FILE PHOTO: Juul brand vape cartridges are pictured for sale at a shop in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage/File Photo
(Reuters) – U.S. regulators have opened a probe regarding Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc’s (MO.N) investment in e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether the Marlboro maker adequately disclosed the risks to its shareholders when it spent $12.8 billion in 2018 for a 35% stake in the start-up, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Friday.
The SEC has issued subpoenas to Juul and the e-cigarette maker has responded, according to the person familiar with the matter.
Juul has turned over documents including correspondence with Altria and financial projections Juul shared with Altria before the deal, the person said.
Altria has recorded $8.6 billion in impairment charges since investing in Juul in December 2018, bringing the value of its investment to $4.2 billion by end of 2019.
Juul and Altria did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.
Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam and Abhishek Manikandan in Bengaluru, and Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Daniel Wallis
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – AirAsia Group (AIRA.KL) CEO Tony Fernandes and Chairman Kamarudin Meranun will step aside for at least two months while the airline and authorities investigate allegations Airbus paid a bribe of $50 million to win plane orders from the company.
FILE PHOTO: Founder of AirAsia X Tony Fernandes (R) listens to its chairman Kamarudin Meranun during the signing ceremony for the new Airbus A330-200s in Kuala Lumpur February 28, 2011. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad/File Photo
A committee comprising the non-executive members of AirAsia’s board will review the allegations and take any necessary action, Asia’s biggest budget airline said on Monday.
Fernandes, one of the aviation industry’s best known executives, and Kamarudin will remain advisers, however, “in view of the current difficult economic circumstances facing the airline industry”, the company added.
Senior company executive Tharumalingam Kanagalingam will be the acting CEO, with the changes effective immediately.
In a joint statement, Fernandes and Kamarudin denied any allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct as directors of AirAsia.
“We would not harm the very companies that we spent our entire lives building up to their present global status,” they said.
Shares of AirAsia and unit AirAsia X (AIRX.KL) fell on Monday after the allegations by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) came to light on Friday. AirAsia stock fell as much as 11% to 1.27 ringgit, their lowest since May 2016, while AirAsia X dropped 12% to an all-time low of 11.5 Malaysian sen.
Malaysia’s anti-graft agency is also investigating the allegations. AirAsia has said it never made any purchase decisions that were premised on Airbus (AIR.PA) sponsorship, and that it would fully cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Malaysia’s Securities Commission said on Sunday it would also examine whether AirAsia broke securities laws.
The allegations were revealed as part of a record $4 billion settlement Airbus agreed with France, Britain and the United States. Prosecutors said the company had bribed public officials and hidden payments as part of a pattern of worldwide corruption.
“This agreement and the contents were arrived at without any reference to us; neither were any explanations sought from us,” Fernandes and Kamarudin said in their statement.
“This is in clear violation of fundamental legal principles of fairness.”
Airbus said at the weekend it would not comment on the Malaysian investigations.
The SFO’s allegations concern a 2012 sponsorship agreement between the now-defunct Caterham Formula 1 racing team, founded by Fernandes, and Airbus’s then-parent, EADS.
The SFO said on Friday that between October 2013 and January 2015, EADS paid $50 million to sponsor a sports team which was jointly owned by two people described as AirAsia Executive 1 and Executive 2. It said Airbus employees offered an additional $55 million, though no payment was made.
Fernandes bought Caterham together with Kamarudin in 2011.
FILE PHOTO: Lotus (later Caterham) Formula One team principal Tony Fernandes poses with Air Asia flight attendants before the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix at Sepang circuit outside Kuala Lumpur April 10, 2011. REUTERS/Tim Chong/File Photo
The SFO said Executives 1 and 2 were “key decision makers in AirAsia and AirAsia X, and were rewarded in respect of the order of 180 aircraft from Airbus”.
