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☆ The U.S. isn't the only country with a debt ceiling. Here's how Denmark avoids the drama
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

U.S. President Joe Biden hosts debt limit talks with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 22, 2023. Yet in Denmark — the only other democracy with a similar type of nominal debt ceiling — barely anybody knows it exists. Separation of church and state While the U.S. debt ceiling restricts government borrowing to a particular figure, most other economies set debt limits as a percentage of GDP. The Danish debt ceiling, or "gældsloft," was implemented as a constitutional requirement in 1993 after a restructure of the country's government, and set at 950 billion Danish kroner ($137.5 billion). Denmark is the only other country in the world with a debt ceiling comparable to that of the U.S., but it never causes the same political crises that Washington frequently faces.

☆ Japan deal won't help UK diversify away from Taiwan reliance, says academic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailJapan deal won't help UK diversify away from Taiwan reliance, says academicDouglas Fuller, associate professor at the Copenhagen Business School, says the U.K.'s deal with Japan won't make much difference to chip supply compared to steps taken by the U.S. and EU.

☆ Belarus opposition told to 'be ready' for democracy push as rumours of leader's ill health swirl
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya speaks at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, in Copenhagen, Denmark May 15, 2023. State TV later broadcast a clip of Lukashenko at what it said was a central air force command base. Dressed in a military uniform, Lukashenko appeared to have a bandage on his left hand and to be short of breath at times. "There are many rumours about the dictator Lukashenko's health," Tsikhanouskaya she tweeted to supporters. Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, said in televised comments that Kyiv had information about Lukashenko's health, but said he would not comment for various reasons.

Last week Britain became the first country to start supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow its forces to hit Russian troops and supply dumps deep behind the front lines. Zelenskiy visited Berlin, Rome and Paris over the weekend to meet with European leaders as he seeks to drum up further military and financial support for Ukraine. The British government said Zelenskiy had arrived in Britain and would meet Sunak at his Chequers country residence. After the United States, Britain has been one of the largest suppliers of military aid to Ukraine, contributing 2.3 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) worth of support last year and pledging a similar amount for 2023. In January, Britain said it would send 14 of its battle tanks to Ukraine, a pledge that was followed by other nations including the United States and Germany.

☆ Meet the urban investor combining real estate, venture capital, and private equity to spend $5.5 billion making cities more liveable
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Urban Partners will combine real estate, venture capital, private equity, and credit under one company. "We started thinking about what real estate investing can do beyond just a piece of investment," Claus Mathisen, CEO of Urban Partners, told Insider. "You start thinking about servicing customers – the stakeholders who actually use the real estate – and you design around them." Urban Partners is working with mayors to figure out what they need to make their cities more livable. Cobe ArchitectsInstead of focusing on financial return on investment, Urban Partners is also using environmental impact as a KPI.

☆ Employees Terrorize Their Bosses Into Going Woke
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Dave Seminara | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Why do big companies seem to be getting only more woke? It’s a question I’ve been asked frequently since I started to maintain a list of woke businesses in April 2021. I was frustrated that much of corporate America was fecklessly endorsing Democratic fear-mongering about a newly passed election-integrity law in Georgia—which, indeed, subsequent minority voter turnout proved to be a hysterical reaction. Most have become even more woke, inserting themselves into such issues as abortion and parental rights in education, causing my list to grow and grow. A new paper by researchers from Baylor University and the Copenhagen Business School helps shed light on why.

☆ Technology Chiefs Seek Help Wrangling Cloud Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Some chief information officers have turned to cloud management tools and established internal teams to oversee their cloud spending. Mr. Nimboorkar said the company has since built a dedicated team to manage its Amazon Web Services spending and invested in a third-party cloud spending management tool. Executives from all three cloud giants have said customers are optimizing or reining in their cloud spending, citing economic factors. Many of the best practices in cloud spending management have been codified by the nonprofit FinOps Foundation, which promotes cloud financial literacy and accountability, she said. That model allows Mr. Kanchi to wholly manage cloud spending, he said, but was only possible after UST figured out how to tag cloud usage by its various business units.

☆ This 52-year-old early retiree left the U.S. for Portugal—a look at his typical weekend: 'I spend less than $40'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Alex Trias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

On weekends when I'm out and about, I spend less than $40 a day:Start the day with coffee and breakfastPrice per person: $6.31 Lisbon is paradise for breakfast lovers. Take a train to the seashore and rent bikesPrice per person: $11.34 A one-hour train ride from Lisbon's historic Cais do Sodré station to the fishing village of Cascais costs $4.92 (round trip). We like to stop by on weekends, and it is conveniently located on the train ride back from Cascais. Our daughter loves bargain hunting at the Feira da Ladra, a popular flea market located within the Alfama district of Lisbon. Photo: Alex TriasI also enjoy the weekend flea market in Principé Real, where you'll find plenty of delicious artisanal honey, cheese and cured sausages.

☆ Everything you need to know about the M&A market for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

After a long, cold dealmaking season, insiders are hoping to the market begin to thaw this year. So Insider's Carter Johnson spoke to six M&A bankers about what to expect this year. And while it's true sellers could always try and wait out the market, there's no gurantee of when things can get better. Click here to read more about what to keep an eye out for in the M&A market this year. This is what we know about the man some once considered to be a potential successor to CEO James Gorman.

