NY Post : New Jersey deli valued at more than $100 million delisted from stock m

New Jersey deli valued at more than $100 million delisted from stock market


Shares of a New Jersey-based deli owner that was recently valued at more than $100 million despite the fact it only operates a single store have been delisted from the stock market.

Cromwell Coulson, chief executive of the OTC Markets Group, the over-the-counter exchange where deli owner Hometown International’s shares had traded, tweeted late Wednesday that they were delisted “for not complying with the rules.”

The move comes six days after the Paulsboro, NJ-based sandwich maker was singled out in a client letter from hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who called the company an example of bizarre and risky investments that are threatening to ensnare small investors.

“The pastrami must be amazing,” Einhorn wrote of the deli.

The modest purveyor of meats and cheeses had achieved a market capitalization of more than $100 million despite the fact that its sole shop — located in a sleepy hamlet across the Delaware River from Philadelphia International Airport — only logged sales of $35,000 over the past two years, according to its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

OTC’s Coulson said late Wednesday that shares of the company — whose shop is called “Your Hometown Deli” — have been marked by OTC Markets’ OTCQB over-the-counter exchange as “CE,” which stands for the Latin phrase “caveat emptor,” which means “buyer beware.”

OTC Markets Group also tweeted out a link to its “caveat emptor” policy, noting that the exchange “places a skull and crossbones icon next to the stock symbol to inform investors that there may be reason to exercise additional care.”

When a company is placed on the CE list, it means that OTC has become aware of either a stock promotion that is “misleading or manipulative,” an “investigation of fraud or other criminal activities,” “undisclosed corporate actions,” or has determined that there is “a public interest concern regarding the security.”

Hometown’s stock, which has traded as low as $4.75 a share last year, closed on the OTCQB market on Wednesday at $13.07 a share, up 2.5 percent from the prior day.

Hometown could not be reached for comment.

CNBC reported that since Einhorn’s letter went public, multiple people including investors and lawyers linked to Hometown have faced regulatory sanctions, lawsuits and criminal prosecutions. One key investor tied to Hometown named Peter Coker Sr. has been sued for hiding money from creditors and fraud, CNBC reported. Coker has denied any wrongdoing.

According to Hometown’s SEC filing, Coker Sr., who runs North Carolina-based Tryon Capital, has a $15,000 a month consulting deal with the deli owner. Meanwhile, most of the deli’s shares are held by two sets of entities in Hong Kong and Macau, China.

The other main shareholder is Hometown’s CEO, Paul Morina, who moonlights as the principal and head wrestling coach at Paulsboro High School, located half a mile from the deli.

NYT : Private Equity’s Favorite Tax Break May Be in Danger

Private Equity’s Favorite Tax Break May Be in Danger
President Biden is weighing an end to the carried interest loophole.

Closing loopholes

President Biden is expected to unveil a $1.5 trillion “human infrastructure” plan next week that will focus on education, child care and paid leave for workers, among other things. It would be paid for in part by new taxes on the rich, including the end of a tax break that lawmakers have tried to eliminate for years.
The White House will propose a major change to capital gains taxes, with people earning more than $1 million per year paying the top marginal tax rate on their investment gains. Mr. Biden wants to raise that rate to 39.6 percent.
The carried interest loophole might finally disappear. Profits earned from funds owned by real estate investors and managers of private equity and venture capital firms are taxed as capital gains at about 20 percent, instead of as regular income, which is taxed at more than double that rate when state levies and other taxes are taken into account.
  • Financial industry executives and their lobbyists have long asserted that carried interest merely represents a return on investment, not income, an argument that survived challenges as recently as 2017. (Here’s Andrew back in 2007 writing about how lawmakers were trying, unsuccessfully, to end the “longstanding, but little understood, practice.”)
  • In a 2015 DealBook Op-Ed, the law professor Victor Fleischer, a top proponent for raising taxes on carried interest, estimated that such a move could raise $180 billion.
  • In a 2011 Times Op-Ed, Warren Buffett decried the treatment of carried interest, which allowed him to report a lower tax rate than his secretary. A minimum tax on millionaires was proposed shortly thereafter and dubbed the “Buffett rule.”
  • JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon has been a regular critic of carried interest, even though it benefits many of the bank’s clients. In his latest letter to shareholders, he said it could be seen as “another example of institutional bias and favoritism toward special interest groups.”
Other changes to the tax code could be in the works, including to the estate tax. Private equity executives are also worried that the Biden administration may limit the tax deductibility of corporate interest payments, which would be another hit to their business model.
Stocks fell on news of the potential capital gains tax change, but futures are up today. Some in Washington believe any tax proposals will get watered down, particularly given Democrats’ slim margin of control in Congress. And the potential changes to the capital gains tax would affect only the 0.3 percent of Americans who reported annual incomes of $1 million or more, according to the latest IRS data.
  • Several Republican senators suggested they may be on board with eliminating some business tax loopholes. The White House wants that tax revenue to fund the infrastructure bill it unveiled last month. But another group of Republican senators yesterday proposed a much smaller infrastructure bill — $568 billion, versus Mr. Biden’s $2.3 trillion — that would do away with any corporate tax increases.

