Morning Brief: Top Financial Stories Dominating on Wednesday, June 1

Reuters

Redbird Capital Buys Italian Football Club AC Milan

• RedBird Capital Partners entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Associazione Calcio Milan (AC Milan) Club, newly crowned Champions of Serie A, from Elliott Advisors UK Limited, for 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion).
• The transition to new ownership will take place over the summer, with closing expected in September 2022.
• Elliott to retain a minority financial interest in the Club and seats on the Board of Directors, solidifying a partnership between RedBird and Elliott.

Pfizer To Quit GSK’s Consumer Health JV Following Its Spin-Off

• Pfizer Inc. PFE intends to sell its 32% investment in Haleon, a consumer health joint venture with GSK plc GSK, after the business is spun out as an independent listed company in July, reported Reuters.
• Pfizer had previously indicated that it might seek to sell its stake in Haleon, a consumer health company and the maker of Sensodyne toothpaste and Advil pain relievers.
• GSK has filed to the U.K.’s regulator to list Haleon on the London Stock Exchange on July 18 and is expected to apply to the New York Stock Exchange soon.

Australia, New Zealand Express Support To Address USA Baby Food Crisis

• Makers of baby food explored supply opportunities to the U.S. after it relaxed its import policy to address a nationwide crisis.
• Australia is in talks with the U.S. to supply baby food.
• Two million cans of formula from the U.K. are going to American shores.
• Bubs Australia agreed to supply 1.25 million cans under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration deal.
• Several dairy firms in Australia and New Zealand, including leading dairy exporter Fonterra, were also in similar discussions with the FDA.

Volkswagen Chief Sees EV War Intensifying With Tesla

• Volkswagen AG VWAGY chief saw Tesla, Inc TSLA needs to ramp up highly complex factories and find qualified workers to win the electric vehicle race as Volkswagen also sped up.
• Tesla, which posed a challenge to German EV production with its new plant near Berlin, was privileged by a blank slate to start and a small number of models.
• Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess acknowledged much momentum coming at Volkswagen, which will undoubtedly be tight in coming years.

Lamborghini Sees E-Fuel Super Cars In Its Range Beyond 2030: Reuters

• Italian luxury sports car manufacturer Lamborghini, part of Volkswagen AG VWAGY, is preparing to have at least two supercars powered by e-fuels in its range beyond 2030.
• In a newspaper interview, Chief Executive Officer Stephan Winkelmann said the company plans to convert its entire fleet to a hybrid between 2023 and 2024, with its first full-electric model expected at the end of the decade.
• “We do not yet know if there will be a large enough quantity of this fuel to meet the needs of all manufacturers,” the report quoted Winkelmann.

Bloomberg

Deutsche Bank’s DWS CEO Resigns - Read Why

• Deutsche Bank AG DB asset management subsidiary DWS said its Chief Executive Officer Asoka Woehrmann is set to step down on June 9.
• The resignation has happened following a search by investigators amidst the controversy surrounding the executive and allegations that the company inflated its ESG credentials, Bloomberg reported.
• Woehrmann will be succeeded by Stefan Hoops, who will take responsibility for Asset Management at the Group level. In addition, Hoops will become CEO of DWS Group with effect from June 10, 2022.

This French Utility Looks To Use Google’s Experimental Tech To Boost Wind Power

• French utility ENGIE SA ENGQF looks to begin using an experimental technology from Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google to boost efficiency and power from wind farms.
• Engie will be the first customer to use Google’s feature, sold via its cloud division.
• ENGIE looks to more than double its renewable power generation to 80 gigawatts by 2030.
• In 2019, Google acknowledged working with DeepMind to make artificial intelligence software that could predict wind power output thirty-six hours in advance.

Financial Times

SoftBank, Goldman, Porsche Procure Stake In This EV Maker’s Latest Funding Round, Valuing It Over €2B

• SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY SFTBF and Goldman Sachs Group, Inc GS invested in Croatian electric supercar maker Rimac in a euro 500 million ($536 million) funding round, giving it a valuation of over euro 2 billion.
• Volkswagen AG’s VWAGY Porsche Automobile Holding SE POAHY, one of the first carmakers to back the business, presently owns a 20% stake, the TechCrunch reports.
• Rimac also plans to hire 700 staff this year, complete the development of a new $200 million campus for Rimac’s Zagreb, and develop and produce batteries, software, and other components for electric cars.

