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☆ StanChart profit swells on soaring global interest rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Standard Chartered PLC (StanChart) on Wednesday said first-quarter pretax profit jumped 21%, beating expectations, as rising interest rates buoyed cash management income and retail product sales for the emerging markets-focused lender. The earnings update showed how rising central bank rates have boosted revenue, as StanChart charged borrowers more interest while not passing all of the increase to depositors. StanChart, which earns most of its revenue in Asia, said January-March statutory pretax profit reached $1.81 billion. The bank said income in its corporate cash management business tripled due to "strong pricing discipline and passthrough rate management". Retail banking income rose 53%, propelled by deposit income which also tripled to $771 million.

☆ Standard Chartered's first-quarter profit rises 21% as interest rates soar
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Standard Chartered on Wednesday said first-quarter pretax profit jumped 21%, beating analyst estimates, as rising interest rates buoyed cash management income and retail product sales of the emerging markets-focused lender. StanChart, which earns most of its revenue in Asia, said statutory pretax profit for January-March reached $1.81 billion. That compared with $1.49 billion a year earlier and the $1.43 billion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by the bank. It was the bank's largest single-quarter profit since the start of 2014, as rising interest rates boosted lending income while its financial markets trading division saw frenzied trading from customers amid volatile markets. The earnings update from StanChart showed how rising central bank rates have boosted revenue, as it charged borrowers more interest while not passing through all of the increase to depositors.

☆ The growth fund that dodged the worst of the 2022 bear market by leaning on fundamentals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The firm's $1.7 billion Large Cap Growth Fund , with some of the biggest technology names among its top holdings, lost 24.3% in 2022. 'Rigor and process' Kantor and Regenbaum have spent years managing the fund by taking a magnifying glass to the inner plumbing of some of the biggest growth stocks. Indeed, Morningstar says the fund's portfolio has a lower price-to-book-value than other large cap growth funds or Morningstar's benchmark index for the group, and faster book value growth. There were "crazy growth companies that went to the moon," Kantor said, "and then unfortunately at some point had to return to Earth." Investors are at an important moment given the Federal Reserve's campaign to rein in inflation by hiking interest rates, and the interest-rate sensitive nature of growth stocks.

☆ Opinion | Religion Has Friends Among Judges in High Places
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Linda Greenhouse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Emergency room doctors have to help patients who have been in lots of different life situations, including life situations that the doctors might not approve of. If treating a patient makes you feel “complicit” in whatever the patient did to come to the emergency room, being an emergency room doctor is not the job for you. And, I’ll add, it’s remarkable that three federal appellate judges gave these plaintiffs a green light. But another portion of the opinion is a specific and special gift to employers who claim that their opposition to Obamacare’s mandatory coverage provision is motivated by religion. The Affordable Care Act “forces these plaintiffs to choose between purchasing health insurance that violates their religious beliefs and foregoing conventional health insurance altogether,” he wrote.

☆ J&J's 2025 drug sales forecast should not be tripping up investors. There's so much else like
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) before-the-bell Tuesday reported a strong first quarter, with sales up more than 5.5% and earnings eking out an annual increase. We're leaning toward the second reason: Management's 2025 Pharmaceutical sales target because J & J's results would have exceeded estimates even without strong vaccine sales. On the post-earning call, management said they see Pharmaceutical sales in 2025 closer to $57 billion than the $60 billion forecast two years ago. While we understand the Street's desire to dig into the 2025 Pharmaceutical sales dynamic, we believe weakness in the stock represents a buying opportunity. That's thanks to increased prices and strong consumer demand, the combination of which speaks to the pricing power of the Johnson & Johnson, soon-to-be Kenvue, brand.

☆ Apollo assures investors deposit flight won't spill over to Athene
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Chibuike Oguh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Reuters GraphicsIn a quarterly update to shareholders published on March 13, Apollo outlined how Athene's funding model is different than a bank's. In the wake of the banking crisis, however, Apollo has been fielding questions from analysts and investors about Athene's funding model. Following a meeting with Apollo executives, Hone wrote in a note last week that he does not anticipate a spike in withdrawals from Athene's annuity holders and that Athene's funding base was stable. Apollo said in its March 13 presentation to investors that it had seen inflows of $8.8 billion to Athene from the start of the year to March 10. Questions from investors and analysts to Apollo have focused on this subset of annuity policies that have a potentially higher flight risk.

