>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 3rd of December 201

>>> Up
* Altice Europe Upgraded to Buy at Oddo BHF; PT 3 Euros
* BNN GR Raised to Buy at Oddo BHF
* Dunelm Upgraded to Buy at Peel Hunt
* LafargeHolcim Upgraded to Buy at Deutsche Bank
* Nordea Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan
* Wizz Air Upgraded to Buy at HSBC; PT 35 Pounds

>>> Down
* Aryzta Cut to Reduce at Kepler Cheuvreux; PT Set to 1.25 Francs
* HeidelbergCement Downgraded to Hold at Deutsche Bank
* Titan Cement Downgraded to Hold at Deutsche Bank
* Vonovia Downgraded to Sell at Bankhaus Metzler; PT 39 Euros

>>> Initiation
* Fermentalg Rated New Buy at Kepler Cheuvreux; PT 5.90 Euros
* Home24 Rated New Buy at Bankhaus Metzler; PT 19 Euros

>>> Call

>>> Asian Update

Asia Market Update: Equities, commodities and commodity-related currencies rise on US/China trade ‘truce’; Oil prices receive additional support from planned production cut by Alberta (Canada)


General Trend:
- Equity Futures rise following US/China trade 'truce': Nasdaq Futures +1.8%, S&P500 +1.4%, Nikkei 225 Futures +1.1%; WTI Crude +2.8%, Copper +2.1%
- Equity markets in China and Hong Kong rise over 2%; Technology names and automakers gain
- Trump said China has agreed to remove tariffs on car imports
- Macau gaming shares rise after monthly casino revenues data
- Trade sensitive Marine Transportation and Iron/Steel companies gain in Japan
- Australian equities supported by the Resources and Energy Sectors
- Graincorp [GNC.AU] rises over 26%, received takeover bid
- Bluescope Steel [BSL.AU] supported by stock buyback
- Commodity currencies rise following 'truce' between the US and China regarding trade: AUD/USD +0.8%, NZD/USD +0.5%
- Chinese Yuan and other Asian currencies gain on trade truce
- Various Chinese companies plan to sell USD bonds
- Japan Q3 Capex misses ests
- Australia home prices decline for 14th straight month (Corelogic)
- US President Trump: China has agreed to remove tariffs on Car imports - tweet
Looking Ahead: RBA expected to hold policy meeting on Tuesday; US equity markets to close on Dec 5th in honor of former President George H. W. Bush

***Headlines/Economic Data***
Japan
-Nikkei 225 opened +1.3%
- (JP) JAPAN Q3 CAPITAL SPENDING (CAPEX) EX SOFTWARE: 2.5% V 10.7%E; CAPITAL SPENDING Y/Y: 4.5% V 8.5%E; Company profits: 2.2% v 14.0%e; Company Sales: 6.0% v 5.1% prior
- (JP) Japan Nov Final PMI Manufacturing: 52.2 v 51.8 prelim (slowest pace since Aug 2017)
-(JP) US President Trump acknowledges Japan PM Abe work to reduce trade imbalance, but needs to be more progress - Nikkei

Korea
-Kospi opened +1.5%
- (KR) South Korea President Moon and President Trump agreed to revive the momentum on negotiations for the denuclearization of North Korea - Korean press
- (KR) South Korea President Moon starts state visit to New Zealand - Korean press
- (KR) South Korea banks non-performing loans ratio (NPL) falls below 1% for the first time in 10-yrs - Korean press
- (KR) South Korea Nov PMI Manufacturing: 48.6 v 51.0 prior
-(KR) South Korea sells KRW600B v KRW600B indicated in 5-yr bonds; avg yield 1.98%

