Investors including Warburg Pincus plan to take 58.com private for $8.7 bln, a deal announced just days after a group led by Tencent agreed to buy out Bitauto. Both acquisitions offer the U.S.-listed Chinese outfits an easy exit from an unwelcoming mar…
Companies are issuing equity at a record pace, bringing some $2.5 bln in fees to investment banks that facilitate offerings. Central banks are to thank, as $15 trln in capital injections have sent investors searching for yield in risky places, says Lau…
Zambia is in talks with creditors to restructure its debt. That will force the IMF and private Eurobond holders to sit down for the first time alongside China, the continent’s biggest creditor. Ed Cropley explains how the outcome could set some awkward…
The “Lipstick effect”, coined by an Estee Lauder chairman, was meant to forecast economic downturns from women buying cheaper cosmetics over pricier things like shoes. Masked faces after the pandemic mean the idea needs a makeover. Karen Kwok suggests …
Just Eat Takeaway.com nabbed its U.S. food-delivery counterpart in a $7 bln deal as Uber dithered. There are some benefits including a low regulatory hurdle. But as Jennifer Saba explains, there are unappetizing aspects like small cost savings and skep…
Offices aren’t going away – if anything, companies will need more space. Neither are malls, as retailers marry the shopping experience with online fulfillment. These are just two predictions Bruce Flatt, head of Brookfield Asset Management, made in an …
Airlines are being rescued by governments and buyout funds as Covid-19 weighs on travel. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific was the latest to be saved on Tuesday, announcing a $5 bln, state-led recapitalisation. It’s a dicey deal amid the city’s unrest, Alec M…
IBM is stopping sales of controversial software that can recognize faces. Doing so will win it plaudits, but Robert Cyran explains why the low cost to Big Blue due to competition and potential regulation helped the decision.
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker is walking a tightrope in Hong Kong. The $108 bln bank must placate China’s government, which is exerting more control over HSBC’s ancestral home, while keeping U.S. and UK regulators on side. As Liam Proud argues, there are n…
Democracy advocates in Hong Kong mourned victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on Thursday. U.S. politicians are mulling sanctions as Beijing tightens its grip on the city, but they sabotage their credibility by deploying troops against American pr…