Challenges : Many gray areas on the future of Lagardère between Bolloré and Arna

Many gray areas on the future of Lagardère between Bolloré and Arnault
By Gilles Fontaine on 04.25.2021 at 3:50 p.m.

An agreement on the end of the sponsorship does not solve everything. Many questions remain about the intentions of the protagonists and the future of the Lagardère group.

Aranud Lagardère is on the way to winning his final battle: to come out on top of the serious governance crisis that has been shaking up the group that bears his name for more than a year. And seriously mortgage his personal future. A meeting of the Lagardère group's supervisory board should approve, on Monday April 26, the end of the Lagardère Capital & Management (LC&M) sponsorship which allowed Jean-Luc Lagardère's son to continue to lock in control of the company with only 7 , 3% of the capital. The operation was demanded by two powerful shareholders: the British fund Amber, which has been in the capital for several years and which now holds 20%. As well as the Vivendi group, the main shareholder with 26% of the shares, and of which the main shareholder, Vincent Bolloré does not hide his interest in a large part of the empire: Hachette Livre, world number three in publishing and media activity (Europe 1, the Sunday Journal, Paris-Match, etc.). In return, according to various sources, Arnaud Lagardère would obtain several important guarantees: the payment of 10 million shares which, over the last three months, would be valued between 220 and 240 million euros; the position of CEO of the group until 2026; and the promise that the group will not be dismantled.

"Father's friend"
Lawyers for the main parties involved are working hard to reach a final agreement by the time the council is held. But the planned end of the sponsorship does not solve everything. On the contrary, many shadows remain. Starting with the position of the boss of the LVMH group, Bernard Arnault. "Friend of the father", the latter came to the aid of the son last summer to counter the Amber Fund offensive and the hidden intentions of Vincent Bolloré. But above all to prevent Arnaud Lagardère from losing everything in the event of personal bankruptcy. By injecting nearly 100 million euros for 27% of the LC&M sponsorship, the businessman had indeed enabled Arnaud Lagardère to cope with his significant personal debt: around 165 million euros contracted with Crédit Agricole . Bernard Arnault also holds 7.5% of the capital of the Lagardère group. And he might not find his advantage in this peace treaty.

"Bernard Arnault never loses financially", comments a good connoisseur of the file. But he paid dearly for his entry into LC&M and it will be difficult for him to realize a capital gain on the end of the sponsorship. Treated in the same way as Arnaud Lagardère, he would recover nearly 3.7 million shares valued at around 85 million euros. More or less what he had invested last year, when the share was worth less than 14 euros, against almost 23 now. Does he wish to reinforce the capital of Lagardère and bide his time? Many especially lend him the intention of wanting to get their hands on the group’s press titles, starting with the Sunday Journal. Not sure that this deal is a priority at the moment. But the LVMH boss is unlikely to refuse to end the sponsorship. "He won't be the bad player, believes one of the protagonists. And if this ends badly for him, revenge is a dish to be eaten cold ..."

Dismantling of the media center
However, Bernard Arnault could obtain satisfaction in the context of a dismantling of the media center. Arnaud Lagardère has repeatedly indicated that activity is no longer at the heart of the group's priorities, now refocused on its two divisions: travel retail and publishing. And Vincent Bolloré has clearly indicated that the Europe 1 station would be very complementary with its CNews television channel.

