CLOs

Ghana’s credit rating was raised by S&P Global Ratings, reports Bloomberg (9 May, Dzawu), after the new administration unveiled plans to rein in spending as the West African nation recovers from a debt restructuring. The credit assessor upgraded the long-term foreign-debt rating of Africa’s top gold producer to CCC from SD, or selective default. The outlook was set at stable. Ghana plans to narrow its fiscal deficit to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product this year, compared with 7.9 percent of GDP in 2024, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson said in his first budget delivered in March. Forson was appointed by President John Dramani Mahama in January, following his December election victory.

From "Ghana’s Credit Rating Raised by S&P After Spending Cut Plans"
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The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (May 9, Budiono) reports that the US state of Hawaii will receive US$700 million from pharmaceutical giants Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi in a settlement over the blood thinner Plavix. The settlement ends more than a decade of litigation over the two companies' failure to warn that Plavix was less effective or ineffective in Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian populations. A Hawaii Circuit Court judge last year awarded the state US$916 million in the case. Rather than continue through appeals, the parties agreed to the US$700 million settlement. The agreement divides the total amount equally between Bristol-Myers and Sanofi.

From "Drugmakers to Pay Hawaii US$700M to Settle Lawsuit Over Blood Thinner"
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Lawmakers in Nigeria have passed four tax bills, reports Bloomberg (10 May, Orjinmo), part of a push by President Bola Tinubu to reform the country's economy. The draft legislation, which excludes Tinubu’s appeal to raise value-added tax but backs other measures he sought, will now be sent to the president for assent and may be in place later this year or in early 2026. It’s a crucial step to improve a tax regime whose take as a share of gross domestic product is one of the lowest in the world, while simplifying a code burdened by 60 different levies. “We expect our tax to GDP ratio to increase from around 10 percent in 2023 to a minimum of 18 percent by the end of 2027,” said Taiwo Oyedele, who chairs Tinubu’s committee on tax reform. “The new tax laws are a major part of the overall economic reform.” Since coming into office in May 2023, Tinubu used the power of his office to phase out costly fuel subsidies and ditch the country’s longstanding fixed exchange-rate system, which made the naira artificially expensive and did lasting harm to the country’s non-oil exports. But Nigeria’s federal system of government means that changing the law requires lengthy and often fraught negotiation with lawmakers and powerful state governors. Only the National Assembly can make federal laws — and those don’t always apply to the nation’s 36 states and 774 local councils that can also levy their own taxes. State governors refused to back Tinubu’s plan to hike VAT and lawmakers rejected proposals around consumption and company taxes. The new laws include measures to cover digital assets and encourage offshore companies to hire locally. Stamp duties, first introduced by British colonial rulers early in the last century, were overhauled to make compliance easier.

From "Nigeria Overhauls Colonial-era Tax Rules in Pro-business Push"
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Panasonic Holdings plans to cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide, reports Wall Street Journal (9 May, Narioka), as it streamlines operations at its headquarters and business units including consumer electronics. The Japanese electronics maker said Friday that it will re-evaluate the numbers of organizations and personnel needed and terminate unprofitable businesses with no prospects of a turnaround. Panasonic said it will carry out the measures mainly in the current fiscal year, which began in April, targeting 5,000 employees in Japan and 5,000 overseas. The company had about 229,000 employees worldwide as of the end of September. Panasonic said it aims to streamline functions and operations at its headquarters and consolidate sales departments in its consumer-electronics business. Through the restructuring, it will focus on globally competitive businesses, such as power sources for data centers, energy storage, and electronics equipment used in aircraft. In December, Panasonic sold its car-equipment business to Apollo Global Management and reinvested in the company by taking a 20 percent stake.

