People play “Pokemon GO” on the Pokequan GoBoat Adventure Cruise in the Occoquan River in the small town of Occoquan, Virginia, U.S. August 14, 2016. REUTERS/Sait Serkan GurbuzRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Eva Mathews and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru, Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Mike HarrisonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .
Aug 9 (Reuters) – Gaming software company AppLovin Corp (APP.O) made an offer on Tuesday to buy its peer Unity Software Inc (U.N) in a $17.54 billion all-stock deal, threatening to derail Unity’s announced plan to acquire AppLovin’s smaller competitor ironSource .AppLovin has offered $58.85 for each Unity share, which represents a premium of 18% to Unity’s Monday closing price. Unity will own 55% of the combined company’s outstanding shares, representing about 49% of the voting rights.AppLovin hired advisors to work out an offer after Unity last month said it would buy ironSource in a $4.4 billion all-stock transaction, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Unity’s board will have to terminate the ironSource deal if it wants to pursue a combination with AppLovin, according to the proposal.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Under the proposed deal, Unity’s Chief Executive John Riccitiello will become CEO of the combined business, while AppLovin Chief Executive Adam Foroughi will take the role of chief operating officer.Unity said its board would evaluate the offer. The company is slated to report its earnings after the bell on Tuesday.Both companies make software used to design video games. Game-making software has also been expanding to new technologies such as the so-called metaverse, or immersive virtual worlds.Unity’s software has been used to build some of the most-played games such as “Call of Duty: Mobile,” and “Pokemon Go”, while AppLovin provides helps developers to grow and monetize their apps.AppLovin’s offer comes as game developers and console makers warn of a slowdown in the sector as decades-high inflation and easing of COVID-19 restrictions lead gamers to pick outdoor activities. The company lowered its sales guidance on Tuesday.”The deal comes as surprise to everybody in the business,” said Serkan Toto, founder of game industry consultancy Kantan Games. “It’s a $15 billion company going after a $15 billion company. It’s a desperate attempt to consolidate and the chances of this deal happening are very slim.”Shares of Palo Alto, California-based AppLovin, which went public last year, fell 9.9% while those of Unity rose 1% in the morning trading session. Shares of ironSource were down 9.7%.Foroughi said the combined company will have the potential to generate an adjusted operating profit of over $3 billion by the end of 2024.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comMitsubishi pays record premium for Vietnam oil for power generation – sources
A man walks past in front of a sign board of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, the asset management unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFG), in Tokyo, Japan July 31, 2017. REUTERS/Issei KatoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Florence Tan, Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo in Tokyo; Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .
SINGAPORE, July 20 (Reuters) – Mitsubishi Corp bought a cargo of Vietnamese crude for loading in September on behalf of Japanese utilities at a record premium for the grade, traders said on Wednesday.The purchase comes after Nippon Steel bought a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo at the highest price ever paid in Japan. The world’s No. 2 LNG importer is scrambling for power fuels as a global heatwave drives electricity demand this summer. read more “Japan has a power shortage, so it has to pay up. Other countries also have the same problem now, especially in Europe,” one of the traders said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Mitsubishi paid a premium of $21 a barrel to dated Brent for the 300,000-barrel cargo of Vietnamese Chim Sao crude, said two of the traders who regularly track the grade.That puts the cost of the cargo at about $127 a barrel based on current Brent prices, or $38.1 million.Mitsubishi does not comment on individual deals, a spokesperson said.Japan last imported Chim Sao crude in February and April, according to Refinitiv data.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWall St Week Ahead Recession fears loom over U.S. value stocks
A screen displays trading informations for stocks on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Lewis Krauskopf, additional reporting by David Randall and Ira Iosebashvili; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .
NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) – Fears of a potential economic slowdown are clouding the outlook for value stocks, which have outperformed broader indexes this year in the face of surging inflation and rising interest rates.Value stocks – commonly defined as those trading at a discount on metrics such as book value or price-to-earnings – have typically underperformed their growth counterparts over the past decade, when the S&P 500’s (.SPX) gains were driven by tech-focused giants such as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O).That dynamic shifted this year, as the Federal Reserve kicked off its first interest rate-hike cycle since 2018, disproportionately hurting growth stocks, which are more sensitive to higher interest rates. The Russell 1000 value index (.RLV) is down around 13% year-to-date, while the Russell 1000 growth index (.RLG) has fallen about 26%.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com This month, however, fears that the Fed’s monetary policy tightening could bring on a U.S. recession have shifted the momentum away from value stocks, which tend to be more sensitive to the economy. The Russell value index is up 0.7% in July, compared with a 3.4% gain for its growth-stock counterpart.”If you think we are in a recession or are going into a recession, that does not necessarily … work to the advantage of value stocks,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive at Horizon Investment Services.The nascent shift to growth stocks is one example of how investors are adjusting portfolios in the face of a potential U.S. economic downturn. BofA Global Research on Thursday cut its year-end target price for the S&P 500 to 3,600 from 4,500 previously and became the latest Wall Street bank to forecast a coming recession. read more The index closed at 3,863.16 on Friday and is down 18.95% this year.Corporate earnings arriving in force next week will give investors a better idea of how soaring inflation has affected companies’ bottom lines, with results from Goldman Sachs , Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Tesla among those on deck.For much of the year, value stocks benefited from broader market trends. Energy shares, which comprise around 7% of the Russell 1000 value index, soared over the first half of 2022, jumping along with oil prices as supply constraints for crude were exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.But energy shares along with crude prices and other commodities have tumbled in recent weeks on concerns that a recession would sap demand.A recession also stands to weigh on bank stocks, with a slowing economy hurting loan growth and increasing credit losses. Financial shares represent nearly 19% of the value index. read more An earnings beat from Citigroup, however, buoyed bank shares on Friday, with the S&P 500 banks index (.SPXBK)gaining 5.76%.At the same time, tech and other growth companies also tend to have businesses that are less cyclical and more likely able to weather a broad economic slowdown.”People pay a premium for growth stocks when growth is scarce,” said Burns McKinney, portfolio manager at NFJ Investment Group.JPMorgan analysts earlier this week wrote they believe growth stocks have a “tactical opportunity” to make up lost ground, citing cheaper valuations after this year’s sharp sell-off as one of the reasons.Value stock proponents cite many reasons for the investing style to continue its run.Growth stocks are still more expensive than value shares on a historical basis, with the Russell 1000 growth index trading at a 65% premium to its value counterpart, compared to a 35% premium over the past 20 years, according to Refinitiv Datastream.Meanwhile, earnings per share for value companies are expected to rise 15.6% this year, more than twice the rate of growth companies, Credit Suisse estimates.Data from UBS Global Wealth Management on Thursday showed value stocks tend to outperform growth stocks when inflation is running above 3% – around a third of the 9.1% annual growth U.S. consumer prices registered in June. read more Josh Kutin, head of asset allocation, North America at Columbia Threadneedle, believes a possible U.S. recession in the next year would be a mild one, leaving economically sensitive value stocks primed to outperform if growth picks up.”If I had to pick one, I’d still pick value over growth,” he said. “But that conviction has come down since the start of the year,” Kutin said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comEDF shares suspended as France prepares nationalisation plan
View of the company logo of Electricite de France (EDF) on the facade of EDF’s headquarters in Paris, France, July 7, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna GeronRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
- French government aiming to fully nationalise EDF
- State already holds an 84% stake in the group
- Utility grappling with outages and tariff caps
PARIS, July 13 (Reuters) – Shares in debt-laden EDF (EDF.PA) were suspended on Wednesday as the French government prepares to detail its plans to fully nationalise Europe’s biggest nuclear power operator.France said last week it wanted to fully nationalise EDF, in which the state already holds an 84% stake, without explaining how it would do so. In a statement, the finance ministry said it would clarify its plans before the market opens on July 19 at the latest.Taking EDF back under full state control would give the government greater licence to restructure the group that runs the nation’s nuclear power plants, as it contends with a European energy crisis.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAdditional reporting by Joice Alves in London and Marc Angrand in Paris; Writing by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Edmund Blair, Jan Harvey, Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .
A finance ministry source said the suspension of EDF shares, which was requested by the company, was temporary and trading would resume once the government had made clear how it would fully nationalise the utility.EDF has been grappling with extraordinary outages at its nuclear fleet, delays and cost overruns in building new reactors, and power tariff caps imposed by the government to shield French consumers from soaring electricity prices.Two sources told Reuters this week that the government was poised to pay up to 10 billion euros to buy the 16% stake in the group it does not already own, after including the purchase of convertible bonds and a premium it is expected to offer to minority shareholders. read more That would translate into a buyout price of close to 13 euros per share, a 30% premium to current market prices but still a big loss for long-term shareholders, as the group was listed in 2005 at a price of 33 euros per share.”A 30% premium does not seem unreasonable given the market fluctuations of the share price – we are still talking about a 50% to 60% loss for shareholders,” said Antoine Fraysse-Soulier, head of market analysis at eToro in Paris.The sources said the state wanted to move quickly and would probably launch a voluntary offer on the market rather than push a nationalisation bill through parliament, with the aim of closing the operation in October-November.”The government may want to offer a sufficient premium to avoid legal challenges and resulting delays to the offer,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note.EDF did not give a reason for requesting the suspension of its shares, which have risen 30% since the nationalisation announcement, increasing the cost of buying out minorities. The finance ministry source said the move was “among routine tools to manage financial markets in this kind of situation”.”I would imagine it is to stop the price going up to a point that the French government ends up having to pay over the odds for the remaining shares in issue,” a London trader said.The shares closed at 10.2250 euros on Tuesday.In a sign of how badly reactor outages are affecting the company, which is expected to post a loss this year, EDF said power generation at its French nuclear reactors fell by 27.1% in June from a year earlier after the discovery of stress corrosion took several sites off line.EDF has said it expects an 18.5 billion euro hit to its earnings in 2022 from production losses, and further losses of 10.2 billion euros from the energy price cap.($1 = 0.9964 euros)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comEXCLUSIVE French nationalisation of EDF set to cost more than 8 bln euros
PARIS, July 11 (Reuters) – The French government is poised to pay more than 8 billion euros ($8.05 billion) to bring power giant EDF (EDF.PA) back under full state control, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, adding the aim is to complete the deal in the fourth quarter.One of the sources said the cost of buying the 16% stake the state does not already own could be as high as almost 10 billion euros, when accounting for outstanding convertible bonds and a premium to current market prices. EDF and the economy ministry declined to comment.The French government, which already has 84% of EDF, announced last week it would nationalise the company, which would give it more control over a revamp of the debt-laden group while contending with a European energy crisis.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Pamela Barbaglia, additional reporting by Leigh Thomas and Michel Rose, writing by Silvia Aloisi, editing by Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .
The sources said the state would likely launch a public offer on the market at a premium to the stock price because the other option – a nationalisation law to be pushed through parliament – would take too long.When Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the nationalisation plan on July 6, the stake held by minority shareholders was worth around 5 billion euros.In addition, the French government would also have to buy 2.4 billion euros of convertible bonds and offer a premium to current stock market prices to entice minority shareholders, with the cost of the transaction going well beyond 8 billion euros, the sources said.They did not give details of the size of the premium, with one of them saying no final decision had been taken.TIMELINEFrance wants the buyout to take place in October or November, and for that to happen it would have to move quickly, the sources said, asking not to be named because the matter is confidential.The next step will be for the government to announce the offer price and make an official filing, the sources said. Then EDF will need to give its opinion while an independent expert will be drafted in to review the offer price.All this will take some time, given the holiday season lull.France may have to announce the terms of the offer over the coming weeks, before the holiday period in August, to ensure it can have a deal in the fourth quarter, one of the sources said.French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said at the weekend: “It won’t be an operation that will be fulfilled in days and weeks, it will take months. I will provide all the necessary precisions in the coming weeks, but not now.”The government last week increased the amount of money available for financial operations related to its state shareholding portfolio by 12.7 billion euros in the second half of the year, with officials saying this would cover the EDF deal and other, unspecified transactions.Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) are working with the government to secure a deal, sources had previously said, while EDF is being advised by Lazard (LAZ.N) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA). read more ($1 = 0.9921 euros)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com