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Image for Citigroup says will close Russian consumer, commercial business
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Citigroup says will close Russian consumer, commercial business

By Lananh Nguyen (Reuters) -Wall Street giant Citigroup Inc will close its consumer and commercial b...

25th August, 2022

Image for Nissan to cease producing cylinder heads for Renault from 2024
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Nissan to cease producing cylinder heads for Renault from 2024

PARIS (Reuters) – Nissan said it would stop production of cylinder heads for French car maker Renaul...

24th August, 2022

Image for From chasing deals to turning off screens: Cineworld on the brink
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From chasing deals to turning off screens: Cineworld on the brink

(Reuters) – Britain’s Cineworld said on Monday it was considering options including a possible bankr...

22nd August, 2022

Image for HSBC oversold risks of $35 billion Asia spin-off, investor Ping An thinks – source
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HSBC oversold risks of $35 billion Asia spin-off, investor Ping An thinks – source

By Selena Li, Lawrence White and Anshuman Daga HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC overstated the risk...

11th August, 2022

Image for Coca-Cola HBC flags one-time $195 million hit from Russian operations
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Coca-Cola HBC flags one-time $195 million hit from Russian operations

By Amna Karimi (Reuters) -Coca-Cola HBC AG said on Thursday it took a one-time hit of 190 million eu...

11th August, 2022

Image for Exclusive: Volkswagen’s new CEO plans to shrink management board – sources
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Exclusive: Volkswagen’s new CEO plans to shrink management board – sources

By Jan Schwartz HAMBURG (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s incoming CEO Oliver Blume plans to shrink the size...

10th August, 2022

Image for Supermarket group Ahold lifted by better than expected results
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Supermarket group Ahold lifted by better than expected results

By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Supermarket group Ahold Delhaize increased its full-year gu...

10th August, 2022

Image for PostNL cuts profit forecast, plans price increases to cope with higher costs
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PostNL cuts profit forecast, plans price increases to cope with higher costs

By Elitsa Gadeva (Reuters) -Dutch postal company PostNL on Monday cut its 2022 earnings outlook for...

8th August, 2022

Image for Siemens Energy blames Russia restructuring for wider 2022 loss
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Siemens Energy blames Russia restructuring for wider 2022 loss

By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) -Siemens Energy on Monday bla...

8th August, 2022

Image for Evonik to substitute up to 40% of natural gas at its German sites
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Evonik to substitute up to 40% of natural gas at its German sites

(Reuters) -German chemicals group Evonik Industries said on Monday it was substituting up to 40% of...

8th August, 2022

Image for Alexa! Start my Roomba: Amazon buys robot vacuum maker for $1.7 billion
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Alexa! Start my Roomba: Amazon buys robot vacuum maker for $1.7 billion

By Akash Sriram (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc will acquire iRobot Corp, maker of robotic vacuum cleaner...

