We will find another opportunity in India post Zee merger collapse: Sony

With the proposed merger of its Indian arm with Zee terminated, Sony will seek various options, including finding another opportunity to replace the plan and organic growth opportunities in India, which has great potential in the long term, according to a top company official. In an earnings call, Hiroki Totoki, president, COO & CFO of Sony said India is a very appealing market where it would continue to invest. "India on a long term basis has a great growth potential. It's a very appealing market. Therefore, we will try to seek various opportunities and if we can find another opportunity that would replace this type of plan," Totoki said when asked about the company's strategy in India after the termination of the proposed merger. On the investment which Sony had committed as part of the deal, he said:"Well, that investment is not going to change a capital allocation or it will not change our behaviour in our investment. So at the moment, we do not have any concrete plans." The earnings call was held on February 14. As per the merger conditions, which was agreed upon between Sony and ZEEL, the Japanese giant was also supposed to invest USD 1.5 billion in the merged entity. The group will also continue to pursue organic growth as per its strategy in India, where it operates through Culver Max Entertainment (earlier known as Sony Pictures Network India), he said in the investors call.  

T-Mobile Proves That Mergers Can Benefit Consumers

The government has become increasingly suspicious of major mergers over the past decade, under both political parties. The Justice Department under Donald Trump sued to prevent AT&T from buying Time Warner. The Federal Trade Commission under President Biden is continuing a case the Trump administration initiated against Meta, parent of Facebook, to force the firm to cough up Instagram and WhatsApp, which it swallowed during the Obama years. In January JetBlue Airways’ plans to merge with Spirit Airlines and Amazon’s plans to acquire iRobot were deterred under regulatory pressure.    In April 2020, however, T-Mobile and Sprint managed to sneak past regulators, merging to reduce the number of major U.S. mobile networks from four to three. Paytm parent, One97 Communication Ltd, confirmed on Wednesday that it has received notices from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), requesting information on customers who have conducted business with its group companies. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, owner of Paytm, informed the stock exchanges in a filing that the company has furnished the necessary information and documents to the investigating agency. “The company and its associate have continued to provide such information, documents and explanations to the authorities as is being required by them. We would also like to clarify that our associate Paytm Payments Bank Ltd does not undertake outward foreign remittance," said the company. The clarification came a day after Mint reported that the ED has initiated a probe into suspected breaches at Paytm Payments Bank following a referral from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Enforcement Directorate is currently verifying the information it has received from RBI. "The next step will depend on the outcome of this verification," said a person aware of the developments.As of Wednesday, ED is yet to file an enforcement case information report (ECIR), a formal entry of a complaint lodged by the agency.  

PENN Entertainment to Launch ESPN Bet in NY After Betting License Acquisition

The acquisition gives Penn market access in New York state. As part of the deal, Penn will acquire Wynn Resorts subsidiary Wynn Interactive’s mobile sports wagering licences entity, WSI US, LLC, for $25m (£19.8m/€23.3m). WSI US, LLC holds the sports betting licences issued to Wynn by the New York State Gaming Commission in 2021. Upon relevant approvals, Penn will launch ESPN Bet in the state later this year. Penn partnered with ESPN in August last year, in a deal that saw Penn’s Barstool Sportsbook rebranded as ESPN Bet and launched across 17 US states in November. Jay Snowden, CEO and president of Penn Entertainment, said this acquisition will expose ESPN Bet to the most prominent sports betting market in the US. “This is an important development that will bring ESPN Bet to the largest regulated online sports wagering market in North America,” said Snowden. “Together with ESPN, we’re building a brand that is synonymous with sports betting, and operating in the New York market is key as we grow ESPN Bet across the US.”  

