(This August 13 story corrects to show that 2019 and 2020 H1 results are based on different accounting standards in paragraph 3, changes percentage change to profit figure in paragraph 1) By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) – Big Hit Entertainment, the management lab... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Investor Fredric Zaino, who spent 15 years at hedge fund Millennium Management, has launched his own firm and plans to invest in micro-, small- and mid-cap public and private companies focusing on biotech, real estate and consumer products. ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp on Monday said it spent 398 billion yen ($3.8 billion) buying back 63.2 million shares between July 1 and Aug. 3, part of a repurchase programme that has helped lift its share price to two decade highs. The latest purchase... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) succeeded in its bid for UBI Banca (UBI.MI) on Tuesday after acquiring two thirds of its target’s shares to pass a vital threshold that leaves it in full control of what will be the euro zone’s seventh-largest bank. W... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – SAP’s (SAPG.DE) plans to float online sentiment tracking business Qualtrics would be a “win-win” proposition, CEO Christian Klein said on Monday, as the business software group confirmed its second quarter results and guidance. SAP would ret... More »
(Reuters) – Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd, the blank check company backed by billionaire investor Bill Ackman, has increased the size of its initial public offering by $1 billion to $4 billion, the largest ever IPO by a special purpose acquisition compa... More »
(Reuters) – Electric car maker Fisker will go public through a merger with a blank check company backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc at a valuation of $2.9 billion, the companies said on Monday. Reuters reported last week that the specia... More »
(Reuters) – Property data and analytics company CoreLogic rejected an unsolicited $7 billion takeover offer from two investment firms on Tuesday, saying it expected to earn more this year and would buy back more of its stock. A consortium of Cannae Holdings In... More »
(Reuters) – Ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc has agreed on a deal to buy food-delivery app Postmates Inc in a $2.65 billion all-stock agreement, Bloomberg News reported bloom.bg/2Z0TVcd late Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal ha... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – More hedge funds went out of business during the first three months of 2020 than at any other time since 2015 as the coronavirus led to heavy losses and investors pulled out billions in assets. Hedge Fund Research reported on Tuesday that 30... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese gaming giant NetEase on Monday announced a strategic partnership with Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment to develop a new “Lord of the Rings” mobile game, bolstering its pipeline following its secondary listing in Hong Kong. Th... More »
(Reuters) – Online used car seller Vroom Inc raised $467.5 million in its U.S. initial public offering, the company said on Monday, as the IPO market picks up momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic placed many debuts on hold. Vroom priced its IPO at $22, above t... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Tim Hortons China said Tuesday it received an investment from Chinese tech giant Tencent, as the Canadian coffee brewer seeks to expand in the Chinese market. Tim Hortons said in a statement on its Weibo it will use the funds to upgrade d... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Sandwich maker Potbelly Corp on Monday promised to reimburse activist shareholders’ expenses with stock not cash, creating a situation that lawyers call an outlier for now but which they said could find traction in tough economic times. The ... More »
(Reuters) – A special committee of WeWork board members filed a motion in Delaware on Monday to prevent it from being disbanded, as it pursues legal action against majority owner SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) over an abandoned $3 billion tender offer for the of... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) shareholders backed its financial survival plan on Monday, with more than 95% of votes cast supporting the conversion of nearly $1 billion of debt into equity and raising more cash from its owners. The approval follows w... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) could run out of cash by mid-May unless its proposed financial rescue plan is approved by creditors and shareholders, the budget carrier warned on Monday. If approved by bondholders, leasing companies and shareholders, t... More »
(Reuters) – The Silicon Valley venture capital firm known for its early backing of companies such as Uber Technologies Inc is raising a new fund, but without one of its most prominent general partners, a source close to the firm said on Wednesday. Benchmark is... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Daimler and Volvo Trucks have agreed to join forces to develop, produce and sell fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles, in a sign that the coronavirus crisis is accelerating consolidation. Global car and truck makers are exploring way... More »
(Reuters) – Private equity firm Silver Lake Partners is preparing to seek at least $16 billion from investors for its sixth flagship buyout fund, braving the economic uncertainty of the coronavirus outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter. Invest... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Multi-strategy hedge funds – those that bet on a broad array of markets using teams of traders, leverage and centralized risk management – have flourished as stocks ended their worst three months since the 2008 financial crisis. Balyasny Ass... More »
LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank told euro zone banks on Friday to skip dividend payments and share buybacks until October at the earliest and use their profits to support the economy as it is hit by the coronavirus pandemic. With large p... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Lindblad Expeditions on Thursday said it named two independent directors backed by activist investment firm ValueAct Capital, which owns a nearly 10% stake in the adventure cruise company, to its board. New York-based Lindblad appointed Thom... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, frustrated over the deadlock on a major coronavirus response bill, late on Sunday announced a procedural vote will be held early on Monday on a bill that senators already rejected. McConnell, ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank slashed its forecast for Germany’s economy on the coronavirus fallout, saying it now expected the euro zone’s largest economy to contract between 4-5% in 2020 while industrial production could shrink by 10%. “Within days lockdo... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Sovereign wealth fund investment in venture capital deals slipped to its lowest level in six years in 2019, with the drop-off deepening in the months after WeWork’s planned share sale failed, data showed on Friday. Sovereign wealth-backed ve... More »
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) on Saturday posted a 23% decrease in quarterly operating profit, while soaring prices in stock holdings such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O) enabled the conglomerate to smash its old record for full-year earni... More »
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett on Saturday called on corporate America to make their boards of directors more accountable to shareholders and less beholden to chief executive officers, perhaps by reducing their pay and requiring that they buy more stock. In his an... More »
(Reuters) – NMC Health (NMC.L) said on Monday its founder BR Shetty had resigned as joint non-executive chairman, months after the UAE healthcare group was thrown into turmoil by doubts over its finances. NMC is the largest private healthcare company in the Un... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. securities regulator is on a collision course with powerful hedge funds executives, including former White House advisor Carl Icahn and Republican mega-donor Paul Singer, over a proposal they say could reduce shareholder voting ri... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Oil drilling firm Valaris PLC reached a settlement with Luminus Management and said on Monday that it has appointed one of the hedge fund’s partners to its board. Luminus’ Adam Weitzman, an expert in offshore oil drilling who has experience ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – State-owned oil company Saudi Aramco said on Sunday it had exercised its “greenshoe option” to sell an additional 450 million shares, raising the size of its initial public offering (IPO) to a record $29.4 billion. Aramco initially raised a $... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – The logistics unit of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com Inc (JD.O) has held early discussions with banks about a potential overseas IPO that could raise $8 billion to $10 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuter... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor William Ackman’s hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management said Monday it bought shares in testing equipment company Agilent Technologies Inc, only its second new investment this year as the fund has reported a 51% r... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Sanofi (SASY.PA) said on Monday it had agreed to buy California-headquartered biotechnology firm Synthorx in a cash deal worth about $2.5 billion aimed at beefing up the French drugmaker’s pipeline of drugs for cancer and auto-immune disorder... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Google, Alibaba and other “Big Tech” companies could be forced to share data on financial services customers with banks and financial technology firms to prevent unfair competition. As Facebook’s plan for its Libra “stablecoin” faces scrutin... More »
(Reuters) – Billionaire investor Warren Buffett was thwarted in trying to spend some of the $128.2 billion of cash at his Berkshire Hathaway Inc, after a private equity firm outbid him to buy technology equipment distributor Tech Data Corp for $5.14 billion, C... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners’ (MS.N) offer for PNE (PNEGn.DE) which values the German renewable firm at 306 million euros ($337 million) is too low, small shareholders group SdK said on Tuesday. The 4.00 euro per share bid runs ... More »
