Proposal to acquire Toshiba
April 7, 2021 (Wednesday) Clear
・Toshiba <6502> [Closing price 3,830 yen] English investment fund CVC Capital Partners and others have made a buyout proposal.
Negotiations with the management and conditions will begin, and if an agreement can be reached including authorities, a TOB (takeover bid) will be launched.
The acquisition is expected to exceed 2 trillion yen.
It has become an unusual situation where a representative Japanese company is considering privatization to change its governance structure.
・The government issued its first state of emergency 7 days ago, marking one year since then.
The ongoing spread of COVID-19 has laid bare weaknesses in Japan's governance structure.
Delays in digitalization, vague responsibilities and authority between the national and local governments, and vested interests hinder flexible responses, and political-led initiatives were sluggish.
・The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised its global economic outlook on the 6th, raising the 2021 growth forecast to 6.0%, up 0.5 percentage points from January.
The world is entering a difficult phase, shifting focus from just boosting demand to policies that sustain growth.
If 6% growth is realized, it would be the highest since the IMF's statistics began in 1980.
・IMF World Economic Outlook upward revision
World: 2021 6.0% (vs. 1/0.5) 2022 4.4% (+0.2)
Japan 3.3% (+0.2) 2.5% (+0.1) United States 6.4% (+1.3) 3.5% (+1.0) euro area 4.4% (+0.2) 3.8% (+0.2)
United Kingdom 5.3% (+0.8) 5.1% (+0.1) China 8.4% (+0.3) 5.6% (0.0) India 12.5% (+1.0) 6.9% (+0.1) Brazil 3.7% (+0.1) 2.6% (0.0)
・Swiss financial giant Credit Suisse Group on the 6th announced a loss of 4.4 billion Swiss francs (about 5.2 trillion yen).
It appears to be costs from the failed operation of the U.S. hedge fund Archegos Capital Management.
Credit Suisse was also forced to wind down its business with the U.K. Greenill Capital, which collapsed in March.
Shows weaknesses in risk management, leading to the resignation of executives.
・Aeon <8267> [Closing price 3,293.0 yen] subsidiary Daiei to enter unmanned stores.
This summer, it will open a small store the size of a convenience store in Koto Ward, Tokyo.
Using technology from the Chinese startup CloudPick, in which U.S. semiconductor giant Intel also invested, store opening costs will be reduced to half of traditional unmanned stores.
(Nikkei, front page)
・In the U.S., Oracle sued Google for copyright infringement related to software programs; on the 5th the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a verdict in Google's favor.
Rising concerns about IT giants' dominance. A check on software assets and Oracle's monopoly.
・In the House of Representatives plenary session on the 6th, a bill for forming a digital society that includes abolishing stamping procedures was passed.
The government aims to abolish more than 99% of about 15,000 procedures requiring stamps.
・IMF on the 6th, in its World Economic Outlook, raised the forecast for 2021 growth to 6.0%.
For 2021, growth was revised up to 6.4% for the United States and 8.4% for China.
Behind this are large-scale stimulus measures, but rapid demand recovery could cause inflation in developing countries, making government and central bank guidance more challenging.
・The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry compiled an outlook that solar power capacity will grow by 60% from the current level by fiscal 2030.
From about 56 million kW in 2019 to 88 million kW, roughly equivalent to 88 nuclear plants.
・The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on the 6th proposed a plan for five years up to fiscal 2025 to reduce utility poles along roads.
Including urgent transport routes for evacuation, rescue, and supply during disasters,
raising the target for undergrounding power lines from 38% to 52%.
・The practical use of digital currency as money is coming into view.
Six out of the world’s central banks have begun proof-of-concept experiments.
Japan, the United States, Europe are also starting to move.
The wave of digital currencies could challenge the dollar-centered currency dominance.
・SMBC Insurance Co., Ltd. <8725> [Closing price 3,207.0 yen] plans to invest up to 500 billion yen in M&A by 2023.
Create a fund to handle M&A with overseas non-life insurers in North America.
With domestic business conditions severe, looking for opportunities overseas.
・U.S. investment firm KKR established a private equity fund targeting the Asia-Pacific region with total commitments of $15 billion (about 1.65 trillion yen).
Co-chief Harumi Hirano (KKR Japan President) said, “About 30% of the funds will be directed to Japan.”
・February new car sales in six major Southeast Asian countries were 197,164 units, down 19% year-on-year.
The resurgence of COVID-19 infections and other factors worsened for two consecutive months.
・Global COVID-19 infection numbers (daily new deaths) as of 4/6 4:00 PM, compiled by Johns Hopkins University: World total 1,318,287,000 (7,740 deaths)
United States 30,785,390 (612) Brazil 13,013,601 (1,319) India 12,686,049 (448) France 4,893,971 (197) Russia 4,538,101 (336) United Kingdom 4,376,629 (28)
Italy 3,678,944 (296) Turkey 3,529,601 (193) Spain 3,311,325 (85) Germany 2,902,309 (78) Colombia 2,456,409 (199) Poland 2,448,463 (84)
From here, published in [Coro Asa Premium]
× ![]()
