While leveraged buyouts struggle, one corner of private equity just keeps on going — the pursuit of infrastructure assets such as airports, gas pipelines and broadband networks. Combine strong demand for these inflation-proof businesses with rising borrowing costs, and the risk of overpaying for deals is rising. The Italian billionaire Benetton family and Blackstone Inc clinched an agreement to ...

  In recent months, the Federal Reserve has taken a lot of heat from asset managers for letting inflation run out of control and now risking a recession with rapid rate hikes. The chorus of complaints revolves around its perception in the marketplace. “If the Fed doesn’t do its job, the market will,” wrote Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square ...

Bloomberg London Heathrow is imposing a two-month cap on daily passenger traffic to contain flight chaos, a dramatic response by the UK’s busiest airport to address the struggle with surging demand for travel. The airport will limit daily passenger traffic to 100,000 departing people through September 11, asking carriers to refrain from selling summer tickets. Current forecasts are modeling for ...

Bloomberg Air France-KLM’s French low-cost carrier, Transavia, cancelled 15% of flights amid a dispute with cabin crew, exacerbating the chaos engulfing European air travel. Dozens of the company’s flights from Paris-Orly airport were not operating, according to the SNPNC union, which had called for strike action over wages. The labour group refused to sign a deal agreed to with other ...

  Bloomberg South Africa’s minister in charge of embattled state-owned companies gave an impassioned defense of the sale of a majority stake in the national carrier for about $3 — a deal that’s subject to a lawsuit from one of the spurned bidders. The privatisation of South African Airways (SAA) is a vital reform for the country’s battered economy, Public ...

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc’s Prime Day sale is luring bargain hunters looking to stock up on pantry items and cheap electronics despite a dearth of deals. Typical household spending was $88.28 as of noon New York time, up 20% from the early hours of the previous sale last June, according to Numerator, which is tracking Prime Day spending from 973 ...

  Bloomberg Wm Morrison Supermarkets’ planned takeover of struggling UK convenience store-chain McColl’s Retail Group Plc will get a formal antitrust probe from Britain’s competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had officially kicked off a merger inquiry into the deal to see whether it would result in a lessening of competition in the UK groceries market, ...

  Bloomberg Sephora, the cosmetics retailer owned by LVMH, agreed to sell its Russian subsidiary, making it the latest brand to pull out of the country following its invasion of Ukraine. LVMH is selling Sephora’s Russia business to the local general manager, the company said. In early March, the group temporarily closed its Russian stores. Sephora’s exit comes as European ...

Bloomberg Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country for the Maldives on a military aircraft, an air force spokesman said on television, hours ahead of his expected resignation on Wednesday. The Sri Lankan Air Force provided an aircraft for the 73-year-old leader to leave the country following a decision by the security council, Air Force spokesman Group Captain Dushan ...

  Bloomberg Sri Lanka had to impose emergency rule because it received intelligence reports that attempts were on to take over the PM’s office and air force chief’s house, Prime Minister and Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe said in a televised address Wednesday. Speaking on a private TV channel — after protesters took control of the state broadcaster and prime minister’s ...