From "Panasonic Holdings to Cut 10,000 Jobs Globally"
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Mediobanca, Monte dei Paschi, and Banca Generali all reported results that topped expectations, reports the Wall Street Journal (9 May, Calatayud, Bertrand), as the Italian banks seek to make their case in a three-way takeover tussle. Monte dei Paschi, considered the world’s oldest bank still in operation, in January launched an unsolicited offer for Mediobanca, which rebuked the approach. Mediobanca then unveiled a bid of its own for Banca Generali last month, which said it would look at the offer but added it was neither solicited nor previously agreed upon. The moves are part of a wave of dealmaking that could shake up the Italian banking industry, as lenders rush to consolidate in search of greater efficiencies at a time interest rates are heading lower. UniCredit is pursuing a takeover of smaller rival Banco BPM, which rebuked it and in turn recently acquired majority ownership of asset manager Anima Holding.

From "Trio of Italian Banks Beat Forecasts amid Takeover Tussle"
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Italy-based Moltiply Group, which operates the popular price comparison website Trovaprezzi.it, is suing Google for abuse of its dominant market position, reports Reuters (9 May, Rossi, Pollina), seeking damages of 2.97 billion euros. Moltiply claims that Google's actions hindered the growth of its subsidiary 7Pixel between 2010 and 2017, favoring Google Shopping instead. The claim was filed at a Milan court. The European Commission fined Google in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals. In September, the company lost a final appeal against the 2.42 billion euro fine.

From "Italy's Moltiply Sues Google over Market Dominance"
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Engine Capital said on Friday it would end its activist campaign at Lyft and withdraw its board nominees, reports Reuters (9 May, Sriram), after the ride-hailing platform raised its stock buyback program to the level proposed by the investor. It is one of the rare instances of an activist campaign ending within weeks when proxy battles typically run for months. Lyft's shares rose about 17 percent in early trading after the company increased its stock buyback program on Thursday to US$750 million from US$500 million, and said it intends to use US$500 million of the authorization within the next 12 months.

From "Engine Capital Ends Campaign at Lyft, Withdraws Board Nominees"
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Pinterest recently agreed to pay US$34.7 million to settle a lawsuit from an early adviser who claimed she had co-created the platform without compensation, reports the New York Times (10 May, Tan). Christine Martinez, who was a friend of Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra, two of Pinterest’s three co-founders, sued the company in 2021 for breach of implied contract, idea theft, unjust enrichment, and unfair business practices. She said she came up with many ideas for the app — like organizing images on “boards” — but was never paid for her contributions, despite promises she would be. The settlement follows a series of complaints and legal disputes against Pinterest by some of its female employees and executives. In 2020, Pinterest paid US$22.5 million to settle a gender discrimination suit filed by Françoise Brougher, its former chief operating officer, who said she was fired after experiencing sexist treatment at the company. That same year, more than 200 employees signed a petition demanding the company change its policies after three former workers accused Pinterest of racial and sex discrimination and retaliation.

From "Pinterest Settles Lawsuit from Female ‘Co-creator’ for US$34.7 Million"
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Financial service company Citadel is pushing legislation in its home state of Florida to allow non-compete clauses and garden leaves of up to four years, observes Bloomberg (9 May, Kaiser). The bill has cruised through the legislature and is awaiting the governor’s signature, with supporters saying it will make the state tmore appealing to companies at risk whenever key employees jump to rivals. The measure allows four-year restrictions in contracts with people earning at least twice the average local wage. It also accelerates court orders blocking defectors from performing similar work elsewhere or barring competitors from hiring them.

From "Citadel Lobbies for Four-Year Non-competes in Home State"
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Coinbase Global has inked a nearly US$2.9 billion deal to acquire Deribit, the world’s largest trading platform for bitcoin and ether options, reports the Wall Street Journal (9 May, Thomas). The transaction continues an uptick in crypto dealmaking that has resulted from the Trump administration vowing to make the US a "bitcoin superpower." Coinbase rival Kraken in late March agreed to a US$1.5 billion deal for NinjaTrader, a US retail futures trading platform. Cryptocurrency firm Ripple in April said it would acquire credit network Hidden Road for US$1.25 billion.

