At the eleventh hour, KKR & Co. has clinched what is likely to be Europe’s biggest leveraged buyout of 2017. The US private equity firm’s 6.8 billon-euro ($8 billion) agreement to buy Unilever NV’s spreads business will need some full-fat ingredients to generate a decent return. The Anglo-Dutch consumer giant put the business on the block in April after Kraft ...
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Wells Fargo’s potential tax windfall is hard to ignore
For Wells Fargo & Co., is the worst over? The scandal-plagued bank’s recent stock revival suggests yes, maybe it is. But even if there are more revelations to come, there’s a good chance that the shares may hang onto its gains. While it continues to lag rivals and the benchmark US bank index since last year’s presidential election, the San ...
Read More »Janet Yellen’s legacy is trickier than it looks
Departing Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is leaving US monetary policy in pretty good shape, and her colleague and successor, Jerome Powell, can be expected to continue her record of stewardship. As always, though, the economy may have other ideas. The Fed will most likely raise interest rates another quarter-point — the latest step in a carefully laid out plan ...
Read More »Politics are dragging down Pakistan economy, again
Like much else about Pakistan, it’s often infuriatingly difficult to determine whether or not its economy is on the brink of disaster. This week, as the Pakistani rupee lost 5 percent of its value in just three days, it looked like trouble was brewing. And sure, this might be a sign of the economy slipping towards a balance-of-payments crisis. But, ...
Read More »Hong Kong’s IPO quirks undermine its New York fightback
Hong Kong’s move to allow dual-class shares should attract a wave of listings by Chinese technology companies. It won’t be enough for the city to challenge New York as the global hub for new-economy fundraising. Despite a year of hot flotations that included firms backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Hong Kong is close to being ...
Read More »Whirlpool has Washington in a spin cycle
A household appliance will be the next steppingstone on America’s path to restored greatness. The government is poised to punish many Americans, in the name of protecting a few of them, because, in the government’s opinion, too many of them are choosing to buy foreign-made washing machines for no better reason than that the buyers think they are better. If ...
Read More »Bombardier shifts focus from C Series to business jet
Bloomberg Bombardier Inc. predicted that growth in its corporate-jet unit will help offset lost revenue from handing the keys of its marquee commercial-aircraft programme to Airbus SE. Business-aircraft revenue could increase 70 percent in the next three years, Bombardier said in statement. Overall sales are expected to rise to $20 billion in 2020, down from a previous forecast of $25 ...
Read More »Delta Air scraps 400 flights in second day of Atlanta cancellations
Bloomberg Delta Air Lines Inc. and other carriers worked to get thousands of stranded passengers onto planes after a major electrical disruption in Atlanta crippled service at the world’s busiest hub, extending flight cancellations into a second day. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport still had 411 inbound and outbound cancellations on Monday after 1,183 the day before, according to FlightAware, a ...
Read More »Ryanair’s Irish pilots suspend strike after union recognition
Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc’s Irish pilots suspended a planned strike, after Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier agreed to recognise their labour union. The Irish company wrote to pilot organisations in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal inviting each of them to talks “to recognise these unions as the representative body for pilots in Ryanair in each of these countries,†...
Read More »ANA seeks Myanmar venture after failed attempts
Bloomberg ANA Holdings Inc. is attempting to set up a venture in Myanmar for the third time after previous efforts collapsed, as Japan’s largest carrier seeks to capture demand in one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies. “We’re going to find a new partner again,†Shinya Katanozaka, chief executive officer of ANA Holdings, said in an interview in Tokyo. “Even though this ...
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