FT : 7-Eleven owner taps Nomura to advise on takeover battle after rejecting $39

7-Eleven owner taps Nomura to advise on takeover battle after rejecting $39bn offer
Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard says it is focused on securing deal with Seven & i

Seven & i Holdings has brought on Japan’s biggest investment bank to advise its board in preparation for a potential takeover battle with Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, whose opening $39bn bid for the 7-Eleven owner was rejected.

Nomura was recently appointed as an adviser to Seven & i’s special committee of independent board directors set up to examine the takeover offer for the world’s largest convenience store chain, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

News of the appointment comes after Couche-Tard said this week it remained “highly focused” on the takeover, despite Seven & i’s rejection of a preliminary offer. Couche-Tard added that it was prepared to have “collaborative and friendly discussions” on a deal.

A merger between Couche-Tard, which operates the Circle K brand, and Seven & i would result in the creation of one of the largest retail chains in the US and be the biggest buyout of a Japanese company by a foreign group.

The Canadian group’s opening offer of $14.86 a share in cash — which gave Seven & i an estimated enterprise value of close to $60bn, according to analysts — was rejected by the Japanese group this month as “grossly” undervaluing its business.

Seven & i added that any takeover offer risked running into competition issues in the US, where the Federal Trade Commission has approached both sides as a precautionary measure ahead of any deal. Combined, the companies have more than 14,000 US locations, many of them selling petrol, according to Opis, an energy market information service.

In its rejection, Seven & i also highlighted the need for deeper discussion of the central role that its 22,800 convenience stores play in Japan, where they are considered part of the social infrastructure needed to provide supplies and basic services in the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster.

Seven & i’s share price is hovering at about ¥2,120 ($14.87) a share, giving it a market capitalisation close to the Couche-Tard offer and well above where the stock was trading before the takeover approach became public in August.

“We are disappointed in 7 & i’s refusal to engage in friendly discussions,” Couche-Tard said this week. “We are highly confident that collaborative discussions would lead to our ability to find increased value for 7 & i shareholders.”

The Canadian company also played down Seven & i’s regulatory concerns, saying the highly fragmented US convenience store market would make it possible for the two companies to manage competition issues by divesting some sites. It also committed to “continuing to serve” an important role in Japan’s emergency response.

Nomura, Seven & i and Couche-Tard declined to comment.

>>> US After Hours Summary: NTGR +23.4% roaring higher on settlement agreement a

After Hours Summary: NTGR +23.4% roaring higher on settlement agreement and raised guidance; OXM -9.1% slides on lackluster earnings

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: None

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: NTGR +23.4% (settlement agreement with TP-Link Systems; raises Q3 revenue guidance), BEEP +5.5% (authorizes $10 mln buyback plan), BBW +1.9% (new repurchase program of $100 mln), MOD +1.9% (provides FY27 financial targets), RWT +1.5% (increases dividend), GLPI +1.5% (completes acquisition of land where BALY casino will be constructed), CYH +1.1% (CMO to retire; appoints new CMO), NSIT +0.6% (new stock repurchase program of $300 mln), WRB +0.5% (special cash dividend), PACS +0.1% (finalizes acqusition of 53 skilled nursing facilities), BEN +0.1% (prelim AUM), ACN +0.1% (awarded $1.6 bln U.S. Air Force contract)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: OXM -9.1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: VNOM -4.4% (acquires subsidiaries for $461 mln; files stock offering), INSG -2.1% (debt reduction and capital structure improvements), AVNW -2% (to delay 10-K), LENZ -2% (files stock offering), EZPW -1.4% (to acquire 53 pawn stores in Mexico), RUM -0.9% (shatters records on debate night), PLTR -0.5% (new wave of customers at AIPCon), MSFT -0.3% (OpenAI raising funds at a $150 bln valuation, according to Bloomberg), AMZN -0.2% (AWS to invest $1.8 bln in Brazil, according to Reuters), SOI -0.2% (completes acquisition of Mobile Energy Rentals), PBR -0.2% (starting up natural gas processing unit), IVZ -0.1% (prelim AUM), SITC -0.1% (spin-off date of its retail properties)

TechCrunch : Mark Zuckerberg says WhatsApp has 100M monthly active users in the

Mark Zuckerberg says WhatsApp has 100M monthly active users in the US

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday on his channel that WhatsApp now has more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S., a country where SMS/texts is a popular mode of communication.

The announcement is the first time WhatsApp has released data about users in the U.S. The company also noted that more than 50% of WhatsApp’s users have iPhones, which is not surprising given that iOS has the majority market share in the country.

WhatsApp is a popular app worldwide, with more than 2 billion active users monthly. The company has historically focused on countries like India, which is WhatsApp’s largest user base with more than 500 million monthly active users, and Brazil and Indonesia.

WhatsApp has recently ramped up its marketing push in the U.S. In the past few years, WhatsApp has placed ad campaigns, placements in Times Square and TV spots emphasizing privacy and end-to-end encryption protection. Most recently, it started a national campaign about WhatsApp by bringing back some of the cast of the TV show “Modern Family.”

