POLITICAL ECONOMY OF FOOTBALL
EPL sets high bar in European soccer, finances and glamor


Thu, August 4, 2022



GENEVA (AP) — The world’s richest soccer league starts a new season in England on Friday as the rest of Europe looks for ways to catch up.

Off the field, the English Premier League is a commercial juggernaut with broadcasting deals worldwide fueling player transfers and wages most others cannot match. It helps explain why some clubs created the Super League project.

League riches helped English champion Manchester City make the marquee summer signing. Erling Haaland’s arrival from Borussia Dortmund cost City more than 100 million pounds ($122 million) in transfer and agent fees.

While Haaland was a boyhood City fan whose father played there, he was also lured to a competitive league that avoids the one-club dominance recently seen in Germany, Italy and France.

On the field, five different teams have won the Premier League in the past 10 seasons, including Leicester’s stunning 2016 title. Though City has four of the past five titles, two were epic duels with Liverpool.

The Champions League is also feeling Premier League power with four different teams in the past four finals, including two all-English games. Liverpool was in three of the past five finals while winning just one Premier League title.

Those same four teams — City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham — are England’s entry in the Champions League this season.

Manchester United and Arsenal qualified only for the second-tier Europa League and are by far the wealthiest clubs in it.

Here’s a look at English financial dominance and the challenge for other top leagues:

ENGLAND’S EARNING

Premier League broadcast rights earned 3.64 billion euros ($3.7 billion) last season with Spain’s La Liga next best at around 2 billion euros ($2.04 billion), according to UEFA’s annual survey of European soccer.

“This is of course the best example in the world of how to market a sports competition,” Jacco Swart, managing director of the 30-nation European Leagues group, said in praise.

Evenly weighted cash distribution gave the worst Premier League team, Norwich, 98 million pounds ($119 million) in prize money that beat the entire budget for most European clubs.

English clubs took 10 of the top 18 places in the latest Deloitte list of highest earners. Abu Dhabi-owned Man City led with 644.9 million euros ($657 million).

The total wage bill for 20 Premier League clubs was 2.88 billion euros ($2.93 billion) in 2020, according to UEFA – 1 billion euros ($1.02 billion) above La Liga, and more than Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A combined.

SPAIN'S CHASING

La Liga skews prize money toward top clubs with the winner taking about 160 million euros ($163 million), up to three times more than other clubs.

It's good for Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid — who have won all the league titles since Valencia’s in 2004 — though not for competitive balance.

“They do not have a very long tradition of selling (rights) collectively,” Swart said.

Real Madrid’s response to tough times was winning yet another Champions League by improbably ousting the top three English clubs and Paris Saint-Germain.

Madrid and Barcelona have long raised their Champions League earnings by using influence at the European Club Association — which they left to launch the failed Super League — to steer prize money toward storied clubs.

Barcelona has eased its own financial crisis, fueled by long-term overspending on wages, by trading future TV rights money for cash now from an investment firm.

Signing FIFA player of the year Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich was one result, though Barcelona's reputation is being hit by pressuring Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong to take a pay cut.

A Spanish success has been coach Unai Emery lifting, first, Sevilla and now small-town Villarreal to overachieve and win a combined four Europa League titles.

GERMANY'S CULTURE

The Bundesliga’s “50+1” ownership rule is widely liked for protecting clubs’ identity and preventing takeovers by the oil-rich states, oligarchs and billionaires lured to the Premier League.

Clubs controlling a majority of voting rights is embedded in German culture, which also curbs ticket and pay-TV prices — a principled stand which reduces revenue.

“What people are willing to pay to watch football in England is totally different to what people are prepared to pay in Germany,” Swart said.

The average season ticket price is 1,095 pounds ($1,325) at Arsenal but some Dortmund fans can pay just 240 euros ($244).

Dortmund also excels signing and nurturing English teenagers, then selling them back to the Premier League. Haaland’s former teammate, Jadon Sancho, went to Man United for a four-fold profit and Jude Bellingham is likely next.