From "Coinbase Strikes US$2.9 Billion Deal for Major Crypto Options Platform"
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Google agreed to pay US$1.4 billion to settle claims brought by the Texas attorney general that the tech giant broke the law by deceptively tracking user data including, reports the Washington Post (9 May, De Vynck), including locations, biometrics and Web searches. By comparison, in 2022 it paid US$392 million to a group of 40 states to settle other data privacy claims. The settlement puts an end to the legal attack from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has prosecuted the company and other Big Tech firms for years. It comes at a time when Google is under heavy legal and commercial pressure. It has lost three major antitrust cases over the past three years, two of which could end up forcing it to sell parts of its business. The settlement allows Google to put the cases brought against it by Texas behind it and potentially avoid more adverse rulings. The agreement with Texas did not require Google to admit any wrongdoing or make further updates to its products. It has already added extra privacy disclosures and features to many of its products following lawsuits in other states. The payment is in line with the US$1.4 billion that Meta paid Texas to settle a lawsuit related to its use of facial recognition, but Google’s settlement covers two separate cases. Google has also been fined around US$9 billion over the past several years in Europe relating to various antitrust and privacy violations and lawsuits.

From "Google to Pay US$1.4 Billion to Settle Texas Data Privacy Lawsuit"
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The United States and China have agreed to drastically roll back tariffs on each other’s goods for an initial 90-day period, reports CNN (12 May, Nectar, Bacon, Liu). The announcement, made in a joint statement, comes after a weekend of trade negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, by officials from the world’s two largest economies, during which both sides touted “substantial progress.” By May 14, the US will temporarily lower its tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 percent to 30 percent, while China will cut its levies on American imports from 125 percent to 10 percent, according to the joint statement. The two sides also agreed to establish “a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations,” led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

From "US, China Agree to Drastically Roll Back Tariffs"
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The owner of British Gas has suffered a shareholder rebellion after handing its chief executive a multimillion pound pay packet, reports the Guardian (8 May, Ambrose Butler). Nearly 40 percent of Centrica’s shareholders voted against the board’s pay plans at the energy company’s annual investor meeting in on Thursday, following rising criticism of Chris O’Shea’s pay during the energy crisis. O’Shea’s basic salary rose 29 percent last year to £1.1 million to take his total pay packet, including bonuses and share-related pay, to £4.3 million for the year. The payday was about half what he was paid the year before when his pay packet ballooned to around £8 million, largely thanks to a £5.9 million bonus scheme. The pay rises have angered consumer groups, fuel poverty campaigners, and climate activists who have accused the company of profiting from higher energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while millions of households have struggled to pay their heating bills because of soaring energy costs.

From "British Gas Owner Suffers Shareholder Rebellion over CEO Pay Packet"
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Romania’s central bank said it has intervened to help protect the local leu currency from upheaval triggered by this week’s government collapse, reports Bloomberg (8 May, Timu). The currency started to stabilize after touching a new record low and short-term yields spiked. In a test of investor appetite for Romanian debt, the finance ministry sold a planned 500 million lei (US$110 million) in 8-month T-bills Thursday. Yields jumped to 8.21 percent, compared with 6.7 percent at an auction of 11-month bills last month. The country is seeking to stem its biggest market selloff since the global financial crisis, which has exacerbated concerns about fiscal largess. The central bank has loosened its reins on the leu, allowing it to depreciate as much as three percent this week against the euro, even as it sold hard currencies on the market to limit losses.

From "Romania Steps In to Help Currency"
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UK interest rates were cut to 4.25 percent from 4.5 percent, reports BBC News (8 May, Race, Islam), as the governor of the Bank England (BoE) hinted more could follow in the coming months. Andrew Bailey said he would not "give predictions as to when and how much," but said he was "still of the view that the path, gradually and carefully, is downwards." The reduction in rates on Thursday marks the fourth cut within the past year. Bailey welcomed a UK-US deal on tariffs and said it was "important as a signal, I hope, of many more to come," adding a UK trade deal with the European Union would be "beneficial."