☆ Danske Bank to Pay $2 Billion to Resolve Estonia Money-Laundering Probes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Dylan Tokar | Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Danske Bank A/S, Denmark’s largest bank, has agreed to pay about $2 billion to settle long-running probes into anti-money-laundering failures that led to hundreds of billions of dollars of suspicious transactions flowing largely unchecked through a former branch in Estonia. The bank admitted to defrauding other banks regarding its Estonia customers and its anti-money-laundering controls. The resolutions bring to an end U.S. and Danish investigations, although scrutiny of the bank’s anti-money-laundering controls will likely continue for years. “We offer our unreserved apology and take full responsibility for the unacceptable failures and misconduct of the past, which have no place at Danske Bank today,” Mr. The Estonia branch ultimately processed $160 billion through U.S. banks on behalf of its nonresident customers, U.S. prosecutors said.

☆ Enzyme makers Novozymes and Chr. Hansen to merge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Copenhagen, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Danish food ingredients and enzymes makers Novozymes (NZYMb.CO) and Chr. While both companies' main business is producing enzymes, Chr. Following an extended opening auction at the Copenhagen blue chip index on Monday morning, shares in Novozymes dropped 7.5%, while Chr. Hansen shares jumped more than 33%. Hansen will receive 1.53 new shares in Novozymes, each nominally worth 2 Danish crowns ($0.2830), for every share in Chr.

☆ Pandora braces for recession despite resilient demand
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Nikolaj Skydsgaard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Andrew KellySummarySummary Companies Third-quarter sales slightly above expectationsCompany maintains guidanceNo signs of weakening demand yetShares up 6.5%COPENHAGEN, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Danish jewellery maker Pandora (PNDORA.CO) reported third-quarter sales just above expectations on Tuesday and said it is braced for recession even though shopper demand has proven resilient in the face of soaring living costs. "Despite macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, the shopping patterns of our consumers are so far largely unchanged," Chief Executive Alexander Lacik said in a statement. Pandora still expects full-year organic growth between 4% and 6% and reaffirmed an outlook for an operating profit margin at 25-25.5%. The company reported third-quarter sales of 5.26 billion Danish crowns ($712.64 million), slightly above an average of 5.16 billion crowns expected by analysts in a poll by the company. Pandora also announced it would pay a total of 5.3 billion crowns to its shareholders this year, equating to about 13% of its market capitalisation.

☆ Maersk sees container demand slowing as recession looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Shipping containers are transported on a Maersk Line vessel through the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt July 7, 2021. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Q3 underlying EBITDA $10.86 bln vs forecast $9.78 blnSees container demand falling 2-4% this yearOSLO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Shipping group Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) warned on Wednesday of slowing demand for transport and logistics as a global recession looms and cut its forecast for container demand this year, even as it beat third-quarter earnings expectations. Maersk now sees global container demand falling by 2% to 4% this year, citing an unfolding economic slowdown expected to continue into 2023. Reuters GraphicsSkou told Reuters in September he expected ocean freight volumes to be flat or lower this year, though congestion persists in ports and global supply chains. The company repeated it expects underlying EBITDA of around $37 billion this year.

☆ Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | Photographs Devin Oktar Yalkin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

Beyond Catastrophe A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View By David Wallace-WellsYou can never really see the future, only imagine it, then try to make sense of the new world when it arrives. (A United Nations report released this week ahead of the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, confirmed that range.) A little lower is possible, with much more concerted action; a little higher, too, with slower action and bad climate luck. There were climate-change skeptics in some very conspicuous positions of global power. New emissions peaks are expected both this year and next, which means that more damage is being done to the future climate of the planet right now than at any previous point in history.

☆ Only one city has foiled Blackstone's $320 billion real estate empire
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-01 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Danish parliament even passed a "Blackstone law," which prevents new landlords from raising rents. Blackstone has one of the largest real estate portfolios in the world, with $320 billion invested in commercial and residential properties spanning the US, Spain, and, at one time, Sweden. In the Guardian, reporter Hettie O'Brien details how a Copenhagen tenants group thwarted Blackstone's expansion, aided by a national political mood wary of international investors. Blackstone's journey to becoming a worldwide player in residential real estate began after it seriously invested in American properties following the 2008 housing and stock-market crash. Blackstone's involvement in the Copenhagen housing market angered locals for two reasons, according to the Guardian.

☆ Patagonia's bold move to donate the entire company to fight climate change only works if it stays competitive in business, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But that does not mean the company is going to become any less competitive or aggressive in meeting its business objectives. related investing news KeyBanc says buy Diamondback Energy, which can rally 25% as U.S. struggles to meet oil demand "We are extremely competitive. Ryan Gellert, now the CEO of Patagonia, speaking at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2019 at DR Koncerthuset on May 16, 2019 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Lars Ronbog | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesThe conversations that led to the decision started internally a couple of years ago. Gellert pointed out that the Patagonia founding family did pay $17.5 million on the 2 percent of stock that went into the Patagonia Purpose Trust.

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