ITALY’S DECLINE

After hosting the 1990 World Cup, Serie A was the rich, glamor league. Decline followed the 1992 launches of the Premier League and Champions League, and Italian stars started moving to Chelsea and even unfashionable Middlesbrough.

Serie A clubs fell further back by playing in city-owned stadiums -- some shared, with an athletics track, and dating fast -- they could not exploit commercially.

Juventus opened its own stadium in 2011 and won nine straight titles. Red tape has not helped stadium building plans in Rome, Milan and elsewhere, frustrating a new wave of American club owners.

Chinese ownership at AC Milan and Inter Milan has been complicated, though both ended a decade-long wait to win Serie A.

Italy’s favored bid to host the 2032 European Championship can spark a needed stadium modernization program and play has improved on the field.

Attack-minded teams Atalanta and Napoli helped Serie A shed a reputation for negative play, which dulled global interest in paying for broadcast rights.

FRANCE

Ligue 1 has mostly been owned by Paris Saint-Germain since Qatar bought the club in 2011 months after being named the 2022 World Cup host.

Lyon and Marseille have not won titles since 2008 and 2010, respectively, and both are now in American ownership.

Lyon’s new majority owner, John Textor, arrived in June promising to spend to pursue PSG at home with European ambitions next.

Marseille has had turmoil in six years under former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, though is now back in the Champions League.

Another foreign owner driving a renewed challenge at Nice is Monaco-based British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who was often linked to bids for Chelsea.

The overseas ownership model offers some stability after the collapse two years ago of the league’s touted new broadcast deal.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press

Sun Life shares up after earnings beat, U.K. unit sale

Nichola Saminather
Thu, August 4, 2022 

The Sun Life Financial logo is seen at their corporate headquarters in Toronto

PROVIDER OF BENEFIT PLANS TO CONSTRUCTION TRADES UNIONS IN CANADA

By Nichola Saminather

TORONTO (Reuters) -Sun Life Financial shares jumped on Thursday after reporting a better-than-expected second-quarter profit and announcing the sale of its U.K. business as well as an asset management partnership with the buyer, Phoenix Group Holdings.

Earlier on Thursday, Canada's second-largest life insurer agreed to sell its closed business in the United Kingdom to Phoenix for 248 million pounds ($301 million), and become its strategic asset management partner, managing about C$9 billion ($7 billion) of Sun Life UK's general account.

Sun Life expects to get a "good chunk" of the $25 billion Phoenix plans to deploy in North American fixed income and alternative investments over the next five years, CEO Kevin Strain said on an analyst call on Thursday. He added it will make up for some lost revenue and support earnings.

Strain said Sun Life has no current plans to sell other closed blocks, including the payout annuity part of the U.K. business, which it retained, and an individual life business (IFM) in the United States.

"We like the dynamics of those closed blocks," Strain told Reuters, adding these businesses can generate strong earnings and cash flow and good return on equity for at least 10 more years.

Sun Life shares rose 2.8% to C$60.80 in early afternoon trading in Toronto on Thursday, on track for its highest close in nearly eight weeks. The Toronto stock benchmark rose 0.14%.

Late on Wednesday, Sun Life reported core earnings per share of C$1.52, beating analysts' estimates of C$1.39, helped by improvement in its U.S. business and a better-than-expected performance in Canada that offset underwhelming results from its asset management and Asian units.

Sun Life executives said U.S. benefits provider DentaQuest, whose acquisition it closed on June 1, would help drive its goal of 10% organic growth in its U.S. group benefits business.

"DentaQuest has been a growth engine over its history," Dan Fishbein, president of its U.S. unit, said on the analyst call. "We think there's a lot of potential in the DentaQuest business on multiple fronts to continue to win new government contracts."

He cautioned that the business is "very lumpy" with small but very large contracts that could lead to sporadic growth in earnings.