Beyond the uncertainty over the fate of the media hub, it is the very integrity of the group that raises questions. Having become a shareholder like any other in a standardized company, Arnaud Lagardère will not have the same power in the context of a shareholder restructuring. The Amber fund and the Qatar sovereign wealth fund, still present at 15%, will probably want to withdraw. How will the next round of table be put together and how will the new balance of power be built? What agreement could guarantee the long-term integrity of a group whose two main activities do not generate any synergy? And what company would guarantee a man his chair as CEO for the next five years?

These are all questions that the various protagonists of the Lagardère dossier must reflect on. The end of the sponsorship offers them endless possibilities. The only certainty: the end of Lagardère's empire is near.

Challenges : Nombreuses zones d'ombre sur l'avenir de Lagardère entre Bolloré et

Nombreuses zones d'ombre sur l'avenir de Lagardère entre Bolloré et Arnault
Par Gilles Fontaine le 25.04.2021 à 15h50

Un accord sur la fin de la commandite ne règle pas tout. Beaucoup de questions subsistent sur les intentions des protagonistes et l'avenir du groupe Lagardère.

Aranud Lagardère est en passe de gagner son ultime combat : sortir par le haut de la grave crise de gouvernance qui bouleverse depuis plus d’un an le groupe qui porte son nom. Et hypothèque sérieusement son avenir personnel. Une réunion du conseil de surveillance du groupe Lagardère devrait avaliser, lundi 26 avril, la fin de la commandite Lagardère Capital & Management (LC&M) qui permettait au fils de Jean-Luc Lagardère de continuer à verrouiller le contrôle de l’entreprise avec seulement 7,3% du capital. L’opération était réclamée par deux puissants actionnaires : le fonds britannique Amber présent au capital depuis plusieurs années et qui en détient aujourd’hui 20%. Ainsi que le groupe Vivendi, principal actionnaire avec 26% des actions, et dont l’actionnaire principal, Vincent Bolloré ne cache pas son intérêt pour une large partie de l’empire : Hachette Livre, numéro trois mondial de l’édition et l’activité médias (Europe 1, le Journal du dimanche, Paris-Match…). En contrepartie, selon diverses sources, Arnaud Lagardère obtiendrait plusieurs garanties importantes : le versement de 10 millions d’actions qui, au cours de ces trois derniers mois, seraient valorisées entre 220 et 240 millions d’euros ; le poste de PDG du groupe jusqu’en 2026 ; et la promesse que le groupe ne sera pas démantelé.

"Ami du père"
Les avocats des principales parties concernées travaillent d’arrache-pied pour aboutir à un accord final d’ici la tenue du conseil. Mais la fin programmée de la commandite ne règle pas tout. Au contraire, de nombreuses d’ombre demeurent. A commencer par la position du patron du groupe LVMH, Bernard Arnault. "Ami du père", celui-ci est venu au secours du fils, l’été dernier, pour contrer l’offensive du fonds Amber et les intentions cachées de Vincent Bolloré. Mais surtout pour éviter à Arnaud Lagardère de tout perdre en cas de faillite personnelle. En injectant près de 100 millions d’euros pour 27% de la commandite LC&M, l’homme d’affaires avait en effet permis à Arnaud Lagardère de faire face à son important endettement personnel : environ 165 millions d’euros contractés auprès du Crédit Agricole. Bernard Arnault détient également 7,5 % du capital du groupe Lagardère. Et il pourrait ne pas trouver son avantage dans ce traité de paix.

