Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last week,
Rogers and Altice botched their bid for Quebec’s Cogeco. But the real loser might be Cogeco: Strategic logic backed by buckets of money is often a winning formula for any takeover. But those elements were not enough to secure the purchase of Quebec’s Cogeco by Rogers Communications and Altice USA, two gung-ho players in the North American cable consolidation game. (Eric Reguly)
CPPIB emerges with a jewel from the Neiman Marcus bankruptcy: After a series of legal manoeuvres and a bruising battle with creditors, CPPIB and investor Ares Management LLC are now the owners of Mytheresa, the Neiman Marcus-owned online luxury retailer that’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The struggle to retain ownership of Mytheresa has allowed Canadians to salvage something from CPPIB’s ownership of Neiman Marcus, one of the pension plan’s more notorious investment missteps. (David Milstead)
Investors flee Brookfield’s new insurance partner as takeover is thwarted: Brookfield Asset Management Inc.'s big deal to boost its insurance efforts was met with an underwhelming reception from its partner’s investors, who sent its shares tumbling. American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. fell nearly 15 per cent, to US$27.49 a share, as investors learned a competing offer for the entire company was now off the table after American Equity and Brookfield made their deal. (David Milstead)
Laurentian names Rania Llewellyn as its next CEO; first woman to head major Canadian bank: Laurentian Bank of Canada has chosen Rania Llewellyn as its next chief executive officer, making her the first woman to lead a major Canadian-based bank. Ms. Llewellyn formally starts her role on Oct. 30 after a 26-year career at Bank of Nova Scotia, where she most recently served as executive vice-president of global business payments. (James Bradshaw)
HBC plans store redevelopments to ‘increase the value’ of its commercial real estate: Hudson’s Bay Co. is planning to “modernize” its department store properties by redeveloping some of the vast store buildings into mixed-use spaces that could including offices, other retailers in addition to the Bay, and even residential space. (Susan Krashinsky Robertson)
With auto industry at a crossroads, Magna taps company veteran as next CEO: Magna International Inc. announced president Seetarama (Swamy) Kotagiri will take the wheel as chief executive in January, replacing Don Walker, who has run the world’s third largest auto parts maker for 22 years. The incoming boss at Aurora, Ont.-based Magna is a 51-year-old engineer with 12 patents to his name. (Andrew Willis)
Life insurance industry opposes Ontario’s new regulations of financial adviser, planner titles: Canada’s life insurance industry is opposing a proposal by the Ontario government that would prevent people licensed to sell insurance from using the title “financial adviser” or “financial planner.” (Clare O’Hara)
Market shrugs off antitrust suit against Google in sign of Big Tech’s power: The market wasted no time in rendering its own judgment on the U.S. government versus Google antitrust lawsuit. Instead of falling, Alphabet’s stock price jumped and continued to rise on Wednesday. The overwhelming reaction to the landmark antitrust assault amounted to a big shrug. Disagree if you will, but many investors now believe Big Tech is so powerful it can chuckle at government’s efforts to rein it in. (Ian McGugan)
Sun Life to buy majority stake in U.S.-based loan provider Crescent: Sun Life Financial Inc. is set to buy a majority stake in U.S.-based Crescent Capital Group, a US$28-billion loan provider the insurer had been looking to add to its investment portfolio for almost two years. (Clare O’Hara)
Montreal energy drink company Guru files for IPO, will list on TSX: Canadian energy drink company Guru Organic Energy Corp. is going public, betting it can attract new investors and consumers as it positions itself as the plant-based, healthy alternative in an image-challenged industry. (Nicolas Van Praet)
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