China/Hong Kong
-Hang Seng opened +2.6%, Shanghai Composite +2.3%
- (CN) SENIOR CHINA DIPLOMAT: PRESIDENT XI AND PRESIDENT TRUMP AGREED THAT US WILL NOT IMPLEMENT 25% TARIFF ON JAN 1ST, 2019; TO BE RETAINED AT 10% LEVEL FOR 90 DAYS; China agrees to purchase more from the US to work on imbalance, will work to reach an agreement on trade in the next 90-days; China agrees to purchase US agricultural products immediately; If the two countries are unable to reach agreement over the next 90 days, the 10% tariff will rise to 25%
- (HK) Macau Nov Gaming Rev (MOP): 25.0B v 27.3B prior; Y/Y: 8.5% v 2.6% prior
- (CN) China General Administration of Customs (GAC) says Jan to mid-Nov total imports and exports (total trade volume) surpassed the entire trade volume for 2017; said the volume was nearly 15% higher than same period in 2017 - Xinhua
- (CN) China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) eases restrictions on domestic stock index futures trading in a sound and orderly way in a bid to facilitate market functions – Xinhua
- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate: 6.9431 v 6.9357 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips open market operation v skipped prior (27th straight skip)
- (CN) CHINA NOV CAIXIN PMI MANUFACTURING: 50.2 V 50.1E
-(CN) SCMP Op Ed: Look out for another PBOC move to support the economy as growth momentum fades; the next move will be the 5th time in 13-months

Australia/New Zealand
-ASX 200 opened +0.4%
- (NZ) New Zealand Q3 Terms of Trade q/q: -0.3% v 0.0%e
- (AU) Australia Nov Corelogic House Price m/m: -0.9% v -0.6% prior (14th consecutive monthly decline)
- (AU) AUSTRALIA OCT BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: -1.5% V -1.5%E; Y/Y: -13.4% V -14.0%E
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q3 COMPANY OPERATING PROFIT Q/Q: 1.9% V 2.8%E; INVENTORIES SA Q/Q: 0.0% V 0.4%E
- GNC.AU Receives non-binding A$10.42/shr cash offer from Long Term Asset Partners Pty (+26%)
-(AU) Australia Nov Commodity Index: 122.1 v 123.7 prior; Y/Y: 14.9% v 14.9% prior

Other Asia
- TSM Said to provide certain product price incentives - Local Press

North America
- QCOM China President Xi has indicated he is "open to approving" the prior unapproved deal between Qualcomm and NXP, should it again be presented to him
-QCOM Considers prospect of NXP deal closed, deadline is past deal terminated - email statement
- TRCO Reportedly Nexstar has reached deal to acquire Tribune Media for $46.50/shr in cash – press
- (SA) Saudi Oil Min Khalid Al Falih: OPEC+ agreement has stabilized the oil market, providing benefit to consumers, producers, and the global economy
- (CA) Alberta (Canada): Mandates 325K bpd cut in oil output to ease supply glut and deal with low crude prices (~9% of total output), effective from Jan 2019; relates to oil-sands and conventional oil

Europe
- DBK.DE CEO Sewing: Not at risk of a takeover, despite ongoing speculation about a possible tie-up with UBS or Commerzban - press
- (ES) Spain region of Andalusia holds elections: Far right Vox party wins 12 of 109 seats; Socialists winning party but will need to form coalition
-(EU) EU Finance Ministers expected to agree to give bailout fund new responsibilities but delay decision on EU budget and deposit guarantee - financial press

***Levels as of 12:50ET***
- Hang Seng +2.5%; Shanghai Composite +2.7%; Kospi +1.7%; Nikkei225 +1.0%; ASX 200 +1.8%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +1.7%; Nasdaq100 +2.1%, Dax +1.1%; FTSE100 +0.8%
- EUR 1.1328-1.1357; JPY 113.44-113.82 ; AUD 0.7349-0.7381;NZD 0.6889-0.6919
- Feb Gold +0.4% at $1,231/oz; Jan Crude Oil +5.2% at $53.60/brl; Feb Copper +1.8% at $2.84/lb

FT : FT European Business School Rankings 2018

FT European Business School Rankings 2018
The top 95, based on 2018 FT rankings

Europe has long been a continent defined by its divisions, whether east and west, Anglo-Saxon and Latin or those pushing to leave or further integrate the EU. But there was at least one uniting factor across Europe this year, the growth of business education.

Most surprising has been the UK’s maintenance of its position in the top 25 of the European schools table, despite fears about the impact of Brexit. London Business School, which retained the number one spot, plays in a different league to many British business education providers. But there are also more UK schools in the top 25, with seven British institutions this year, up from six in 2017. France has six schools in the top 25 but 25 in the complete ranking of 95, compared with the UK’s 22. 

