July Third Week Newsletter of World and GCC Business News
Biden’s Quest for Saudi Oil Faces Reality-Check of Slim Capacity - Bloomberg
– The price of gasoline remains a source of political peril for a president heading to mid-term elections with approval ratings near 40%.
– Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates together currently have a buffer of about 3 million barrels a day.
– That’s about 3% of global oil output, and roughly equivalent to the amount of Russian oil that could be kept off the market by sanctions at year-end, according to the International Energy Agency.
Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund Mubadala in Talks to Buy Fortress From SoftBank - Bloomberg
– SoftBank acquired Fortress in 2017, intending to use the New York-based firm’s expertise to help manage its behemoth Vision Fund.
– The firm, led by co-chief executive officers Pete Briger and Wesley Edens, managed $53.3 billion as of Dec. 31, its website shows.
Turkey Gets Landmark $929 Million Deutsche Bank Loan to Buy LNG - Bloomberg
– The three-year loan allows Boru Hatlari ile Petrol Tasima AS, or Botas, to buy LNG from pre-arranged suppliers in 10 countries, including the US, Algeria and Qatar, according to an emailed statement from Deutsche Bank.
– And while it will only fund a fraction of Turkey’s gas consumption, it paves the way for similar transactions that will let Botas diversify supplies currently dominated by Russia and Iran.
– The company was also the biggest recipient of the central bank’s $18 billion of currency sales for state companies in the first half of this year.
Italy Political Crisis: Mario Draghi Has Less Than a Week to Form Unity - Bloomberg
– Boosted by over 200 billion euros ($200 billion) of aid from the the European Union’s recovery fund, the 74-year-old premier set about addressing some of the deep-seated problems that have held Italy’s economy back for decades.
– Italian bonds fell for a third day Friday, with the spread between Italy and Germany’s yield -- a major gauge of risk in the region -- widening further to 213 basis points. Italy’s stock market has fallen about 5.6% this week, more than twice the drop of the Stoxx 600. Italy has the worst-performing major index in Europe this year, down 26%.
领英推荐
– The political chaos was triggered after the Five Star Movement, the second-largest party in Draghi’s alliance, boycotted a confidence vote in the senate, criticizing the government’s response to the economic crisis.
Buyout Firm Actis Hires Citi to Sell African Renewables Firm - Bloomberg
– Buyout firm Actis LLP appointed Citigroup Inc. to help with the sale of its BTE Renewables business in South Africa and is seeking a value close to $1 billion.
– BTE, previously known as BioTherm Energy, has over 400 megawatts of wind and solar capacity. Its assets include Kenya’s second largest wind farm, Kipeto, and other wind and solar projects in South Africa.
Sequoia’s Vaunted Strategy Feels the Pain of Tech Stock Selloff - Bloomberg
– Sequoia’s portfolio companies that listed in the US last year have lost more than $7.7 billion of market value since their debuts.
– it typically hangs on to stock well past the initial share sale and the post-IPO lockup period before distributing shares to its own investors.
– In October Sequoia announced a new structure, the Sequoia Capital Fund, which allows it to invest in and hold public stocks indefinitely, bypassing a basic constraint of venture capital.
– Though stock is being transferred rather than sold, it will still have to be marked to market, so the changes will still affect one important number: the original venture fund’s return.
Klarna’s Funding Cuts Value to $6.7 Billion from $46 Billion - Bloomberg
– Tech specialists such as SoftBank Group Corp. -- which backed Klarna last year, but wasn’t named as a supporter this time -- have been left sitting on billions of dollars of losses.
– While its customer numbers are growing rapidly, its own debt costs and losses are also piling up, and the business is burning through hundreds of millions of dollars per quarter.
– Klarna has 147 million global active users and 400,000 retail partners, including Nike Inc., Ikea, Sephora and Expedia Group Inc, according to its website.