Just like Google, Meta has emphasized in its marketing the differences between green bubble and blue bubble devices caused by Apple’s iMessage. But now that Apple has adopted Rich Communication Services (RCS), Android users can send and receive high-quality media files and have options to look at typing indicators and read receipts. The messages will still be green, though, according to screenshots of Apple’s website.

However, Meta is still pushing its cross-platform app by highlighting some other features, such as polls, high-quality video calling and reactions. The company is capping off the announcement with another marketing campaign by placing a 200-foot bubble between the Apple and Samsung stores in The Americana Mall in Los Angeles.

FT : Bankers fear Reeves is preparing UK tax raid on sector in the Budget

Bankers fear Reeves is preparing UK tax raid on sector in the Budget
Chancellor to hold meeting with bosses after Britain’s big six lenders reported record profits

Rachel Reeves should be wary of hobbling Britain’s sluggish economy with a Budget tax raid on banks, the City of London has warned, ahead of a meeting with the nation’s top financiers in Downing Street on Thursday.

The chancellor and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey will hold talks with the bosses of leading lenders, which have just enjoyed a year of record profits boosted in part by higher interest rates.

The industry fears that Reeves may squeeze the sector after a year where profits at the six biggest British lenders — Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide and Santander — surged 39 per cent to a new all-time high of £48bn.

One senior banker said that the City offers a “tempting target” to the chancellor as she seeks to repair the nation’s public finances.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday declined to rule out higher taxes on banks in next month’s Budget.

Officials close to the Treasury’s Budget preparations say higher bank taxes are one of a full range of options on the table.

Banks are already making their case against a tax rise.

“The banking sector is a major contributor to the UK’s tax base, and supports a large number of skilled jobs while delivering growth and investment up and down the country,” UK Finance, the main lobby group for British banks, said on Wednesday.

“Banks’ profits allow them to invest in their businesses for the benefit of customers and deliver shareholders, including pension funds, a return on their investment,” it said, adding that this “should be considered in terms of taxes on banks in the UK”.

The Treasury has been approached for comment.

Thursday’s meeting is primarily to discuss new capital rules for the sector: the Bank of England is expected to announce it is delaying the start date for tougher capital rules from the middle of next year until at least the start of 2026.

But banks and Treasury insiders say the issue of how to boost growth — particularly ahead of an investment summit in London next month — is also likely to come up in the talks.

Bank executives are likely to point to recent calculations by PwC for UK Finance showing the total tax rate for a typical British lender this year was 45.8 per cent, well above the equivalent 27.9 per cent for a New York-based rival or 38.6 per cent for one based in Frankfurt.

Reeves needs the banks to help deliver her growth agenda. The scale of her challenge was underlined by data released on Wednesday showing the UK economy unexpectedly stagnated for a second consecutive month in July.

She is facing political pressure, after Sir Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, on Wednesday called on Starmer to reverse Conservative cuts to the bank levy and the bank corporation tax surcharge. Lib Dems claim that could raise £3.5bn.

“I’ll resist the temptation to get ahead of the Budget,” Starmer said in response.

Jeremy Hunt, former chancellor, cut the bank corporation tax surcharge from 8 per cent to 3 per cent in April 2023, at the same time as he raised the general rate of corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent.

Reeves has said she wants to “fix the foundations” of the economy, suggesting she will be looking for tax rises to repair the public finances in the years to come. That would imply a more lasting change to tax rates than the one-off levy feared by some in the sector.

Hunt, now shadow chancellor, said hiking taxes on the banks would backfire. “It would be the most counter-productive own goal in history for a chancellor to hit the golden goose in the way some are speculating,” he said.

Before the election Reeves was adamant she had no plans to increase taxes on banks, but since polling day she claims to have unearthed a £22bn fiscal hole, a claim strongly denied by Hunt.

“There’s no need to have a tax on banks,” she told the FT in June, before the election. “I don’t believe that doing that would help us achieve what we want to achieve, which is growing the economy.”

But one senior banker admitted that in the wake of the row over Reeves’s decision to cut winter fuel payments to pensioners, higher bank taxes would be politically attractive.

“It’s possible they will do it,” the banker said. “The banks do present a tempting target.”

The fear shared by bankers and many bosses across the economy is that Reeves has boxed herself in by ruling out tax rises in the biggest Treasury revenue raisers: income tax, value added tax, employee national insurance and corporation tax.

She is therefore confronted with a range of tax-raising options which could hamper her “growth mission”, including increasing capital gains tax, higher bank taxes or employer NICs, alongside her stated plan to put up taxes for non-doms and private equity executives.

FT : Vladimir Putin hints at curbing uranium exports

Vladimir Putin hints at curbing uranium exports
Move in retaliation over sanctions could affect western nuclear reactors, many of which rely on Russian supplies

Vladimir Putin has called on Russian officials to consider restrictions on exports of commodities including uranium, in retaliation against fresh western sanctions against Moscow and its allies.

“Please take a look at some of the types of goods that we supply to the world market . . . Maybe we should think about certain restrictions — uranium, titanium, nickel,” Russia’s president said in a televised meeting with top government officials on Wednesday. 