There is an irony in that some of the loudest voices of concern about the UK’s exit from the EU have come from within academia and business schools. Although the reasons for UK schools doing relatively well in the past 24 months are complex, they can certainly thank the drop in the value of the pound, making tuition fees relatively cheaper for students from overseas. Concerns about US policies towards foreign students also make the UK a relatively attractive option.

Britain has also enjoyed a particular boost from the government’s imposition of an apprenticeship levy, forcing employers with a payroll of more than £3m to put aside an equivalent of 0.5 per cent of their wage bill for staff training. In a classic example of the law of unintended consequences, a large part of this money, which policymakers had assumed would be spent on the training of school-leavers, has been used to send senior executives on part-time MBA and masters level business degree courses.

More than 1,400 people will enrol in “levy-friendly” MBA courses this year alone, according to the poll by TES, the Times Educational Supplement. Cranfield School of Management, one of the highest climbers on this year’s European ranking list, up from 30 in 2017 to 17, was among the pioneers of such MBA courses.


Beyond the UK, applications to European business school programmes grew by 3.2 per cent this year, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which administers the business school entrance exam.

European schools are far more reliant on overseas students than their equivalents in other regions. GMAC figures show that 77 per cent of applications to European schools that took part in the survey were from non-native students, compared with 41 per cent for institutions in Asia and 39 per cent to schools in the US.

Fortunately, this is a growing market, with 63 per cent of European schools in the GMAC survey reporting a growth in international applications. It is widely accepted in business education that a more diverse range of nationalities makes for a better student experience because so much learning is through discussion and group projects, which are enhanced by a range of viewpoints and perspectives.

>>> What to look at this Week-End - 1st & 2nd of December 2018

The S&P 500 rallied 4.9% this week, helped by the Fed softening its policy stance and by hope that U.S-China trade tensions would be meaningfully eased at the G-20 Leaders Summit. For the month, the benchmark index rose 1.8%.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 5.2%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 5.6%, and the Russell 2000 gained 3.0%. For the month, the respective indices gained 1.7%, 0.3%, and 1.5%.
The stock market had one of its best days of the year on Wednesday when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he sees current interest rates "just below" neutral. That proved to be a rally point because the language Mr. Powell used in early October indicated a view that the fed funds rate was "a long way from neutral."
Mr. Powell added that there is no preset policy path, and the Fed will be data-dependent in its decision making, which pleased investors. By highlighting risks, though, that included previous rate increases, trade disputes, and Brexit/EU political uncertainty, the market chose to read between the lines that the Fed chair isn't wedded to three rate hikes in 2019. On a related note, the FOMC's minutes from its November 7-8 meeting, which were released on Thursday, did nothing to upset the notion that the Fed will be hiking rates next month; the CME FedWatch Tool puts the chances at 82.7%. This week, all S&P sectors finished higher with the consumer discretionary (+6.4%), information technology (+6.1%), health care (+5.9%), and communication services (+5.5%) sectors outperforming.
The rally began with the consumer discretionary group rising on the back of continued strength from th e U.S. consumer. Reports of record online Black Friday sales and encouraging forecasts for Cyber Monday sales helped lift investor sentiment. The SPDR Retail ETF (XRT) rose 5.1% this week, and Amazon (AMZN) climbed 12.5%.
Conversely, the defensive-oriented real estate (+2.7%), consumer staples (+2.9%), and utility (+2.7%) sectors underperformed the broader market, though still finished with respectable gains.
Looking at other markets, the Treasury yield curve saw some flattening with the 2-yr yield losing one basis point to 2.81%, and the 10-yr yield losing four basis points to 3.01%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased by 0.3% to 97.20, and WTI crude added 0.1% to $50.67/bbl, though lost over 20.0% this month.