Analysts said the accusation against AirAsia comes at a particularly bad time as airlines grapple with a slowdown in business because of the fast-spreading coronavirus epidemic that has killed more than 300 people in China and disrupted air travel.
TA Securities downgraded AirAsia Group stock to “sell” from “buy”.
Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Mark Potter
(Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc forecast fourth-quarter adjusted revenue below analysts’ estimates, weighed down by the delayed launch of its basketball title “NBA Live”, while its “Apex Legends” battles “Fortnite” and “PUBG” to attract young gamers.
FILE PHOTO: The Electronic Arts Inc., logo is displayed on a screen during a PlayStation 4 Pro launch event in New York City, U.S., September 7, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
Shares of the Redwood, California-based company fell about 2% after the bell on Thursday.
EA is working with a partner in China to bring its battle-royale title “Apex Legends” to PC and mobile in the country, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen told Reuters.
Earlier in 2019, EA revealed plans to launch the title, which had attracted 70 million players as of October, in China and also on mobile.
“The biggest unknown is how long does it take to get approval in China,” Jorgensen added.
China, which stopped approving the monetization of new video game titles in March 2018, resumed processing applications in December that year, with a huge backlog of games awaiting approval.
The videogame publisher behind franchises like “FIFA” and “Battlefield” said it expects current-quarter adjusted revenue to be about $1.15 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The tepid forecast comes at a time when the dominance of console-based game franchises, including rivals Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, is being threatened by mobile-based, free-to-play games with engaging formats.
EA has pushed back the release of “NBA Live” last quarter to coincide with the launch of new gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony at the end of 2020.
The strong launch of “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” during the crucial holiday season helped the company beat third-quarter adjusted revenue estimates.
The title, released in November, climbed its way to become the second best-selling game of December, according to data from research firm NPD.
Revenue from live services, the largest chunk of its sales, rose 41% to $677 million. The company expects growth for this unit to accelerate in fiscal 2022, led by a new Battlefield title.
EA raised its full-year adjusted revenue forecast to $5.15 billion from $5.13 billion, but was below analysts’ expectations of $5.21 billion.
On an adjusted basis, the company’s revenue jumped 22.9% to $1.98 billion, beating the analysts’ expectation of $1.97 billion.
Net income for the third quarter ended Dec. 31 rose to $346 million, or $1.18 per share, from $262 million, 86 cents per share, a year earlier.
Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Uttaresh.V
DUBLIN (Reuters) – The house owners of Paddy Energy Betfair and Poker Stars have agreed to merge in an all-share deal that may create the world’s largest on-line betting and playing firm by income to reap the benefits of the opening up of U.S. markets.
FILE PHOTO: Paddy Energy emblem is seen behind a keyboard and playing cube on this illustration taken in Sarajevo, September 10, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photograph
Flutter Leisure (FLTRE.I), previously generally known as Paddy Energy Betfair, is to mix with Nasdaq- and Toronto-listed Stars Group Inc (TSG) (TSGI.TO), proprietor of Poker Stars, the businesses mentioned on Wednesday.
Following the merger, shareholders of Flutter would personal roughly 54.64% of the brand new firm, with TSG shareholders proudly owning about 45.36%.
The merger is the most recent in a sequence of offers because the trade responds to the rising variety of gamblers utilizing on-line and cellular gadgets and the chance created by the comfort of guidelines on sports activities betting in the USA.
Shares in Flutter jumped 15 p.c in early buying and selling, whereas playing rivals GVC (GVC.L) and William Hill (WMH.L) had been additionally lifted by the prospect of additional consolidation.
Mixed annual revenues would have totaled 3.eight billion kilos ($4.7 billion) in 2018, making Flutter-TSG the most important on-line betting and gaming operator globally, the businesses mentioned.
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson, who will retain his function within the mixed group, mentioned the deal would “turbocharge” Flutter’s current technique and “present world-class capabilities throughout sports activities betting, gaming, every day fantasy sports activities and poker, in addition to higher geographical and product diversification.”