($1 = 0.8243 pounds)

($1 = 1.2862 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting By Nichola Saminather; Editing by Josie Kao)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M; OLD SCHOOL

Coinbase ex-manager pleads not guilty to insider trading charges

 Representations of the Ripple, Bitcoin, Etherum and Litecoin virtual currencies are seen on motherboard in this illustration picture

Wed, August 3, 2022 
By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A former Coinbase Global Inc product manager and his brother pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to wire fraud charges in what U.S. prosecutors called the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency.

Ishan Wahi, 32, the former product manager, was arrested last month in Seattle on charges he shared confidential information with his brother Nikhil and their friend Sameer Ramani about forthcoming announcements of new digital assets that Coinbase would allow users to trade.

Nikhil Wahi also pleaded not guilty during an arraignment on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court before U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska. Ramani, who was also charged, is at large.

Prosecutors said Nikhil Wahi and Ramani used ethereum blockchain wallets to acquire the assets and traded at least 14 times before Coinbase announcements in June 2021 and April 2022. The announcements typically caused the assets to rise in value and generated at least $1.5 million in illicit gains, prosecutors said.

Coinbase is one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

David Miller, a lawyer for Ishan Wahi, said the charges should be dismissed because insider trading needs to involve securities or commodities and this case did not.

Miller also said Coinbase tested new tokens before it publicly listed them, meaning the information his client was accused of sharing was not confidential.

Noah Solowiejczyk, a prosecutor, countered that the information was nonpublic and the prosecution was consistent with previous wire fraud cases.

U.S. regulators are weighing how to oversee cryptocurrency trading.

Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month, the company said it had shared with prosecutors its findings from an internal probe into the trading.

Bail for the Wahi brothers was set at $1 million each. Their next court appearance is scheduled for March 22. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed related civil charges against them.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New YorkEditing by Bernadette Baum)

U.N. chief urges tax on 'grotesque greed' of oil, gas companies



UN Secretary-General Guterres addresses media prior to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in New York

Wed, August 3, 2022 
By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday slammed the "grotesque greed" of oil and gas companies and their financial backers and urged governments globally to "tax these excessive profits" to support the most vulnerable people.

"It is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record profits from this energy crisis on the backs of the poorest people and communities, at a massive cost to the climate," Guterres told reporters.

The two largest U.S. oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N and Chevron Corp CVX.N, British-based Shell and France's TotalEnergies combined earned nearly $51 billion in the most recent quarter, almost double what the group brought in for the year-ago period.

"I urge all governments to tax these excessive profits, and use the funds to support the most vulnerable people through these difficult times," Guterres said.

"And I urge people everywhere to send a clear message to the fossil fuel industry and their financiers: that this grotesque greed is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people, while destroying our only common home," he said.

Politicians and consumer advocates have criticised the oil companies for capitalizing on a global supply shortage to fatten profits and gouge consumers. U.S. President Joe Biden said in June that Exxon and others were making "more money than God" at a time when consumer fuel prices surged to records.

Last month, Britain passed a 25% windfall tax on oil and gas producers in the North Sea. U.S. lawmakers have discussed a similar idea, though it faces long odds in Congress.

Guterres said Russia's war in Ukraine and the climate breakdown was stoking a global food, energy and finance crisis.

"Many developing countries – drowning in debt, without access to finance, and struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic – could go over the brink," he said. "We are already seeing the warning signs of a wave of economic, social and political upheaval that would leave no country untouched."

(Reporting by Michelle NicholsEditing by Rami Ayyub and Chizu Nomiyama)

Alimentation Couche-Tard Stock Could Soar if it Acquires Suncor’s Retail Business

Pumps await a car for fueling at a gas and diesel station.

Written by Joey Frenette 

at The Motley Fool Canada

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Shares of Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX:ATD) have been powering higher over the past few weeks, thanks in part to some better-than-expected results and talks that the incredibly liquid firm may be in the running for Suncor Energy’s gas stations in what could be a marked-down price.