"Bernard Arnault ne perd jamais financièrement", commente un bon connaisseur du dossier. Mais il a payé cher son entrée dans LC&M et il lui sera difficile de réaliser une plus-value sur la fin de la commandite. Traité de la même manière qu’Arnaud Lagardère, il récupérerait près de 3,7 millions d’actions valorisées environ 85 millions d’euros. Peu ou prou ce qu’il avait investi l’an dernier, quand l’action valait moins de 14 euros, contre près de 23 actuellement. Souhaite-t-il se renforcer au capital de Lagardère et attendre son heure ? Beaucoup lui prête surtout l’intention de vouloir mettre la main sur les titres de presse du groupe, à commencer par le Journal du dimanche. Pas sûr que ce deal là soit prioritaire actuellement. Mais il est peu probable que le patron de LVMH refuse d’entériner la fin de la commandite. "Il ne sera pas le mauvais joueur, estime l’un des protagonistes. Et si cela se terminait mal pour lui, la vengeance est un plat qui se déguste froid…"

Démantèlement du pôle médias
Pour autant, Bernard Arnault pourrait obtenir satisfaction dans le cadre d’un démantèlement du pôle médias. Arnaud Lagardère a plusieurs fois indiqué que l’activité n’était plus au cœur des priorités du groupe désormais recentré sur ses deux pôles : travel retail et édition. Et Vincent Bolloré a clairement indiqué que la station Europe 1 serait très complémentaire avec sa chaîne de télévision CNews.

Au-delà de l’incertitude sur le sort du pôle médias, c’est l’intégrité même du groupe qui pose question. Devenu un actionnaire comme les autres d’une entreprise normalisée, Arnaud Lagardère n’aura pas le même pouvoir dans le cadre d’une recomposition de l’actionnariat. Le fonds Amber et le fonds souverain du Qatar, toujours présent à hauteur de 15% voudront probablement se désengager. Comment se composera le prochain tour de table et comment se construiront les nouveaux rapports forces ? Quel accord pourrait garantir sur le long terme l’intégrité d’un groupe dont les deux principales activités ne dégagent aucune synergie ? Et quelle entreprise garantirait à un homme son fauteuil de PDG pour les cinq prochaines années ?

C’est à toutes ces questions que doivent réfléchir les différents protagonistes du dossier Lagardère. La fin de la commandite leur offre une infinité de possibilités. Seule certitude : la fin de l’empire de Lagardère est proche.

Reuters - Germany's Scholz criticises Greens chancellor candidate over inexperie

Germany's Scholz criticises Greens chancellor candidate over inexperience

Germany's Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday the opposition Greens candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, lacked political experience and said he was better placed to lead Europe's largest economy after a Sept. 26 election.

The Greens said last week Baerbock would run to become chancellor, the first time the left-leaning ecologist party has sought the top job in its 40-year history.

Support for the Greens has surged in the past year to within a few points of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives. Two recent polls show the Greens overtaking the conservative CDU/CSU alliance.

Scholz, 62, running for his centre-left Social Democrats, the junior partner in Merkel's ruling coalition, said the race was open despite his party trailing in third place in polls.

"Germany is one of the world's biggest and most successful industrial countries. It should be run by someone who has experience in governing, who not only wants to govern, but can actually do it," Scholz told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"I am the candidate for chancellor who has the necessary experience and knowledge for this task," Scholz said.

Baerbock, 40, a former champion trampolinist and mother of two, has held no government office but has promised voters a "new start" with a focus on investing in education, and digital and green technologies.

Baerbock told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung she would be tough on Russia and China if she became chancellor. read more

Merkel, who is stepping down after 16 years in power, has refused to openly endorse CDU party leader Armin Laschet, 60, who saw off a challenge from Bavarian rival Markus Soeder to clinch the conservative alliance's candidacy last week.

After the bitter leadership battle, support for the conservative bloc fell by two points to 27% which helped the Greens overtake the CDU/CSU alliance in a Kantar poll for Bild am Sonntag. The Greens surged six points to 28%.

Scholz's Social Democrats was third with 13%, followed by the far-right AfD with 10%, the business-friendly FDP with 9% and leftist Die Linke with 7%.

Scholz said he expected the CDU/CSU bloc to remain weak and achieve an election result well below 30% which would clear the way for a coalition without the conservatives.

FT : Global chip shortage spreads to toasters and washing machines

Global chip shortage spreads to toasters and washing machines
Asian appliance makers feel pinch as impact of shortfall ripples across industries

The deepening global chip crunch is spreading to makers of smartphones, televisions and home appliances, according to suppliers in Asia, as companies boost stockpiles of in-demand semiconductors.

