Breakingviews

Barclays takes first step to a re-rating

By George Hay and Dominic Elliott

The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

Barclays has taken the first step towards a re-rating of its persistently underperforming shares. New Chief Executive Antony Jenkins set out on Tuesday how the UK bank would move on from the disastrous era of his predecessor Bob Diamond, which left Barclays as the biggest loser from the Libor-fixing scandal. He’s on the right track – assuming he can carry his employees with him.

Dell LBO objectors in tight corner

By Robert Cyran and Richard Beales
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

Objectors to the founder’s $24.4 billion leveraged buyout of Dell are in a tight corner. The likes of Southeastern Asset Management are right that Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners have made a lowball offer. Yet it’s at a respectable 25 percent premium, and the company’s shares haven’t topped the $13.65 per share deal price in months or Southeastern’s $23.72 per share valuation in years.

Deutsche and Nomura should help tidy Monte mess

By Dominic Elliott

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

Deutsche Bank and Nomura should help clear up the mess at Monte dei Paschi. During the crisis, the investment banks arranged complicated trades for the Sienese lender that have hit the accounts with charges of 579 million euros. It is MPS’s fault that it got into this tangle. But Deutsche and Nomura could still score regulatory and reputational dividends for smoothing its escape.

Peugeot’s writedown shocker isn’t end of trouble

By Olaf Storbeck

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

In a French corporate version of glasnost, PSA Peugeot Citroën is cleaning up its balance sheet and will write off assets to the tune of 4 billion euros – 28 percent of its current asset base, an amount equivalent to twice its current market capitalisation. Now it can focus on the future: it’s bleak.

Review: A spy’s eye in the workplace

By Martin Langfield

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

James Bond fans would expect a former spy’s book of business tips to offer a crash-course in whiz-bang gadgetry, car chases and stealing secrets. Intelligence nerds might want to read about working the “dark side” through Dumpster-diving, coercion and other black arts. J.C. Carleson’s book “Work Like a Spy” smartly does neither.

Tokyo stocks: this time could really be different

By Robert Cole

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

Once bitten, twice shy. In fact, investors in Japan have been bitten many times by the seductive notion that the land of the rising sun is emerging from its bear-market night. They would be forgiven for shying away this time.

Apple and Einhorn could both use cleaner design

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

Apple and David Einhorn could both use some of the iPhone maker’s famed simplicity. The $430 billion technology company has combined three governance fixes better considered separately. Also a bit unwieldy is an idea from the boss of hedge fund firm Greenlight Capital to unlock value at Apple. A sleeker approach makes more sense.

Credit Suisse has bad news for debt wannabes

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

Credit Suisse’s fourth-quarter results contain bad news for fixed-income wannabes. The Swiss bank was among the first to adjust its debt-trading business to the harsher realities of new Basel III regulations, so it can probably weather the 28 percent quarter-on-quarter revenue drop it has just suffered in this segment. Other rivals may be less fortunate.

Drip-drip Libor shame beats an industry settlement

By Dominic Elliott

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

Settlements by three firms – Barclays, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland – have each contained disclosures of the culture of the trading floor, via recorded Bloomberg messages. One RBS trader referred to his readiness to raise and lower his requests for the Libor rate as being akin to a “whores drawers”. Another offered to “come over there and make love to you” in return for helpful rate submissions. Yet another quipped: “[It’s] just amazing how libor fixing can make you that much money.”

The unsexiest media company alive: Time Warner

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

Time Warner deserves the top spot in one of its glossy weeklies as the unsexiest media company alive. In five years under Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes, the owner of Warner Brothers, HBO and People magazine has delivered investors a 70 percent return, keeping pace with its wheeling and dealing media rivals. The longer-term question is whether Bewkes can continue to make boring beautiful.