Indeed, hoarding cash leaves one feeling the full force of inflation’s impact. However, with market valuations contracting while credit becomes harder to come by as a result of higher interest rates, it’s cash and strong balance sheets that could separate the haves from the have-nots.

As valuations contract and firms look to sell retail assets, it’s Couche that could have a chance to pay three quarters to get a full dollar, so to speak. At writing, the company has more than $2.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, with the capacity to make a merger and acquisition (M&A) splash in the $10 range.

Undoubtedly, it’s been a while since Couche-Tard pulled the trigger on a massive deal. The last big deal it made was of CST Brands. Such locations have since been integrated and rebranded. Though Couche has been quiet, it’s not from lack of trying.

Management tried (but ultimately failed) to acquire French grocery firm Carrefour in the first half of 2021. The deal was met with skepticism, as Couche-Tard isn’t exactly in the business of generic grocery retail. Though it has introduced more fresh food across its convenience stores in recent years, the proposed tie-up was rather confusing to many.
Petro Canada stores up for grabs

Though Couche-Tard has moved on, it really hasn’t made a big splash. And its cash hoard could swell as the firm continues moving through a challenging environment. Though Couche has the means to make a big deal, investors shouldn’t expect one to happen, unless all the right boxes are checked. Couche’s managers put in the due diligence and then some prior to proposed deals. Their ultimate goal is to create value over the long run.

Looking ahead, Couche looks like it’s a frontrunner for Suncor’s Petro Canada retail unit. The deal could lie in the $10 billion range and help the firm make use of its solid liquidity position. According to Bloomberg, there’s quite a bit of overlap between Petro Canada stores and existing Couche-owned stores. This overlap could prove problematic. Further, there are anti-trust concerns that may make things difficult.

Couche-Tard is already such a dominant force in convenience retail. In any case, don’t count on Couche-Tard to run the risk of overpaying for the deal. If there’s no steal to be had, it’s more than fine with standing pat.

At the end of the day, Couche-Tard is a global player, leaving ample room for M&A at the international level. If anything, the company may wish to expand into the Asian region to improve upon its geographic diversification and returns on invested capital (ROIC).
Bottom line

Couche-Tard is in very capable hands.

The strong balance sheet makes the nearly $60 billion retail behemoth a top bidder for Suncor’s prized retail assets. With over $10 billion in acquisition capacity, Couche-Tard may very well be the only realistic buyer. The price tag will be really hard for smaller rivals like Parkland Fuel to justify. To make a deal happen, the $5.6 billion Parkland would have to raise astronomical amounts of debt. And I just don’t think it’s plausible.

The way I see it, Couche may have most of the leverage in a potential Petro Canada deal if federal regulators allow such a deal to happen.

The post Alimentation Couche-Tard Stock Could Soar if it Acquires Suncor’s Retail Business appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
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Fool contributor Joey Frenette has positions in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

Posthaste: Why analysts see Canada leaving more oil in the ground

Gigi Suhanic
Thu, August 4, 2022 



Good Morning!

Oilsands CEOs are likely having an ‘I told you so’ moment after a major energy research group predicted that emission cuts, among other factors, will result in some oil staying in the ground.

S&P Global Commodity Insights forecasts that oilsands production is expected to rise over the next decade by about half a million barrels a day. But before you get excited, that “substantial” increase is a drop from previous forecasts, according to the new analysis.

The energy and commodities research company said oilsands production will exceed 3.5 million barrels a day (b/d) by 2030, 17 per cent more than this year, but down 100,000 (b/d) from its forecast last year.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine has heightened interest in the ability of Canada — and (the) oilsands specifically — to contribute more crude supply to the global oil market,” said Kevin Birn, Canadian oil markets chief analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights. “While this has increased the incentive to raise oilsands production in the near-term, a longer-term focus on strengthening returns to shareholders as well as decarbonizing the industry continue to weigh on growth for the longer-term.”

That longer-term focus is winning out.

