Global mergers and acquisitions plunged to a decade low last year, with $2.9 trillion in deal value announced, down 17% from 2022. Dealmakers mostly stayed on the sidelines as they grappled with higher inflation, rising interest rates, increased regulatory scrutiny, and market uncertainty, while potential sellers remained anchored to previous, richer valuations. Activity among private equity (PE) buyers declined last year after accounting for nearly 25% of all buyouts in the previous two years as tighter financing conditions and higher interest rates made completing leveraged buyouts more difficult. In Canada, of the 441 completed transactions last year, most were bolt-ons…
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By Krishn Kaushik PRANPURA, India (Reuters) – An Indian ex-official charged by the U.S. with directing a murder-for-hire plot has dismissed the allegations, his family said, expressing shock that Vikash Yadav was wanted by the FBI. Yadav, 39, described the claims as false media reports when he spoke to his cousin, Avinash Yadav, the relative told Reuters on Saturday in their ancestral village about 100 km (60 miles) from the capital New Delhi. The U.S. Department of Justice charged Yadav with leading an unsuccessful plot to murder Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun last year. Yadav was an official of…
(Reuters) -GQG Partners, one of Spanish bank BBVA’s biggest shareholders, has sold its stake over the bank’s decision to pursue a hostile bid for domestic rival Banco Sabadell, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.GQG had decided to sell up by July, having told BBVA’s management team that it believed the Sabadell bid would be too time consuming and distracting, while also diluting its exposure to emerging markets, the FT report said.Neither GQG, nor BBVA nor Sabadell immediately responded to a Reuters request for comment.BBVA presented a 12.23 billion euro ($13.29 billion) takeover bid for its smaller rival in April, which…
Image source: Getty Images Just when I thought the Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR) share price had finally run out of gas, it started climbing again. It rose another 7.36% over the last week, having been swept up in the excitement over the surprise drop in September’s inflation figure to 1.7%. I’m still impressed to see Rolls-Royce shares power upwards. This is a stock that has grown 163.91% over 12 months and 695.03% over two years. How can it have any fuel left in the tank after that? Transformative CEO Tufan Erginbilgiç has given the company new thrust, but even he couldn’t…
Image source: Getty Images The S&P 500 has been on fire lately. From a low of 3,583 just two years ago, the US blue-chip index has surged to 5,841 (as I write). That’s a mind-boggling gain of 63% in just 24 months! I’d be over the moon to get that from a single stock, never mind a large-cap index. What’s going on? A number of factors have come together to produce this stellar performance, including the avoidance of a US recession and the anticipation of falling interest rates. However, the fuel on the fire has been the rise of generative…
Image source: Getty Images Having a small Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) or other types of retirement savings seems to be a common problem. At age 55, the average pension savings sits at £37,600, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. And while that’s certainly better than nothing, following the 4% rule, it only translates to a retirement income of £1,504 a year. That’s not great. But the good news is that even at 55, it’s still not too late to meaningfully grow this pension pot by 65. So if I were in my mid-50s with a…
Backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government, U.S. Treasuries bonds have long been viewed as the gold standard in safe investments.In times of uncertainty, economic downturns, or full-blown crises, investors have flocked to Treasuries as a haven. But what if actual gold is the new gold standard for a safe investment?Analysts at Bank of America asked that question in a note on Wednesday, explaining that the outlook for U.S. debt is bullish for the precious metal.With debt as a share of GDP set to break record highs in the coming years, the Treasury Department has to…
By Supantha Mukherjee STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Eutelsat, the world’s third-biggest satellite operator by revenue, launched 20 satellites for its communications network on Sunday, using Elon Musk’s SpaceX in its first move since the merger of two European companies last year. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off with Eutelsat satellites from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 0513 GMT. “This is the first OneWeb launch of the satellites since the merger,” CEO Eva Berneke told Reuters in an interview. “We will be launching more satellites over the coming years.” The Paris-based group formed by the merger in September last year…
CNBC introduces you to the characters driving billions of dollars in deals off the F1 circuit, in the first of episode of this season of ‘Inside Track: The Business of Formula 1.’In the high-octane world of Formula One, success is driven by more than just talented drivers and engineers. F1’s dealmakers have brokered billions of dollars in revenue off the circuit, generating cash from several places, including media rights, ticket sales, merchandising and sponsorship.”Racing today is not enough. Our main source of success is because we are able to connect with our fans, understanding that we are a worldwide business,” said…
Image source: Getty Images Stock markets have performed strongly this year, with the S&P 500 soaring to new heights and the FTSE 100 not far off a fresh record. This is great news for the millions of people with Stocks and Shares ISAs. Yet I still think there are promising opportunities about today, especially when adopting a multi-year outlook. Here’s a pair of stocks I’d buy right now if I had 10 grand sitting in my ISA account. The world’s largest contract chipmaker They say that Nvidia’s the picks and shovels play for the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. That’s not…