5th August, 2022

Image for By Julie Zhu and Selena Li HONG KONG (Reuters) – Tencent Holdings Ltd plans to raise its stake in French video game group Ubisoft Entertainment SA as the Chinese gaming giant pivots to the global gaming market, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. China’s largest social network and gaming firm, which bought a 5% stake in Ubisoft in 2018, has reached out to the French firm’s founding Guillemot family and expressed interest in increasing its stake in the firm, the sources said. It is not clear how much more Tencent wants to own in Ubisoft, valued at $5.3 billion, but Tencent aims to become the single largest shareholder of the French company with an additional stake purchase, two of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Tencent is hoping to buy a part of the additional stake in Ubisoft, the maker of the blockbuster “Assassin’s Creed” video game franchise, from the Guillemot family, which owns 15% of the firm, three of the sources said. Tencent could offer up to 100 euros ($101.84) per share to acquire the additional stake, two of the sources with knowledge of the internal discussions, said. It paid 66 euros per share for the 5% stake in 2018. Details of the deal are not yet finalised and are subject to change, the sources said. Ubisoft shares surged 21% after the Reuters report at 1008 GMT and were set for their biggest daily rise since 2004. Shares in Guillemot Corp SA, the holding company in which the Guillemot family owns the majority shareholding, were trading up 10.3% at 1240 GMT and were set for their biggest daily jump since January. GRAPHIC: Ubisoft set for biggest daily jump since 2004 (https://graphics.reuters.com/TENCENT-INVESTMENT/dwpkrwdggvm/chart.png) Tencent will also seek to acquire shares from public shareholders of Ubisoft, two of the sources said, in a bid to boost its ownership and become the single-largest shareholder. About 80% of the French firm’s shares are owned by public shareholders, according to its latest annual report. All the sources declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media. Tencent and Ubisoft declined to comment. Representatives of the Guillemot family could not be immediately reached for comment. The planned stake purchase, Tencent’s latest major foreign deal since a regulatory crackdown in late 2020, will help it offset some of the pressures in the domestic gaming market. China’s video games market, the world’s largest, has become fiercely competitive. “Tencent is very determined to nail down the deal as Ubisoft is such an important strategic asset for Tencent,” one of the people said. At the top end of 100 euros per share, Tencent’s offer will be a premium of 127% to the stock’s 44 euros average price over the past three months, and is close to its historical price ceiling at 108 euros in 2018. Tencent has submitted to the Guillemot family a term sheet – a non-binding offer describing the basic terms and conditions of an investment – with a price “way above” the company’s current price to ward off potential competition, one of the sources said. The aggressive offer comes as global gaming power houses have been rushing to snap up quality independent game makers in recent years, which are in scarcity, two of the sources said. Tencent’s senior executives flew to France in May to meet the Guillemot family about the purchase, two of the people said. DOMESTIC PRESSURES China’s gaming regulator has not granted any new game licences to Tencent at home since June last year, before it froze gaming approvals for nearly nine months. Since it resumed approvals in April this year, none of the past four batches included the company. In May, Tencent reported that its domestic game revenue dropped 1% in the first quarter while international game revenue rose 4%. Tencent, which has stakes in U.S. video game developers Epic Games and Riot Games, said in June it would release its flagship mobile game “Honor of Kings” globally by the end of the year. In 2016, it bought a majority stake in “Clash of Clans” mobile game maker Supercell for roughly $8.6 billion, one of the world’s biggest ever gaming deals. It also owns 9% of UK video gaming firm Frontier Developments and said last year it would buy another British developer Sumo in a $1.3 billion deal. Ubisoft, whose titles also include “Prince of Persia” and “Rainbow Six”, in May forecast lower operating profit for 2022-23 after the company reported operating income for 2021-22 that missed estimates. ($1 = 0.9819 euros) (Additional reporting by Pamela Barbaglia in London, Sudip Kar-Gupta and Richard Lough in Paris; editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Jason Neely and David Evans)
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By Julie Zhu and Selena Li HONG KONG (Reuters) – Tencent Holdings Ltd plans to raise its stake in French video game group Ubisoft Entertainment SA as the Chinese gaming giant pivots to the global gaming market, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. China’s largest social network and gaming firm, which bought a 5% stake in Ubisoft in 2018, has reached out to the French firm’s founding Guillemot family and expressed interest in increasing its stake in the firm, the sources said. It is not clear how much more Tencent wants to own in Ubisoft, valued at $5.3 billion, but Tencent aims to become the single largest shareholder of the French company with an additional stake purchase, two of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Tencent is hoping to buy a part of the additional stake in Ubisoft, the maker of the blockbuster “Assassin’s Creed” video game franchise, from the Guillemot family, which owns 15% of the firm, three of the sources said. Tencent could offer up to 100 euros ($101.84) per share to acquire the additional stake, two of the sources with knowledge of the internal discussions, said. It paid 66 euros per share for the 5% stake in 2018. Details of the deal are not yet finalised and are subject to change, the sources said. Ubisoft shares surged 21% after the Reuters report at 1008 GMT and were set for their biggest daily rise since 2004. Shares in Guillemot Corp SA, the holding company in which the Guillemot family owns the majority shareholding, were trading up 10.3% at 1240 GMT and were set for their biggest daily jump since January. GRAPHIC: Ubisoft set for biggest daily jump since 2004 (https://graphics.reuters.com/TENCENT-INVESTMENT/dwpkrwdggvm/chart.png) Tencent will also seek to acquire shares from public shareholders of Ubisoft, two of the sources said, in a bid to boost its ownership and become the single-largest shareholder. About 80% of the French firm’s shares are owned by public shareholders, according to its latest annual report. All the sources declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media. Tencent and Ubisoft declined to comment. Representatives of the Guillemot family could not be immediately reached for comment. The planned stake purchase, Tencent’s latest major foreign deal since a regulatory crackdown in late 2020, will help it offset some of the pressures in the domestic gaming market. China’s video games market, the world’s largest, has become fiercely competitive. “Tencent is very determined to nail down the deal as Ubisoft is such an important strategic asset for Tencent,” one of the people said. At the top end of 100 euros per share, Tencent’s offer will be a premium of 127% to the stock’s 44 euros average price over the past three months, and is close to its historical price ceiling at 108 euros in 2018. Tencent has submitted to the Guillemot family a term sheet – a non-binding offer describing the basic terms and conditions of an investment – with a price “way above” the company’s current price to ward off potential competition, one of the sources said. The aggressive offer comes as global gaming power houses have been rushing to snap up quality independent game makers in recent years, which are in scarcity, two of the sources said. Tencent’s senior executives flew to France in May to meet the Guillemot family about the purchase, two of the people said. DOMESTIC PRESSURES China’s gaming regulator has not granted any new game licences to Tencent at home since June last year, before it froze gaming approvals for nearly nine months. Since it resumed approvals in April this year, none of the past four batches included the company. In May, Tencent reported that its domestic game revenue dropped 1% in the first quarter while international game revenue rose 4%. Tencent, which has stakes in U.S. video game developers Epic Games and Riot Games, said in June it would release its flagship mobile game “Honor of Kings” globally by the end of the year. In 2016, it bought a majority stake in “Clash of Clans” mobile game maker Supercell for roughly $8.6 billion, one of the world’s biggest ever gaming deals. It also owns 9% of UK video gaming firm Frontier Developments and said last year it would buy another British developer Sumo in a $1.3 billion deal. Ubisoft, whose titles also include “Prince of Persia” and “Rainbow Six”, in May forecast lower operating profit for 2022-23 after the company reported operating income for 2021-22 that missed estimates. ($1 = 0.9819 euros) (Additional reporting by Pamela Barbaglia in London, Sudip Kar-Gupta and Richard Lough in Paris; editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Jason Neely and David Evans)

By Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu TAIPEI (Reuters) – China deployed scores of planes and fired live missiles...

4th August, 2022