The merged group can have its headquarters in Dublin and its major itemizing in London.
FOX BACKING
The merged group shall be boosted by a partnership in the USA with FOX Sports activities, which can have the fitting to amass an 18.5% stake in Flutter’s FanDuel U.S. enterprise from 2021.
Dublin-based Flutter merged its U.S. enterprise with fantasy sports activities firm FanDuel final yr in a deal it mentioned would create the trade’s largest on-line enterprise in the USA.
TSG had bolstered its British operations final yr when it purchased Sky Betting & Gaming in a $4.7 billion deal.
Flutter has sharpened its concentrate on North America as the doubtless large U.S. market opens up and it faces increased taxes and elevated rules in its major British, Irish and Australian markets.
Betting trade Betfair and Paddy Energy, which runs excessive road betting outlets in addition to a web based enterprise, merged in 2016, though the mixing took longer than anticipated and a toll on product funding for a time.
The merger is predicted to ship pretax value synergies of 140 million kilos per yr, together with alternatives to cross-sell merchandise to 1 one other’s clients in worldwide markets and decrease finance prices, the businesses mentioned.
The deal can be anticipated to spice up Flutter’s underlying earnings per share by at the very least 50 p.c within the first full monetary yr following completion.
Beneath the phrases of the merger, TSG shareholders shall be entitled to 0.2253 new Flutter shares for every TSG share.
Reporting by Graham Fahy; Modifying by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Mark Potter
PARIS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Shares in Airbus (AIR.PA) and French luxurious items exporters fell on Monday because the European Union acknowledged it might face U.S. tariffs in a long-running dispute over plane subsidies, a part of an escalating tit-for-tat commerce row.
A brand of Airbus is seen on a flag at Airbus headquarters in Blagnac, close to Toulouse, France, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau
The World Commerce Group has authorised a U.S. request to impose tariffs on European items within the newest chapter of a dispute over plane subsidies that might result in European reprisals, two folks acquainted with the case mentioned.
The scope of the choice, which had been extensively anticipated, is because of be introduced within the week of Sept 30.
The EU’s commerce chief mentioned the US was prone to impose tariffs “fairly quickly”.
The WTO has discovered that each Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing acquired billions of {dollars} of dangerous subsidies in a pair of circumstances marking the world’s largest ever company commerce dispute.
The EU and United States are actually drawing up potential tariffs after the Geneva physique additionally discovered neither facet had adhered totally to its findings. However Washington is first in line to show this into precise tariffs as a result of its case is working 9 months forward.
Washington has sought permission to impose tariffs as much as 100% on European items value $11.2 billion a yr. These embrace plane and aerospace elements from Airbus host nations – Britain, France, Germany and Spain – as effectively a spread of products together with wine, cheese and luxurious items from throughout the EU.
Exports of Airbus industrial helicopters may be hit.
The ultimate quantity will depend upon WTO arbitrators who offered their findings internally final week.
Washington should then draw from a broader record of EU merchandise with a commerce worth of $25 billion a yr that it has tapped for attainable inclusion within the last record of any punitive tariffs.
Airbus jets and elements are prone to be hit first, regardless of the measurement of the authorised countermeasures, commerce sources mentioned.
Shares in Airbus, which depends on a circulate of elements to feed an meeting line in Alabama, and which additionally counts U.S. airways amongst its main clients for plane assembled at its most important crops in Europe, fell 3.2%.
Luxurious items group LVMH (LVMH.PA) – whose merchandise embrace Louis Vuitton purses, Moet et Chandon champagne and Hennessy cognac – fell 3.5%. The US represents slightly below 1 / 4 of group income.
Hermes Worldwide (HRMS.PA) fell 1.5%.
SHIFTING BLAME
The potential change of tariffs stems from complaints filed effectively earlier than the present spate of worldwide commerce tensions, however is coming to a head simply as world markets are taking fright at commerce friction dominated by a U.S.-China commerce struggle.