As the logistics of future projects become untenable, investors have shifted their attention from “volume” to “value,” and fixed firmly on dividends and share buybacks, said Birn and senior research analyst Celina Hwang.

And investors have been rewarded.

“Last year, was the single most profitable year in the history of the oilsands with the core four operators generating, on average, over $6 billion in pre-dividend organic free cashflow,” the pair said, predicting that oilsands operators could deliver more record returns to investors in 2022 if crude oil prices remain elevated.

Another force Hwang and Birn cite as working to suppress oilsands production is the federal government’s “aggressive” carbon emission reductions goals. Recently, Ottawa called for energy operators to cut their CO2 output 42 per cent by 2030, something heavy-weight industry players have described as “almost unrealistic.”

In fact, Alex Pourbaix, CEO of Cenovus Energy Inc. worried on an earnings call that the Liberals emissions plan would result in lost barrels.

Instead, oilsands producers have committed to a 30 per cent reduction by 2030 under the Pathways Alliance — a consortium of six major oilsands companies that have pledged to decarbonize production to reach net-zero by 2050.

So where to from here?

Hwang and Birn predict that 80 per cent of the production growth they are forecasting will take place over the next few years from the “ramp-up, optimization and completion of projects where some capital has already been invested” — in other words, from existing projects.

Meanwhile, almost all of those lost 100,000 b/d they attribute to new projects that will likely never see the light of day.

“The story about the Canadian oilsands today is one that is looking to be increasingly less about growth, and more about returns, output optimization and maintenance, and accelerating technologies to lower emissions to put the industry in a position to compete on carbon,” said the analysts.

'Stray': How a virtual orange tabby is helping real cats

Thu, August 4, 2022 


NEW YORK (AP) — The virtual cat hero from the new video game sensation “Stray” doesn't just wind along rusted pipes, leap over unidentified sludge and decode clues in a seemingly abandoned city. The daring orange tabby is helping real world cats as well.

Thanks to online fundraising platforms, gamers are playing “Stray" while streaming live for audiences to raise money for animal shelters and other cat-related charities. Annapurna Interactive, the game's publisher, also promoted “Stray” by offering two cat rescue and adoption agencies copies of the game to raffle off and renting out a New York cat cafe.

Livestreaming game play for charity isn't new, but the resonance “Stray” quickly found from cat lovers is unusual. It was the fourth most watched and broadcast game on the day it launched on Twitch, the streaming platform said.

Viewers watch as players navigate the adventurous feline through an aging industrial landscape doing normal cat stuff — balancing on railings, walking on keyboards and knocking things off shelves — to solve puzzles and evade enemies.

About 80% of the game’s development team are “cat owners and cat lovers” and a real-life orange stray as well as their own cats helped inspire the game, one creator said.

“I certainly hope that maybe some people will be inspired to help actual strays in real life — knowing that having an animal and a companion is a responsibility,” said producer Swann Martin-Raget, of the BlueTwelve gaming studio in Montpellier, in southern France.

When Annapurna Interactive reached out to the Nebraska Humane Society to partner before the game's launch on July 19, they jumped at the chance, marketing specialist Brendan Gepson said.

“The whole game and the whole culture around the game, it’s all about a love of cats,” Gepson said. “It meshed really well with the shelter and our mission.”

The shelter got four copies of the game to give away and solicited donations for $5 to be entered into a raffle to win one. In a week, they raised $7,000, Gepson said, with the vast majority of the 550 donors being new to them, including people donating from Germany and Malta. The company also donated $1,035 to the shelter.

“It was really mutually beneficial,” Gepson said. ”They got some really good PR out of it and we got a whole new donor base out of it.”

Annapurna also bought out Meow Parlour, the New York cat cafe and adoption agency, for a weekend, as well as donating $1,000. Visitors who made reservations could buy “Stray” themed merchandise and play the game for 20 minutes while surrounded by cats. (The game also captivates cats, videos on social media show.)