NEW YORK/BANGALORE (Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) will this week launch a previously agreed tender offer for as much as $3 billion of WeWork shares, including up to $970 million owned by the office sharing company’s cofounder Adam Neumann, two people... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco met investors in Dubai on Sunday to market its initial public offering (IPO), after trying to secure demand from Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund for the deal, worth up to $25.6 billion, which relies heavily on local and regional b... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco’s weighting in Saudi Arabia’s main stock index once the oil giant has listed shares is not expected to breach the maximum limit set by the Gulf kingdom’s Tadawul exchange, a senior executive said on Sunday. “There is a ceiling f... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s central bank is monitoring banking indicators on a daily basis and is not seeing any impact on liquidity from oil giant Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO), its governor said on Sunday. Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority gove... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Firefly Value Partners on Thursday asked Gulfport Energy for a seat on its board and criticized the “half-measures” which the U.S. gas exploration and production company is taking to improve its financial performance. On Monday, Oklahoma C... More »
LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Prosus PRX.AS held firm on its $6.3 billion offer to buy Just Eat (JE.L) on Monday as it argued the merits of its bid versus one from Takeaway.com for the British online takeaway delivery firm. The one change in the offer published... More »
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s giant state oil company finally kick-started its initial public offering (IPO) on Sunday, announcing its intention to float on the domestic bourse in what could be the world’s biggest listing as the kingdo... More »
(Reuters) – Warehouse giant Prologis Inc (PLD.N) said on Sunday it had agreed to acquire rival industrial real-estate business Liberty Property Trust (LPT.N) in a $12.6 billion deal to improve its U.S. presence amid the ecommerce boom. If approved, Prologis sa... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Money manager Jeffrey Vinik said on Wednesday he was shutting down his stock-picking hedge fund, citing unexpected difficulties raising cash for the decision to end a much-hyped but short-lived relaunch of his asset management firm. “Simply ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s banking regulator on Tuesday said it plans to ask lenders to meet higher capital levels domestically to offset their exposure to large overseas units – a move that comes in response to plans by New Zealand to hike capital ratios ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – WeWork has opened almost as many new locations in the last 3-1/2 months as it did in the whole first half of this year, likely accelerating the speed with which the office-sharing company is burning through cash as increasingly hard-nosed ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Elliott Management, Paul Singer’s $35 billion hedge fund, kept up its blistering pace of pushing for corporate changes during the third quarter, outspending all rivals with campaigns at AT&T and Marathon Petroleum Corp , data released on Fri... More »
(Reuters) – Short-term home rental company Airbnb Inc is set to hire Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc as joint lead advisers on its planned stock market flotation next year, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The appointments would re... More »
(Reuters) – Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O) is cracking down on initial public offerings (IPOs) of small Chinese companies by tightening restrictions and slowing down their approval, according to regulatory filings, corporate executives and investment bankers. Nasdaq’s at... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, a born New Yorker who has run his business from the city for decades, is moving his office, more than half of his staff and himself to Florida early next year, people familiar with the plan said on Thursday. ... More »
(Reuters) – Woodford Patient Capital Trust, the listed trust run by under-fire money manager Neil Woodford, said its administrator Link Fund Solutions would cut the valuation of its stake in another of the company’s holdings. WPCT did not disclose any details ... More »
(Reuters) – Office-sharing startup WeWork is pressing ahead with plans to go public despite lukewarm interest in its shares, three sources said, leaving its largest investor, SoftBank Group (9984.T), with a stark choice: take a haircut or pony up even more cas... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. companies planning to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) in the coming weeks are hoping that August’s bout of stock market volatility will subside this month, according to investment bankers and capital markets lawyers advising th... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Shares in the spin-off of South African e-commerce group Naspers surged more than 25% in the first minutes of their market debut in Amsterdam on Wednesday. Prosus comprises Naspers’ global empire of consumer internet assets, with the jewe... More »
MANILA, Sept 1 – (Reuters) – Philippine boxing champion Manny Pacquiao launched his very own cryptocurrency on Sunday at a free concert in Manila, where he serenaded more than 2,000 fans to drum up interest in the product. The 40-year-old boxer, who defeated K... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s political unrest is posing a dilemma for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) on the timing of its planned $15 billion listing in the city, with sources saying China’s biggest e-commerce company is now considering several timeta... More »
LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Amsterdam-based online food delivery firm Takeaway.com (TKWY.AS) has agreed to buy Just Eat (JE.L) in an all-share deal valuing the combined group, which will be one of the sector’s largest, at about 8.2 billion pounds ($10.1 billi... More »