Chip supplies have tightened due to booming demand for electronics during the Covid-19 pandemic and outages at large production facilities.

But the shortage has been worsened by hoarding by sanctions-hit Chinese groups, which has made it harder for some companies to secure components for everyday electronics such as washing machines and toasters.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are among the groups feeling the pinch from manufacturing delays that are forecast to last into 2022.

Samsung began to reduce orders for some smartphone components this month, two of its main parts makers said, after the world’s largest computer chipmaker warned in March of a “serious imbalance in supply and demand” for semiconductors.

“Application processors, display drivers and camera sensors are all in short supply. As a result, we are seeing falling orders from Samsung in the current quarter,” said a big smartphone parts supplier to the Korean company. “Temporary sales falls are unavoidable but we expect the situation to improve from June as the delayed orders are likely to come in larger volume in the second half.”

Koh Dong-jin, co-chief executive and head of Samsung’s mobile business, has warned of possible problems in the second quarter because of the chip shortage. He said last month that the company might have to postpone the launch of its high-end smartphone until next year. Samsung is also a significant manufacturer of chips through its foundry business.

LG, a big appliance maker, said the chip shortage had not yet disrupted its production but admitted it was a risk. “We are closely monitoring the situation as no manufacturer can be free of the problem if it gets prolonged,” the company said.

A small TV maker in Seoul said: “It is getting more difficult to secure key components unless you pay higher prices. We have to hike TV prices, reflecting the rising material costs.”

Production of low-margin processors that carry out simple tasks such as weighing clothes in a washing machine or crisping bread in a smart toaster has been affected.

“Microcontroller units are in tight supply, which could be impacting general appliances,” said Randy Abrams, head of Asian semiconductor research at Credit Suisse.

Production of those chips used in appliances have ended up at the back of the queue, as manufacturers allocate capacity to high-margin products, one industry insider said.

Foundries in South Korea said they were unable to satisfy surging orders even while operating at full capacity.

“Orders from customers for chips used in smartphones, TVs and other home appliances are surpassing our capacity,” said an official at DB HiTek, which makes chips used in Apple’s iPads. “Display driver chips, power management chips and image sensors are especially in short supply.”

Shortages have pushed companies to place orders with multiple chipmakers, a phenomenon known as “double-booking”, said one industry official.

The official added that the chip crunch had been worsened by aggressive stockpiling by Chinese companies, which are bracing themselves for further sanctions as Washington seeks to hobble Beijing’s 5G ambitions.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which has been running at more than full capacity, expects the chip shortage to last until 2022. The company will invest $100bn over three years to expand its capacity.

Nanya Technology, Taiwan’s leading memory chip maker, on Tuesday announced plans to build a $10bn plant in the country to alleviate the shortage and capture growing demand for 5G-related components.

However, analysts believe the shortage could end as quickly as it began if electronics spending fades as the pandemic recedes.

Investors will then “find out how much of the demand profile is real, and how much is phantom”, wrote Stacy Rasgon, a Bernstein semiconductor analyst, in a note.

WSJ : SPAC Insiders Can Make Millions Even When the Company They Take Public Str

SPAC Insiders Can Make Millions Even When the Company They Take Public Struggles
Many individual investors take losses on SPACs, while insiders benefit from discount stakes

Investors who bought into a special-purpose acquisition company that took a healthcare-services company public last year in an $11 billion deal have suffered steep losses. Promoters of the SPAC still stand to make millions.

The paper gains for insiders, even as shares of MultiPlan Corp. MPLN 3.61% fall, result from the unique incentives given to SPAC creators, also known as sponsors. They are allowed to buy 20% of the company at a deep discount, a stake that is then transferred into the firm the SPAC takes public. Those extremely cheap shares let the creators make, on average, several times their initial investment. They also let the SPAC backers make money even if the company they take public struggles and later investors lose money, a source of criticism for the process.

In the case of MultiPlan, the SPAC was called Churchill Capital Corp. III and the sponsor was former Citigroup Inc. deal maker Michael Klein. He shared the discounted investments with other advisers at his investment bank, M. Klein & Co., and financial partners in a way that goes beyond what was publicly disclosed, according to a statement from the SPAC team’s spokesman.

