Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last 24 hours,
FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS
TD threw in the towel on Ameritrade in the face of a powerful opponent: I spent a morning with Charles Schwab, years ago, at a conference in Arizona’s Biltmore Hotel. I mention the setting because the Biltmore is where American business leaders gather to tell each other how smart they are, while working on their tans. NFL owners meet here on a regular basis. The place reeks of power – a smell that combines leather furniture and bourbon. Against this backdrop, Mr. Schwab explained why it would be a mistake for Toronto-Dominion Bank to go toe-to-toe with his discount brokerage firm –previewing a battle that would play out 16 years later. Opinion (Andrew Willis)
Scotiabank posts modest profit gain, capping year of change: Bank of Nova Scotia closed its 2019 fiscal year with modestly higher profits in its core divisions, as wariness among business leaders over global trade tensions and economic prospects begins to weigh on banks. Story (James Bradshaw)
DEALS NEWS: MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS, IPOs and FINANCINGS
Couche-Tard’s Asia-Pacific gambit: A ‘messy’ $5.8-billion bid for Caltex: Canadian convenience store king Alain Bouchard has been scanning the Asia-Pacific region in recent years, looking for a takeover target that would give his Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. a toehold for its third leg of growth after North America and Europe. Story (Nicolas Van Praet)
LSE shareholders approve $27-billion Refinitiv takeover: London Stock Exchange shareholders overwhelmingly backed the exchange’s $27 billion takeover of data and analytics company Refinitiv on Tuesday, a deal designed to broaden LSE’s trading business and make it a major distributor of market data. Story (Reuters)
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