FMCG makers continue to bet on M&A for growth

makers continue to bet on Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) to diversify their product categories and digital presence.Companies are utilizing acquisitions to solve portfolio gaps in their product offerings and enter new categories. Tata Consumer Products Limited (TCPL) in January announced the acquisition of Capital Foods and Organic India. Similarly, Marico recently acquired a 58 per cent stake in Direct-To-Consumer (D2C) Satiya Nutraceuticals Pvt Ltd and its wholly-owned subsidiary Juizo Advisory Pvt Ltd owns the brand ‘The Plant Fix-Plix’. “We have made substantial progress but we are not there quite yet. Capital foods complement from a cuisine perspective, we cover the three cuisines; Indian with Sampann, Western with Smith & Jones and then Oriental with Capital Foods. It gets us into categories of chutney, dips, sauces, and noodles, which we did not have in our portfolio. This has filled some gaps in our portfolio but I think we still have got options to play. In the short term, we will make sure we integrate the businesses and make value but we remain quite open to organic and inorganic options to grow forward. It is not the end of the road for M&A and we still have options providing if they make sense from strategic and financial perspective. A strategic perspective means filling in gaps faster than what we can on our own on the entire roadmap,” said Sunil D’Souza, CEO and MD of Tata Consumer Products Ltd during the earnings call.  With the acquisitions, the FMCG maker is also in the process of starting its pharmaceutical distribution network, “We have Gofit and Soulful products that can sell in pharmacies but we never had the scale to put up an independent distribution system work. We have a target right now for closing and integration. We aim to integrate the businesses within three to four months of closing. The work has started on how to build the pharma channel. We had access to information, but not all of it. Now that we’ve done the signing, we will have access to almost all the information. I expect in the next three to four months for us to have a very clear view of how we will get into the pharma channel,” said D’Souza to businessline after the acquisition.    

Max Healthcare acquires Nagpur-based Alexis Hospital for Rs 412 crore

"The acquisition of Alexis Hospital is in line with our vision to expand our footprint in tier-2 cities with abundance of clinical talent and developed private healthcare infrastructure," Max Healthcare Institute Chairman and Managing Director Abhay Soi said.The facility has potential to increase its bed capacity from 200 operational beds to 340 beds after necessary regulatory approvals.Max Healthcare Institute on Friday said it has acquired Nagpur-based Alexis Multi-Speciality Hospital Pvt Ltd for Rs 412 crore. The 200-bed hospital is set up on a land parcel of 2-acre at Mankapur, north of Nagpur.Alexis Hospital acquisition will strengthen company's presence in Maharashtra region, he added.Shares of Max Healthcare were trading at a loss of 0.42 per cent at Rs 866.4 apiece on the BSE.      

Max Healthcare strengthens western presence by acquiring Alexis multi-specialty hospital

Max Healthcare Institute Ltd has acquired 100 per cent stake in Alexis Multi-Speciality Hospital Private Ltd (Alexis) for an enterprise value of ₹412 crore, strengthening its presence in the western region. The 200-bedded hospital, owned and operated by Alexis is a JCI-accredited facility located at Mankapur, North of Nagpur - an upmarket residential and commercial hub, a note from the hospital chain said. The bed capacity can be expanded to about 340 beds in view of the availability of the floor area ratio (FAR) for the given land and the strength of the existing structure, it added. Abhay Soi, Chairman and Managing Director, Max Healthcare said, “The acquisition of Alexis Hospital is in line with our vision to expand our footprint in tier-2 cities with abundance of clinical talent and developed private healthcare infrastructure. Alexis Hospital acquisition will strengthen our presence in Maharashtra region. With this addition, we now have 4 JCI-accredited facilities in our network and we look forward to bringing the high-end quality care to people of the region.”The hospital offers multidisciplinary care in gastroenterology, neurosurgery, cardiology, transplants and related diagnostic facilities, among others. It is also equipped with high end bio medical equipment like Varian True Beam LINAC, 128 Slice CT Scan, 3 Tesla MRI, Digital X Ray, ARTIS Q Cath Lab, etc, it added. Further, the hospital medical programme could be strengthened in surgical specialties like urology, oncology and neurosciences leading to improvement in average revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB) and occupied bed days (OBD), the note said. The current run rate of revenue and EBITDA for the hospital is ₹150 crore and ₹25 crore respectively, it added.Nagpur is a fast growing city with a population density of 47 lakh and high literacy rate, and is located in the heart of Maharashtra, it said. Further the city has availability of experienced medical talent owing to presence of government hospitals, medical colleges and private healthcare players, it added. Zanubia Shams, Co-Chairperson of Zulekha Healthcare Group (Promoter of Alexis Hospital, Nagpur), said, their decision to consider divesting this business was driven by their strategic focus on its healthcare businesses in the UAE and Gulf.    

