Most of Europe’s electrical equipment manufacturers, and about half of the continent’s computer, machinery, and rubber makers, report shortages of crucial materials. Eighty-three percent of German businesses reported price hikes or delivery snafus with raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods in August, according to a survey by DIHK. Sixty percent of Europe’s car makers...
Tag: sept 14 2021
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PFIZER BUYS CANCER BIOTECH FIRM FOR $2.26 BILLION
Drug giant Pfizer has offered $18.50 a share in an attempt to buy all shares of Trillium Therapeutics, a firm with two trials under way for drugs that spark the immune system to attack blood cancers, including leukemia and multiple myeloma. Pfizer’s offer places a value on Trillium of about $2.26 billion, a 118-percent premium...
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PAYPAL PAYS $2.7 BILLION FOR JAPANESE BUY-NOW-PAY-LATER APP
Online payments pioneer Paypal will buy Paidy, a Japanese buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) app, in a mostly-cash, $2.7-billion deal, the Financial Times reported. Paidy launched its delayed-payments app only last year. It allows its six million users to spread payments over three equal monthly installments with no interest. The idea is a novelty in a country that...
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WESTERN DIGITAL IN TALKS TO MERGE WITH JAPANESE CHIP MAKER
Western Digital, a $19-billion U.S. chip company in San Jose, is in advanced talks to merge with Japan’s Kioxia, The Wall Street Journal reported. (See our early coverage in “Competitors Mull Purchase of Chip-Maker Kioxia,” 25 Apr 2021). Although the talks are well along, Western Digital could still decide to make an initial public stock...
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M&A SPREE CONTINUES AS THE BIGS GET BIGGER, RICH GET RICHER
From 1 January through August this year, companies, private equity firms, and special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have announced mergers and purchases worth more than $3.6 trillion worldwide, with about half—more than $1.8 trillion—in the U.S., data firm Dealogic reported. Refinitiv, another research firm, pegs the total at $3.9 trillion, up from $2.6 trillion in 2019...
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ICU MEDICAL BUYS SMITHS GROUP FOR $2.7 BILLION
British engineering conglomerate Smiths Group will sell its Smiths Medical division to California-based ICU Medical for $2.7 billion after rejecting a $2.3-billion bid from private equity firm TA Associates, the Financial Times reported. The deal will leave Smiths with about an extra $50 million in cash, with the company’s stockholders owning 10 percent of the...
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INVESTORS NOW TARGETING OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT HOUSING
Blackstone, Brookfield Asset Management, and other private equity firms are investing billions to create or buy upscale off-campus housing for college students now that the institutions are unlocking their classrooms, according to The Wall Street Journal. Deals involving student housing totaled $2.52 billion during the first six months of this year, compared to $1.68 billion...
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RENTS SOAR AS INVESTORS BUY PROPERTIES AND RAISE RATES
From January through July, U.S. residential rental rates shot up 13 percent, more than double the rate of inflation and the greatest jump in five years, according to Yardi Matrix, which collects and analyzes real estate data. Rents have been pushed up, in no small measure, because investors ranging from private individuals to private equity...
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DELTA VARIANT THROWS WRENCH INTO AIRLINES’ HOPES OF POST-COVID-19 REBOUND
Companies that rely on business travel—including airlines and hotels—have suffered in recent weeks due to the emergence of the COVID-19 Delta variant and the decision by many firms to step back from sending their employees on business trips. “I’d say it’s a pause, as compared to continued growth. That said, we understand why it’s paused,”...
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WELLS FARGO: SLAP ON THE WRIST FOR COMING MORE CRIMES
Wells Fargo, the third largest U.S. bank by deposits, was handed a $250-million fine and a hard verbal spanking by the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last week. The bank was cited for “unsafe or unsound practice” in making home loans, including inadequate controls, ineffective governance, and errors that harmed its customers,...