Americas
Headlines
In a row between China and America, Canada gets trampled
Don’t harass the heiress JUST HOURS before opening a flagship store in Beijing in December, Canada Goose, a maker of expensive parkas, cancelled the event. The proudly Canadian firm, based in Toronto, blamed delays in construction. More likely, it wanted to avoid protests against the arrest in Vancouver on December 1st of Meng Wanzhou, the chief...
Mexico’s new president presents a sober budget
ANDRéS MANUEL LóPEZ OBRADOR, who became Mexico’s president on December 1st, knows how to put the romance into a honeymoon. On December 13th thousands of people attended a free moonlit screening of “Roma”, a Mexican film tipped for an Oscar, next to the heliport of Los Pinos, the residence of Mexico’s presidents until Mr López Obrador...
Joe Biden is not the best person to take on Donald Trump
JOE BIDEN was first off a flight from Burlington to Philadelphia the other day. Lexington was second, which afforded him a rare moment to observe the former vice-president in the solitude of an empty jetway. Perhaps Mr Biden knew he was being spied on. Perhaps he always expects to be, after half a century in frontline politics. Even so, to watch...
Why American cities are so weirdly shaped
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, is shaped like a kidney, taller than it is wide, curving eastwards slightly on its longer sides. It is contiguous, blob-like, sensible. Birmingham, Alabama, founded in 1871 and named after its English ancestor, looks as if it was imagined by a deranged computer, straight lines and sharp angles and missing bits in the middle...
A federal judge in Texas rules that Obamacare is unconstitutional
Could care less LIKE WEEDS and superheroes, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is hard to kill. Since storming Congress in 2010, Republicans have tried their darndest to take down the ACA, better known as Obamacare, only to find themselves stymied by internal divisions over what would replace it. On December 14th a federal judge in Texas dealt the law...
Finance
Pendo Systems name Ruth Wandhöfer, a globally recognized banking expert, to their Board of Directors
Pendo Systems is proud to announce that Ruth Wandhöfer, Global Head of Regulatory and Market Strategy at Citi, has joined their board. Ms. Wandhöfer is a banking regulatory expert and one of the foremost authorities on transaction banking regulatory matters. Her reputation has been built around her ability to drive regulatory and industry dialogue...
Implications of the money laundering law reform
The amendment to the money laundering law approved in the first debate requires accountants, lawyers and real estate agents to report suspicious transactions made by their clients.Bill 19.951 reforming the Law on Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, Drugs of Unauthorized Use, Related Activities, Legalization of Capital and Financing of Terrorism...
Wall Street finishes flat ahead of earnings season, key US-China meeting
It was a fairly flat session on Wall Street overnight, as investors exercised caution ahead of the first-quarter earnings season and a meeting between the US and Chinese presidents later this week. Investors will be focussed on the potentially tense meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday, after Mr Trump held out the possibility...
GLC Advisors Strengthens Advisory and M&A Expertise with Addition of Senior Bankers
Addition of Several Industry Bankers Including Former St. Charles Capital Professionals Deepens Firm’s Expertise and Relationships Across Technology, FIG, Consumer, Retail and Energy IndustriesGLC Advisors & Co., LLC (“GLC Advisors”) is pleased to welcome nine seasoned M&A professionals, including former Partners and professionals of Denver based...
Columbia Threadneedle opens office in Chile
Columbia Threadneedle Investments has opened its first Latin American office in Santiago, Chile. As its first proprietary distribution hub for the Andes (Chile, Peru and Colombia), the new office will serve the asset manager’s institutional and wholesale clients in the region. Columbia Threadneedle has also appointed Santiago Zarauza Riestra...
Legal
Is a Six-Hour Workday Better for Everyone?
There's very little doubt or disagreement among anyone that works for a living that there are too few hours in the day. However, rather than doing the impossible and adding more hours into the day, the brilliant minds over at the Harvard Business Review are recommending cutting back the workday from eight hours...
GCs: Is Your Company GDPR Compliant?
