Roads & Transportation

Capital Calls: Sabers down for Project JEDI

10 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The Pentagon may end the $10 billion cloud project to consolidate U.S. military data after exhausting worse options.

TuSimple $8 bln IPO destination looks out of range

8 Apr 2021

It values the self-driving truck firm run by financiers and a gamer at 4,260 times 2020 sales. Volkswagen’s Traton, UPS and others are partners. But autonomous vehicles are years off, TuSimple is hauling a load of governance issues and has an investor in a U.S. regulatory probe.

Capital Calls: Trucking IPO

7 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Startup TuSimple will be listing shares via a traditional initial public offering.

Didi’s IPO could be as bumpy as Dida’s

7 Apr 2021

The Chinese ride-hailing firm is navigating toward public markets and a $100 bln valuation. Its smaller, similarly named rival's listing effort has stalled in Hong Kong after hitting regulatory, legal, and operational potholes. Didi will have to buckle up for a comparable ride.

Benettons avoid crash at end of Italian road feud

1 Apr 2021

Atlantia, part-owned by the clothing-to-infrastructure clan, looks set to sell its motorway unit for 9 bln euros to a group led by state investor CDP. The sale should end a row with Rome and cut debt. For the new owners, rising investment means the returns will hardly be racy.

Biden’s $2 trln road trip can’t start soon enough

31 Mar 2021

Republicans think the president’s infrastructure plan is too big; progressive Democrats think it’s too small. The cost is deceptive because projects still have to surmount local politics and red tape. The main thing is to agree something so that investment and jobs can follow.

Corona Capital: Merck sells Moderna stake

2 Dec 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The U.S. drugmaker is banking its winnings on an investment in Covid-19 vaccine producer Moderna that dates back to 2015.

Corona Capital: Vaccine storage

16 Nov 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Warehouse centers get another boost with Moderna’s vaccine prospects.

Corona Capital: Salvatore Ferragamo

10 Nov 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Faded heels-and-loafers brand Salvatore Ferragamo could benefit from a coronavirus vaccine-induced return to airport shopping, but the Florentine fashion house would still need a makeover.

Corona Capital: Covid-19 tests, Bed Bath & Beyond

1 Oct 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Diagnostic company Quidel predicts a quarterly earnings bonanza; meanwhile the pandemic turns a struggling retailer into a winner, at least temporarily.

Corona Capital: U.S. sports’ virus-bubble success

29 Sep 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Professional hockey and basketball associations scored victories keeping infection rates low or at zero in spectator-free games. And less traveling and more sleep helped players up their game. Wall Street take note.

Breakup could remove Benettons’ Italian roadblock

24 Sep 2020

Atlantia, the clan’s infrastructure group, is at loggerheads with Rome over the sale of its crisis-hit motorway unit. Spinning off the division could end the dispute by establishing a fair market price. It’s a risky manoeuvre, but the threat may bring the government to the table.

Big price for trains just about stays on track

15 Sep 2020

Blackstone’s infrastructure group may be offering what looks like top dollar – $20 billion – for Kansas City Southern, a 133-year-old U.S. freight railroad. But with interest rates so low, big prices for relatively predictable assets with stable returns may become the new normal.

Corona Capital: Movies, Magazines

7 Sep 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: the U.S. opening weekend of Christopher Nolan’s time travel epic “Tenet” suggests punters aren’t hurrying back to cinemas; Future, publisher of “Metal Hammer” and “Horse & Hound” rocks its way through the crisis.

UK LBO jalopy offers buyout barons last wild ride

14 Aug 2020

Roadside repair group AA is drawing interest from private equity again. It’s still crippled by a 2.7 billion pound debt load from past takeovers. With a cash injection and thorough service, a new driver could make a decent return, but it would still be a risky journey.

Corona Capital: Telemedicine, Outdated movie rules

10 Aug 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Men’s wellness outfit Hims matches the online medical consultation trend with a financial one, namely blank-check companies; and Washington finally scraps a “Gone with the Wind”-era regulation.

VW’s China acceleration leaves Renault in the dust

30 Jul 2020

An uptick in Middle Kingdom car sales helped Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess restate a pledge to make an annual profit, following a half-year loss. By contrast, the French carmaker is losing money and market share. New Renault CEO Luca de Meo’s cost-cutting plan needs more fuel.

Italy road saga hands Benettons life-saving finale

15 Jul 2020

The clan’s infrastructure group Atlantia could end a government dispute over a bridge disaster by letting state actors invest in its motorway unit, and list it. The shakedown may leave the group with a stake worth just 5 bln euros, but it’s better than a threatened expropriation.

China’s Didi looks short on engine power

23 Apr 2020

The ride-hailing giant unveiled a three-year plan. Hard-to-compare targets and more of the same bets hardly inspire, especially as tech peers Alibaba and Meituan grab Covid-19 opportunities in health and more. Didi’s $53 bln valuation is vulnerable without a stronger drive.

Virus hands Elon Musk electrifying cost challenge

2 Apr 2020

Tesla’s boss has ironed out most of its production snafus and amassed enough cash for the carmaker to go almost a year without revenue before running out of juice, longer than Ford or GM. But Musk can only pull that off if he has finally mastered how to keep costs under control.