September, 2017

• 5 September

  Angry Birds maker plans IPO that may value it at $2 billion

  

  ­­­­­­­­­­­Bloomberg Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment Oy plans to sell shares in a Helsinki initial public offering, seeking funds to support its resurgence seven years after releasing its best-selling mobile-game title. Main owner Kaj Hed, 62, and some other holders will sell shares, and Rovio will offer about $36 million of new stock, the company said Tuesday, without providing a ...

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• 5 September

  UK economy halts as services weaken, consumers struggle

  

  Bloomberg Britain’s economy is failing to recharge after slowing sharply in the first half of the year. IHS Markit said its latest round of industry surveys suggest growth of about 0.3 percent this quarter, matching the pace of the previous three months. It published the forecast after its gauge of services, the biggest part of the economy, indicated the slowest ...

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• 5 September

  Schneider eyeing market leadership again at Aveva deal

  

  Bloomberg After two failed attempts in as many years, Schneider Electric SE is betting a deal to combine its industrial software business with the UK’s Aveva Group Plc will create a market leader in programs to design and operate power plants and factories. Schneider and Aveva unveiled on Tuesday an agreement by which the French company will receive a 60 ...

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• 5 September

  Apple returns to debt market to fund buybacks, dividends

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. is selling bonds again to finance its current round of share buybacks and dividends. The iPhone maker is offering the debt in as many as five parts, according to a filing. The longest portion of the sale, a 30-year security, may yield 1.125 percentage points above Treasuries, down from initial talk of around 1.25 percentage points, according ...

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• 5 September

  Symantec chief open to industry-shaking deal

  

  Bloomberg Symantec isn’t done making deals. The 35-year-old cybersecurity company, which completed two multibillion-dollar acquisitions over the past 14 months, is open to another large purchase after a period of paying down debt and proving to Wall Street it can meet growth targets, Chief Executive Officer Greg Clark said. “There are things that could absolutely change everything in the industry ...

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• 5 September

  Houston Rockets gets sold for $2.2bn

  

  Bloomberg Houston restaurateur Tilman Fertitta is buying the Houston Rockets for $2.2 billion, according to people familiar with the deal. The price would be a new high for the National Basketball Association, breaking the $2 billion Steve Ballmer paid for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014. Rockets owner Les Alexander announced in July that he was selling the franchise, which ...

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• 5 September

  Falling research prices ‘headache’ for MiFID

  

  Bloomberg Falling research prices under MiFID II are leaving asset managers with a problem: the risk of being accused of taking inducements for cheap analysis. The European Union’s regulatory overhaul will force buyside firms to justify the price they pay for analysis once its cost is unbundled from other services such as trading commissions. With banks in the midst of ...

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• 5 September

  China central bank ban unable to solve legal puzzle of cryptocurrency sales

  

  Bloomberg With a blanket ban on initial coin offerings, China has sidestepped an issue plaguing regulators worldwide: are such tokens securities? A cross between crowdfunding and an initial public offering, ICOs—which have raised at least $1.25 billion globally so far —are the sale of tokens based on the blockchain, the technology underlying bitcoin. While they at least ostensibly promise the ...

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• 5 September

  Yuan rekindles hope for Dim Sum bond market

  Bloomberg A record rally in the offshore yuan is rekindling hope for the Dim Sum bond market. With China’s currency defying North Korea tensions to be Asia’s top performer over the past month, that bodes well for yuan-denominated debt sold in Hong Kong, according to BOC International Holdings Ltd. The Dim Sum market has been under pressure since 2015, when ...

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• 5 September

  Moody’s cuts Oman banking outlook on weaker support

  Bloomberg The outlook for Oman’s banking sector was cut to negative by Moody’s Investors Service to reflect a reduction in the government’s ability to support the country’s banks, weaker economic growth and tightening liquidity. “We expect a softening in Oman’s operating environment, with fiscal consolidation amid prolonged oil price weakness weighing on economic growth,” Moody’s analyst Mik Kabeya said. “This ...

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