On the transatlantic entrance, tensions have been brewing for the reason that U.S. imposed metal and aluminum tariffs final yr, whereas the US has additionally threatened to impose automobile tariffs.
Each side within the plane dispute have tried to deflect blame for any additional escalation by accusing the opposite of ignoring makes an attempt to move off a commerce struggle via negotiation.
In June, two U.S. sources informed Reuters the US would doubtless be open to talks on an enforceable mechanism permitting Airbus to obtain authorities funding on industrial phrases whereas addressing disputed Washington-state tax breaks for Boeing.
U.S. officers later mentioned the EU had failed to point out any curiosity in talks.
The EU, nevertheless, mentioned on Monday it was Washington that stood in the best way of a negotiated settlement.
Commerce chief Cecilia Malmstrom mentioned the EU had requested the US in July to carry off commerce sanctions and search an settlement.
“Our view is that we have now sufficient tariffs on the planet as it’s … The U.S. president likes to make offers so we have now provided to attempt to make a deal to discover a negotiated answer,” EU Commerce Commissioner Malmstrom informed a briefing.
“To this point, sadly, the U.S. has not mentioned that they’re prepared to barter, a minimum of not till they’ve imposed their tariffs, which they’re prone to do fairly quickly,” she mentioned.
The EU commerce chief mentioned any EU-U.S. settlement may function a template for others to observe to create a degree enjoying area. “We additionally know different massive gamers on the planet, resembling Russia and China but additionally others, are additionally subsidizing their civil plane business,” she mentioned.
Western officers who’ve tried to discover a compromise up to now imagine any new funding settlement should set an instance for China, whose personal speedy aerospace progress with state backing is considered as a worrying menace by the 2 Western giants.
Extra reporting by Josephine Mason, Andrea Shalal and Stephanie Nebehay; enhancing by Jason Neely and David Evans
NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Bayer AG has not supplied to pay billions of {dollars} to settle claims in the USA associated to the Roundup herbicide, mediator Ken Feinberg mentioned, dismissing a report back to that impact which drove its shares as a lot as 11% increased.
FILE PHOTO: Monsanto Co’s Roundup is proven on the market in Encinitas, California, U.S., June 26, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Picture
“Bayer has not proposed paying $eight billion to settle all of the U.S. Roundup most cancers claims. Such an announcement is pure fiction,” Feinberg mentioned in an e mail on Friday. “Compensation has not even been mentioned within the world mediation discussions.”
Bayer shares, which had shed a few of their features earlier than Feinberg’s assertion, retreated additional and closed up 1.7% at 64.63 euros.
Bayer, which acquired Roundup and different glyphosate-based weedkillers as a part of its $63 billion takeover of Monsanto final yr, declined touch upon the preliminary Bloomberg information report and on Feinberg’s response.
Bayer Chief Govt Werner Baumann final week mentioned the corporate would contemplate settling with U.S. plaintiffs solely on affordable phrases, and if it “achieves finality of the general litigation”.
He added on the time the group was “constructively participating” in a court-ordered course of with mediator Feinberg on the circumstances heard in federal courtroom. Many of the pending circumstances, nevertheless, have been filed with U.S. state courts.
Feinberg added that any efforts by Bayer towards a complete settlement have been tied in with the mediation proceedings overseen by him. “These are all a part of the identical mediation course of.”
Bayer shares have misplaced greater than a 3rd of their worth, or roughly 30 billion euros ($34 billion), since final August when a California jury within the first such lawsuit discovered Monsanto ought to have warned of the alleged most cancers dangers from Roundup.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
The German medicine and pesticides firm has engaged in negotiations with plaintiffs’ legal professionals, two sources accustomed to the matter instructed Reuters.
“The issue is, how do you get the plaintiffs to climb down from their very excessive expectations? Not one of the jury verdicts to this point have been favorable for Bayer,” one of many sources mentioned, including that talks have been centered on fundamental questions corresponding to how one can deal with potential future claims.