From "BoE Lowers Interest Rates, Welcomes US-UK Trade Deal"
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US real-estate analytics provider CoStar agreed to buy Australia’s Domain in a deal valuing the property advertiser at about US$1.92 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal (9 May, Condie). Domain said Friday that it entered into a takeover scheme with CoStar, which had been examining its books for the past five weeks. Domain has long labored unsuccessfully to overcome REA’s first-mover advantage in Australian online property classifieds. REA, still the No. 1 player, has a market capitalization of almost US$21 billion. CoStar’s proposal comes 15 months after it completed a US$125 million takeover of OnTheMarket, one of the UK’s three most-visited residential property portals.

From "CoStar Agrees to Buy Australian Advertiser Domain for US$1.9 Billion"
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Hikma Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay US$50 million to settle a class action accusing the drugmaker of scheming to delay a generic version of Jazz’s blockbuster narcolepsy drug Xyrem, reports Reuters (8 May, Scarcella), causing health plans to pay higher prices. The proposed settlement filed Wednesday in the San Francisco federal court resolved claims from drug buyers including the city of Providence, Rhode Island, and the New York State Teamsters Council Health and Hospital Fund. The drug purchasers alleged an agreement between Hikma and Jazz to keep a generic version of Xyrem off the market violated US antitrust law. In a separate settlement, Jazz said last month it will pay US$145 million to resolve the claims against it. Both deals require approval by Chief US District Judge Richard Seeborg.

From "Hikma Pharma to Pay US$50 Million to Settle Narcolepsy Drug Antitrust Case"
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Blackrock is ordering its most senior staff to work from the office five days a week, reports City AM (8 May, Lyon), the latest example of financial institutions abandoning the flexible working from home (WFH) policies many adopted in the wake of the pandemic. The asset manager told its workers that all of its approximately 1,000 managing directors across the world will be obliged to work from the office for the full working week. The revamped policy is the second time Blackrock has tightened home-working rules since its initial hybrid policy. In 2023, it announced it expected all staff only to work one day a week from home. CEO Larry Fink has been an outspoken critic of WFH. During the pandemic lockdowns, he lamented the difficulty his firm faced retaining Blackrock’s company culture while staff were at home, telling a press conference that “cultures were not meant to be done in a remote fashion." He also attributed rising US inflation to the falling productivity that he blamed on the proliferation of WFH policies in corporate America in the immediate aftermath of the 2022 gas price shock.

From "Blackrock Orders Managing Directors to Work Full Week from Office"
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Smiths Group is pressing ahead with plans to sell its £1bn electrical connectors division, reports the Financial Times (8 May, Levingston, Pfeifer, Barnes), taking the first step towards a break-up of the London stock market’s last large industrial conglomerate. The FTSE 100 company, known for making airport security scanners, has begun pre-marketing its Smiths Interconnect division and plans to kick off a sales process in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter. The division could be worth about £1 billion.

From "Smiths Group Kicks Off Break-up with Move to Sell £1 Billion Unit"
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For the first time, women and non-White men hold just over half, or 50.2 percent, of the more than 5,500 board seats at S&P 500 companies, reports Bloomberg (8 May, Green). That compares with five years ago, when White men accounted for almost 60 percent of the directorships. Data from ISS-Corporate show that white men are now a minority at about 57 percent of company boards. The ISS-Corporate research also shows that White men are in the minority among chairs of key board committees that help pick new directors and chief executive officers, as well as set compensation. In another sign of board changes, more than a dozen S&P 500 companies currently have boards that are majority-led by women, including Coca-Cola Co., Cooper Cos. and Williams-Sonoma Inc. Demographic changes inside boardrooms got a push in 2019 when California passed a law calling for a minimum number of women on boards. Nasdaq Inc. later said it would require listed companies to show they had diverse boards or explain why they didn’t. The largest US asset managers, including BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp., withheld votes for directors on boards that lacked diversity, and influential proxy advisers such as Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) pressed investors to consider diversity-related issues when casting ballots. The California board quota law was overturned in 2022 as unconstitutional. Late last year, Nasdaq said it was eliminating the diversity-reporting requirement after an adverse legal decision. This year, BlackRock, State Street, and ISS removed language encouraging board diversity after Trump issued orders to root out what he calls “illegal DEI.”

From "White Men in the Minority as US Boardrooms Enter New Era"
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