Even though MultiPlan shares are down about 30% since early October, those shares and other investments are valued at about $140 million at today’s prices, and only cost the sponsor team roughly $20 million, according an analysis of regulatory filings by New York University Law School professor Michael Ohlrogge, who studies SPACs and corporate incentives.

The SPAC spokesman didn’t dispute the figures.

Many other investors have taken losses since the SPAC merger was announced last summer and closed in October. Much of the slide in shares followed a November report by short seller Muddy Waters Capital LLC alleging that the company was in financial decline and overvalued. MultiPlan has called the assertions false. Short sellers wager on stock-price declines by borrowing shares, selling them, then aiming to buy them back at lower prices.

The volatility in MultiPlan shares is drawing attention because the deal was one of the largest SPAC mergers ever. The stock is also among the worst performers for companies that recently went public via these blank-check firms.

The divergence between returns for SPAC insiders and later investors challenges the common view that blank-check companies democratize finance by opening up early-stage investments to individuals, critics said.

“It’s so asinine that you can get this kind of payday for doing something so value destructive,” said Carson Block, CEO of Muddy Waters. Muddy Waters has closed out its short position in MultiPlan shares but is still betting that the company’s bonds will fall. Mr. Block’s firm is also wagering against other firms that have gone public via SPACs.

The spokesman for the SPAC team declined to comment on the Muddy Waters allegations.

A SPAC is a shell company that lists on a stock exchange with the intention of merging with a private firm to take it public. The private company then gets the SPAC’s place in the stock market. SPACs have become a popular alternative to traditional initial public offerings and a trendy bet for wealthy financiers.

They have raised $100 billion this year, topping 2020’s all-time high and incentivizing prolific blank-check firm creators like Mr. Klein’s team to do more SPAC deals.

Some of the discount investments for the Churchill SPAC group are tied to the stock rising to certain levels and staying there for a period. But many aren’t subject to those conditions and hold value even if the stock struggles.

In calculating his roughly $120 million profit estimate for the SPAC insiders, Mr. Ohlrogge only focused on those shares and warrants which give the holder the right to buy shares at a specific price in the future. They can’t be sold until 2022, unless the shares hit certain other thresholds before that.

The SPAC team’s spokesman said that all of the investments not tied to price conditions were given to advisers and financial partners including Oak Hill Advisors LP.

The financial partners in that group are also sizable holders of regular MultiPlan shares, the spokesman said. M. Klein & Co. only kept for itself investments that require the stock to rise, and if those do vest, they would be shared among a team of about 40 people, he said. Oak Hill declined to comment.


Not all of those specifics are publicly disclosed. The spokesman declined to say whether Mr. Klein or his company received any benefits for sharing the investments with its partners. M. Klein & Co. also received more than $15 million in fees for advising on the deal. Regulators have said they are looking into disclosures of how discounted investments for SPAC creators are shared.

A class-action lawsuit was filed earlier this year by an investor alleging that the SPAC’s board didn’t sufficiently evaluate the deal and that inadequate disclosures led to an overvalued transaction. MultiPlan and the SPAC spokesman declined to comment.

Mr. Klein’s company is among the biggest beneficiaries of the boom in SPACs, recently reaching the second-biggest SPAC deal ever to take electric-car company Lucid Motors public. That deal values Lucid at $24 billion and stands to make him and his partners a bundle on paper since shares of the SPAC were recently trading at twice their IPO price. Lucid has yet to sell any cars.

Other large MultiPlan investors include Singaporean sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte., Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Vanguard Group. GIC, T. Rowe and Vanguard declined to comment. The PIF didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Saudi sovereign-wealth fund is also a large investor in Lucid, which had an undisclosed commitment to build an assembly plant in Saudi Arabia at the time of its deal to go public, The Wall Street Journal reported. The promise came after Lucid accepted more than $1 billion from the PIF in 2018.

The SPAC that took MultiPlan public, Churchill Capital III, raised $1.1 billion in February 2020, then touted MultiPlan’s long-term sales and earnings growth to investors in the summer while announcing the merger. Such projections wouldn’t be allowed in a traditional IPO.