Benzinga

Senator Sherrod Brown Asks Wells Fargo To Right Past Wrongs

• The chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Senator Sherrod Brown has asked Wells Fargo & Co WFC to put a full stop to its mismanagement practices.
• In an open letter to the bank’s CEO Charles Scharf, the senator laid out its history of consumer abuses and gross mismanagement and urged to right past wrongs.

Nio Vs. XPeng Vs. Li Auto: How May Deliveries Stack Up

• U.S.-listed Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers Nio, Inc. NIO, XPeng, Inc. XPEV, and Li Auto, Inc. LI appear to be bouncing back in May, as China begins to allow restricted operations.
• The trio, however, suggested recovery is gradual as supply chain partners begin to pick up their shreds.
• The May Numbers: Shanghai-headquartered Nio reported deliveries of 7,024 vehicles in May. This included 746 ES8s, 2,936 ES6s, and 1,635 EC6s, all belonging to the class of SUVs, and 1,707 ET7 sedans Nio launched in late March. ET7 sales improved notably from the 693 units Nio sold in April.

Ethereum Sees 1.2M Failed Transactions In May

• The Ethereum ETH/USD network recorded over 1.2 million failed transactions in May.
• According to data from blockchain data explorer Blockchair, there were 1,23,998 failed ETH transactions recorded over the last month.
• When a transaction fails, the funds that were meant to be transferred remain in the sender’s wallet, but the gas fee is still deducted.

Alibaba’s Fraught Relations With India See Accountant Get In A Pickle

• India’s apex court has directed government authorities not to threaten or take action against a chartered accountant who allegedly assisted Alibaba Group Holdings BABA Indian cloud unit in business incorporation.
• The Supreme Court of India directed the Registrar of Companies (RoC) and the Maharashtra Police not to take any coercive action against C.A. Anand Kidambi until further orders, according to the Economic Times.
• Kidambi and Alibaba India’s cloud unit are a part of a nationwide investigation in India against more than 700 firms as it cracks down on Chinese companies in India.

Elon Musk Calls Dogecoin Co-Creator A’ Tool’

• Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk crossed swords with Dogecoin DOGE/USD co-creator Jackson Palmer following the latter’s comments about the billionaire entrepreneur to Australian news outlet Crikey.
• What Happened: In the interview, Palmer said he had earlier developed a bot (or script) to detect cryptocurrency scams on Twitter TWTR.

Warren Buffett-Backed BYD Plans To Buy 6 African Lithium Mines: Here’s How Many EVs They Can Cater To

• China’s BYD Co BYDDY is looking to acquire six lithium mines in Africa, CnEVpost said on Tuesday, citing a source-based report from another domestic media outlet.
• Shenzhen, China-based BYD has estimated that the six mines have more than 25 million tons of lithium ore, which could meet the demand for 27.78 million vehicles with 60-kWh batteries.
• Some of the mines will start shipping next month and are expected to be available for use in BYD’s Blade batteries in the third quarter, the report said.

Cardano (ADA) Seen Weakening After Outperforming Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin In Past Week

• Cardano ADA/USD traded 10.8% lower at $0.5982 over 24 hours at the time of writing. The price is seeing weakness on Wednesday after the coin significantly outshone major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin DOGE/USD over the past week.
• Cardano was among the most mentioned coins on Twitter, according to Cointrendz data. The three most mentioned coins at press time were Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
• The 24-hour trading volume for ADA rose 42% to $2.6 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Alert: Facebook Parent’s Stock Ticker Will No Longer Be ‘FB’ From This Date

• Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc’s FB Class A common stock will start trading with a new ticker soon.
• The Mark Zuckerberg-led company will debut its new ticker symbol “META” on June 9, 2022, when the market opens.
• META will replace the social network and metaverse behemoth’s current symbol “FB” on the same day, according to a statement.

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