Macro :
- $80 Billion Locked in a ‘Golden Cage’ in Austria May Be Set Free
- U.S. Financial Markets to Shut Wednesday to Honor Bush (2)
- S&P 500 Expected to Remain Flat in 2019, Stifel’s Bannister Says
- Brexit Could Challenge Ireland’s Economic Recovery, S&P Says
- New York Hedge Fund Brenner West to Close: WSJ - https://on.wsj.com/2Qv7kG9
- Deutsche Bank Sees S&P 500 Rising to 3,250 Next Year on Growth
- S&P 500 Expected to Remain Flat in 2019, Stifel’s Bannister Says

Keep an eye on :
- AD NA : Ahold Delhaize could make buys to enter Germany, France, Italy
- AIR FP : As Bombardier Flails, Belfast Factory Seeks More Outside Work
- AIRN SW : Airopack Plans to Raise EU117M Via Rights Offering
- BAMI IM : Banco BPM Finalized Consumer Credit Reorg, To Explore Agos IPO
- BAS GY : BASF, CVC Said to Explore Forming Construction-Chemicals Giant
- BN FP : Danone Struggling to Sell Its Earthbound Farms Unit: NY PostBanca
- CRG IM : Carige tries to back out of Creditis sale to Chenavari
- ACA IM : Profamily sold to Agos Ducato by Banco BPM for EUR 310m; Agos Ducato to consider listing over next two years
- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank Says No Board Members Were Formally Interrogated
- ENI IM : Eni Is in Talks to Grow Presence in Oman, UAE: Reuters
- EVK GY : Evonik methacrylates refresh bids due in December, sources say
- FME GY : NxStage/Fresenius Getting Renewed Questions From FTC: Cap Forum
- IMMO BB : Immobel Sells Cedet Building in Central Warsaw for EU129.5m
- BAER SW : Pictet Hires Middle East Wealth Mgmt Team From Julius Baer
- KARO SS : Karo Pharma Chairman Anders Lönner Dies
- MS IM : Mediaset Premium Concludes Sale of Unit R2 to Sky Italia
- ORA FP : Orange Sees EU500m in Net Banking Income by 2023 in Europe
- SAN SM : Santander Seeks Double-Digit Growth In Private Wealth Assets: FT
- SLHN SW : Swiss Life CEO Doesn’t See Capital Dilution Risk: FuW
- SLHN SW : Swiss Life looking for small to medium acquisitions
- SOBI SS : Sobi: L/T Elocta, Alprolix Studies Confirm Safety, Efficacy
- TRB LN : Nexstar Said to Buy Tribune Media in $4.1 Billion Deal: Reuters
- VAO GY : Vapiano Names Cornelius Everke CEO

Reuters : Exclusive: Nexstar clinches $4.1 billion deal to acquire Tribune Media

Exclusive: Nexstar clinches $4.1 billion deal to acquire Tribune Media - sources
(Reuters) - Nexstar Media Group Inc has reached an agreement to acquire to Tribune Media Co for about $4.1 billion, a deal which would make it the largest regional U.S. TV station operator, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
Nexstar’s acquisition would come just three months after Tribune’s $3.9 billion deal to sell itself to Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc, currently the largest U.S. TV station operator, collapsed over regulatory hurdles.
Nexstar outbid private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC with an all-cash offer that values Tribune at around $46.50 per share, three sources said. The agreement between Nexstar and Tribune Media could be announced by Monday, the sources added.
The sources asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Nexstar, Tribune, Apollo and Sinclair did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

WSJ : American Exceptionalism May Be Ending—at Least in Stocks

American Exceptionalism May Be Ending—at Least in Stocks
The S&P 500’s dominance over the MSCI All Country World Index has looked shaky in recent weeks

Recent choppy trading in U.S. shares has revived a yearslong debate: Are the best days of the bull market over, and should investors pivot to cheaper stocks overseas?

The S&P 500 is beating the MSCI All Country World Index, excluding U.S. stocks, by about 11% this year in total return terms, a measure which takes dividends into account. But that dominance has looked shaky in recent weeks.

Any sustained shift away from the U.S. by foreign investors would be especially welcome in developing countries, whose companies could be able to access cheaper and more plentiful equity capital. And it would also come as a relief to investors focused on these riskier markets, who have not enjoyed outsize returns to match.

It could also remove an important support for the U.S. market. The near-constant outperformance of American equities during the past decade has raised their international popularity. The most recent data available, for the first quarter of this year, shows foreigners owned nearly 15.3% of U.S. shares, up from 11% in early 2008.

