RESTAURANT CHAINS: THE CASUALTY LIST. The pandemic and resulting economic shutdown damaged about 110,000 restaurants in the U.S., estimated by the National Restaurant Association. Among the popular chains that sank into bankruptcy: Bar Louie. “The Original Gastrobar” serving upscale food and drinks; Bamboo Sushi. West Coast chain where the sushi was sustainable but not the...
Tag: apr 27 2021
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NESTLÉ NEARING PURCHASE OF VITAMIN MAKER
Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, is in discussions to buy Bountiful Co., maker of protein bars, Nature’s Bounty and Puritan’s Pride vitamins, and Osteo Bi-Flex joint-care supplements, among other nutrition-related items. Nestlé, with about $9.4 billion in cash on hand at 2020’s end and a market value of almost $340 billion, is moving aggressively...
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BLACKSTONE GOBBLING UP INDIA’S STORAGE SPACE
Blackstone Group, the largest owner of India’s office buildings, will spend $720 million to buy 3.5 million square feet of warehouse space and development sites that could sprout another 18 million square feet, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Blackstone has set its sights on online shopping’s growth in the country, the WSJ said. E-commerce...
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ECB: MORE MONETARY METHADONE
The European Central Bank (ECB) will continue its bond-buying stimulus program unchanged and will leave it in place longer than the U.S. Federal Reserve continues its spending spree, bank president Christine Lagarde said at a 22 April news conference reported by the Wall Street Journal following bank officials’ monthly meeting. The bank will hold its...
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HIGHER GAS TAX COMING
Giving themselves a name that only a comic book series could invent, “The Problem-Solvers Caucus,” a gang of 58 Washington politicians issued a report that suggests raising gas taxes so the workers of Slavelandia could help pay the $2.3-trillion cost of President Biden’s infrastructure proposal. The federal gas tax has been fixed at 18.4 cents...
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LEVERAGED MEGA-BUYOUTS BACK IN FASHION
With the COVID War ending and the economy reviving, the “Bigs” are ready to shower cash on leveraged buyouts priced at $10 billion or more. CVC Capital Partners has bid $20 billion for Toshiba, the Japanese conglomerate that makes everything from hard drives to escalators. Medline Industries has hired Goldman Sachs to find it a...
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SUPPLY-CHAIN DISRUPTIONS SLAM SMALL BUSINESSES
Forty-four percent of 800 U.S. small businesses surveyed by research firm Vistage Worldwide reported running short of supplies or experiencing other disruptions in their supply chains. Among examples cited by the Wall Street Journal: a Colorado manufacturer is altering its manufacturing process to accommodate a lack of plastic; an Oklahoma restaurant paid $200 instead of...
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COMMERCIAL LANDLORDS SCRAMBLING
Before the COVID War, owners of office blocks leased to single or a few major tenants counted their blessings: they had fewer tenants to deal with, bigger companies were more likely to pay rent on time, and more likely to sign long-term leases. That all instantly flipped when COVID arrived and people stopped commuting and...
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EXISTING HOME SALES SLIPPING
Completed sales of existing homes in March fell 3.7 percent from February to an annualized rate of 6.01 million, the second straight month of decline and the slowest since last August, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. March sales were still 12.3 percent above those of the previous March when the COVID pandemic was...