Aurelia Butler

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$75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print edition More

$75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print edition More

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Insignia Financial shares shot to a three-year high on Monday after it revealed a A$2.87 billion ($1.78 billion) takeover bid from U.S.-based investment manager CC Capital Partners (WA:CPAP), eclipsing a A$2.67 billion offer from Bain Capital.The deal would give CC Capital access to Australia’s $A4.1 trillion superannuation system, which is considered one of the world’s largest private pension markets.The 178-year-old Australian money manager previously known as IOOF rejected private equity firm Bain Capital’s approach in late December, saying the offer did not provide fair value to its shareholders.Insignia shares gained 11% to A$3.93 per share in early trade, reaching their highest level since 2022, but remaining below the $A4.30 per share cash offer. Insignia said its board was considering CC Capital’s proposal to assess if it was in the best interests of its shareholders.Insignia Financial said CC Capital’s non-binding bid offered a 7.5% premium to Bain Capital’s offer and a 21.5% premium to Insignia’s last closing price of A$3.54 on Friday. CC Capital was formed almost a decade ago by Chinh Chu who was Blackstone (NYSE:BX)’s former co-head of private equity, according to the firm’s website. If successful, the deal would be the New York-based firm’s first major investment into Australia. Insignia provides superannuation, financial advice and asset management services. It had A$319.6 billion of funds under management and administration at the end of September.The transaction will give dealmakers hope that a rebound in corporate buyout activity Down Under in 2024 will be extended this year.Australian M&A activity was worth $113.4 billion in 2024, according to LSEG data, up 15% on 2023. Inbound M&A from overseas buyers leapt 23% in the year compared to one year earlier, the data showed.”Insignia’s board may demand a higher premium given the company’s significant role in Australia’s superannuation industry but whomever the buyer is will not only need to please the board and shareholders but also regulators to get a deal over the line,” said Stella Ong, market analyst at share trading platform Superhero.”With Insignia’s forward P/E still trailing behind that of AMP (OTC:AMLTF) though, this may not be the last bid we see,” she said, referring to rival Australian investment manager AMP. CC Capital’s offer requires Foreign Investment Review Board and prudential regulatory approval, Insignia said.CC Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bain Capital declined to comment.($1 = 1.6108 Australian dollars) More

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The dollar strayed not too far from a two-year peak on Monday as traders awaited a raft of U.S. economic data releases this week, headlined by December’s nonfarm payrolls report, for further clues on the Federal Reserve’s rate outlook.Also in focus was the Chinese yuan, which on Friday weakened past the psychological level of 7.3 per dollar in the onshore market for the first time in 14 months, after the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) had aggressively defended that key threshold for most of December.The offshore yuan was last 0.04% lower at 7.3630 per dollar, ahead of the open in the onshore spot market.”The PBOC looks to have stopped defending that 7.30 level,” said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank (OTC:NABZY) (NAB).”That just draws a lot more attention to what the PBOC does from a fixing perspective today and in the coming days, as to whether effectively they’re now allowing dollar/CNY to trade up into a higher trading range or not, because I do think that will have implications for broader Asia currencies, but also for the Aussie and kiwi.”The Australian and New Zealand dollars, often used as liquid proxies for the yuan, were hardly affected by Friday’s move lower in the Chinese currency, as they both traded roughly 0.1% higher in the early Asian session.The Aussie last bought $0.6223, while the kiwi rose 0.14% to $0.5620.TRUMP AND RATESIn the broader market, investors had their eye on Friday’s closely watched U.S. jobs report for further clarity on the health of the world’s largest economy.A slew of Fed policymakers are also due to speak this week, where they are likely to reiterate recent comments from their colleagues that the fight against taming inflation is not yet done.The dollar has continued to draw strength from expectations of fewer Fed cuts this year, with its climb to a two-year high last week pushing the euro to its weakest level in more than two years.The common currency last traded 0.13% lower at $1.0296, while the dollar index rose 0.09% to 109.06.Sterling dipped 0.03% to $1.24195. The yen fell 0.3% to 157.765 per dollar.Also providing the dollar with additional safe-haven support was uncertainty over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s impending inauguration on Jan. 20 and his plans for hefty import tariffs, tax cuts and immigration restrictions.”There’s still a massive amount of uncertainty as to the speed with which we’ll see policy announcements and how much the reality will match up to the rhetoric, so I think that leaves huge amounts of uncertainty in markets,” said NAB’s Attrill.”It’s just really hard to see the U.S. dollar coming to any harm… at the moment, you’ve got to be pretty brave to be betting against the continuation of dollar strength.” More

