Grifols SA, a Spanish chemical and pharmaceutical giant, will buy a controlling stake in Germany’s Biotest AG for €1.6 billion, the companies announced. Like Grifols, Biotest manufactures blood plasma products. Grifols will pay €43 a share to acquire Biotest shares owned by Tiancheng International Investment, based in Hong Kong, which would give Grifols 89.88 percent...
Tag: sept 21 2021
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HUTCHINSON, OOREDOO MERGE INDONESIAN TELECOM OPERATIONS
Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchinson is merging its Indonesian telecommunications business with that of Qatar’s Ooredoo Group in a $6-billion marriage, according to the Financial Times. The companies will each own half of the new Ooredoo Hutchinson Asia, which, in turn, will own 65.6 percent of the new entity, to be called Indosat Ooredoo Hutchinson....
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TRANSUNION FINALIZING $3.1 BILLION DEAL FOR NEUSTAR’
TransUnion, one of the three major U.S. credit bureaus, is in final negotiations to buy Neustar, a closely-held firm providing data analysis and cybersecurity services to a range of industries and Internet platforms, for $3.1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. The sale could be finalized imminently, insiders told the WSJ. The deal would help...
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FOX, NEWS CORP CONTINUE STRING OF ACQUISITIONS
Fox Corp. and News Corp, its parent, are continuing to gobble their way through the world’s media menu, adding more than 20 properties for almost $7 billion since Lachlan Murdoch took leadership of the company from his father, Rupert, in 2019. Last week, Fox grabbed website TMZ, dedicated to celebrity gossip, for something less than...
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GOLDMAN PAYS $2.2 BILLION FOR SPECIALTY LENDER
Goldman Sachs has continued its buying spree by agreeing to pay $2.2 billion, or about $12 a share, for GreenSky Inc., which makes loans for major one-time purchases such as kitchen remodeling or medical procedures. GreenSky works with big-box retailers, medical providers, and others to offer loans that it says are cheaper than credit card...
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CHINA’S REAL ESTATE MARKET TEETERS ON EVERGRANDE’S DEBT
Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, with 200,000 employees and more than 1,300 residential developments across the country, owes $300 billion and has warned investors that it might have no alternative but to default. That announcement brought investors literally to the company’s doors, demanding their money back, and jolted analysts and the real estate industry to...
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VIRUS, WEATHER TRIP CHINA’S CONSUMER SPENDING
Tighter regulation of the housing and tech markets, flooding during the vacation season, and China’s declared “zero tolerance” policy toward the Delta virus slowed the country’s consumer spending to a growth rate of 2.5 percent in August, about $534 billion worth, year on year, compared to July’s 8.5 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported. The...
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MANHATTAN’S COMMERCIAL REAL CRASH
In the depths of 2020’s crisis, roughly 19 percent of Manhattan’s office space—about 47.4 million square feet—stood empty. More millions of retail space went vacant as restaurants were shut down and shops that depended on commuters and tourists went dark. Things are not significantly better now. The Delta virus has kept away the customers that...
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AMAZON TAKEOVER EXPANDS
After opening about 250 warehouses in the U.S. this year, Amazon will open another 100 this month, bringing distribution even closer to every American home, and adding another 125,000 blue-collar workers, the company announced. The company will entice new workers in a tight labor market by raising the average wage in its merchandise caverns to...
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FED ETHICS? FU!
Some say that one meaning of Shakespeare’s phrase “Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion” is that those in a position of power and influence should take special care to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. But perhaps some Federal Reserve officials, including even Chairman Jerome Powell, never studied Shakespeare. CNBC reports, on 17 September, that...