News Corp Stock Rises as Surge in Digital Subs Offsets Weak Ad Revenue

News Corp (NWS) shares moved higher ahead of Thursday’s opening bell after The Wall Street Journal parent surpassed quarterly earnings and sales estimates, spearheaded by growth in the company’s Dow Jones business information arm. The New York-based company synonymous with Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch posted fiscal second quarter adjusted earnings of 26 cents per share compared to analysts’ average estimate of 21 cents a share. Net revenue for the period also came in better than expected, growing 3% to $2.59 billion, ahead of the $2.55 billion consensus mark. The media conglomerate’s Dow Jones segment, which houses leading financial publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and Market Watch booked $584 million in revenue for the December quarter, representing a 4% increase from the same quarter in 2022 as customers sought the unit’s bundled subscription options. News Corp’s digital real-estate services group also performed strongly, recording fiscal second-quarter revenue of $419 million, up 9% year-over-year (YOY).  In somewhat of a surprise, the company’s book publishing segment, which owns prominent publisher HarperCollins, also performed well during the quarter, posting revenue growth of 4% to $550 million.However, News Corp’s advertising revenues fell by 5.6% to $438 million from the corresponding year’s quarter. CEO Robert Thomson said the company continued to benefit from its “strategic shift to digital and subscription revenues, and away from sometimes volatile advertising revenues.” On the artificial intelligence (AI) front, Thomson said that the media giant intends to be “a core content provider for generative AI companies who need the highest quality timely content to ensure the relevance of their products.”  

US Economy Today: Federal Reserve Officials Beat the Confidence Drum

Welcome to Investopedia's economics live blog, where we'll explain what the day's news says about the state of the U.S. economy and how that's likely to affect your finances. Here we will compile data releases, economic reports, quotes from expert sources and anything else that helps explain economic issues and why they matter to you. Today, another batch of Federal Reserve officials will offer their opinions on the Open Market Committee's path forward.Boston Fed President Susan Collins was another in the line of Federal Reserve officials who broadly said they needed more “confidence” that inflation is sustainably declining before cutting interest rates. She did, however, lay out a few fundamental indicators she is watching.  In remarks to the Boston Economic Club, Collins said housing inflation was taking longer to come down than other categories and she wants to see more progress there. Consumers’ inflation expectations needed to remain “well anchored." Recent consumer confidence surveys have jumped as people start to feel better about inflation and the economy. Collins also said she is closely monitoring wages, pointing to data from Boston Fed economists. The data suggests “there is room for wages to catch up and continue increasing at a healthy pace for some time without necessarily spurring inflationary pressures” due to gains in productivity. However, she was looking to see declines in labor demand to help bring better balance. Employers continued to add more jobs than anticipated in January, while wages also surged.Inflation should continue to decline, so long as consumers begin to put away their wallets, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler told the Brookings Institute Wednesday.  

Veracyte Completes Acquisition of C2i Genomics

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veracyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCYT), a leading cancer diagnostics company, today announced it has completed its acquisition of C2i Genomics, Inc., adding whole-genome minimal residual disease (MRD) capabilities to its novel diagnostics platform and expanding the company’s ability to serve patients across the cancer care continuum. Bringing C2i Genomics’ technology and team into Veracyte will allow us to make significant advances in our vision to transform cancer care for patients all over the world,” said Marc Stapley, Veracyte’s chief executive officer. “C2i’s novel artificial intelligence-driven, whole-genome MRD platform will enable us to expand the value we deliver to clinicians and their patients, beginning with early cancer diagnosis and risk assessment, and now moving further along the patient journey into treatment monitoring and disease recurrence testing. C2i’s approach to MRD will expand the set of data and insights that can follow each patient throughout their care, and will also fuel new innovation.” Veracyte’s first application of C2i Genomics’ technology will be a muscle-invasive bladder cancer MRD test, where the company plans to leverage its strong urology commercial channel and a clear pathway to expected reimbursement. The company plans to develop further MRD tests in several of its focused indications. Veracyte (Nasdaq: VCYT) is a global diagnostics company whose vision is to transform cancer care for patients all over the world. We empower clinicians with the high-value insights they need to guide and assure patients at pivotal moments in the race to diagnose and treat cancer. Our Veracyte Diagnostics Platform delivers high-performing cancer tests that are fueled by broad genomic and clinical data, deep bioinformatic and AI capabilities, and a powerful evidence-generation engine, which ultimately drives durable reimbursement and guideline inclusion for our tests, along with new insights to support continued innovation and pipeline development. For more information, please visit www.veracyte.com and follow the company on Twitter (@veracyte).  