Jeff Legaspi, Annapurna Interactive’s marketing director, said it made sense for the game's launch to do something "positively impactful and hopefully bring more awareness to adopting and not shopping for a new pet.”

Annapurna declined to disclose sales or download figures for the game, which is available on PlayStation and the Steam platform. However, according to Steam monitor SteamDB, “Stray” has been the No. 1 purchased game for the past two weeks.

North Shore Animal League America, which rescues tens of thousands of animals each year, said it hadn't seen any increase in traffic from the game but they did receive more than $800 thanks to a gamer.

In a happy coincidence, the shelter had just set up a profile on the platform Tiltify, which allows nonprofits to receive donations from video streams, the week the game launched. The player channeled donations to the shelter, smashing her initial goal of $200.

“We are seeing Tiltify and livestreaming as this whole new way for us to engage a whole different audience,” said Carol Marchesano, the rescue's senior digital marketing director. Usually, though, organizations need to reach out to online personalities to coordinate livestreams, which can take a lot of work, she said.

About nine campaigns on Tiltify mention the game “Stray,” the company’s CEO Michael Wasserman said. JustGiving, which also facilitates charity livestreams, said it identified two campaigns with the game.

For his part, Gepson from Nebraska reached out to an Omaha resident who goes by the name TreyDay1014 online to run a charity livestream. Trey, who asked that his last name not be used, has two cats, one of which he adopted from the shelter.

Last week, he narrated to viewers watching live on the platform Twitch as his cat character batted another cat’s tail and danced along railings.

“If I found out my cat was outside doing this, I’d be upset,” Trey said, as his character jumped across a perilous distance. Moments later, a rusty pipe broke, sending the tabby down a gut-wrenching plunge into the darkness.

“That is a poor baby,” Trey said somberly, “but we are okay.”

A $25 donation followed the fall, pushing the amount raised by Trey for the Nebraska shelter to over $100 in about 30 minutes. By the end of four and a half hours of play, donations totaled $1,500. His goal had been to raise $200.

“This has opened my eyes to being able to use this platform for a lot more good than just playing video games,” Trey said.

___

AP business writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report.

___

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Thalia Beaty, The Associated Press

Analysis-Why the banks financing Musk's Twitter deal are unlikely to be able to help him walk away

Anirban Sen and Greg Roumeliotis
Fri, August 5, 2022

 Elon Musk image on smartphone and printed Twitter logos

By Anirban Sen and Greg Roumeliotis

(Reuters) - The banks that agreed to finance Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc have a financial incentive to help the world's richest person walk away but would face long legal odds, according to people close to the deal and corporate law experts.

Twitter has sued Musk to force him to complete the transaction, dismissing his claim that the San Francisco-based company misled him about the number of spam accounts on its social media platform as buyer's remorse in the wake of a plunge in technology stocks.

The Delaware Court of Chancery, where the dispute between the two sides is being litigated, has set a high bar for acquirers being allowed to abandon their deals, and most legal experts have said the arguments in the case favor Twitter.

Yet there is one scenario in which Musk would be allowed to abandon the acquisition by paying Twitter only a $1 billion break-up fee, according to the terms of their contract. His $13 billon bank financing for the deal would have to collapse.

Refusing to fund the deal would weigh on the banks' reputation in the market for mergers and acquisitions as reliable sources of debt. However, the banks would have at least two reasons to help Musk get out of the acquisition, three sources close to the deal said.

The banks stand to earn lucrative fees from Musk's business ventures such as electric car maker Tesla Inc and space rocket company Space, provided they continue to curry favor with him.

They also face the prospect of hundreds of millions of dollars in losses if Musk is forced to complete the deal, the sources said. This is because, as with every big acquisition, the banks would have to sell the debt to get it off their books.

They would struggle to attract investors given the downturn in pockets of the debt market since the deal was signed in April, and the fact that Musk would be seen as an unwilling buyer of the company, the sources said. The banks would then face the prospect of selling the debt at a loss.

