June, 2018

• 20 June

  Blackstone’s first-of-a-kind India IPO confronts rate jitters

  

  Bloomberg About two years after Blackstone Group LP registered India’s first real estate investment trust, the private equity giant is close to taking it public. Rising interest rates threaten to get in the way. Blackstone and local partner Embassy Group plan to file a prospectus for an initial public offering of the REIT as early as next month, a deal ...

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• 20 June

  UK firms to face pre-Brexit tax bombshell from EU

  

  Bloomberg The European Union is on course to hand dozens of UK-based companies a pre-Brexit tax bombshell, according to people familiar with a state-aid probe that could lead to bills exceeding 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion.) A decision in the European Commission’s investigation into a controversial tax break for UK-based multinationals will be ready later this year, well before Britain’s ...

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• 20 June

  Volkswagen, Ford mull alliance to develop commercial vehicles

  

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co are considering a strategic alliance to work together on a range of commercial vehicles, a move that would enable two of the world’s largest automakers to share the burden of meeting tougher environmental rules. The potential alliance on several projects, including vans and other commercial vehicles, won’t lead to an exchange of equity ...

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• 20 June

  Fox accepts $71.3 billion Disney bid

  

  Bloomberg 21st Century Fox Inc accepted a sweetened, $71.3 billion bid from Walt Disney Co for its entertainment assets, outbidding Comcast Corp in a battle for one of the media industry’s biggest prizes. The $38-a-share price is about $10 a share higher than what Disney offered in December — and $3 above Comcast’s bid from last week. The new agreement ...

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• 20 June

  Sweden consumer confidence slides to two-year low in June

  Bloomberg Consumer confidence slid for a seventh month in Sweden amid sliding housing prices and a tumbling krona, adding to woes as the largest Nordic economy now also faces a possible trade war. The National Institute of Economic Research’s consumer confidence indicator unexpectedly slid to 96.8 in June, which is the lowest in almost two years. Swedes became more pessimistic ...

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• 20 June

  US existing-home sales unexpectedly fall on inventory woes

  

  Bloomberg Sales of previously owned US homes unexpectedly fell in May for a second month as a lack of inventory and elevated asking prices weighed on demand, National Association of Realtors (NAR) data showed. The drop in sales was led by declines in purchases of single-family homes and cheaper properties, according to NAR, indicating that the market is being driven by ...

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• 20 June

  China should listen to US trade complaints

  

  President Donald Trump and the Democrats can’t agree on anything, except one big thing: China. After the administration announced plans on June 15 to impose tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports, Charles Schumer, the Democrats’ Senate leader, called the decision “on the money.” That was a startling statement on a startling fact: China has few friends left in Washington, ...

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• 20 June

  Don’t fear this burst of biotech IPOs

  

  While everyone else is watching the World Cup, biotech bankers are keeping busy. This week will bring a bumper crop of baby biopharmas into the market, with seven expected to go public in the US — the most in more than three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The list includes companies working on cutting-edge medical research, from potentially ...

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• 20 June

  Grab should beware of car companies bearing cash

  

  Grab Holdings Inc. seems pretty pleased with itself at nabbing a $1 billion investment from Toyota Motor Corp. The idea isn’t new, but this is the biggest financing by a car company of a ride-hailing service. Grab ought to be wary of such largess in a deal that looks a bit like vendor financing. The Southeast Asian startup needn’t be ...

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• 20 June

  Trump’s misguided trade war with China

  US President Donald Trump may sincerely think he’s battling to win Americans a better deal on trade with China. In fact, he’s making a better deal harder to achieve — and threatening to inflict grave economic damage on the US economy in the process. In the past few days, Trump has dramatically cut the chances of a negotiated solution to ...

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