Marlboro maker Altria Group said it plans to sell more than $2.2bn worth of its shares in Budweiser and Beck’s brewer AB InBev. Altria on Wednesday announced it planned to offload 35mn of its shares in the brewer via a secondary offering of American Depositary Receipts in the US, and private placements of shares in
The US House of Representatives’ approval of a bill to ban TikTok from app stores unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company has cemented the video-sharing platform as one of the biggest flashpoints in a wider US-China conflict and has ignited a debate about free speech and data security. The overwhelming support for
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The early 1990s saw an ugly US populist backlash against Japan’s acquisition push of American assets. That era seems to have partially returned. On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that President Joe Biden would soon
When former CNN boss Jeff Zucker swooped in with an audacious eleventh-hour Abu Dhabi-backed bid to take control of the UK’s Telegraph and Spectator last November, he appeared confident he would emerge a winner. But Zucker underestimated the fierce resistance he would encounter as he went head-to-head with Britain’s Conservative establishment — and its favourite
The Kansas Department of Transportation expects to head to the municipal market this summer with its first bond issue to help finance a $10 billion, statewide transportation improvement program. The $200 million of bonds backed by state highway fund revenue will be sold in a negotiated deal for the 10-year Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program, which
Expansionary fiscal policy, Biden’s industrial policy and strong consumer spending are expected to outweigh higher interest rates and restrained growth, decreasing the likelihood of a recession in 2024, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast. January’s drop in retail sales and housing starts was due more to the weather in the eastern U.S. than a pullback
Municipals were little changed Wednesday as two billion-dollar-plus deals from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and CommonSpirit Health took focus. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities were mixed. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Wednesday was at 59%, the three-year at 59%, the five-year at 57%, the 10-year at 57% and the 30-year
The US has held secret talks with Iran this year in a bid to convince Tehran to use its influence over Yemen’s Houthi movement to end attacks on ships in the Red Sea, according to US and Iranian officials. The indirect negotiations, during which Washington also raised concerns about Iran’s expanding nuclear programme, took place
High-speed rail would win $205 billion of federal support over five years under a bill introduced last week that’s gained 30 co-sponsors, all Democrats, and support from high-speed rail and labor groups. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., introduced the American High-Speed Rail Act, H.R. 7600, to invest in the development of
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK tax myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said it could take “many parliaments” to realise his ambition to get rid of national insurance contributions, as the government fends off accusations from Labour that the project amounts to an
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Rishi Sunak will attempt to block the takeover of the Telegraph by Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI by changing the law to stop a foreign state buying a British news organisation. The UK prime minister will
Stifel has hired Joseph Narens, who spent a decade at Citi, to oversee the firm’s institutional high-yield trading across the firm’s municipal securities business line. Narens joined Stifel Wednesday as managing director and head of High Yield Municipal Trading. Prior to joining Stifel, Narens spent 10 years at Citi, most recently as the head of
Joe Biden plans to express serious concern over Nippon Steel’s proposed purchase of US Steel, a move that could threaten the deal’s progress and anger Japan, one of Washington’s closest allies. Biden will issue a statement about the Japanese group’s proposed $14.9bn acquisition of the Pennsylvania-headquartered steelmaker before Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a
Chicago plans to issue $80.865 million of senior lien airport revenue refunding bonds for Midway International Airport in a deal that would replace variable-rate debt and associated swaps with fixed-rate bonds. The pricing date is flexible, said city of Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski. “The Midway deal is day to day,” Jaworski said, adding
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The US House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that would ban app stores from distributing TikTok if its Chinese owner does not divest ownership of the video-sharing platform. Republicans
Parties to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bankruptcy are arguing the fairness of four deals and whether the participants’ votes for them should be disqualified. On Monday afternoon the Puerto Rico Oversight Board asked U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain to reject Syncora Guarantee’s and GoldenTree Asset Management’s request for the classes’ votes
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Ukraine has stepped up drone strikes on oil refineries deep inside Russia, in what officials depict as an intensifying effort to hit the country’s economy. In the second consecutive day of assaults on Russian
To address concerns about a healthcare shortage in western Wisconsin, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Feb. 28 signed a bill that made available $15 million in healthcare grants to hospitals to help them provide services. The $15 million — which Evers, a Democrat, urged the state legislature’s Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee to release immediately —
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Stripe is in “no rush” to go public after the $65bn payments company returned to positive cash flow and raised its private market valuation. The company, a Silicon Valley bellwether, told its investors on Wednesday
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Russian politics myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Vladimir Putin has said Russia is prepared for a nuclear war, delivering a crude warning to the west as his army advances on the Ukrainian battlefield more than two years into its full-scale invasion. The
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Call it the banality of chaos. Here is a checklist of Donald Trump’s recent activity. He promised on day one of his presidency to let January 6 convicts out of jail, close the