“We do not own U.S. domestic stocks, as the market is significantly overvalued” compared with other countries, said Jacob Mitchell, portfolio manager of the Australia-based Antipodes Global Fund, which had around $4.59 billion in assets under management at the end of October. “We would go as far as saying this area of the market is becoming an interesting place to short.”
Mr. Mitchell said he was considering shorting, or betting against, stocks closely tied to the health of the U.S. economy, like retailers and transportation companies, without naming specific targets. In contrast, in developing Asia and Western Europe he already holds more stocks exposed to the strength of their domestic economies.

As the fourth quarter of the year began, over 60% of the fund’s “long” equity exposure was to Asian and European stocks. Long positions can be traditional investment holdings or other bets that benefit when a company’s shares go up in value.

Morgan Stanley researchers recently moved to an underweight position on U.S. equities, recommending clients hold smaller positions than the global benchmarks they track. In contrast, the bank’s team is now overweight shares in Japan and emerging markets, highlighting opportunities in financial and commodity stocks and India, Brazil, Thailand and Indonesia.

Equities outside the U.S. are “exceptionally cheap” compared with U.S. stocks, according to the bank’s strategists. They say a weaker dollar, more stimulative economic policy from Beijing and a possible detente on trade could support non-U. S. stocks in 2019.

In recent years, optimistic investors have bid up U.S. stocks faster than their profits have been rising. That has led to rich valuations—a concern often expressed by investors trying to decide how to invest in the year ahead. In September, U.S. shares were priced at 17.4 times expected earnings in the next 12 months, compared with just 12.95 times earnings for stocks overseas, according to FactSet indexes which cover tens of thousands of listed companies. That gap has shrunk since, but remains wide relative to recent decades.

It isn’t just the dominance of highly valued tech giants like Facebook and Apple that make the U.S. market more expensive. Most sectors are pricier than elsewhere, FactSet indexes show. Industrial companies, such as Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger Ltd. , fetch the greatest premium relative to foreign rivals, with valuations around 50% higher.

Still, investors have been burned in the past by moving out of the U.S. and into markets overseas. In dollar terms, an investment in the S&P 500 a decade ago would have returned around 278% to investors. The same investment in the MSCI All Country World Index, excluding U.S. stocks, would have made its buyer a return of 120%.

Arno Lawrenz, global investment strategist at Ashburton Investments, said the U.S. “earnings outlook remains superior compared with most other regions.”

The company’s Global Growth Fund raised its holdings of U.S. equity to 34.3% of the portfolio, up 4.5% from September, and trimmed its exposure to Europe, Japan, the rest of Asia and emerging markets more broadly. Mr. Lawrenz said Ashburton was still wary of the most highly valued U.S. sectors, such as information technology.

Other investors have rotated their holdings into less expensive U.S. stocks. Daniel White, a fund manager at M&G focused on North American stocks, owns a small position in Google parent Alphabet Inc. but otherwise holds no shares in Facebook, Amazon, Apple or Netflix, the rest of the FAANG grouping. Instead, Mr. White is investing in cheaper hardware and semiconductor stocks.

WSJ : Amid Brexit Drama, EU Flexes Its Muscles With Swiss

Amid Brexit Drama, EU Flexes Its Muscles With Swiss
Brussels has ramped up pressure on Switzerland to accept an overhaul of their complex ties

Britain isn’t the only European country tangling with Brussels over future relations with the European Union. Switzerland is in its crosshairs too.

The EU has escalated pressure on Switzerland—which isn’t in the EU but has extensive relations with the bloc—to accept an overhaul of their complex bilateral ties. On Friday, Switzerland moved to protect its stock exchanges should the EU press forward with plans to end a longstanding market-access agreement at the end of the year.

The pressure is deepening tensions with Switzerland, where anti-EU parties are making fresh attempts to limit immigration from the bloc. For the U.K., which has struggled through more than 18 months of tricky talks with the EU on its planned departure, Brussels’s approach to Switzerland offers a reminder that it can be as vigilant in pressing its rules and standards on nonmembers as on those within the bloc, and it isn’t shy about applying leverage to get what it wants.

The EU and Switzerland have been in discussions for years about roughly 120 bilateral treaties governing Swiss-EU ties. They are negotiating what they call a new framework agreement, which would bundle all the treaties into one accord. Brussels wants the framework agreement to ensure that Switzerland can’t renege on certain obligations, like free movement of people from the EU, without paying a broader price in terms of EU market access.