The remainder was equity checks by the private equity firms. Typically, debt accounts for between 60% and 80% of the deal consideration, allowing the buyout firms to juice returns. REFINANCING RISKTo be sure, a handful of private equity firms have already been accustomed to this kind of refinancing risk. An upside to the shift toward equity financing, dealmakers say, is that the companies owned by the private equity firms have more cushion to absorb losses if their business deteriorates. Many of the leveraged buyouts that became bankruptcies in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis were the result of private equity firms saddling companies with debt to the hilt.

The latest move to restore calm to restive regional bank stocks came as Pacific Western Bank (PACW.O), one of the regional lenders caught up in the market volatility, said it had raised $1.4 billion from investment firm Atlas SP Partners. While that deal brought some respite to battered banking stocks, First Republic (FRC.N) remains firmly in the spotlight. For now, the rescue of Credit Suisse appears to have calmed the worst fears of systemic contagion, boosting shares of European banks (.SX7P) and U.S. lenders (.SPXBK). Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics'HEAD IN SAND'The wipeout of Credit Suisse's Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bondholders has sent shockwaves through bank debt markets. Seeking to boost confidence among investors rattled by its $3 billion Credit Suisse rescue, UBS said on Wednesday it would buy back 2.75 billion euros ($2.96 billion) worth of debt it issued less than week ago.

March 22 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are set to explore ways to bolster financial stability, along with steps to tackle the problems facing First Republic Bank, as central banks assess whether turmoil in banking makes interest rate rises less pressing. SVB's collapse kicked off a tumultuous 10 days for banks which led to the 3 billion Swiss franc ($3.2 billion) Swiss engineered takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS (UBSG.S). While that deal brought some respite to battered banking stocks, U.S. lender First Republic (FRC.N) remains firmly in the spotlight. Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics'HEAD IN SAND'The wipeout of Credit Suisse's Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bondholders has sent shockwaves through bank debt markets. For now, the Swiss bank rescue appears to have assuaged the worst fears of systemic contagion, boosting shares of European banks (.SX7P) and U.S. lenders (.SPXBK).

But an unexpected jump in UK inflation last month led investors to bet heavily that the Bank of England will raise interest rates by at least another 25 bps on Thursday. SVB's collapse kicked off a tumultuous 10 days for banks which led to the 3 billion Swiss franc ($3.2 billion) Swiss regulator-engineered takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS. While that deal brought some respite to battered banking stocks, U.S. lender First Republic remains firmly in the spotlight. First Republic (FRC.N) shares fell 9% in extended trade on Tuesday, having surged as much as 60% at one stage. For now, the Swiss bank rescue appears to have assuaged the worst fears of systemic contagion, boosting shares of European banks (.SX7P) and U.S. lenders (.SPXBK).

☆ Big investor in Credit Suisse bonds says 'bail-in' system worked
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Herbert Lash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The firm's exposure to Credit Suisse AT1s represented 1.32% of Spectrum's assets under management (AUM) on Feb. 28. In 2021 and early 2022 Spectrum held about $400 million of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds, Jacoby said. The Credit Suisse debt represents about 12% of the benchmark for CoCos, a massive slice of the ICE BofA U.S. dollar contingent capital index (.MERCOCO), he said. "We had been paring back in Credit Suisse, had an internal negative outlook for a little over a year." "This is a Credit Suisse event and this is a Swiss bank regulation event, this is not a global disaster for CoCos."

☆ Corporate Sustainability Becomes a Team Sport
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Rochelle Toplensky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Chief sustainability officers have historically been technical experts focused on helping companies decode their carbon footprint. Today’s CSOs are business-transformation specialists who run point for companies in their sustainability efforts, supported by a team of experts. “You have to start thinking in 2022 about the demands that are going to be a trending topic in 2025.”Judith Wiese, chief people and sustainability officer at Siemens. His team includes experts in technology, industrial processes, financial markets, sustainability frameworks and reporting standards. Agustin Delgado Martin, chief innovation and sustainability officer at Iberdrola.

