US The biggest event for US markets this week was certainly Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. Indicating that if the US economy improved further, she stated that the central bank could change its language and abandon its “patient” stance (which means not to Read more…
UIL Holdings Corp.; market cap (as of 27/02/15): US$2.86bn Iberdrola SA; market cap (as of 27/02/15): US$43.5bn Introduction On February 26, Iberdrola SA, Spain’s largest electricity company, agreed to buy UIL Holdings Corp. in a deal valued at about US$3bn in cash and shares. With the acquisition, Iberdrola plans Read more…
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.; market cap (as of 26/02/2015): US$76.68bn Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.; market cap (as of 26/02/2015): US$10.07bn Introduction The pharmaceutical industry has undergone an intense period of consolidation in the past 18 months which is far from over as the big players take advantage of the Read more…
Hewlett-Packard Company; Market Cap (as of 27/02/2015): US$63.86bn Aruba Networks Inc.; Market Cap (as of 27/02/2015): US$2.72bn Introduction Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO Meg Whitman has announced on Tuesday that the company is in the position to make acquisitions with media reporting on Wednesday that the company is exploring the possibility Read more…
US Big news has struck the US economy this week and in particular the ones oil-related has had a strong effect on the market. The US economy has been once again the main driver of the fall in oil prices this week as the country’s stockpiles of crude last week Read more…
As everyone knows, a commodity is a raw material – fungible by definition – that is supposed to trade in any market of the world for the same price. But when it comes to crude oil, things are not as simple. As it is widely known, the two main qualities Read more…
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.; market cap (as of 20/02/2015): $184.12bn Sector leadership and the acquisition The push to eradicate bulky wallets stuffed with cards seems to be picking up some steam. Samsung’s recent acquisition of mobile wallet startup LoopPay is seen as a strong sign of intensifying competition in the Read more…
BT Group plc.; market cap (as of 20/02/2015): $54.66bn Introduction On February 5th, 2015, BT agreed to acquire the British network operator EE from Deutsche Telekom and Orange in a £12.5bn (US$19bn) deal to form the leading telecommunication provider in the UK. Companies’ Overview British Telecom Group, is the world’s Read more…
Pfizer Inc.; market cap (as of 20/02/2015): US$217.75bn Hospira Inc.; market cap (as of 20/02/2015): US$14.97bn Introduction On February 5th, 2014, pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer signed with Hospira, the world’s leading provider of injectable drugs and biosimilars, a definitive merger agreement which consists of the fully acquisition of Hospira for US$90 Read more…
Here we go with our last production of 2014, take it as a small Christmas present. We are proud to publish a full equity research report on an established Italian company, mainly known for its waterproof breathable shoes: GEOX. In order to analyse and evaluate the company, we have considered Read more…
Introduction On December 3rd, 2014, China’s largest nuclear power enterprise, China General Nuclear Power (CGN) raised US$3.16bn in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, pricing its offering at the top end of the price range as a result of strong investor demand. The IPO is Hong Kong’s biggest so Read more…
“Fear tends to manifest itself much more quickly than greed, so volatile markets tend to be on the downside. In up markets, volatility tends to gradually decline.” Philip Roth Introduction As options and other products whose price depends on volatility have become widespread, studying its behaviour is now a key Read more…
US The week ended with a boom for the US economy as the November jobs report was released on Friday. 321,000 new jobs were created in the last month, well ahead of economists’ forecasts of 230,000. This piece of news puts the US economy on track to achieve the best Read more…
The recent OPEC’s meeting amplified the downward trend in Oil price as the counsel decided not to cut Oil supply. The cartel decided – tough not unanimously – to leave the current OPEC supply target at 30 million barrels per day. The target was actually not respected for the last Read more…
SKY PLC; market cap (as of 5/12/14): £16.3bn Introduction On December 4th, 2014, Sky agreed to sell 80% of its betting business Sky Bet to CVC Capital Partners. The gambling division, valued ca. £800m, has been one of Sky’s fastest growing businesses with 18% revenues growth in the last financial Read more…