Assa Abloy Extends Acquisition Timing Of Spectrum Brands’ HHI Unit

Assa Abloy Ltd. (ASAZF.PK), a provider of door security solutions, Friday said it has agreed to extend the agreement to acquire the Hardware and Home Improvement or HHI division of Spectrum Brands (SPB) to June 30, 2023.

It was in September last year that Assa Abloy announced its agreement to acquire the HHI division for a purchase price of $4.30 billion on a cash and debt free basis.

On December 2, 2021, the company had communicated that the acquisition of HHI is expected to close during 2022. The US regulator continues to review the proposed acquisition, and Assa Abloy said it is working to resolve its potential concerns.

The company now said it can therefore not be ruled out that the closing of the transaction extends into 2023.

The companies said they are confident to obtain all required governmental clearances to complete the transaction.

European Shares Subdued After A Two-day Rally

European stocks were subdued on Friday after two days of gains.

A cautious undertone prevailed as investors awaited the release of U.S. non-farm payroll data for June later in the day and the June inflation data to be released next week for clues to the possible rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

The pan European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.3 percent to 413.78 after climbing 1.9 percent on Thursday.

The German DAX shed half a percent, France’s CAC 40 index gave up 0.7 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent.

The British pound weakened against the dollar after Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore dropped 1-2 percent as copper prices fell on concerns over a flare-up in COVID-19 cases and restrictions in China.

Holcim, a Swiss- based construction material company, rose about 1 percent after it acquired General Beton Romania S.R.L, a key national player in ready-mix concrete.

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB added 1.4 percent. The specialized biopharmaceutical company announced an exclusive license agreement with ADC Therapeutics SA for loncastuximab tesirine.

British sports-fashion retailer JD Sports Fashion rose over 1 percent after saying it has appointed Andy Higginson as Chair, effective July 11.

German real estate company TAG Immobilien plunged 12 percent after it resolved on €200m fully underwritten capital increase to refinance its acquisition of ROBYG S.A.

Twitter Lays Off Nearly 30% Employees Of Recruiting Team

Twitter Inc. has laid off 30% of its recruiting team, that comes to around 100 employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. The job cut comes as the social media giant is preparing cost cuts amid the $44 billion takeover deal by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

The company in May had announced its plans to pause hiring as part of cutting costs.

CEO Parag Agrawal had said earlier that the company was managing costs in a very challenging macro environment. In May, the company had fired Consumer division head Kayvon Beykpour and revenue product lead Bruce Falckd.

It was in late April that Twitter agreed to accept Musk’s offer for $54.20 per share in cash and to become a privately held company.

However, in May, Musk put the Twitter acquisition on hold, demanding further information about spam and fake accounts on the microblogging site. Musk then said he suspected that they make up at least 20 percent of users, while Twitter continued to admit that spam/fake accounts represent only about 5 percent of users.

However, later, Twitter complied with Musk to provide him access to the data he asked for.

This week, Twitter officials reiterated that spam accounts make up less than 5% of the company’s daily monetizable users.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s board of directors in mid June had unanimously recommended that its shareholders vote in approval of the merger.

The deal is currently expected to close in 2022.

Westfield Outdoor Recalls Tents

Indianapolis, Indiana-based Westfield Outdoor, Inc. has recalled Outfitter and Big Horn tents citing injury risk, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The tents were sold exclusively at Cabela’s and Bass Pro shops.

The recall involves only the Cabela’s Ultimate Alaknak Outfitter, the Instinct Outfitter and the Big Horn 6P tents supplied by Westfield Outdoor. About 5,050 units were sold in the United States and about 830 units in Canada.

The recalled tents’ sizes range from 10 feet by 10 feet to 13 feet by 27 feet and are sold in green. The tents are designed for the optional use of a wood stove inside. The stove pipe exits the tent through the stove jack ring which provides a seal between the stove pipe and the tent.

The tents were manufactured in China, impoted by Bass Pro, LLC, and were sold at Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops nationwide and online from August 2019 through November 2020 for between $900 and $1,500.

According to the agency, the tent’s stove jack ring can deteriorate when exposed to high temperatures from contact with a stove pipe and create smoke inside the tent. This poses a risk of injury from smoke inhalation.

The recall was initiated after Westfield received three reports of the stove jack ring deteriorating due to heat and creating smoke, and one report of smoke inhalation and frostbite related to discontinuing the use of a wood stove while camping.

Consumers are urged to immediately stop using a wood stove inside the tents and contact Westfield Outdoor for a free replacement stove jack ring.

Aston Martin Proposes To Raise 653 Mln Pounds Of Equity Capital

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc (AML.L), a British maker of luxury sports cars and grand tourers, on Friday announced a 653 million pounds proposed equity capital raise.

The company intends to use up to half of the proceeds from the issue to pay down debts, reduce interest costs, and improve cash flow.

The vehicle maker will place around 23.3 million new ordinary shares at 3.35 pounds per share to raise 78 million pounds which will represent approximately 16.7 percent of the post-placing share capital of the group.

The company also proposes to issue underwritten rights to raise around 575 million pounds.

Aston Martin expects the proposed capital raise to further support its re-affirmed medium-term targets to achieve revenues of 2 billion pounds and an adjusted EBITDA of 500 million pounds by 2024-25.

In addition, the company has reaffirmed its outlook for the fiscal 2022. The firm continues to expect a wholesales growth of over 6,600 units with an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 350 to 450bps.
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It also reiterated its Capex and R&D for the full year at circa 300 million pounds.