Any curb on sales of enriched uranium could affect western nuclear reactors. Many of them have long-term contracts for supplies from Russia, which accounts for about a third of the world’s uranium enriching capacity, and about 5 per cent of uranium mining.  

Putin emphasised that the suggestion was in response to western pressure. “We’re facing restrictions on some imports, so perhaps we should consider imposing certain limitations ourselves,” he said.

“But we must ensure we don’t harm ourselves in the process,” he added.

His remarks follow an escalation in western sanctions against Russia and its allies, China and Iran. Earlier this week, US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell accused China of providing Russia with support for its “war machine”.

While the initial sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were focused on energy products like oil and coal, western allies have this year increasingly targeted Moscow’s metals exports. The US has banned some imports of Russian-origin metals. Leading exchanges in the UK and US are no longer trading any new Russian aluminium, copper or nickel.

“We are in this world that is geopolitically segmenting, and commodities tend to be at the forefront of it,” said Colin Hamilton, metals analyst at BMO Capital Markets, an investment bank. 

Potential curbs on uranium exports could be particularly painful, Hamilton added. “This is something the uranium industry has been fearing.”

While the US has already banned imports of enriched uranium from Russia, the ban excludes existing contracts with US utilities. 

Russia, meanwhile, cut gas supplies to the EU through the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022, threatening to “freeze” the west. The pipeline was later destroyed by an explosion.

Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, described the comments as “a typical Putin threat”.

“It’s a message to the west: ‘Look, despite all your energy transitions, we’re one of the leaders in rare earth metals, which you need for your shift to green energy. We can cut off those exports, and your plans will fall apart.’”

As western sanctions on Russian commodities ratchet up, more and more of those shipments are heading towards China instead, including for commodities such as coking coal and aluminium.

Russia’s agriculture minister Dmitry Patrushev had earlier claimed that western sanctions on agricultural products benefited Russia’s domestic farming industry.

In 2014, the western response to the annexation of Crimea led Russia to ban imports of vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy products originating in the US and the EU.

Russia learned to produce alternatives domestically, or import them from other countries. However the sanctions led to double-digit price increases.

“In the initial phase, unfortunately, there was a rise in domestic prices. But then it spurred the development of agriculture within Russia,” Putin said. “A similar process is now happening in the industry.”

Reuters - Denmark's DSV wins 14 billion-euro race for Deutsche Bahn's Schenker,

Denmark's DSV wins 14 billion-euro race for Deutsche Bahn's Schenker, sources say

BERLIN (Reuters) - Danish logistics company DSV won the race to buy Schenker, the rail logistics arm of German state railway Deutsche Bahn, sources at the railway and at the German government said.

The sources said a preliminary contract for the transaction, worth some 14 billion euros, would be signed in coming days. The deal must be approved by DB's supervisory board, comprised mainly, but not exclusively of government, parliamentary and union representatives.

A spokesperson for DB declined to comment on the report. DSV said it did not comment on market rumours.

Financial investor CVC was the other contender remaining in the race to buy Schenker, which according to its website has more than 70,000 employees in 1,850 locations worldwide.

TechCrunch : Mistral releases Pixtral 12B, its first multimodal model

Mistral releases Pixtral 12B, its first multimodal model

French AI startup Mistral has released its first model that can process images as well as text.

Called Pixtral 12B, the 12-billion-parameter model is about 24GB in size. Parameters roughly correspond to a model’s problem-solving skills, and models with more parameters generally perform better than those with fewer parameters.

Built on one of Mistral’s text models, Nemo 12B, the new model can answer questions about an arbitrary number of images of an arbitrary size given either URLs or images encoded using base64, the binary-to-text encoding scheme. Similar to other multimodal models such as Anthropic’s Claude family and OpenAI’s GPT-4o, Pixtral 12B should — at least in theory — be able to perform tasks like captioning images and counting the number of objects in a photo.

Available via a torrent link on GitHub and AI and machine learning development platform Hugging Face, Pixtral 12B can be downloaded, fine-tuned and used under an Apache 2.0 license without restrictions. (A Mistral spokesperson confirmed the license being applied to Pixtral 12B via email.)

This writer wasn’t able to take Pixtral 12B for a spin, unfortunately — there weren’t any working web demos at the time of publication. In a post on X, Sophia Yang, head of Mistral developer relations, said Pixtral 12B will be available for testing on Mistral’s chatbot and API-serving platforms, Le Chat and Le Plateforme, soon.

It’s unclear which image data Mistral might have used to develop Pixtral 12B.

Most generative AI models, including Mistral’s other models, are trained on vast quantities of public data from around the web, which is often copyrighted. Some model vendors argue that “fair use” rights entitle them to scrape any public data, but many copyright holders disagree, and have filed lawsuits against larger vendors like OpenAI and Midjourney to put a stop to the practice.

Pixtral 12B comes in the wake of Mistral closing a $645 million funding round led by General Catalyst that valued the company at $6 billion. Just over a year old, Mistral — minority owned by Microsoft — is seen by many in the AI community as Europe’s answer to OpenAI. The younger company’s strategy thus far has involved releasing free “open” models, charging for managed versions of those models, and providing consulting services to corporate customers.