Breakingviews

New US finance sheriff carves out shadowy domain

By Rob Cox and Daniel Indiviglio
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.The American banking industry has had a rough few years. The subprime meltdown, financial crisis and economic hardship have slammed stocks, slashed bonuses and crunched jobs. But life has been pretty sweet for a motley crew of companies – from cash checkers and credit bureaus to money wirers and debt collectors – operating on the edges of the regulated financial services industry. That may be about to change.

The recent recess appointment by President Barack Obama of Richard Cordray to lead the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will, for the first time ever, throw a federal regulatory lasso around the biggest players in the shadows of finance. In the same way that enhanced regulation has curbed many of the excesses on Wall Street, so, too, may the increased scrutiny of this netherworld of the money industry.

Shell pays up for a foothold in Mozambique gas

By Kevin Allison

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Shell is paying a full price to gain exposure to promising natural gas prospects off the Eastern coast of Africa. The oil group’s $1.6 billion offer for Cove Energy represents a 70 percent premium to the AIM-listed energy explorer’s undisturbed share price. Cove may be tiny, but its assets are attractive. With more than $11 billion of cash on hand, Shell can easily afford it. If Asian gas prices stay high or Cove’s exploration projects deliver, this small but highly priced deal may be worth the bother.

UPS could be bidding against itself for TNT

By Christopher Swann and Quentin Webb
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

TNT shareholders are waiting for a much bigger buyout package. There’s good reason for the Dutch parcel service to expect UPS, its American suitor, to sweeten its bid of 4.9 billion euros, or $6.3 billion, given the huge synergies that would probably result from the union. But with rivals FedEx and DHL inhibited in varying ways, TNT investors may not get the bidding war they’d like.

UPS hasn’t unwrapped the expected cost savings from acquiring TNT. Stripping out expenses would be relatively easy, though, given UPS’ formidable presence in Europe. And the opening offer suggests it would retain a large slug of these benefits for itself.

GM’s former finance arm better suited for IPO

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

GM’s ormer financing arm would be better off waiting for an opening to launch a much-delayed stock offering rather than selling itself. Sure, the business now known as Ally Financial would fit well with several banks – or even its previous owner. And the U.S. Treasury, which pumped $17 billion into Ally and owns about three-quarters of it, wants its money back. But the troubled mortgage division, ResCap, may give some pause. And Ally is too big to swallow easily.

AT&T board lets CEO off hook for bad call

By Jeffrey Goldfarb
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

AT&T’s board has let its chief executive off the hook for his bad call. Randall Stephenson’s total compensation fell to $22 million last year from just over $27 million in 2010. That’s a light slap for the badly botched bid to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom. AT&T had to take a $4 billion charge for the break fee related to the deal’s collapse. Though complicit directors factored the monetary costs into their decision, they didn’t hold Stephenson properly accountable for failure.

The T-Mobile takeover plan scrapped by regulators unquestionably took its toll. In 2010, AT&T’s free cash flow was atop its target range and earnings per share surpassed it. Last year, free cash flow settled back into the middle of its range while EPS barely scraped the bottom. Even had the T-Mobile costs been excluded, earnings would have fallen short of target. And while on a longer, three-year horizon, AT&T’s total shareholder return of 9 percent outperformed the broader market, it was near the bottom of its own self-described peer group. That all suggests T-Mobile proved a bigger distraction for AT&T management than even the hefty immediate costs imply.

Alibaba $2.5 bln buyout looks opportunistic

By Wei Gu

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

Jack Ma may have failed to buy back a stake in his e-commerce group Alibaba from U.S. partner Yahoo, but he has at least found a fallback plan. Ma has offered $2.5 billion to take his Hong Kong-listed unit, Alibaba.com private. The premium, 46 pct to the company’s last price before the deal was announced, is decent, and minority investors have no better options. But it still looks opportunistic.

Apple needs more than a good lawyer in China

By Wei Gu
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

Apple has no problem getting Chinese consumers to desire its products, as a near-riot outside its Beijing store showed in January. But the U.S. tech giant has been beset by problems. As well as a rolling trademark battle, which has resulted in iPads being taken off the shelves in some cities, Apple’s market share is slipping, and the factory conditions at some of its Chinese partners are being questioned. It needs a new strategy.

Why 100 pct FDI could save India’s Kingfisher

By Jeff Glekin

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The Kingfisher saga has dragged on for too long. Mounting debts and deteriorating service levels are bringing the Indian airline, majority owned by Vijay Mallya, the flamboyant liquor baron, to the brink. New investors are in short supply. A proposal to allow foreigners to buy up to 49 percent of the company does not go far enough. If the government is serious about saving the airline, why not go the whole hog and allow 100 percent?

Would President Romney sell Uncle Sam’s GM stake?

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Mitt Romney may be unsure which hat to wear when it comes to General Motors. In a Detroit News article this week, the Republican presidential candidate exhorted President Barack Obama’s administration to offload Uncle Sam’s holding in the automaker, which reported fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday. That may be Political Romney’s take, but selling now would leave taxpayers with a hefty loss. That’s a hit Private Equity Romney would surely avoid.

Congratulations Google, you’re now a conglomerate

By Robert Cyran
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.Congratulations Google, you’re now a conglomerate. U.S. and EU antitrust authorities have cleared the search firm’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola. Its foray into manufacturing phones and tablets might open new markets – or simply amount to a vital means of defending its core advertising business. Whatever the case, on Wall Street, diversification like this usually merits a valuation discount.

Sure, the purchase of Motorola helps protect Google’s intellectual property. The cellphone maker’s several thousand patents shore up the walls protecting Google’s Android operating system from software and hardware rivals alike. But the company has made it clear from the start that its purchase wasn’t only about intellectual property – it was also about making gadgets.