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BT pries open door to broadband stake sale

13 May 2021

The UK telecom group may bring in an outside investor to help fund an extra 3 bln pound expansion of its fibre network. Dutch peer KPN has done something similar. For CEO Philip Jansen it’s the first step towards a bigger prize: flogging off a chunk of BT’s main Openreach unit.

UK web star ingeniously adds $1 bln to war chest

11 May 2021

That’s how much THG raised from SoftBank and others. The Japanese company also gets an option to buy 20% of the e-commerce group’s yet-to-be-created Ingenuity unit for $1.6 bln. That may never happen. But CEO Matthew Moulding has boosted the share price and raised cash for deals.

Verizon rips off band-aid with moderate punctures

29 Apr 2021

The $234 bln company wants to ditch AOL and Yahoo, and may get less than it paid a few years ago. That’s never a good thing. But in the media world, such value-destroying deals can be worse. This also enables the firm to get a wad of cash and focus on much bigger tasks, like 5G.

Blackstone gamely reboots Indian IT deal

26 Apr 2021

The investor is selling control of Mphasis within its own funds. Sovereign money will join, validating a $2.8 bln commitment that includes a public offer. With U.S. cloud migration gaining pace even as the virus spikes in the company’s home, it may be a crafty self-passed parcel.

China medical IPO comes with health warnings

22 Apr 2021

Tencent-backed We Doctor boasts the country's first e-hospital offering online consultations and more. A mooted $12 bln valuation looks punchy next to rivals focused on lucrative drug sales. We Doctor's mounting losses and untested business model may give investors heartburn.

Capital Calls: Delta Air Lines, L’Oreal

15 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: The U.S. air carrier says it was cash-flow positive in March, signaling the beginning of the end of the pandemic; the French cosmetics group has too much cash, which could be useful for dealmaking.

Capital Calls: Christine Lagarde, Bernie Madoff

14 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: The European Central Bank president’s quest for inflation will take a while to achieve its goal; investor gullibility will live on after the death of the Ponzi schemer in a U.S. federal prison.

Capital Calls: LVMH surges back to full health

13 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: The 300 billion euro luxury conglomerate’s first-quarter sales surpass pre-Covid-19 levels.

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.

Chinese AI dragon confronts fiery new realities

1 Apr 2021

Megvii wants to raise over $900 mln in a Shanghai IPO after a U.S. blacklist torpedoed its 2019 Hong Kong listing. Revenue growth is slowing and losses widening, as Beijing proceeds with its own crackdowns. It also may not be the best time to have Alibaba and Ant as big backers.

Capital Calls: Chubb/Hartford, Son of Kozmo

23 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Insurer Hartford rebuffs an offer from rival Chubb without breaking a sweat; snack-delivery outfit GoPuff raises capital at an $8.9 billion valuation, giving new life to an old Silicon Valley idea.

BT safely clears two of three financial hurdles

18 Mar 2021

Britain’s telecom watchdog won’t cap premium broadband prices for at least 10 years, giving the former monopoly more confidence over its 12 bln pound fibre rollout. A 5G spectrum auction also went its way. That sets up the next challenge: fixing its 9 bln pound pension deficit.

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.

Stripe’s $95 bln pop raises bar for payments hype

15 Mar 2021

The privately held group run by the Collison brothers raised money at almost triple its last valuation. It seems rich even next to listed peer Adyen. Investors in the companies are betting on a decade of breakneck growth. Rising competition means they can’t all be winners.

Capital Calls: McKinsey, Celebrity SPACs

10 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: McKinsey’s new boss isn’t new enough; the SEC tells investors to be careful of celebrities bearing SPACs.

Panasonic turning dial too far on $6.5 bln deal

10 Mar 2021

After paring some sprawl, the electronics giant may now buy the rest of supply-chain software developer Blue Yonder. The faster-growing tech would help lift profitability, but at a hefty price of 40 times forecast EBITDA. Some $2 bln of erased market value speaks to the overload.

Capital Calls: TV’s royal boost, Shared offices

9 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan is a boon for ViacomCBS’s streaming ambitions; IWG’s revamp depends on a workplace revolution.

Capital Calls: American Airlines, Crypto PayPal

8 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The U.S. carrier is issuing new debt and hocking some airline miles to pay back the U.S. Treasury loan that carried restrictions on pay and dividends; PayPal investors give a shrug over another dive into bitcoin-land.

U.S. SPACs are a first step for Asian tech giants

8 Mar 2021

Walmart’s Indian e-tailer Flipkart is mulling a New York debut via a blank-cheque firm valuing it at $35 bln. Other wannabe issuers in emerging Asia are eyeing dual listings to stay close to home. If China’s any guide, complex structures will materialise sooner rather than later.