It is unclear whether the banks that agreed to finance the acquisition -- Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp, Barclays Plc, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, BNP Paribas SA, Mizuho Financial Group Inc and Societe Generale SA -- will attempt to get out of the deal.

The banks are waiting for the outcome of the legal dispute between Musk and Twitter before making any decisions, according to the sources. The trial is scheduled to start in October.

Spokespeople for Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays, Mitsubishi and Mizuho declined to comment, while BNP Paribas and Societe Generale did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

There is a catch to the banks serving as Musk's escape hatch. He would have to show in court that the banks refused to deliver on their debt commitments despite his best efforts, according to the terms of his deal contact with Twitter.

This would be challenging to prove given Musk's public statements against the deal as well as private communications between Musk and the banks that Twitter may uncover in its request for information, four corporate lawyers and professors interviewed by Reuters said.

"Musk would have to convince the judge he is not responsible for the bank financing falling through. That is hard to show, it would require a great degree of deftness from him and the banks," said Columbia Law School professor Eric Talley.

Musk and Twitter representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

HUNTSMAN PRECEDENT

Even if the banks can show they are not acting at Musk's behest, they would find it difficult to get out of the Twitter deal, the legal experts said. They pointed to the case of chemical maker Hunstman Corp, which in 2008 sued the banks that walked away from financing its $6.5 sale to Hexion Specialty Chemicals.

Hexion, owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc, abandoned the deal after Huntsman's fortunes deteriorated, but a Delaware judge ruled that the transaction should go ahead. The two banks financing the deal, Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG, then refused to fund it, arguing the combined company would be insolvent.

Huntsman sued the banks and, one week into the trial, they settled. The banks agreed to a $620 million cash payment and the provision of a $1.1 billion credit line to Hunstman, which had also secured earlier a $1 billion settlement payment from Apollo.

The banks balking at funding Musk's deal would also have to show that Twitter would be insolvent if the acquisition happened, or that terms of their debt commitment were somehow breached, a high bar based on the deal documents that have been made public, the legal experts said.

"If the banks try to get out of the deal, they will walk into the same fight that Musk has taken on, where Twitter has the better legal arguments," said Eleazer Klein, co-chair of law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP's mergers, acquisitions and securities group.

(Reporting by Anirban Sen and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Krystal Hu in Los Angeles; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Analysis-Global rice supplies at risk as harsh weather hits top exporters

Naveen Thukral and Rajendra Jadhav
Thu, August 4, 2022 


 Labourers unload rice bags from a supply truck at India's main rice port at Kakinada 

By Naveen Thukral and Rajendra Jadhav

SINGAPORE/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Adverse weather across top rice suppliers in Asia, including the biggest exporter India, is threatening to reduce the output of the world's most important food staple and stoke food inflation that is already near record highs.

Rice has bucked the trend of rising food prices amid bumper crops and large inventories at exporters over the past two years, even as COVID-19, supply disruptions and more recently the Russia-Ukraine conflict made other grains costlier.

But inclement weather in exporting countries in Asia, which accounts for about 90% of the world's rice output, is likely to change the price trajectory, traders and analysts said.

"There is an upside potential for rice prices with the possibility of production downgrades in key exporting countries," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.

"An increase in rice prices would add to already major challenges for food affordability in parts of the developing world," Ziebell told Reuters.

Patchy rains in India's grain belt, a heatwave in China, floods in Bangladesh and quality downgrades in Vietnam could curb yields in four of the world's top five rice producers, farmers, traders and analysts told Reuters.

"Rice has remained accessible even as overall food prices reached record levels earlier this year," said U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation economist, Shirley Mustafa.

"We are now witnessing weather-related setbacks in some key rice producing countries, including India, China and Bangladesh, which could result in lower output if conditions don't improve in the next few weeks," Mustafa added.

World cereals prices have surged in 2022 despite relatively flat rice prices: https://tmsnrt.rs/3d7kgiB

'PRODUCTION DROP IS CERTAIN'

India's top rice producing states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have recorded a monsoon rainfall deficit of as much as 45% so far this season, data from the state-run weather department shows.