Insurance companies use MultiPlan’s platform to find cost savings in healthcare claims. MultiPlan then takes a small percentage of those savings as revenue. The company, around for decades, has been owned by a series of private-equity firms going back to the early 2000s. Hellman & Friedman bought MultiPlan in 2016—before the Churchill merger—for $7.5 billion from Starr Investment Holdings LLC.

The November Muddy Waters report said that UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s Naviguard platform would compete with MultiPlan and accelerate its financial decline, sparking the drop in the stock. In March, MultiPlan said revenue fell for the third consecutive year. UnitedHealth declined to comment.

The turbulence isn’t slowing down Mr. Klein, who worked at Citigroup for more than 20 years before departing in 2008 and founding his own investment bank. He is still among the most popular SPAC creators, raising money for his seventh earlier this year.


FT : Qatar boss pours cold water on hopes for rapid aviation recovery

Qatar boss pours cold water on hopes for rapid aviation recovery
Airline chief strikes more pessimistic tone than other airline executives as he warns of further waves of Covid-19

The chief executive of Qatar Airways has poured cold water on hopes for a rapid recovery in aviation and warned of a need for more co-operation in creating vaccine passports to save the industry.

“I think the aviation recovery will not happen for quite a long period of time . . . I don’t see that the worst is over yet,” Akbar Al Baker said in an interview.

The Qatari executive struck a more pessimistic tone than the bosses of many big European and American airlines, who predict a rebound in flying in the coming months.

US airline bosses have said the worst impact of the crisis had passed, while in Europe there are hopes for a revival in travel once border restrictions ease.

But Al Baker believes vaccines are only a “stopgap” solution because it is still not known how long they offer protection against Covid-19.

The UK could end up with fourth, fifth or sixth waves of cases after it opens up its borders to international travel, he warned.

Qatar Airways is one of several Gulf airlines to have grown rapidly over the past 30 years, boosted by their owners’ deep pockets to connect points across the globe through their hub airports in the Middle East.

But they are reliant on long-haul travel, which is expected to recover more slowly than domestic and short-haul regional flights. Qatar is currently on the UK’s “red list” of countries, meaning direct flights are banned.

Al Baker urged countries and bodies such as the World Health Organization to work more closely to develop vaccine passports.

“Every country is producing their own apps, their own protocols, and this will, at the end, not work,” he said.

Several digital health passes are being developed, including airline group Iata’s travel pass, which Qatar Airways is involved with.

The apps allow passengers to show proof of a vaccination or a negative test when they travel, but no agreement has been reached on a global set of standards for the technology.

“These travel passports are only as good as the system you will implement in it. If each country has a different protocol, each country has a different system, each country has a different requirement, it confuses passengers, and it will confuse the airlines,” he said.

Al Baker’s influence extends far beyond the Middle East. Qatar Airways is the largest shareholder in British Airways owner IAG, and he also sits on the board of Heathrow thanks to the Qatari sovereign wealth fund’s stake in the UK’s largest airport.

He does not plan to increase the stake in IAG, but called on BA’s new chief executive Sean Doyle to focus on customer service.

“We as a shareholder have made it very clear that we want British Airways and other airlines in the IAG group to provide a high standard of product and services to our customers because we want to be the strongest airline in Europe,” he said.

BA responded: “As we emerge from the pandemic, we’re focused on providing excellence for our customers . . . This sits alongside investment in areas we know our customers value, including more fuel-efficient aircraft, new cabins and seating, new dining experiences, new lounges and onboard WiFi.”

The airline mis-stepped under former boss Alex Cruz when it gained a reputation for cutting costs, he said. “You should not bring a fine airline like British Airways . . . that was, you know, the favourite airline of the world, to where it ended,” he said.

State-owned Qatar Airways benefited from a nearly $2bn government support package after losing roughly the same amount of money in the 12 months to March 2020, before the worst impact of Covid.

Boosted by cargo, the airline is flying roughly 70 per cent of its normal schedule. Planes on average are only about 40 per cent full, but the crisis has allowed the airline to “establish our brand very strongly,” he said.