☆ Cautious calm returns to bank stocks as focus shifts to regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Focus is also shifting to the possibility of tighter regulation in the U.S. banking sector, particularly for mid-tier banks like SVB (SIVB.O) and New York-based Signature Bank, whose collapses last week roiled financial markets. Investors had been particularly concerned about the huge bond holdings, particularly in U.S. Treasuries, of Japanese lenders. However, Japanese finance minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Wednesday differences in the structure of bank deposits, meant local banks wouldn't face incidents similar to SVB's collapse. In an attempt to avert a similar crisis down the line, the Federal Reserve is also considering tougher rules and oversight for midsize banks similar in size to SVB. "A year after starting to raise interest rates, the Federal Reserve is still chasing evidence that higher borrowing costs are slowing the U.S.

☆ Investors tiptoe back into US bank stocks, regulators probe SVB collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Chris Prentice | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Bruised U.S. bank stocks regained some ground on Tuesday, as a sell-off sparked by Silicon Valley Bank's collapse gave way to bargain-hunting by investors hopeful that efforts to shore up confidence would avert a wider financial crisis. The S&P 500 regional banks index (.SPLRCBNKS) rebounded 1.4%, leaving it with a 26% loss over the past five sessions. Investors worry about the health of smaller banks, the prospect of tighter regulation and authorities' preference for protecting depositors before shareholders. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsINVESTIGATIONSAs markets adjusted to the impact of SVB's collapse, regulars turned their focus to the circumstances around the bank's collapse. Officials are also examining stock sales by officers of SVB Financial Group, which owned the bank, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank collapse: What you need to know now
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. bank stocks jumped on Tuesday, recovering some ground after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) and Signature Bank (SBNY.O) triggered heavy selling by investors who were already anxious about the impact on lenders of rising interest rates. Senator Elizabeth Warren called on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to recuse himself from an internal review of recent bank failures, saying his actions "directly contributed" to them. * Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germans should not have major concerns and that regulators had learned lessons from the global financial crisis in 2008. MARKETS* U.S. regional bank shares bounced, with First Republic Bank (FRC.N) up 42.3% at $44.40 a share, a day after touching a record low of $17.53. * Global shares turned higher, ending a five-session rout, as U.S. inflation data bolstered bets on a smaller interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week.

Worries about potential contagion had also slammed bank shares in Asia and Europe as investors re-examined their risks, despite assurances from U.S. President Joe Biden and other global policymakers that the financial system is safe. In Europe, where some see lenders as less vulnerable, the banking index (.SX7P) first fell then recovered to rise 2.7%. Asian banking stocks had extended their declines overnight, with Japanese banks hard-hit despite reassurances from the Bank of Japan said about their capital buffers. Regulator FDIC had moved swiftly to close New York's Signature Bank SBNY.O as well as taking control of SVB. Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ said the investigators are also examining stock sales that SVB Financial Group's executives made days before SVB failed, adding that the Justice Department's probe involves the department's fraud prosecutors in Washington and San Francisco.

☆ Apollo Global to Buy Univar in $8.1 Billion Deal, Including Debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Laura Cooper | Lauren Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Apollo Global Management Inc. has agreed to acquire chemical company Univar Solutions Inc. for $8.1 billion including debt, according to people familiar with the matter, in one of the biggest recent leveraged buyouts. The deal is expected to value Univar at $36.15 a share and to be unveiled Tuesday, the people said. Shares of Univar closed at $31.17 on Monday.

☆ Apollo, Blackstone eye SVB assets - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Customers wait outside as an employee enters the Silicon Valley Bank branch office in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., March 13, 2023. REUTERS/Kori Suzuki/File PhotoMarch 14 (Reuters) - Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.N) and Blackstone Inc (BX.N) have expressed interest in a book of loans held by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a subsidiary of the defunct SVB Financial Services Group (SIVB.O), Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. Last week, Californian regulators shut down tech lender SVB after a failed share sale that saw $42 billion of deposit outflows in a day and escalated worries of a contagion across financial markets. Apollo, Blackstone, and SVB did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh VenkateshwaranOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Apollo Global to Buy Univar in $8.1 Billion Deal Including Debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Laura Cooper | Lauren Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Apollo Global agreed to buy Univar Solutions, a global specialty chemical and ingredients business. Apollo Global Management Inc. has agreed to acquire chemical company Univar Solutions Inc. for $8.1 billion including debt, in one of the biggest recent leveraged buyouts. Shares of Univar were up more than 10% in premarket trading on the news, which The Wall Street Journal first reported early Tuesday.

