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US MARKETS:
S&P 500 futures little changed at 3,023.50
Brent Futures down 0.3% to $63.29/bbl
Gold spot little changed at $1,419.19
US Dollar Index up 0.1% to 98.06
GLOBAL NEWS:
Earnings season. Sanofi, Heineken, Siemens Healthineers, Traton, CNP Assurances, Galp Energia, Ryanair, Hiscox, Bankia, Solocal and Maisons du Monde are among companies reporting earnings today in Europe. Illumina, NXP Semiconductors, SBA Communications, Dish Network in the United States.
Birth of a telecom giant. The proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile US was approved on Friday by the US authorities after the transfer of certain assets, including prepaid telephony to Dish Network. The US national market would thus be reduced from four to three operators, which is criticized by opponents of the project, who see it as a risk for the prices offered to consumers. If five states that opposed the rapprochement joined the decision, the other nine could continue the proceedings against marriage. The court has yet to validate the operation.
Sanofi is dropping the Zynquista. Sanofi is abandoning the Zynquista (sotaglilfozine) program in diabetes and will terminate its agreements with Lexicon, which is studying the legality of the decision and whose price was in free fall after the Wall Street session. The agreement to develop this oral treatment for diabetes dates back to 2015. It provided for $300 million in upfront payments by Sanofi, and up to $1.4 billion in milestone payments for Lexicon, which could also have received a percentage on future sales. Analysts anticipated an annual sales potential of around €700-800 million at the peak for this treatment, which had already experienced several setbacks before the FDA. The group also published higher than expected results and raised its forecasts.
The LSE will be able to afford Refinitiv. The London Stock Exchange has confirmed that it is negotiating a merger with Refinitiv, after the project was announced by the Financial Times. The LSE is discussing with the owners, Blackstone and Thomson Reuters, on the basis of an offer valuing the data provider $27 billion, honored in securities. Refinitiv's shareholders would ultimately own 37% of the new entity's capital. This would be a very large transaction for the London stock exchange operator, which would become a major provider of financial data. More details in the LSE press release.
Justakeaway. Just Eat and Takeaway have reached an agreement for a share merger, which would confer 52.2% of the new entity's capital to Just Eat shareholders and 47.8% to Takeaway shareholders. The terms value Just Eat GBP 731 per share based on Takeaway's closing price (EUR 83.55). The new entity will be registered in Amsterdam and mainly listed in London. Final discussions are ongoing.
A marriage of reason? Pfizer is discussing a merger of its generics business with Mylan. If the transaction is successful, it could involve the creation of a new entity owned 57% by Pfizer shareholders and 43% by Mylan shareholders, with headquarters in the United States.The new publicly traded company will have sales of about $19 billion to $20 billion in 2020, the drugmakers said in a statement.
In other news. Exact Sciences is negotiating the purchase of Genomic Health for $2.8 billion, according to Bloomberg. The Novartis Entresto narrowly misses its main criterion in Phase III in the HFpEF.
S&P 500 futures little changed at 3,023.50
Brent Futures down 0.3% to $63.29/bbl
Gold spot little changed at $1,419.19
US Dollar Index up 0.1% to 98.06
GLOBAL NEWS:
Earnings season. Sanofi, Heineken, Siemens Healthineers, Traton, CNP Assurances, Galp Energia, Ryanair, Hiscox, Bankia, Solocal and Maisons du Monde are among companies reporting earnings today in Europe. Illumina, NXP Semiconductors, SBA Communications, Dish Network in the United States.
Birth of a telecom giant. The proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile US was approved on Friday by the US authorities after the transfer of certain assets, including prepaid telephony to Dish Network. The US national market would thus be reduced from four to three operators, which is criticized by opponents of the project, who see it as a risk for the prices offered to consumers. If five states that opposed the rapprochement joined the decision, the other nine could continue the proceedings against marriage. The court has yet to validate the operation.
Sanofi is dropping the Zynquista. Sanofi is abandoning the Zynquista (sotaglilfozine) program in diabetes and will terminate its agreements with Lexicon, which is studying the legality of the decision and whose price was in free fall after the Wall Street session. The agreement to develop this oral treatment for diabetes dates back to 2015. It provided for $300 million in upfront payments by Sanofi, and up to $1.4 billion in milestone payments for Lexicon, which could also have received a percentage on future sales. Analysts anticipated an annual sales potential of around €700-800 million at the peak for this treatment, which had already experienced several setbacks before the FDA. The group also published higher than expected results and raised its forecasts.
The LSE will be able to afford Refinitiv. The London Stock Exchange has confirmed that it is negotiating a merger with Refinitiv, after the project was announced by the Financial Times. The LSE is discussing with the owners, Blackstone and Thomson Reuters, on the basis of an offer valuing the data provider $27 billion, honored in securities. Refinitiv's shareholders would ultimately own 37% of the new entity's capital. This would be a very large transaction for the London stock exchange operator, which would become a major provider of financial data. More details in the LSE press release.
Justakeaway. Just Eat and Takeaway have reached an agreement for a share merger, which would confer 52.2% of the new entity's capital to Just Eat shareholders and 47.8% to Takeaway shareholders. The terms value Just Eat GBP 731 per share based on Takeaway's closing price (EUR 83.55). The new entity will be registered in Amsterdam and mainly listed in London. Final discussions are ongoing.
A marriage of reason? Pfizer is discussing a merger of its generics business with Mylan. If the transaction is successful, it could involve the creation of a new entity owned 57% by Pfizer shareholders and 43% by Mylan shareholders, with headquarters in the United States.The new publicly traded company will have sales of about $19 billion to $20 billion in 2020, the drugmakers said in a statement.
In other news. Exact Sciences is negotiating the purchase of Genomic Health for $2.8 billion, according to Bloomberg. The Novartis Entresto narrowly misses its main criterion in Phase III in the HFpEF.
