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Corporate Financier’s Notes by Aivars Jurcans
Deals On The Table
Credem, an Italian regional lender, is said to be in “exclusive negotiations” to buy Cassa di Risparmio di Cento, its smaller rival.
Source: Reuters
Thanks, But No Deal
Mediobanca, an Italian lender, is said to have dropped plans to buy a stake in BFI Finance, an Indonesian consumer credit operator, because “the Covid-19 emergency had made the deal unrealistic”.
Source: Reuters
Not So Fast
Kuwait Finance House KSCP is said to have decided to postpone the planned merger with Ahli United Bank, a Bahrain lender, until December 2020. Kuwait Finance House offered to buy Ahli United in September 2019 in an all-share deal that was valued at about USD 8.8 billion.
Source: Bloomberg
Metrics To Watch
Dubai Islamic Bank’s, a Sharia-compliant lender, cost-to-income ratio after Q1 2020 was 29,8%. This excludes synergies expected from Noor Bank acquisition yet to materialise over the course of the year.
Source: Bloomberg
Follow The Money
Eight major financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, HSBC and Deutsche Bank, are said to have invested EUR 20 million in Proxymity, a London-based online shareholder voting platform.
Source: FT
Up-and-Comers
Stash, a New York-based startup, is raising USD 112 million in a new round of funding led by LendingTree. The round is said to value it at more than USD 800 billion. Stash focuses on providing banking and investment advice and services to younger and less affluent; it claims having more than 4.5 million customers.
Source: Bloomberg
On The Baltic Shores
Revolut, a UK-based fintech, has started operating as a full bank in Lithuania where it secured its first banking license in late 2018. This is said to allow its 300,000 Lithuanian customers to upgrade from e-money accounts to full bank accounts covered by the country’s deposit guarantee scheme.
Source: FT
Exciting Numbers
Citigroup estimates that global central banks have unleashed USD 5 trillion worth of asset purchases in recent weeks, with Federal Reserve accounting for 1/2.
Source: FT
A Thought Worth Noting
“I think the notion of putting 7,000 people in a building may be a thing of the past and we will find ways to operate with more distancing over a much longer period of time.”
Jes Staley, chief executive, Barclays
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Aivars Jurcans has more than 20 years of corporate finance and investment banking experience. His services are currently available through MURINUS ADVISERS.
Design by Artis Briedis, Photo by Joe Taylor on Unsplash
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