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Biotech M&A rolls on as Alexion snaps up Wilson for $855 million

Reuters Alexion Pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy Sweden’s Wilson Therapeutics for 7.1 billion Swedish crowns ($855 million), boosting its line-up of rare disease drugs as a wave of deal-making in the biotechnology sector continues. The US group is acquiring the business through a cash tender offer worth 232 crowns per share, a premium of 70 percent compared to the closing ...

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US poised to wrap AT&T merger case

Bloomberg US antitrust enforcers are set to conclude their case against AT&T Inc.’s proposed takeover of Time Warner Inc. as their economic expert — a critical witness for the government — is scheduled to take the stand on Wednesday. Professor Carl Shapiro from the University of California at Berkeley will testify that AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner would raise costs ...

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Volkswagen to give unions management board seat

BERLIN / Reuters Volkswagen will give labour leaders a management board seat as part of a broad agreement to win approval for Herbert Diess as the German carmaker’s new chief executive, sources said on Wednesday. Europe’s largest automotive group is poised to replace group chief executive Matthias Mueller this week with Diess, a cost-cutter hired in 2015 from BMW as ...

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Trump’s trade war pushes Europe towards China’s Xi

The trade fight between the US and China is posing a dilemma to the European Union: Should the world’s largest trading bloc pick a side? And, if so, which one? In theory, the US is the more natural ally for Europe: The two have cooperated closely since the end of World War II, building the multilateral institutions which are now ...

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Don’t rule out a yuan devaluation

Don’t relax yet: A potential yuan devaluation is still very much on the table. Currency traders sighed with relief after Chinese President Xi Jinping moved to ease trade tensions with the US, reiterating pledges to open the country’s economy further and cautioning against a cold-war mentality and zero-sum thinking. The yuan had weakened for the four previous days, with jitters ...

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Meddle with European banks’ senior bonds at your peril

European regulators are breaking something that didn’t need fixing. By pushing banks to issue senior non-preferred debt instead of traditional senior bonds, they risk inadvertently shutting many of the region’s neediest lenders out of the funding market. The securities are senior in name only — they can be turned into equity in the event of a catastrophe in the same ...

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Europe’s planned digital tax is indeed a bad idea

The European Commission’s proposed tax on digital services is intended to make companies such as Google and Uber pay more. The idea is that such firms are gaming the rules at the expense of other taxpayers. The issue is real and needs to be addressed — but the answer under discussion breaks with both established international practice and plain common ...

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Lessons on financial-market bubbles from the Bitcoin

The recent Bitcoin bubble wasn’t the first, and it might not be the last. Once in 2011 and twice in 2013, the price soared and then crashed: And again: One more time: Each peak was bigger than the last. If you think there will be another, even bigger bubble somewhere down the line, then maybe any losses you took in ...

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Tesco has a $5.7bn question hanging over its head

Tesco Plc, Britan’s biggest grocer, has completed its 4 billion pound ($5.7 billion) purchase of cash-and-carry chain Booker Group Plc. But investors hoping for more super-savings from the retail deal have to wait a little bit longer. That’s not to sniff at the 28 percent increase in Tesco’s full-year operating profit before exceptional items, nor the almost 30 percent reduction ...

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Why Zuckerberg is winning the Facebook hearings

Mark Zuckerberg did just fine in his first turn in the Congressional hot seat. He was confident. He capably tackled many of the queries proposed last week by Bloomberg columnists. The 33-year-old billionaire appeared humble throughout much of the hearing, with only a few smug smiles. The best news for Facebook Inc. the company was that Zuckerberg ably deflected any ...

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