Broadcom-Vmware Deal Draws European Regulatory Attention, Rivian Pauses Mercedes-Partnered EV Van Plans For Europe, Credit Suisse Issued Loans On Suspicious Bills: Top Stories Monday, December 12 – American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL), Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN )

by James · December 12, 2022

Reuters

Broadcom’s VMware is drawing more regulatory attention, this time from the EU

American chip maker Broadcom Inc AVGO $61 billion Vmware, Inc VMW The deal could become a roadblock with EU antitrust regulators poised to open a full-scale investigation into the deal.

Broadcom needed early EU approval of the deal by highlighting competition from Amazon.com Inc AMZN, Microsoft Corp MSFTand Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGLE Google in the cloud computing market.

Broadcom had a so-called state-of-play meeting with European Commission officials earlier this week.

The EU’s competition watchdog is likely to complete its first review of the deal on December 20.

Mercedes-Benz Vans plans to build electric car plant in Poland

Mercedes-Benz Group ADR MBGYY said the van division is planning more than a €1 billion investment to build its first electric van plant in Jawor, Poland.

In this regard, Mercedes-Benz has signed a letter of intent with the Polish government.

The Jawor factory already produces internal combustion engines and batteries for Mercedes-Benz Cars.

Geely’s EV brand Zeekr pursues $1 billion in US IPO

Chinese car company Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd GELYY GELYF premium electric car department, Zeekrhas applied for an American IPO.

The electric car brand expects to collect over $1 billion through its market debut.

Zeekr filed for the IPO with US regulators last week and aims to go public in the second quarter of 2023.

Air India is close to ordering up to 500 jets from Airbus, Boeing

Tata group backed Air India is reportedly close to deploying around 500 jets from Airbus SE SIMPLE EADSF and Boeing Co B.A to be delivered during the next decade.

The order includes around 400 narrow-body jets and 100 or more wide-bodies as the mammoth deal is finalized in the coming days.

This deal could top $100 billion.

Financial Times

Credit Suisse issued $140 million in suspicious bills, raising questions about risk management efforts

Credit Suisse Group AG CS provided a $140 million emergency loan to Greensill Capital in October 2020, less than five months before it collapsed.

Invoices issued by Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Commodities and sold to Greensill formed part of the security for the loan.

The commodities company is part of the Guptas’ GFG Alliance, which is being investigated by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office and French police on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.

Bloomberg

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways press their alliance amid antitrust regulatory opposition

American Airlines Group, Inc EEL and JetBlue Airways Corp JBLU looked set to add a wide variety of new nonstop destinations under their Northeast Alliance (NEA).

The destinations are set to take off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) in 2023.

US antitrust regulators sought to dissolve the NEA.

The United States challenged the arrangement as a virtual merger that could cost consumers over $700 million annually through higher prices.

TechCrunch

Uber opposes regulatory moves to raise fares amid driver crisis, rising costs

Uber Technologies Inc UBER sued the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) for approving a fare increase for ride-hail apps and taxi drivers due to driver shortages, rising operating costs and higher inflation.

The TLC voted to increase the minute rates for hail drivers by 7.42% and the rates per mile by 23.93% to attract more drivers to meet the increased demand following the pandemic.

Gasoline

Tesla Rival Rivian stops plans to make electric cars in Europe with Mercedes-Benz

Rivian Automotive Holding Inc TORN is not moving forward with a partnership it had previously announced Mercedes-Benz Group AG MBGAF.

Rivian said it is halting plans to produce electric vans for commercial vehicles in Europe, and in the process will not pursue a memorandum of understanding signed with Mercedes-Benz in early September.

The decision to scrap the partnership comes as Rivian believed that a focus on consumer business and existing commercial business represents the most attractive short-term opportunities to maximize shareholder value.

Binance’s CZ rejects market hack after suspicion of ‘abnormal’ price movements

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao — better known as “CZ” — has responded to suspicions of “abnormal price movements” of certain trading pairs on the exchange.

On Sunday, Binance noticed unusual price changes for certain trading pairs that included Sun Token (SOL/USD), Ardor (ARDR/USD), Osmosis (OSMO/USD), FUN Token (MORO/USD), and Golem (GLM/USD) tokens, and started an investigation.

Zhao declared that the changes “look like market behavior” and were not caused by hacked accounts or stolen API keys.

Microsoft to get 4% stake, 10-year partnership in $2.8 billion deal with London Stock Exchange: What you should know

Microsoft Corp MSFT announced an investment in London Stock Exchange Group plc LNSTY and a strategic partnership with the stock exchange.

Microsoft said it has agreed to buy an approximately 4% stake in the LSE through certain investment funds associated with a consortium consisting of BlackRock Inc BLK and Thomson Reuters. The share purchase, subject to customary antitrust and regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.

After 16 years, Roche’s Pharma division chief decides to retire

Roche Holdings AG RHHBY head of the pharmaceuticals division, Bill Anderson, has decided to leave after 16 years with the company.

Bill Anderson would step down at the end of the year “to pursue opportunities outside of Roche,” with a successor to be named by March 2023, Roche said in a statement.

The logistics company Maersk appoints Vincent Clerc as CEO

Shipping company AP Moller Maersk AMKBY has appointed Vincent Clerc as the new CEO with effect from 1 January 2023.

He will succeed Søren Skou, who has led the company’s transformation from a diversified conglomerate to an integrated logistics company.

Clerc is currently head of Maersk’s Ocean & Logistics business.

Two Down With Sanofi Bowing Out From Horizon Buyout Talks, Amgen Agrees To Buy For $116.5/Share

Amgen Inc AMGN have agreed to buy Horizon Therapeutics plc HZNPwhich suggests an enterprise value of approximately $28.3 billion, marking the largest healthcare merger of the year.

Last week, Johnson & Johnson’s JNJ entity, Janssen, withdrew from the talks. Sunday, Sanofi SA SNOW said they could not agree on a price with Horizon.