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian share markets got off to a wary start on Monday ahead of a week brimming with economic news that should underline the relative outperformance of the United States and support the dollar’s ongoing bull run.The star of the U.S. line up is the December payrolls report on Friday, where analysts expect a rise of 150,000 with unemployment holding at 4.2%. These will be previewed by data on ADP hiring, job openings and weekly jobless claims, along with surveys on manufacturing, services and consumer sentiment.Anything upbeat would support the case for fewer rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, and markets have already scaled back expectations to just 40 basis points for 2025.Minutes of the Fed’s last meeting due Wednesday will offer colour on their dot plot predictions, while there will be plenty of live comment with at least seven top policy makers speaking including influential Fed Governor Christopher Waller.Inflation figures from the EU and Germany this week will refine the outlook for more rate cuts from the European Central Bank, while China’s consumer prices on Thursday is expected to support the case for further stimulus there.With so much event risk ahead, investors were understandably cautious and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1%.Japan’s Nikkei returned from holiday still in a laid-back mood and nudged up 0.1%. South Korean stocks added 0.3%, though the fate of President Yoon Suk Yeol seems no clearer.THE FORTUNATE FEWFutures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were a fraction firmer in early trade. Analysts at Goldman Sachs noted the S&P 500 boasted a total return of 25% in 2024, the second year of gains above 20% and the last time that happened was 1998/99. The rally was narrow, with almost half the rise coming from just five stocks, yet Goldman expects another 11% increase this year driven by a similar rise in earnings. Reports for the latest earnings season start to flow on Jan. 15.The U.S. bond market has not been so fortunate and 10-year yields inched higher to 4.631%, very close to last week’s eight-month top of 4.641%.Investor appetite will be sorely tested this week by the sale of $119 billion in new three-, 10- and 3-year Treasuries.The steady climb in yields kept the dollar index up at 108.950, having risen almost 0.9% last week to a top of 109.540.The euro was hanging on at $1.0298, uncomfortably close to last week’s 26-month trough of $1.0225. It now faces resistance around $1,0340, as trend-following funds continue to hunger for the psychological $1.000 level.The dollar had broadened its advance last week to sweep over sterling as well, driving it to an eight-month low of $1.2349. The pound was last looking none too steady at $1.2420.The risk of Japanese intervention kept the dollar restrained at 157.63 yen, just short of last month’s high of 158.09. The strength of the dollar was a hurdle for gold, keeping the metal at $2,641 an ounce. [GOL/]Oil has found support from colder weather in Europe and the United States, with a winter storm bringing snow, ice and freezing temperatures to a broad swath of the U.S. on Sunday. [O/R]Brent rose 19 cents to $76.70 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 27 cents to $74.23 per barrel. More

LONDON (Reuters) – British companies are the gloomiest since former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ September 2022 “mini-budget”, following unexpectedly large tax increases in the new Labour government’s Oct. 30 budget, a business survey showed.The British Chambers of Commerce, who conduct the largest private-sector survey of British firms, said businesses were the least happy about taxation since they started asking about this in 2017, while confidence about sales over the next 12 months was the lowest since late 2022.”The worrying reverberations of the Budget are clear to see in our survey data. Businesses confidence has slumped in a pressure cooker of rising costs and taxes,” BCC Director General Shevaun Haviland said.Finance minister Rachel Reeves announced 40 billion pounds ($50 billion) of tax rises on Oct. 30, the most of any budget since 1993. The bulk of this will come through higher social security charges paid by employers.While the Bank of England estimates that higher public spending will temporarily boost growth next year, a big question for policymakers is whether the tax rises lead mostly to lower employment, higher prices or reduced profits or investment.The BCC said 55% of firms planned to raise prices, up from 39% the quarter before, while 24% intended to cut investment, up from 18% previously. It plans to release survey data on recruitment intentions on Jan. 14.The downbeat mood echoes that in other surveys of businesses from S&P Global, the Institute of Directors and the Confederation of British Industry.Britain’s economy grew solidly in the first half of 2024 as it recovered from a shallow recession in late 2023, before stagnating in the third quarter of last year.The Bank of England has forecast zero growth for the fourth quarter of 2024 and an expansion of 1.5% in 2025.The BCC survey of 4,800 businesses, mostly with fewer than 250 staff, took place from Nov. 11 to Dec. 9.($1 = 0.8057 pounds) More

$75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print edition More