Can go to NCLT to enforce Sony merger deal after SIAC rejects petition: Zee

Zee Entertainment can ask an Indian tribunal to enforce a $10 billion merger with Sony's Indian unit after a Singapore arbitration centre rejected an emergency petition by the Japanese company for a stay of proceedings, Zee said on Sunday. Sony scrapped the merger on Jan. 22, ending a deal that could have created one of India's biggest TV broadcasters, claiming breaches of contract. Zee rejected the claims and asked an Indian tribunal to order Sony to honour its obligations to complete the merger.  The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) said it had no jurisdiction or authority to block Zee from approaching the Indian tribunal, adding the merger fell within the purview of the National Company Law Tribunal of India, Zee said in filings to Indian stock exchanges.Sony said in a statement that it was disappointed by the decision but it was a procedural one ruling only whether Zee could pursue its application with the company law tribunal.  We will continue to vigorously arbitrate the matter in Singapore in front of a full SIAC tribunal and pursue SPNI's (Sony India) right to terminate the merger agreement and seek a termination fee and other remedies," it added."We remain confident in the merits of our position in both Singapore and India."  The Zee-Sony merger, in the works for two years, would have created an Indian TV juggernaut with more than 90 channels across sports, entertainment and news that would have competed with the likes of Walt Disney, and billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance. In terminating the merger, Sony also cited alleged failure by the Indian media company to meet some financial terms of the deal, a dispute over compliance issues including disposal of some Russian assets and its $1.4 billion Disney cricket rights deal, Reuters reported last week."  

Zee claims ₹700 crore in costs from Sony for fulfilling merger conditions

In the upcoming proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal, Zee plans to argue that, “It has incurred/provided for in books of account approximately ₹700 crores towards divestment of businesses, settlement of frivolous claims (against which Zee had a strong legal case), settlement of guarantees, procuring tail insurance to Sony’s satisfaction, discontinuing several businesses on Sony’s instructions and more.”Zee intends to counter Sony’s termination notice claiming $90 million in damages from it citing alleged breaches by the Indian company. Zee has categorically denied that there has been any material adverse effect in terms of the merger agreement as indicated in Sony’s termination notice. According to legal sources, Zee will show that it had multiple discussions with Sony, including discussions on the joint business plan where month-wise profit and loss, cash flows were discussed and provided to Sony. Zee was in constant discussions with Sony for a substantial period of time to bring the merger to fruition. Sony consistently advised and instructed Zee to take specific steps in order to close the merger faster and Zee undertook those steps as advised and instructed by Sony. Not only did Zee spend considerable effort and time in taking those steps, but it has also incurred significant monetary costs to satisfy Sony,” the document accessed from legal sources said. It also said that Zee informed Sony that certain actions required to fulfil these conditions (e.g., divestments) are permanent, irrevocable, and irreversible steps which are being undertaken solely for the merger. Sony had requested Zee to undertake actions and steps outside the scope of the agreement such as provision losses in relation to its arrangement with Disney Star which would result in booking of substantial losses [as early as March 2023], even before Zee executed this agreement with Disney Star. Availing of this debt is specifically exempted under the merger agreement. Sony was aware of the agreement through public disclosures and specific details were provided to them. Moreover, Sony had requested Zee to proceed with the agreement regardless of the fact that Star was yet to give its waiver for the provision of a corporate guarantee from the ultimate parent entity of Sony,” said a source close to the development.      

Zee claims ₹700 crore in costs from Sony for fulfilling merger conditions

In the upcoming proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal, Zee plans to argue that, “It has incurred/provided for in books of account approximately ₹700 crores towards divestment of businesses, settlement of frivolous claims (against which Zee had a strong legal case), settlement of guarantees, procuring tail insurance to Sony’s satisfaction, discontinuing several businesses on Sony’s instructions and more.”Zee intends to counter Sony’s termination notice claiming $90 million in damages from it citing alleged breaches by the Indian company. Zee has categorically denied that there has been any material adverse effect in terms of the merger agreement as indicated in Sony’s termination notice. According to legal sources, Zee will show that it had multiple discussions with Sony, including discussions on the joint business plan where month-wise profit and loss, cash flows were discussed and provided to Sony. Zee was in constant discussions with Sony for a substantial period of time to bring the merger to fruition. Sony consistently advised and instructed Zee to take specific steps in order to close the merger faster and Zee undertook those steps as advised and instructed by Sony. Not only did Zee spend considerable effort and time in taking those steps, but it has also incurred significant monetary costs to satisfy Sony,” the document accessed from legal sources said. It also said that Zee informed Sony that certain actions required to fulfil these conditions (e.g., divestments) are permanent, irrevocable, and irreversible steps which are being undertaken solely for the merger. Sony had requested Zee to undertake actions and steps outside the scope of the agreement such as provision losses in relation to its arrangement with Disney Star which would result in booking of substantial losses [as early as March 2023], even before Zee executed this agreement with Disney Star. Availing of this debt is specifically exempted under the merger agreement. Sony was aware of the agreement through public disclosures and specific details were provided to them. Moreover, Sony had requested Zee to proceed with the agreement regardless of the fact that Star was yet to give its waiver for the provision of a corporate guarantee from the ultimate parent entity of Sony,” said a source close to the development.