That has in part led to a 13% drop in rice planting this year, which could result in production falling by 10 million tonnes or around 8% from last year, said B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.

The area under rice cultivation is down also because some farmers shifted to pulses and oilseeds, Rao said.

India's summer-sown rice accounts for more than 85% of its annual production, which jumped to a record 129.66 million tonnes in the crop year to June 2022.

"A production drop is certain, but the big question is how the government will react," a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm said.

Milled and paddy rice stocks in India as of July 1 totalled 55 million tonnes, versus the target of 13.54 million tonnes.

That has kept rice prices down in the past year together with India's record 21.5 million tonnes shipment in 2021, which was more than the total shipped by the world's next four biggest exporters - Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States.

"But the government is hypersensitive about prices. A small rise could prompt it to impose export curbs," the trader said.

In Vietnam, rains during harvest have damaged grain quality.

"Never before have I seen it rain that much during harvest. It's just abnormal," said Tran Cong Dang, a 50-year-old farmer based in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu.

"In just ten days, the total measured rain is somewhat equal to the whole of previous month," said Dang, who estimated a 70% output loss on his 2-hectare paddy field due to floods.

IMPORTS, PRICES

China, the world's biggest rice consumer and importer, has suffered yield losses from extreme heat in grain growing areas and is expected to lift imports to a record 6 million tonnes in 2022/23, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

China imported 5.9 million tonnes a year ago.

The world's third-biggest consumer, Bangladesh, is also expected to import more rice following flood-damage in its main producing regions, traders said.

The full extent of shortfalls in countries other than India has yet to be estimated by analysts or government agencies that often only publish output data later in the year.

But the impact of unfriendly crop weather can already be seen in the slight rise in export prices from India and Thailand this week.

"Rice prices are already close to the bottom and we see the market rising from current levels," said a Singapore-based trader at one of the world's biggest rice merchants.

"The demand is picking up with buyers such as the Philippines and others in Africa looking to book cargoes."

Two-year price percent change in key global food staples: https://tmsnrt.rs/3PWKL8F

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi and Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Gavin Maguire and Himani Sarkar)

Indian police block opposition protests over price increases

Fri, August 5, 2022


NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police detained dozens of lawmakers from the opposition Congress party, including key leader Rahul Gandhi, as they attempted to march Friday to the president’s palace and prime minister’s residence to protest soaring food and fuel prices and an increase in the goods and services tax.

Police also detained hundreds of party supporters inside it headquarters in New Delhi and elsewhere to prevent them from joining the protesting lawmakers, many of whom wore black.

Several women protesters cooked food outside the party headquarters using wood for the fire, saying that cooking gas prices have risen beyond the means of poor and middle-class families.

In New Delhi, police began barricading the Congress party headquarters and homes of party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday after the party announced plans to organize countrywide protests against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“What we are witnessing is the death of democracy in India,” Rahul Gandhi told reporters. ”Anybody who stands against this idea of the onset of dictatorship is viciously attacked, put in jail, arrested, and beaten. The idea is that people’s issues — whether they are price rises, unemployment, or violence in society — people’s issues must not be raised. That is the sole agenda of the government.”

Police prevented the party's efforts to hold similar marches in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, Gauhati, and some other cities, detaining party members and taking them away in buses and other vehicles.

There was no immediate police comment. The lawmakers and their supporters were expected to be released after brief detentions — a general practice by police in such protests.

"This is the worst form of vendetta politics. We will not submit! We will not be silenced! We will continue to raise our voice against injustices and failures of the Modi government,” the party said in a tweet.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended the government’s handling of the economy in Parliament earlier this week and said there was zero probability of India slipping into recession.

The opposition was infuriated by the government's decision last month to impose a tax on packed milk curd, cheese, buttermilk, packed rice, flour and wheat. The government earlier raised fuel prices.

Rishi Lekhi And Shonal Ganguly, The Associated Press