Tencent shares fall after Beijing orders end to exclusive music rights deals July 26, 2021 Shares in Tencent have fallen after China ordered the company to end exclusive music licensing agreements with record labels across the world. The move is said to be aimed at tackling the technology giant’s dominance of online streaming in the country. They must cease engaging in any of these deals in the future and any [...]
Bill Ackman remixes Universal Music deal after SPAC plan questioned July 19, 2021 Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has been forced to rejig a $4bn deal to buy a 10 per cent stake in Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, after investors and regulators criticised his original SPAC plan. Pershing had agreed last month to buy 10 per cent of the world’s largest music company through a blank-cheque company called Pershing [...]
China places state investigators in Didi’s offices to conduct security probe July 16, 2021 Beijing’s heavyweight state spy industry and six other government departments have swooped on ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing’s offices to conduct a security investigation. The bold move comes after Chinese authorities opened an investigation into Didi for allegedly violating user privacy, just days after its $4.4bn listing in New York last month. As of yet, there [...]
Global investors snap up more than $800bn Chinese assets July 14, 2021 Investors around the world have bought more than $800bn Chinese stocks and bonds at a record pace, despite Beijing’s geopolitical rivalry with international states. Global investors have poured into Chinese markets, in spite of huge political tensions stemming from Beijing’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, erosion of Hong Kong freedoms, and battles with the US [...]
China to clampdown on overseas listings July 10, 2021 Chinese firms with data on more than 1m users will face security checks before they can list on foreign stock exchanges, the country’s digital regulator said today. The step comes just days after the Chinese government said that new steps were needed to keep track of overseas listings, which had gone unpoliced. The security review [...]
Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond to take crypto firm Circle public in Spac deal July 8, 2021 Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond is set to take cryptocurrency firm Circle public through a $4.5bn (£3.3bn) blank-cheque listing. The complex Spac deal will see Circle merge with Concord Acquisition Corp, which is backed by Diamond, before the combined entity is acquired by a new Irish holding company that will trade on the New York [...]
Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi sued by US shareholders July 8, 2021 China’s dominant ride-hailing app Didi is facing two lawsuits, filed in New York and Los Angeles. They come a week after Didi’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The two suits, filed on Tuesday, state that Didi failed to disclose ongoing talks it was having with Chinese authorities about its compliance with cybersecurity laws [...]
Mark Wahlberg-backed fitness group F45 plots $1.5bn IPO July 7, 2021 F45, the fitness chain backed by Hollywood hardman Mark Wahlberg, is seeking a valuation of more than $1.5bn (£1bn) in a US stock market float. The company, which was founded in Australia but is based in Texas, is plotting an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange after cashing in on the growing [...]
Soho House eyes $3.2bn valuation ahead of New York listing July 6, 2021 The parent company of the Soho House members club said it is targeting a valuation of about $3.2bn (£2.3bn) as it prepares to list on the New York Stock Exchange. The group, which filed for the initial public offering (IPO) under the name ‘Membership Collective Group’ in June, said it plans to raise as much [...]
Didi gets a flat: Market debut runs out of steam after $80bn turbo-charged IPO July 1, 2021 Chinese ride-hailing app Didi had a market debut that ran out of steam after the company temporarily soared to a market value of $80bn in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Watch the full report.