>>> Barron’s Weekend Summary: In Barron’s Big Money poll, 67 percent of the resp

Barron’s Weekend Summary: In Barron’s Big Money poll, 67 percent of the respondents were bullish on the outlook for stocks in the next 12 months

* Cover Story: “The nationwide rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, the persistence of ultralow interest rates, and expectations for torrid economic growth have convinced America’s money managers that the stock market still has more room to rise”; Among professional investors surveyed in Barron’s spring Big Money poll, “67 percent call themselves bullish on the outlook for stocks in the next 12 months. About a quarter are neutral, and 7 percent are bearish. The most recent results represent a marked shift from the fall 2020 poll, which found 54 percent of managers bullish and 13 percent bearish, nearly twice the current bearish reading.”

* Tech Trader: Positive on NFLX: The streaming giant has become a victim of its own success, drawing so many new subscribers during the pandemic that it faces a lull—but the focus on subscribers is “short-term noise,” and its recent weakness looks like a buying opportunity for five reasons: Neftlix will get a lot bigger, it’s a reopening play, subscribers love the service, it generates large cash flow, and it is benefiting from a virtuous circle.

* Trader: The pandemic reopening trade may have come to an end, but the real estate sector still has room to run—it closed above pre-Covid levels this past week, and further gains could be ahead; If the US is starting to decelerate, Europe, Japan, and emerging markets are likely to accelerate as they start to get Covid-19 under control, so investors should consider buying economically sensitive stocks with international exposure—GS strategist Ben Snider likes NEM, BWA, ALB, Ryanair Holdings, Restaurant Group, and Hennes & Mauritz; Economic data continue to get better—jobless claims fell to another post-pandemic low in the most recent report—and the Fed will have to show that it recognizes that growth, while still having a reason to take things slow.

* Profile: Mike Kirkpatrick, portfolio manager for the Virtus Seix High Yield fund, tries to smooth out the portfolio’s performance over time by staying flexible through selecting higher-quality credits that can minimize losses during selloffs, while also looking for mispriced securities to improve performance.

* Interview: Bill Miller, formerly of Legg Mason and now running his own firm, Miller Value Partners, is likely the largest individual shareholder of AMZN outside of Jezz Bezos and his former wife MacKenzie Scott, while his investment in Bitcoin has produced such a windfall that it’s now worth even more than his Amazon stake.

* Features: 1) Positive on MRNA: In the first 11 months of 2020, Moderna shares rose by nearly 700 percent as the company designed and tested its vaccine, but they have wobbled amid the rollout—but the concerns are overblown, because there is likely to be an ongoing need for coronavirus vaccines, and the company should be able to replicate its success in the future with other vaccines using its messenger RNA technology; 2) Positive on XPO: The company, a leading provider of trucking services and a major global logistics player, has returned 31 percent a year on average for 10 years, but with the upcoming spinoff of its GXO Logistics division, the company hopes to unlock value in its shipping business while creating new value with outsourced logistics at GXO; 3) Concern on Wall Street that Americans will revert to out-of-home eating habits when the pandemic eases, and that many companies will see profits squeezed this year by rising commodity prices may be too pessimistic, since remote work is here to stay in some form, helping sustain pandemic trends; 4) Positive on PRGO: The company’s sale of its generic-drug business, which ends a yearslong expansion into pharmaceuticals and returns the company once again into a pure-play consumer-health and self-care business, should create an opportunity for investors, who can expect to see shares rise.

* European Trader: Positive on Johnson Matthey: The world’s largest maker of catalysts that filter pollution from diesel engines took a hit during the pandemic because of slumping demand, but the shares may be undervalued because concerns over the dwindling diesel market may have blinded the market to the company’s other growth opportunities.

* Emerging Markets: China’s proposed digital currency may appear to be an innovation, but the country’s Internet giants, including BABA and Tencent, already manage payment systems that have effectively become coin of the realm in urban China, and greater regulation from Beijing isn’t likely to have a material impact for now.


* Commodities: “Oil prices have climbed more than 25 percent this year, as production was restrained and a rise in consumption is expected for the summer travel season.”

* Streetwise: Bonds may be the next promising frontier for ETFs—ETFs for bonds make up just 1.6 percent of the total bond market, says Salim Ramji of BLK. “They’re essentially modernizing aspects of the bond market that were over-the-counter, nontransparent, really quite expensive to transact.”