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Frontrunning: January 12

  • Oil slips toward $30, traders bet on more falls (Reuters)
  • Oil Plunge Sparks Bankruptcy Concerns (WSJ)
  • RBS cries 'sell everything' as deflationary crisis nears (Telegraph)
  • World stocks drop but Europe shrugs off oil slide, China money market surge (Reuters)
  • Canadian Stocks Fall in Longest Slump Since 2002 as Oil Slides (BBG)
  • State of Union Speech to Note Work Yet to Be Done (WSJ)
  • "Murderous" Yuan Rate Jolts Hong Kong as Top Currency Hub (BBG)
  • Putin Says Sheltering Assad Would Be Easier Than Snowden Asylum (BBG)
  • Goldman Sachs Sees $64 Billion in Buybacks Rescuing Japan Stocks (BBG)
  • Anti-refugee right-wingers go on rampage in Leipzig, say police (Reuters)
  • Central Bankers Enjoy Twitter Party as Followers Jump by Half (BBG)
  • South Africa's Flash Crash Exposes Cracks in Currency Liquidity (BBG)
  • Mining Ready for M&A Revival, Producers Fight for Survival (BBG)
  • 'El Chapo’ Nearly Foiled Capture With Another Tunnel (WSJ)
  • Saudi Arabia plays down riyal peg fears (FT)
  • Tugboats Left Useless by U.S. Shale Boom Finally Have Job to Do (BBG)
  • Migrant flows 'still way too high,' EU tells Turkey (AFP)
  • Clinton Tax Plan Would Place 4% Surcharge on Incomes Over $5 Million (BBG)

 

Overnight Media Digest

FT

Drugmaker Shire Plc agreed to a $32 billion takeover of Baxalta International Inc on Monday, catapulting it to a leading position in treating rare diseases.

European commissioner for digital economy, Gunther Oettinger, has called on a meeting with Europe's 10 largest telecoms groups to speed up and implement a strategy to deploy next generation 5G mobile services.

Sanofi SA has signed deals with biotech companies Warp Drive Bio and Marseille-based Innate Pharma worth up to 1.2 billion euros ($1.30 billion) as part of its plan to build its oncology business

 

NYT

- London-listed pharmaceutical company Shire PLC won over its fellow drug maker Baxalta on Monday in a deal valued at about $31 billion. The combination would create a giant in the treatment of rare diseases. (http://nyti.ms/1PoRSj9)

- Chris Hughes, the Facebook co-founder who bought The New Republic in 2012 and prompted a revolt among staff members and contributors when he tried to remake it, said on Monday that he had decided to put the magazine up for sale. (http://nyti.ms/1PoRjG9)

- Some leading pharmaceutical companies are joining forces in an effort to speed the testing of new types of cancer drugs that harness the body's immune system to battle tumors. The cooperative effort, announced on Monday, will include Amgen , Celgene and some smaller companies. (http://nyti.ms/1PoRst4)

- Grindr, the popular dating and social networking app for gay men, said on Monday said it had sold a majority stake to the Beijing Kunlun Tech Company, a Chinese gaming company, valuing the six-year-old start-up at $155 million. Beijing Kunlun will acquire 60 percent of Grindr, with the remainder to be owned by Grindr employees and Joel Simkhai, the company's founder. (http://nyti.ms/1PoRO2I)

- Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp , and the former model Jerry Hall got engaged over the weekend and announced their pending nuptials Tuesday in the classifieds of a newspaper he owns. (http://nyti.ms/1PoRTna)

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** British Columbia cannot support Kinder Morgan Canada's C$6.8 billion ($4.78 billion) Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project because the company is not offering sufficient details of its spill-response plans, the government says. (http://bit.ly/1PTQrvT)

** The Liberal government is facing increasing pressure to make public the most important deliberations on Canada's C$15 billion sale of combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia: precisely how the transaction is justified under this country's strict weapons export control regime. (http://bit.ly/1PTRk7B)

** A Toronto man has been freed more than five years after he was kidnapped in Afghanistan, where he said he had gone as a tourist. (http://bit.ly/1PTRFqX)

NATIONAL POST

** Toronto-based Freshii Inc, which marks its 11th anniversary this month, has reaped benefits from being ahead of the healthy fast-food trend, doubling its global restaurant count last year to more than 200 franchised units, with plans to almost double in size again in 2016. (http://bit.ly/1PTTd4b)

** The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has appointed a new chief investment officer to replace longtime CIO Neil Petroff, who retired in June. Bjarne Graven Larsen, who will also serve as executive vice president, takes the role on Feb. 1, and will report to Chief Executive Ron Mock. (http://bit.ly/1PTThkk)

** Junior miner Rubicon Minerals Corp has slashed its gold resources by an astounding 88 percent, confirming the company will go down as one of the worst Canadian mining meltdowns in years. (http://bit.ly/1PTTpAl)

 

Britain

The Times

- The odds of a favourable regulatory outcome for the proposed merger between Ladbrokes Plc and Gala Coral appeared to improve yesterday as the Competition and Markets Authority agreed to fast-track its in-depth investigation. (http://thetim.es/1IZtmID)

- Shire Plc, one of Britain's biggest drug companies, sealed a $32 billion deal yesterday to buy Baxalta Inc, the American rival it has been courting since August, in an attempt to become a world leader in medicines for rare diseases. (http://thetim.es/1IZtqYV)

The Guardian

- CMC Markets, which is likely to be valued at more than 1 billion pounds ($1.45 billion), is to announce as early as this week that it will float on the stock market. If it goes ahead, it will be the first major flotation in London in 2016. (http://bit.ly/1IZttnD)

- The Financial Conduct Authority has defended its decision to drop a review into banking culture, and insisted the Treasury did not use its influence to encourage a softer approach toward the industry. (http://bit.ly/1IZtEza)

The Telegraph

- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc has advised clients to brace for a "cataclysmic year" and a global deflationary crisis, warning that major stock markets could fall by a fifth and oil may plummet to $16 a barrel. (http://bit.ly/1IZtFDv)

- Belgium must claw back 700 million euros ($760.34 million)in illegal tax breaks, the European Union has ruled, in its latest crackdown on "sweetheart" tax deals in Europe. The country's "excess profit" tax scheme is the latest corporate tax arrangement to fall foul of Brussels rules on state aid. (http://bit.ly/1IZtJTv)

Sky News

- A leading City investor is to vote some of its shares in favour of Royal Dutch Shell Plc 36 billion pound takeover of BG Group, despite its public opposition to one of the oil industry's biggest-ever deals. Standard Life Investments will vote its roughly 1.3 percent stake in BG Group in support of the tie-up at an extraordinary shareholder meeting later this month. (http://bit.ly/1IZtOqs)

- EE and O2 phone networks have been hit by technical issues, with some users reporting problems making calls. The issue seemed to affect calling landlines for several hours on Monday. (http://bit.ly/1IZtU1h)

The Independent

- The world's largest food producer is to be sued over allegations that it used child slaves to harvest cocoa in the Ivory Coast in Africa. Nestle SA has lost its bid to throw out a court case which has accused it of using child labourers for its chocolate products. (http://ind.pn/1IZtY19)

- The head of HM Revenue and Customs, Lin Homer, will step down in April amid criticism from MPs. Her tenure has been mired by criticism over her failure to answer calls from the public and her handling of the HSBC Holdings Plc tax scandal. (http://ind.pn/1IZu2Oe)