There's very little doubt that the General Data Privacy Regulation, a.k.a. the GDPR, has created an onerous burden on companies that do business globally, especially on the web. However, recent reports about how tech giant Facebook handles GDPR reporting might make you think twice about how your company is operating....
Top 5 Greedy Tips of 2018
When it comes to being greedy, sometimes some lawyers need a little help. To that end, we started our Greedy Tip of the Week series this year in FindLaw's Greedy Associates blog. If you happen to be one of those lawyers that needs a little extra help figuring out how to make a little extra money, below you can...
U.S. M&A: Full Speed Ahead for 2019
Optimism is the name of the game for the U.S. M&A market. A recent report by Deloitte cites positive tax reform, a relaxed regulatory climate and growing cash reserves as the primary reasons for expecting 2019 to be a big year for M&A. 79% of the 1,000 U.S. corporate executives and private equity firms surveyed...… Continue reading The...
The Best Part of Being a Federal Judge Is Speaking Your Mind
If asked, judges often say they like their jobs for noble reasons. They dispense justice and bring balance to the universal conflict of man, or something like that. Superman said it better. But if you could get inside the head of a federal judge, you would find they really like being able to speaking their mind....
Deals
White Wolf-backed Consulting Solutions buys JDC
Consulting Solutions, which is backed by White Wolf Capital, has acquired Atlanta-based JDC Group, an SAP focused consulting and staffing company. No financial terms were disclosed.Read More
Popular Pays reels in $1.1 mln
Chicago-based Popular Pays, a software company that helps marketers collaborate with social content creators, has secured $1.1 million in financing. The investor was ICCP SBI Venture Partners.Read More
Acendre secures funding from Strattam Capital
Strattam Capital has made an majority investment in Acendre, a talent management platform provider. No financial terms were disclosed. Bowstring Advisors served as financial adviser to Acendre on the transaction.Read More
ClearLight sells PHSI to Quench
ClearLight Partners has sold Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Pure Water Technology-PHSI to Quench USA Inc, a unit of AquaVenture Holdings Limited. No financial terms were disclosed. Raymond James and Armstrong Teasdale LLP advised ClearLight on the transaction.Read More
Lightspeed to raise $560 mln for two Chinese funds
Lightspeed Venture Partners has set out to raise $360 million for a fourth Chinese venture-capital fund and $200 million for a Chinese select fund, according to a pair of filings with the SEC.Read More
Acq Lite
Eni deal a testament to Abu Dhabi's attraction
March 12 (UPI) -- In what's nearly a $1 billion commitment, Italian energy company Eni said it made its Emirati debut in an agreement with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.Eni signed agreements to acquire minority shares in the Lower Zakum, Umm Shaif and Nasr offshore fields from state-run ADNOC for a total fee of $875 million."The stakes in the two...
Statoil using mega-rig to tap frontier North Sea area
March 12 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil will move a deepwater drilling rig to the North Sea to tap a prospect awarded more than 30 years ago, a regulator said Monday.The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate gave Statoil consent to move the Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig to a section of the North Sea to tap into a prospect awarded to the company...
German green energy segment Innogy divvied up
March 12 (UPI) -- German utility company E.ON is now in control of the renewable energy segment created by its rival, RWE, in a landmark, multi-billion dollar deal, they said.In a joint statement, E.ON said it reached an agreement in principle with RWE to acquire more than three quarters of the stakes in renewable energy entity Innogy, an offshoot from...
Russia test-fires Kinzhal hypersonic missile
March 11 (UPI) -- A Russian jet successfully test-lauched a hypersonic missile Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.The Kinzhal hypersonic missile was launched from an MiG-31 interceptor jet, which departed from an airfield in the Southern Military District, Russia's TASS News Agency reported."A MiG-31 fighter crew of the Russian Aerospace Forces...
Huntington Ingalls contracted for further repairs on USS Fitzgerald
March 9 (UPI) -- Huntington Ingalls was awarded a contract from the U.S. Navy to continue repairs on the USS Fitzgerald.The deal, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, is valued at more than $77.5 million under the terms of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, which is a modification to a previous award.The modified contract between the U.S. Navy...