HONG KONG/NEW YORK/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Scepticism over AB InBev’s high valuations doomed Budweiser APAC’s IPO of up to $9.8 billion – poised to be the world’s biggest this year – investors and bankers said, putting would-be floats on notice that careful prici... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – ROXi Music, the makers of the home-based music streaming device ROXi, said it had chosen investment bank Arden Partners as it prepares for an initial public offering in the fourth quarter of 2019. The offering is aimed at the alternative i... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – UBS Group (UBSG.S) has created a private capital markets team to help wealth management clients invest in the burgeoning sector, the Swiss bank said on Wednesday. The new team will focus on transactions and investments including last-stage f... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. casino operator Eldorado Resorts Inc has agreed to merge with Caesars Entertainment Corp in a cash and stock deal that values its peer at about $18 billion including debt, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The agreement ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Solel Partners is expected to start trading with more than $400 million in capital later this year, after the new hedge fund received commitments from pensions, endowments and the founders’ former boss, who ran hedge fund Highfields Capital,... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Infineon has agreed to buy Cypress Semiconductors in a deal valuing the U.S. maker of microchips used in cars and electronic devices at 9 billion euros ($10.1 billion), including debt, the German company said on Monday. The cash offer of ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire David Tepper plans to turn his hedge fund Appaloosa Management into a family office where he will invest his personal fortune and return capital to outside clients at some point, a person familiar with his plans said on Thursday.... More »
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it owned $860.6 million of Amazon.com Inc shares at the end of March, after the billionaire admitted to underestimating the online retailer and its Chief Executive Jeff Bezos. The size of the investment ... More »
(Reuters) – Financing group Greensill Capital on Monday confirmed SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund has invested $800 million in the British company, a vote of confidence in the UK finance sector that has been navigating Brexit challenges. Greensill, which pro... More »
(Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc’s conservative initial public offering could not keep its shares from sinking in their trading debut on Friday, fueling debate on Wall Street over whether the outcome of the most anticipated listing since Facebook Inc would we... More »
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – After a one-year pause, the hedge fund industry schmooze fest organized by Anthony Scaramucci, the investment manager who briefly served as President Donald Trump’s communications director, returned to the Las Vegas strip this week. But t... More »
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Reuters) – An activist hedge fund on Tuesday nominated five directors and urged insurance company Argo Group International Holdings Ltd to cut $100 million in expenses, including corporate jets and housing for its chief executive. Voce C... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Technology Ventures (STV) said on Tuesday Uber’s deal with Careem will help the Middle East ride hailing firm expand its customer base even further and continue to develop the regional economy. STV is a Careem investor and participated ... More »
(Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc is set to offer over $3 billion to buy Dubai-based rival Careem Networks FZ, two sources familiar with the deal told Reuters. Uber’s offer could be unveiled during the early part of this week, a third source added. Uber will p... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Levi Strauss & Co’s is betting it can convince investors there is still plenty of global growth left for the 165-year old company, but fund managers fret the iconic blue jeans maker’s stock may be too pricey to generate a decent return. Th... More »
(Reuters) – Ride-hailing platform Lyft Inc will launch the investor road show for its initial public offering on Monday, seeking to raise as much as $2 billion and to be valued at more than $20 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Lyft will b... More »
(Reuters) – A group of investors has called on Lyft Inc’s board to scrap a proposed dual-class share structure, as the ride hailing company pitches its initial public offering to investors next week, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. San Francisco-base... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Electric scooter sharing firm VOI Technology has raised $30 million in another fundraising round since being set up seven months ago for its European expansion and investment in research to fend off growing competition, it said on Monday.... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese asset managers are rushing to set up funds targeting Shanghai’s upcoming Nasdaq-style technology board, in a race likely to fuel concern that China’s speculative trading culture could lead to more price bubbles. Applications from m... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd, an auto parts affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co, on Tuesday announced a plan to offer shareholder returns worth 2.6 trillion won ($2.32 billion) over the next three years and to appoint group heir apparent Euisun Chung as ch... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – State-owned Saudi Aramco plans to invest up to $1.6 billion for a nearly 20 percent stake in South Korean refiner Hyundai Oilbank, expanding its foothold in one of its biggest Asian buyers of crude oil. Saudi Aramco is already the biggest sha... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N) will give ValueAct Capital more access to its books and board of directors, signaling that the bank and the activist hedge fund are deepening their relationship roughly a year after ValueAct first invested in Citi. The ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) shares seesawed on Thursday as investors questioned how the impending divorce of company founder Jeff Bezos would affect his control of the most valuable company on Wall Street and its ambitious expansion plans. Bez... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Prominent investor Jeffrey Vinik is ready to manage money for outside clients again and plans to relaunch his hedge fund firm Vinik Asset Management after sitting out the last six years. Vinik, who once ran Fidelity’s Magellan mutual fund ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Saba Capital’s Tail Hedge Master Fund, which promises a sort of doomsday insurance through bets that perform well when markets spiral, ended 2018 with a 25 percent gain, a person familiar with the fund’s returns said on Tuesday. For years, B... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Cruiser Capital Advisors said on Monday it wants to replace four directors at chemical company Ashland Global Holdings, including the board chairman. The New York-based hedge fund aims to remove Ashland Chief Executive Bill Wulfsohn from his... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Widely followed activist investors Daniel Loeb, Barry Rosenstein and William Ackman suffered heavy losses in December, when fears about trade battles and slower growth sent stocks spiraling lower. Many fund managers are still compiling annua... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. cannabis retailer Green Growth Brands Ltd (GGB.CD) said on Thursday it would make a hostile takeover bid for Aphria Inc (APHA.TO) in an all-stock deal valuing the Canadian pot producer at C$2.8 billion ($2.06 billion). Several companies are lo... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Self-driving car startup Zoox Inc has become the first company to receive approval from California regulators to operate an autonomous ride service for public passengers, state regulators said on Friday. The California Public Utilitie... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) is set to raise 2.65 trillion yen ($23.5 billion) in Japan’s biggest-ever IPO – a share sale widely regarded as finalizing the group’s transition from domestic telco to a monolithic global tech investor. Telco uni... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese artificial intelligence provider Megvii Inc, commonly known as Face++, is targeting to raise $500 million in a new funding round that pegs the current valuation of the firm at $3.5 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said... More »
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc has filed paperwork for an initial public offering, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, taking a step closer to a key milestone for one of the most closely watched and controversial ... More »
HONG KONG/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tencent Music Entertainment launched its hotly-anticipated U.S. initial public offering (IPO) of up to $1.2 billion on Monday after global stock markets were boosted by a truce brokered by U.S. and Chinese leaders in their trade ... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s Ultimovacs plans to raise around 700 million Norwegian crowns ($82 million) in an initial public offering in early 2019 to help fund the development of its immunotherapy cancer drug. “Our main investors are positive and will take a si... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Luxury jewellery maker Folli Follie (HDFr.AT), whose finances are being investigated by Greek authorities, has obtained a temporary court injunction to protect its assets, it said on Monday. Folli said the injunction, granted by an Athens co... More »
(Reuters) – French IT services company Atos (ATOS.PA) is boosting its North American operations with a $3.4 billion cash deal to buy Michigan-based IT services provider Syntel Inc (SYNT.O). Atos’ shares traded 7 percent lower by 1020 GMT on Monday on disappoin... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – SoftBank Group (9984.T) is increasing its stake in Yahoo Japan (4689.T) through a $2 billion, three-way deal with U.S. firm Altaba (AABA.O) to deepen ties with the internet heavyweight ahead of an IPO of its telecoms unit. The transaction, wi... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s Together Pharma said on Tuesday it will set up a new company with Premier Dead Sea to sell cosmetics based on cannabis and Dead Sea minerals. The firm said the products would be based on CBD, or Cannabidiol — a constitute of the ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – For a year, billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb has watched quietly from afar as Nestle SA tries to energize its business. But his patience has worn thin and he has been telling associates and his own investors that time is now up for... More »
(Reuters) – Dell Inc. is nearing a deal to buy out the holders of shares that track the performance of VMWare Inc (VMW.N) using a mix of cash and equity in Dell, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The move will mark the culmination of a strategic ... More »
