the bottomline
LOS ANGELES: Music streaming leader Spotify has raised $1 billion in debt as it looks to buy companies that could accelerate its growth before listing shares on the public market within the next couple of years, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The war chest was raised through convertible bonds sold to private equity firm TPG, hedge fund Dragoneer Investment Group and others, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn’t closed yet.
Along with some $600 million in cash on its books now, the funds put several acquisition targets in Spotify’s sights: competing streaming companies like Deezer, Tidal or Pandora; or connected speaker companies such as Sonos. It’s possible no acquisition will happen. (AP)
NEW YORK: Pfizer says the US Federal Trade Commission has requested more information about its planned acquisition of rival drugmaker Allergan in a deal aimed at reducing Pfizer’s tax bill.
Pfizer, the biggest US-based drugmaker, said Wednesday the “second request” was expected as part of regulators’ review.
The maker of Viagra says it continues to work cooperatively with the FTC. Pfizer still expects to complete the record $160 billion combination in the second half of 2016.
The deal, announced last November, would move Pfizer Inc.’s official headquarters for tax purposes from New York to Allergan’s base in Ireland. (AP)
NEW YORK: McDonald’s said Thursday it plans to open more than 1,500 restaurants in China, Hong Kong and South Korea over the next five years and wants partners in the Asia expansion.
The US fast-food giant has more than 2,800 restaurants in the three markets, most of which are company-owned. Worldwide, more than 80 percent are owned and operated by independent local people, and the company’s longterm goal is to be 95 percent franchised.
“Asia represents a significant area of opportunity for McDonald’s to blend our global quality standards with local insights and expertise from partners who share our vision and values,” said Steve Easterbrook, McDonald’s president and chief executive, in a statement. (AFP)
WASHINGTON: MetLife has won a major legal challenge to the government’s policy for preventing another financial crisis, as a federal judge tossed out its designation by regulators that its failure would pose a threat to the financial system.
MetLife Inc, the largest US insurance company by assets, took the government to court more than a year ago to appeal its labeling by the Financial Stability Oversight Council as “systemically important” and requiring stricter supervision. That meant regulators deemed MetLife to be so big and entwined with the financial system that it could threaten the economy if it collapsed.
US District Judge Rosemary Collyer issued an order Wednesday removing the designation of New York-based MetLife. (AP)
LONDON: British nanotechnology company Nanoco Group Plc said on Thursday that its full-year revenue would be less than expected due to lower royalty payments from Dow Chemical Co after the two amended a licence agreement.
Nanoco’s shares fell as much as 8 percent to 42.28 pence in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.
The company partnered with Dow Chemical in 2014, giving the US company exclusive right to use its cadmium-free quantum dot technology to mass produce quantum dots.
Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals, 10,000 times finer than a human hair, that can convert electrical energy into light and be manipulated to produce precise colours in display. (RTRS)
LONDON: Chesnara Plc, an insurance-focused takeover specialist, reported a nearly 50 percent rise in full-year pretax profit, helped by its acquisition of Dutch company Waard Group last year.
Chesnara, which mainly buys life insurance funds closed to new customers, said IFRS pretax profit rose to 42.8 million pounds ($61.3 million) 2015, from 28.8 million pounds a year earlier.
On the new European capital rules for insurers that came into effect in January, Chesnara said its Solvency II ratio was 146 percent. A ratio of 100 percent means that an insurer has set aside enough capital to meet underwriting, investment and operational risks.
Gross cash generation rose to 44.2 million pounds in the year from 42.6 million pounds a year earlier. The acquisition of the Waard Group added a further 39.9 million pounds of cash, Chesnara said. (RTRS)
FRANKFURT: Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest lender, said Thursday that its former chief executive Rolf Breuer agreed to pay it 3.2 million euros ($3.6 million) after comments he made in 2002 triggered a long and bitter legal battle.
In an invitation to its annual shareholder meeting on May 19, Deutsche Bank said that the sum — to be paid personally by Breuer — would be added to a total 90 million euros being paid out to the bank from Breuer’s liability insurance contracts.
Deutsche Bank is seeking shareholder approval for the settlement at the May 19 AGM.
In a long and bitter legal battle dating back to 2002, media magnate Leo Kirch, who died in 2011 at the age of 84, had been suing Deutsche Bank for more than 3.0 billion euros. (AFP)
PARIS: France’s telecom giants Orange and Bouygues said Thursday they had pushed back a decision on whether to go ahead with the sale of Bouygues Telecom to Orange, sending Bouygues shares sharply lower.
The two rivals will now give themselves until the end of the weekend after noting that talks had not advanced enough to reach a decision by Thursday’s initial target date.
Shares in Bouygues closed 3.6 percent lower at 35.85 euros on the Paris stock exchange following the announcement, while Orange shares fell 1.3 percent to 15.39. (AFP) HONG KONG/SHANGHAI: A unit of China’s Guosen Securities, one of the country’s largest brokerages, denied a Financial Times report it had defaulted on a Hong Kong-traded yuan bond and said the keep well deed supporting the bond continued to be in effect.
In a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the brokerage said: “The Issuer is confident that it will be able to fully comply with its payment obligations in respect of the bonds.”
It added that the bond’s trustees, the Bank of New York Mellon, Hong Kong Branch, had issued a notice to bondholders on Thursday stating that no event of default under the bonds had occurred.