaround into a spin.

At least Uber investors will have a say on losses

24 Apr 2019

The ride-hailing app touts a separate chair and CEO, one vote per share and annual director elections. Rival Lyft and image-search firm Pinterest by contrast have insiders with supervoting stock and staggered boards. All lose money but only Uber shareholders can push for change.

Terry Gou’s presidential hopes will rock Taiwan

18 Apr 2019

Citing support from a sea goddess, the Foxconn founder is running for the top job. Beijing links and a history of outsourcing to cheap mainland factories will be at issue, when the economy is weak. The campaign will also unsettle relations between Taipei, Washington and Beijing.

Veteran Indian bank CEO pushes the limit

18 Apr 2019

Aditya Puri has been at the helm of the high-performing $90 bln HDFC Bank over two decades. He’s now nearing retirement age. Stunning returns favour a mooted rule change allowing him, and others, to stay on, but blowups elsewhere suggest timely succession may be better.

Chinese surveillance giant offers up a fig leaf

16 Apr 2019

SenseTime has exited a venture in Xinjiang, where efforts to crush Muslim extremism have involved mass detentions. The deal may attenuate bad PR before an offshore IPO, but the $6 bln startup still sells facial recognition tech to China's police. Foreign backers get only thin cover.