Wall Street’s main stock indexes advanced in a holiday-shortened trading session as investors digested the latest events on the Covid-19 relief package, and the UK reached a post-Brexit trade accord agreement with the European Union.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%, while the S&P 500 Index gained 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.4%. US equity markets and derivatives trading will be closed Friday for Christmas Day.
Alibaba plunged 12% following a report that Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into the e-commerce giant and will meet with its affiliate, Ant Group, in the next few days. This is the latest move in the Chinese government’s attempts to crackdown on anticompetitive behavior in China’s internet space, Reuters reported. Regulators specifically mentioned Alibaba’s “one from two” exclusivity policy in which merchants are prevented from offering their products on rival platforms. Alibaba has defended this policy in the past, which has become an increasing source of friction with regulators.
In M&A chatter news, Square has reportedly held talks to buy the music-streaming platform Tidal as part of a move to diversify its services. According to the Bloomberg report, Square CEO Jack Dorsey has negotiated a potential deal with Jay-Z, the rapper and music mogul who bought Tidal for $56 million in early 2015. The negotiations may not result in a transaction. Square declined to comment, while Tidal didn’t respond to requests for comment when contacted by Bloomberg. Shares rose about 1%.
In other deal news, Apollo Global Management is leading a group of institutional investors to buy a 49.9% stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev’s US-based metal container plants for about $3 billion. Apollo said that the deal represents a “unique opportunity to invest in high-quality assets with long-term, stable cashflows” alongside the world’s largest brewer. The private equity firm said with this investment it intends to help AB InBev to optimize its assets and unlock shareholder value in the current complex market environment. Meanwhile, AB InBev hopes that the investment will create additional shareholder value by optimizing the brewer’s business at an attractive price and generate proceeds to repay debt, in view of its deleveraging needs.
US casino operator Caesars Entertainment Inc. announced today that it will sell its Southern Indiana operation to Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) for $250 million. Once the deal has been completed, EBCI will then enter into a new annual lease agreement with property owner VICI Properties Inc. for $32.5 million per annum. EBCI will continue to use the Caesars brand and rewards loyalty program at Caesars Southern Indiana as agreed by both parties after the transaction has been completed.
Deal or no deal: Tenet Healthcare Corp. has pulled out from a $350 million deal to sell two hospitals and other related facilities in the Memphis area due to regulatory concerns. The move comes after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against the deal. The company said in an SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) filing that, “it no longer intends to pursue the Proposed Transaction. The Company withdrew its Sale Submission on December 23, 2020 and is working with the FTC to effectuate dismissal of the federal and administrative proceedings.” Shares declined by 1%.
Meanwhile, shares of LiveXLive Media added 1% after the digital media company disclosed that it is looking for potential strategic opportunities, including acquisitions, partnerships or other transactions, to grow its business. The company has appointed J.P. Morgan as its financial advisor. LiveXLive’s CEO Robert Ellin said, “The opportunity is expanding to monetize the Company’s content multiple times and in multiple ways across numerous platforms, including carriers, automobiles, and OTT [over-the-top]. We continue to see immense opportunity for LiveXLive to leverage its audience, platform and artist and entertainment industry relationships and help drive further growth through our flywheel business model.”
Shares of Sociedad Quimica Y Minera dropped 4.3% after the company announced plans to raise $1.1 billion capital from a share sale. The company plans to use the proceeds to finance its $1.9 billion investment plan for the expansion of its lithium, iodine, and nitrate operations in Chile during 2021-2024. SQM will call an extraordinary shareholders meeting on Jan. 22 to approve the proposal to issue 22.4 million of Series B shares.
