the bottomline
DUBAI:
DAMAC Properties, Dubai’s second-largest developer, has priced at par a $500 million sukuk with a fiveyear tenor and a profit rate of 6.25 percent, a document issued by one of the banks leading the deal showed on Tuesday.
The Regulation S, senior unsecured Islamic bond was priced with a spread of 430.3 basis points over mid-swaps.
BofA Merrill Lynch, Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC and VTB Capital are the joint bookrunners. (RTRS)
DUBAI:
United Arab Emirates-based Aster DM Healthcare has agreed a $295 million credit facility with India’s Axis Bank, the healthcare company said in a statement.
Aster had a $276 million loan outstanding with a consortium of eight banks, and it had drawn $176 million out of that facility, it said.
The new loan offers “attractive terms and conditions, which the existing consortium of eight banks are unable to match,” the statement said. (RTRS)
LOS ANGELES:
Chinese online video and consumer electronics upstart LeEco won’t be acquiring US TV manufacturer Vizio after all: Both companies officially announced Monday that the deal is being called off “due to regulatory headwinds.”
Both companies said that they still intend to work together in some capacity, with plans including an app partnership as well as closer collaboration in China. A LeEco spokesperson also told Variety that calling off the acquisition won’t have any impact on LeEco’s other US businesses.
LeEco had officially announced plans to acquire Vizio for $2 billion in cash last July as a way to kickstart its expansion into North America. However, the deal had yet to be approved by Chinese regulators, and sources indicated in recent months that LeEco was affected by tighter regulations to get Chinese capital out of the country. (RTRS)
LOS ANGELES:
AMC Theaters and IMAX Corp have signed a new joint revenue-sharing arrangement which will see the premium large screen format installed in an additional 25 AMCowned cinemas across Europe. The deal is the largest single European agreement in IMAX’s history and more than doubles AMC’s current IMAX-footprint in Europe to a total of 47 theaters.
The deal was jointly announced Tuesday morning in London by IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond and AMC CEO Adam Aron, which Gelfond said the pair had finalized the previous day. It will see new IMAX theaters installed across the AMC-owned Odeon Cinemas Group and Nordic Cinema Group in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia, making AMC IMAX’s largest exhibition partner in Europe. (RTRS)
LONDON:
Britain’s JD Sports Fashion Plc posted a 55 percent rise in full-year headline pretax profit as demand for leisurewear products remained firm.
JD Sports, which alongside its core sports retail business runs fashion and outdoor retail outlets such as Scotts and Blacks, said headline profit before tax and exceptional items rose to a record 244.8 million pounds ($304 million) from 157.1 million a year earlier.
Like-for-like store sales at its core sports fashion business rose 10 percent but the company said it was “unreasonable” to expect like-for-like sales growth
to be maintained at this level.
The company, which rivals Mike Ashley-owned Sports Direct in Britain, warned that external influences, such as inflationary pressures arising from Brexit, may impact trading in the latter part of the year. (RTRS)
LONDON:
Royal Dutch Shell has said it knew that some of the payments it made to Nigeria for the rights to an oilfield would go to Malabu Oil and Gas,a company associated with a former Nigerian oil minister and convicted money launderer.
Shell spokesman Andy Norman said the group had known the Nigerian government “would compensate Malabu to settle its claim on the block”. Shell previously had said only that its payments from the 2011 deal went to the Nigerian government.
In an email to Reuters, Norman said that while Shell knew that former oil minister Dan Etete was “involved” with Malabu, it had not confirmed that he controlled the company. (RTRS)
BERLIN:
Shares in Britishheadquartered Dialog Semiconductor plunged on Tuesday after an analyst downgrade that cited uncertainty over the future of its relationship with Apple.
Shares in the firm were down 14.6 percent to 40.80 euros ($43.19) in late trading in Frankfurt, where Dialog Semiconductor is listed. They regained some ground after earlier dropping as low as 30.60 euros.
The selling followed an analyst note from Bankhaus Lampe that downgraded Dialog to “sell”. It said there appeared to be “strong evidence” that Apple is developing its own power management chip for the iPhone and “intends to replace the chip made by Dialog at least in part.” (AP)
AMSTERDAM:
The CEO of AkzoNobel , the Dutch paints and coatings maker whose management is trying to avoid a takeover by US rival PPG Industries, said its shareholders are divided over the bid in an interview published on Tuesday.
Akzo’s boards rejected two proposals from PPG in March, the second worth 24.6 billion euros ($26.05 billion) in cash and shares at current prices. Akzo’s shares are trading at 79.42 euros per share, well below the implied offer price of 90.57 euros per share, and most of Akzo’s top-20 largest shareholders have urged CEO Ton Buechner to enter exploratory talks with PPG.
Buechner and Chairman Antony Burgmans say there are no grounds to discuss PPG’s bid because it is too low and fails to address concerns about other stakeholders including employees. (RTRS)
AMSTERDAM: Accell Group, the maker of Dutch bicycle brands Sparta and Batavus, said on Tuesday it had received a takeover proposal that values its stock at 845 million euros ($895 million) from investor Pon Holdings.
If successful, the merger would create one of the world’s largest makers of bikes and electric bikes and bring more than a dozen brands together.
“After a detailed assessment of the strategy and performance of Accell Group, Pon Holdings has concluded there is an excellent strategic fit between the bike activities of both companies with benefits for all stakeholders. The combination results in the world’s leading global bicycle company,” Pon said in a statement. (RTRS)