Law

Capital Calls: Chanel’s CEO pick

14 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: The privately-owned French fashion house appointed a Unilever executive as its new leader.

Capital Calls: UBS, Pfizer, Peloton

13 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: An appeals court has reduced a penalty for the Swiss bank by 60% for tax wrongdoings; the U.S. pharma group is buying a drugmaker to bolster its post-pandemic growth options; real risks are a bigger threat to the bike-app company than fake ones.

Andrea Orcel’s moral victory weakens Ana Botin

10 Dec 2021

A court awarded the Italian banker 68 mln euros as compensation for Santander’s sloppy U-turn on making him its CEO. The Spanish bank will appeal. But the ruling vindicates Orcel’s decision to fight, while reviving doubts about Santander’s chair, and the rest of the board.

Longer weekends are the next economic battleground

10 Dec 2021

The United Arab Emirates is slicing half a day off the working week while companies experiment with shorter hours. A lasting shift requires a majority to follow, even as tech makes it harder to log off. But post-pandemic workers may be more willing to trade labour for leisure.

Capital Calls: Deutsche and DWS, Big Four

9 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: The German bank’s ownership of the asset manager looks less appealing after an ESG reporting scandal riled U.S. regulators; a record $167 bln in revenue will soothe the accountancy giants’ breakup pains.

EU gig economy faces lengthy fight with Brussels

9 Dec 2021

Draft rules would reclassify up to 4 mln of the bloc’s freelancers as employees. That will raise costs and dent demand for firms relying on the self-employed. Ride-hailing and food-delivery groups can tweak business models or argue in court. The winner won’t be clear for years.

UK’s Facebook slap-down raises bar for US watchdog

1 Dec 2021

Britain’s antitrust body told the social media giant now named Meta to sell GIF maker Giphy. Its ruling hinges on a view of how the online ad market will evolve, not what it’s like now. CEO Mark Zuckerberg can appeal but the order still sets a punchy precedent for Big Tech deals.

Succession mess turns Orange into governance lemon

25 Nov 2021

The $30 bln French phone firm is seeking a new chairman and CEO after incumbent Stéphane Richard received a criminal conviction. A previous trial in 2019 should have prodded the board to line up a replacement. Splitting the top jobs is a first step to smoother future transitions.

Foreigners will get the best buzz off German weed

24 Nov 2021

Berlin is preparing to light up its recreational cannabis market. With potential sales taxes and savings of 5 bln euros a year, the move could give the economy added puff. But German players may at first have to play second fiddle to Canadians that dominate the medicinal market.

Viewsroom: European bank M&A, De-Dutching Shell

18 Nov 2021

Big lenders in the euro zone are doing deals, but not the kind investment bankers dream about. BNP Paribas is in U.S. retreat, BBVA bulks up in Turkey and KBC goes Bulgarian. Liam Proud explains. George Hay explains why the Anglo-Dutch oil major is dropping the Dutch bit.

Shell’s Dutch exit comes with legal side benefits

15 Nov 2021

Shifting its tax residency to the UK, along with its head office and CEO, simplifies the $170 bln oil major’s structure. It also makes it easier to reorganise for the energy transition. The implied snub to the Dutch court which ordered Shell to cut emissions is an added bonus.

Capital Calls: Philips, Chinese overseas IPOs

15 Nov 2021

Concise views on global finance: The Dutch electronics firm’s shares drop 11% as it faces new questions over a recall of faulty ventilators; the country’s cyberspace regulator makes clear that sensitive data questions for initial public offerings apply to Hong Kong too.

Capital Calls: Couch-potato habits help Roblox

9 Nov 2021

Concise views on global finance: The video game app’s shares surged 36% on Tuesday after it said sales nearly doubled in the quarter.

Penguin’s big book deal gets a regulatory ice bath

2 Nov 2021

The claim that a $2.2 bln merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster will squeeze author pay and put fewer books on shelves is a twist on the usual antitrust plot. Deal watchdogs typically focus on prices instead. It looks like the prologue to a bigger anti-merger opus.

Capital Calls: Darktrace’s stock wobble

1 Nov 2021

Concise views on global finance: The UK cybersecurity group’s share plunge reflects both short- and longer-term problems.

Capital Calls: Fantasy-sports group M&A flop

26 Oct 2021

Concise views on global finance: DraftKings has walked away from Entain but the UK target may still attract interest.

Credit Suisse’s exorcism has only just begun

20 Oct 2021

Chair António Horta-Osório banished one demon by settling a Mozambican scandal for $475 mln. The Swiss bank also closed the book on a spying saga. Yet a U.S. deferred prosecution agreement prolongs the haunting. And the ghosts of clients Greensill and Archegos still linger.

Capital Calls: Green investors, ASOS, Renren

11 Oct 2021

Concise views on global finance: Al Gore’s asset manager finds listed equities can influence a larger chunk of global emissions; the online retailer parts company with its CEO; the startup investor’s $300 mln settlement with aggrieved investors is likely to be an exception.

Capital Calls: NatWest’s guilty-plea logic

7 Oct 2021

Concise views on global finance: The UK lender could receive a lower money-laundering fine for accepting culpability.

World Bank has a shareholder-engagement problem

17 Sep 2021

Leaders, including now-IMF head Kristalina Georgieva, pressured staff to boost China’s ease of doing business ranking, a probe said. This isn’t realpolitik mitigating inherent U.S. bias. Such tactics detract from the bank’s work, damage credibility and impair its future role.