☆ Private equity giants including Apollo, Blackstone eye SVB loan book- reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Customers wait outside as an employee enters the Silicon Valley Bank branch office in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., March 13, 2023. REUTERS/Kori Suzuki/File PhotoMarch 14 (Reuters) - Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.N), Blackstone Inc (BX.N) and KKR & Co Inc (KKR.N) have expressed interest in a book of loans held by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Buyout giants Ares Management (ARES.N) and Carlyle Group (CG.O) are also looking to buy the loan book, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The surge in interest in the book follows the tech lender's failure last week to raise equity to plug a $1.8 billion hole after selling its $21 billion portfolio of securities at a loss. On Monday, SVB said it was planning to explore strategic alternatives for its businesses, including holding company SVB Capital and SVB Securities.

☆ Venture capitalists weigh 'long-shot plan' to preserve parts of SVB -FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 13 (Reuters) - Venture capital firms are working on a "long-shot plan" to preserve parts of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in a move to keep servicing their clients in the technology sector, the Financial Times reported on Monday citing people briefed on the effort. A group of several VC firms are in talks since late last week about how to enable SVB to continue lending to, investing in and advising companies and executives in the sector, the FT reported, adding General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Venture are among the firms involved in talks. Forming a consortium with Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.N) that could bid for portions of SVB is one of the proposals being discussed, the newspaper quoted people as saying. Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Falling Survey-Response Rates Undermine Economic Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Josh Zumbrun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A jobs fair in Sunrise, Fla., last month. In recent months, markets have been laser-focused on every scrap of economic data for evidence on whether inflation is coming down or a recession is approaching. Unfortunately, that data suffers from a growing problem: reduced responses from the people whose activity it seeks to measure. “There’s more data than there has ever been in the history of the world,” said Torsten Slok , the chief economist of Apollo Global Management Inc. “But the Fed has a dual mandate that’s called inflation and employment. That’s why financial markets spend the vast majority of their time on those two items.”

☆ Meta is downranking open roles for managers internally, amid 'the flattening' and ahead of expected layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Meta employees are starting to hear about the "opportunity to convert" to a non-management role. Further layoffs are expected amid Mark Zuckerberg's push for a more efficient organization. Mark Zuckerberg's mandate to "flatten" the organizational structure of Meta is getting underway, leaving employees on tenterhooks about changes to their work and expected layoffs. About a week ago, the company, formerly known as Facebook, began downranking unfilled jobs at the M1 level to the E6 level, according to two employees familiar with the change. The down leveling of the M1 roles is affecting jobs open to internal transfers, as Meta remains in a broad hiring freeze.

☆ Thomas Lee, Private-Equity Pioneer, Struggled to Reprise Early Successes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Miriam Gottfried | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Thomas Lee at his New York office in 2019. Thomas H. Lee, who helped create the private-equity industry in the 1970s, struggled to capitalize on its explosive growth over the past two decades. The investor, who last month was found dead in his office from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, came of age in the era of such buyout legends as KKR & Co.’s Henry Kravis and George Roberts , Blackstone Inc.’s Stephen Schwarzman and Apollo Global Management Inc.’s Leon Black .

☆ Private equity firms lend less as demand cools
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Chibuike Oguh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The amount of loans disbursed by direct lenders so far in 2023 has not shown any pickup, the Refinitiv data shows. Also weighing on deal volumes is the cost of borrowing from private equity firms. This has dampened demand for loans from private equity firms. For their part, private equity firms have also become more risk-averse when it comes to lending, as the economic slowdown and sticky price inflation erode the credit worthiness of some borrowers. To be sure, major deals using private equity firms as lenders are still getting done as banks have continued their retrenchment from risky debt.

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