Clear off: City of London steps up fight to retain euro clearing after expert warnings against “currency nationalism” February 22, 2017 High-profile regulators, politicians and financial experts have warned that any move by the European Union to force euro clearing out of London could have grave consequences for global economic stability. Sir Jon Cunliffe, the deputy governor of the Bank of England who supervises financial stability, hit out at “currency nationalism” on Wednesday, saying: “Such a policy if [...]
It turns out Snapchat’s IPO valuation is lower than we expected February 16, 2017 The company behind Snapchat has set a valuation for itself ahead of its IPO – although the figure is towards the lower end of expectations. In documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission today, Snap, Inc said it plans to sell 200m class A shares at between $14 and $16, which it expects to generate [...]
Canada Goose fluffs up the market by revealing plans for $100m listing February 16, 2017 High-end US coat maker Canada Goose has announced plans to raise $100m by listing on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges. The listing will give the firm, backed by Bain Capital, the ability to pay down debt and expand sales in the US. And in what could be seen as a stroke of marketing genius, the [...]
Softbank buys US fund manager Fortress for $3.3bn in next step of strategic redirection February 15, 2017 Japanese group Softbank has agreed to buy US fund manager Fortress in a deal worth $3.3bn (£2.6bn), as part of the telecom and technology firm's strategic redirection. Announced overnight, the deal is the first by Softbank into an investment fund and follows the an announcement last October by chief executive and founder Masayoshi Son that the group has [...]
T-Mobile adds 8m US customers for third year in a row and beats market expectations February 14, 2017 T-Mobile, the third largest mobile phone operator in the US, today beat market expectations with "rock-solid" full-year results. The firm said it had added a total of 2.1m customers in the final three months of the year, taking the total number of new customers to 8.2m in 2016. Read more: Vodafone sells Dutch broadband operations [...]
Have Manchester United reached peak noodle partner? Why the club’s status as football’s commercial kings may be under threat February 11, 2017 Manchester United’s commercial power could be plateauing. Figures revealed this week in the club’s second quarter report suggest United, who have been more effective at selling their brand to sponsors than any other football club in the world in recent years, may have finally reached peak noodle partner. United’s commercial income came in virtually unchanged compared [...]
Twitter divebombs despite Trump bump: Shares in the tech giant plummet as losses hit $167m February 10, 2017 Twitter's slowest reported growth since going public wiped over a billion dollars off its value yesterday, with shares in the tech giant diving more than 12 per cent by the close of trading last night. The company’s poor performance does not appear to have been helped by outspoken and controversial US President Donald Trump, who is [...]
The new indifference: Why markets just don’t care about political risk February 9, 2017 The market reaction to excessive political turmoil has been extraordinary over the last year. Any investor with a crystal ball would have shunned risk assets, given the traditional relationship between political uncertainty and equity market volatility. But they would have been wrong. Incredibly, markets dismissed each event with increasing disdain. There is no sign of [...]
What do we know about Aramco’s boutique adviser? February 8, 2017 The world’s largest IPO in recent times is expected to take place next year, as the Saudi state oil firm known as Saudi Aramco is floated with an anticipated value of around $2 trillion. New-York based investment bank, Moelis & Co. has been reported as the sole independent adviser on the IPO, representing by far [...]
Singapore Exchange in talks with Saudi Aramco to beat London and others to secondary listing spot February 6, 2017 The Singapore Exchange is said to be in talks with Saudi Aramco as it bids to co-host what is expected to be the world’s largest ever stock market listing. London, New York, Hong Kong and Japan are also thought to be in the running for the secondary listing spot of the oil and gas giant. Read [...]