Bayer mentioned on Friday that the following U.S. glyphosate lawsuit initially scheduled to be heard in St. Louis, Missouri, this month could be postponed to Jan. 27, 2020, and {that a} following St. Louis case slated for September had additionally been postponed.
The German firm might profit from having circumstances heard within the metropolis the place Monsanto was headquartered and the place Bayer manages its world seeds enterprise. However Missouri can be identified for juries that usually hit firms with large damages.
Bloomberg mentioned the delays had been pursued by Bayer to permit for undisturbed settlement talks.
The preliminary unfavorable courtroom rulings within the first three glyphosate circumstances, heard in California, have at occasions dragged Bayer’s market worth under what it paid for Monsanto, though the shares at the moment are buying and selling above that stage.
The corporate, which says regulators and in depth analysis have discovered glyphosate to be protected, has beforehand mentioned it was banking on U.S. appeals courts to reverse or tone down three preliminary courtroom rulings which have to this point awarded tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to every plaintiff.
Bloomberg cited three sources accustomed to the discussions as saying Bayer’s legal professionals have been in search of an accord to resolve all present and future circumstances. Talks over circumstances which have but to be filed have been notably difficult, the report added.
Whereas Bayer has indicated it may pay $6-$eight billion, plaintiffs’ legal professionals need greater than $10 billion to drop their claims, the report mentioned.
FILE PHOTO: The emblem of Bayer AG is pictured on the facade of the historic headquarters of the German pharmaceutical and chemical maker in Leverkusen, Germany, Could 14, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Picture
An estimate of a $20 billion hit from the litigation has beforehand been mirrored within the share value, whereas a possible litigation settlement legal responsibility was within the mid single-digit billion greenback vary, Financial institution of America analysts mentioned in observe.
They saved a “impartial” ranking on the inventory, citing uncertainty over Bayer’s fortunes within the appeals course of – with the primary appeals verdict anticipated by the top of the yr – and whether or not a settlement may very well be achieved earlier than that.
The variety of U.S. plaintiffs blaming Roundup and different glyphosate-based weedkillers for most cancers had continued to rise by 5,000 to 18,400, Bayer mentioned final week.
Further reporting by Tina Bellon; Enhancing by David Evans and David Holmes
PARIS (Reuters) – Vivendi (VIV.PA) is in talks to promote a 10% stake in its prized and profitable Common Music Group (UMG) to Chinese language tech firm Tencent (0700.HK) because it seeks to develop its presence in Asia.
FILE PHOTO: The emblem of Common Music Group (UMG) is seen at a constructing in Zurich, Switzerland July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photograph – RC1EE289B960
UMG is the world’s largest music label forward of Sony Music Leisure and Warner Music, and is dwelling to artists similar to Girl Gaga, Taylor Swift, Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
The French media conglomerate stated on Tuesday that the deal would give UMG a preliminary fairness valuation of 30 billion euros ($33.6 billion) – higher than some had forecast – and that Tencent had an possibility to purchase an additional 10% of UMG.
Vivendi shares surged 7% as analysts welcomed the progress made on the sale of a stake in UMG and the valuation.
A cope with Tencent would increase UMG’s presence within the tightly managed Chinese language market and match nicely with the Chinese language firm’s Tencent Music Leisure (TME.N) unit.
“The valuation seems to be good, and the progress made on the UMG deal can also be optimistic,” stated Gregory Moore, fund supervisor at Keren Finance, which owns Vivendi shares.
Vivendi’s Chief Government Officer Arnaud de Puyfontaine stated final month that proceeds of the sale of as much as 50% of UMG can be used for bolt-on acquisitions and “vital” share buybacks.
Managed by billionaire Vincent Bollore, Vivendi is in search of to money in on the rising public thirst for subscription and ad-based music streaming companies, which have propelled UMG’s income over the past 4 years.