Swiss officials have repeatedly said they are pursuing the same goal as the EU but talks have dragged on and the Swiss government has repeatedly delayed the target date for completing negotiations and signing a broader agreement.

One year ago, the EU gave itself leverage over the Swiss to advance the talks. It involves the ability of Swiss equities to be traded on platforms within the EU.

These types of agreements, known as equivalence, are common among countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas to facilitate trading activity world-wide. This way, shares of Swiss companies like Nestlé SA and Novartis AG—which have among the largest market capitalizations in Europe—can be bought and sold by investors through platforms in Zurich, as well as the likes of Frankfurt and Milan.

These arrangements are typically unlimited. But last December, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, granted Switzerland only a one-year extension. Crucially, Brussels tied a new extension to making significant progress on the broader framework agreement. EU officials say negotiators have a text ready that needs political backing.

“It’s basically now up to Switzerland to take action and to decide,” said commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein on Tuesday.

The Swiss have complained that the EU is employing hardball tactics by turning a technical arrangement on market access into a political tool. The Swiss Bankers Association has called the “unrelated” linking of the two issues “incomprehensible.” It applauded the government’s decision Friday.

On Friday, the Swiss Federal Council said that, effective Jan. 1, 2019, EU-based trading venues must cease trading in Swiss shares unless the EU extends the equivalence agreement. EU banks would still be able to use Swiss platforms or those in non-EU countries.

A commission spokesman said Friday that the EU would assess Switzerland’s decision.

About 70% of shares in blue-chip Swiss companies are traded through the Switzerland-based SIX exchange. If EU investors lost access, liquidity could dry up, affecting not just Swiss companies but also the country’s reputation as a financial center. For that reason, the Swiss billed Friday’s move as protective, not retaliatory. There is an escape clause in the measure that would nullify it if an equivalence agreement is reached.

“The best solution for all affected market players in Switzerland and abroad remains a swift and unlimited extension of stock market equivalence,” the Swiss Federal Council said Friday, which was its self-imposed deadline to announce how it would protect its exchanges.

The EU’s powers to issue and revoke equivalency across financial sectors also haunted the Brexit talks. The U.K. pushed for the EU to create new mechanisms that would have given Britain more time to respond to a threat to remove equivalence from a particular part of the financial sector.

Now the EU can cut off a country’s banks, insurers or fund managers from providing a service in the EU with only 30 days’ notice. The EU refused to budge but it has committed to completing a review of U.K. equivalency by July 2020 provided the U.K. Parliament backs Britain’s withdrawal agreement.

>>> Shire: hedge funds bet on deal proceeding; Takeda founding family makes late

Shire: hedge funds bet on deal proceeding; Takeda founding family makes late attempt to block deal - reports
02 DEC 2018
The hedge funds Paulson and Baupost believe that Takeda Pharmaceutical’s [TYO:4502] agreed takeover bid for the Ireland-based biotechnology company Shire [LON:SHP] will go ahead, The Mail on Sunday reported. The newspaper said Paulson and Baupost have in the past few days discreetly made big bets that the GBP 46bn (EUR 51.84bn) takeover will proceed, but did not cite a source for the information.
News emerged on 20 November that Baupost had acquired more than 10m Shire shares, valued at GBP 460m, the report said. Baupost launched a substantial short position in Takeda’s stock worth about GBP 120m the same day, betting on a fall in the Japanese group’s share price, the item added.
Paulson bought 9.4m shares with a value exceeding GBP 420m a couple of weeks ago, the article added.
Separately, The Sunday Times reported that Kazu Takeda, a prominent member of the Japanese company’s founding family, is planning a press conference on Monday, 3 December, in a late attempt to block the Shire deal.
Dissident Takeda shareholders campaigning under the name Takeda’s Bright Future argue that the deal could be “disastrous” for the Japanese group, the item said. Takeda’s Bright Future is looking to win the support of Takeda’s retail shareholders and won the backing of former Takeda Chairman Kunio Takeda last month, the newspaper added.
Takeda shareholders will at an extraordinary meeting on 5 December vote on a share issue to fund the Shire deal, the report noted. The share issue proposal requires 75% support, the item said.
Shire’s share price closed 45p up at 4555p in London on Friday, 30 November, giving the company a market capitalisation of GBP 41.67bn.