EU’s Barnier rejects UK’s post-Brexit banking plan
The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michael Barnier has rejected the UK’s proposal to give London’s financial district access to the European Union as “unacceptable”…
UK Govt to sell record £275bn debt for April-August
The UK said on Monday it plans to sell a record £275 billion of government debt between April and August to pay for the massive…
EU budget falls 10% to €167bn as UK leaves
The European Commission has proposed an EU budget of €166.7 billion in commitments for 2021, down 9.7% on 2020. This would be the first budget…
EU approves Germany’s €6bn to recapitalise Lufthansa
The European Commission said on Thursday it has approved German plans to contribute €6 billion to the recapitalisation of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DLH), the parent…
Wirecard files for insolvency; shares fall 80%
Troubled German payments firm Wirecard filed for insolvency at a Munich court on Thursday, becoming the first sitting member of Germany’s leading share index DAX…
Bayer pays up to $10.9bn to settle cancer lawsuits
German drugs and pesticides giant Bayer AG agreed to pay as much as $10.9 billion to settle almost 100,000 US lawsuits claiming that its weedkiller…
EU holds in-depth probe of $27bn LSE bid for Refinitiv
The European Commission said on Monday it has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed $27 billion acquisition of Refinitiv by the London Stock…
ING names Steven van Rijswijk as new CEO
Dutch banking giant ING Groep NV said on Friday its chief risk officer Steven van Rijswijk will succeed Ralph Hamers as chief executive officer and…
Wirecard seeks finance plan after downgrade to junk
Troubled German payments firm Wirecard said at the weekend it has hired US investment bank Houlihan Lokey to “develop a plan for the sustainable financing…
Sweden’s EQT sells €4bn credit unit to Bridgepoint
Swedish private equity firm EQT this week agreed to sell its €4 billion credit business to European buyout fund Bridgepoint. “The acquisition will be combined…
KKR buys Dutch holiday park firm Roompot in €1bn deal
US private equity firm KKR this week agreed to buy Dutch vacation parks firm Roompot from French private equity firm PAI Partners in a deal…
EIB in €100m support for BioNTech’s Covid-19 tests
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and German biotech firm BioNTech said they concluded a €100 million debt financing agreement for the EIB to support the development…
European football generates record €29bn revenue
The European football market as a whole generated record revenues of €28.9 billion (£25.5 billion) for the year covering the 2018-19 season. That’s according to…
IMF says $10 trillion spent on pandemic, more needed
Governments around the world have spent $10 trillion in fiscal actions to respond to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the head of…
OECD: second wave could wipe 11% off Euro area GDP
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned on Wednesday that if a second major outbreak of Covid-19 occurs later this year and triggers…
Euro unchallenged as No 2 currency; leads green bonds
The euro has remained unchallenged as the second most used currency globally after the US dollar since its introduction 20 years ago, but its usage…
ECB stimulus lifts bond purchases to €1.35 trillion
The European Central Bank on Thursday announced a bigger-than-expected expansion of its stimulus package to support an economy plunged into recession by the coronavirus pandemic….
EU leaders want to borrow €750bn for recovery plan
The European Commission on Wednesday put forward a plan to borrow on the markets and then distribute €750 billion in grants and loans to EU…
ECB in €750bn emergency bond buying programme
The European Central Bank launched a €750 billion emergency bond purchase programme late on Wednesday in a huge effort to push down borrowing costs as…
Global debt-to-GDP ratio at new high of 322%
The global debt-to-GDP ratio hit a new all-time high of over 322% in the third quarter of 2019 with total debt reaching close to $253…
Sanofi to buy Synthorx in $2.5bn deal
French biopharmaceutical company Sanofi has agreed to buy California-headquartered biotechnology firm Synthorx in a cash deal worth about $2.5 billion. Sanofi said the deal would…
APG buys majority stake in Merkur Offshore
Dutch pension investor APG announced the acquisition of a 64% stake in Merkur Offshore, a large wind farm in the German North Sea. The acquisition…
Cboe Global Markets buys EuroCCP clearing house
Chicago-based Cboe Global Markets said on Tuesday it would take full control of Amsterdam-based EuroCCP, Europe’s largest clearing house for stock trades. The move will…
EU derivatives markets valued at €735 trillion
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities regulator, said it has published its second annual statistical report analysing the European Union’s (EU)…
Number of millionaires set to rise to 63 million
Global wealth grew 2.6% in the past year to $360 trillion and wealth per adult reached a record high of $70,850, according to the tenth…
Global debt to hit $255 trillion in 2019 says IIF
Global debt surged by $7.5 trillion in the first half of 2019, hitting a new record of over $250 trillion, said a new report from…
Euronext ready for deals as it looks to new markets
Stock markets operator Euronext said on Thursday it was open to transformational deals in a bid to boost its dominance in the European capital markets…
Hong Kong scraps $39bn London Stock Exchange bid
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has abandoned its unsolicited $39 billion approach for London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) after failing to convince LSE shareholders…
Bond issuance soars to $4.6 trillion through August
Global new bond issuance through August 2019 totalled $4.6 trillion, up 11.8% on the same stage of 2018, according the the latest data from S&P…
German banks Helaba, Deka consider merger – report
German public-sector banks Helaba and Deka will consider a merger, a spokeswoman for Germany’s savings banks association said on Tuesday, according to a Reuters report….
Spain’s Cellnex to buy Arqiva’s $2.5bn telecoms unit
Barcelona-based Cellnex said on Tuesday it agreed to buy the telecoms division of Britain’s Arqiva for about $2.5 billion in a move that expands the…
IMF boss warns of ‘synchronized slowdown’
New International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva issued a warning about the state of the global growth on Tuesday. She warned trade conflicts had…
ECB in fresh stimulus; cuts rates, restarts bond buying
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced a fresh stimulus package on Thursday as it cut interest rates and agreed a new round of bond purchases…
Prosus value soars to €123bn in Amsterdam debut
Shares of Prosus, the spin-off of South African e-commerce group Naspers, soared on their market debut in Amsterdam, valuing Prosus at €123 billion and making…
Shareholders approve $3.7bn Sotheby’s sale to Drahi
Sotheby’s said on Thursday that its shareholders approved the $3.7 billion cash acquisition of the company by French-Israeli telecom titan and art collector Patrick Drahi….
Norwegian Air asks for more time to pay off bonds
Norwegian Air on Monday asked its bondholders for up to two more years to pay back $380 million of outstanding debt to “ensure successful operations…
Ineos buys Nice football club for a reported €100m
Chemicals giant Ineos said it completed a deal to acquire OGC Nice Football Club. A price tag of about €100 million was previously reported, but…
Bayer animal health unit sold to Elanco in $7.6bn deal
German drug company Bayer said US-based Elanco Animal Health agreed to acquire Bayer’s animal health business in a transaction valued at $7.6 billion. The $7.6 billion…
Shareholder-First Purpose Ditched By 181 US CEOs
The influential Business Roundtable in the United States on Monday announced a new “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” signed by 181 CEOs that…
EU invests €114m to improve Naples-Bari railway
The EU is to invest €114 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to build a new 15.5 km section of railway between Naples’ Central…