“Along with Tencent, Vivendi hopes to enhance the promotion of UMG’s artists, with whom UMG has created the best catalog of recordings and songs ever, in addition to establish and promote new abilities in new markets,” Vivendi stated in an announcement.
Vivendi first informed markets it might promote a part of UMG a 12 months in the past however had made little progress till asserting final month that it had chosen funding banks to begin a proper sale means of a minority stake, which must be finalised by the beginning of subsequent 12 months.
Funding banks have estimated the enterprise is value something between 17 billion to 44 billion euros.
Vivendi additionally stated on Tuesday that it was persevering with the method to promote additional minority stakes in UMG to different companions.
($1 = 0.8925 euros)
Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Enhancing by Kirsten Donovan
(Reuters) – Xilinx Inc (XLNX.O) mentioned it had resumed some gross sales to Huawei Applied sciences Co Ltd however forecast current-quarter income under Wall Road estimates on Wednesday, citing the affect of U.S. restrictions on promoting to the Chinese language telecommunications agency.
FILE PHOTO: A chip of Xilinx is displayed by means of a magnifying glass through the China Worldwide Import Expo (CIIE), on the Nationwide Exhibition and Conference Heart in Shanghai, China November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Tune
The forecast and despatched the chipmaker’s shares down 5.78% to $125.50 in prolonged buying and selling. Xilinx makes programmable chips which might be utilized in knowledge facilities to hurry up duties like synthetic intelligence work, in addition to chips which might be utilized in 5G telecommunications base stations.
Firm executives didn’t disclose how a lot income the Xilinx derives from Huawei, however mentioned no single buyer accounted for greater than 10% of its income and that Xilinx has minimize its gross sales expectations for Huawei by greater than half.
Chief Govt Victor Peng mentioned that Xilinx stopped all gross sales to Huawei in Could when U.S. restrictions took impact. Peng mentioned that through the fiscal first-quarter ended June 29, Xilinx decided that a few of its merchandise, comparable to its older, 28-nanometer chips and a few chips not designed for 5G gear, may legally may very well be bought to Huawei.
Xilinx resumed transport these chips and has additionally utilized for licenses with the U.S. Commerce Division to renew promoting different merchandise to Huawei.
On a convention name, analysts pressed the corporate on whether or not Huawei may pace the transition to completely customized chips made by its HiSilicon unit to interchange Xilinx’s chips. Peng advised analysts he didn’t suppose that may occur shortly.
“They’re actually not going to surrender on 5G,” Peng mentioned. “They’ve architected it in sure methods. That’s not one thing that anyone may simply change on a dime.”
The corporate mentioned it expects second-quarter income of between $800 million and $850 million, under analysts’ common estimate of $852.5 million, in response to IBES knowledge from Refinitiv.
Peng advised analysts that the corporate continues to ship chips to different firms constructing out networks for 5G, the following technology of wi-fi knowledge communications, together with ZTE Corp (000063.SZ), which had beforehand been the goal of U.S. restrictions however has since had them eliminated.
Different chipmakers, comparable to Broadcom Inc (AVGO.O), have mentioned they anticipate different electronics makers to step in and ultimately fill in misplaced Huawei gross sales, however Peng advised Reuters that’s much less prone to occur available in the market for 5G gear.
“Infrastructure is simply completely different. There’s not as many individuals who can do it,” Peng advised Reuters in an interview. “It’s a well known indisputable fact that the Chinese language operators have favored the home suppliers” comparable to Huawei and ZTE, amongst others.
Flores mentioned that the corporate was “not reiterating or updating our full-year steering” for the complete fiscal 2020 yr and that its outlook was “considerably moderated by trade-related considerations.” In Could, the corporate mentioned it anticipated between $3.45 billion and $3.6 billion in income. Xilinx it’s going to give extra particulars on its full-year forecast in October.
Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Modifying by Sriraj Kalluvila and Lisa Shumaker