One ‘Larry of Arabia’ thing to start: BlackRock has struck a deal with the Saudi Arabian government to open a multi-class investment firm in Riyadh, anchored by a $5bn mandate from the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund.
And one scoop to start: Microsoft has agreed to back an estimated $10bn in renewable electricity projects to be developed by Brookfield Asset Management, in a deal that underscores the race to meet clean energy commitments while satisfying the voracious energy demand of cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
In today’s newsletter:
HSBC CEO’s surprise departure
At an away day for senior HSBC executives in the quaint English town of Windsor in December, chief executive Noel Quinn reassured his underlings that he would be sticking around for a few more years.
But yesterday morning, just as DD was hitting your inbox, 62-year-old Quinn announced he was retiring after an “intense five years” in order to “get a better balance between my personal and business life”.
The sudden departure of the CEO of Europe’s biggest bank prompted plenty of head-scratching. Since taking the top job in 2019, the HSBC lifer has seen his bank through a challenging pandemic — which hit its spiritual home, Hong Kong, especially hard — and survived a prolonged proxy battle with its biggest shareholder, insurer Ping An.
During his tenure, he also overhauled the lender by selling off parts of its global operations to increase its focus on Asia, where it makes the lion’s share of its profits.
He was popular among staff and shareholders, while the relationship with his chair, Mark Tucker, was much healthier than his predecessor’s, who lasted just 18 months.
It turns out, as the FT reported last night, the reasons for Quinn’s departure are pretty prosaic. The board was concerned about both Quinn and Tucker leaving at their preferred date of 2026, so Quinn stepped aside earlier in order to allow a successor to get up to speed before the change in chair.
One reason Quinn was more open to leaving earlier, according to people close to him, was his disillusionment with the geopolitical nature of running a bank that straddles Hong Kong and London at a time of rising tension between China and the west.
Quinn is leaving after a long run, joining the lender in 1987 through a subsidiary of Midland Bank, which was bought by HSBC five years later.
However, there are signs that investors are not exactly lamenting his departure: HSBC shares climbed in trading on Tuesday.
‘Meticulous Mike’ makes a bold move
Mining group Anglo American held its annual general meeting in London on Tuesday. But the man who may hold the keys to the company’s future was not in the room.
Mike Henry, the chief executive of Australia’s mining giant BHP, is in the midst of a bold takeover plan to acquire his smaller competitor in what would be a record deal for the industry.
And Henry is likely well prepared, according to an FT profile of the executive.
Dubbed “Meticulous Mike” by the Australian media, Henry must have carefully planned his move for Anglo, people who know him said.
While BHP faces challenges to getting a deal done after its initial proposal was rejected, Henry is said to be ready for the bumpy ride. “Anglo is in play, and the game is on,” one source familiar with the approach said.
When he was picked to be CEO of BHP in 2019, few predicted that the mild-mannered Canadian would seek such a transformational impact. Colleagues describe him as “reserved” — but behind the scenes he is clear on his expectations and forceful in arguments.
One longtime shareholder said Henry was “everything you’d imagine of a CEO of an efficient, process-driven company, but has been bolder around repositioning the portfolio and M&A than previous management”.
Indeed, under his leadership, BHP has made a number of increasingly large acquisitions while disposing of its oil division along the way.
Had Henry not wound up in the mining industry, he might have been a diplomat or an official at an international organisation, he told the FT in 2021.
Satellite groups dance with the stars
No one likes to be left with the last partner on the dance floor.
But SES, Luxembourg’s satellite operator, and US rival Intelsat, have finally drummed up the courage to join the consolidation party that has seen some of the world’s biggest satellite operators combine operations over the past three years.
On Tuesday SES announced it would pay $3.1bn in cash for all of privately held Intelsat.
SES shares, which have fallen sharply over the past year, immediately tumbled as investors registered that the acquisition meant a sharp rise in debt and questioned the capacity for future cash returns.
The industry has been feeling the pain of declining revenues in the core business of television broadcasting, and the arrival of Elon Musk’s Starlink has posed an even greater threat.
Starlink upended the traditional space sector by offering consumer broadband from cheaper satellites closer to the earth.
This is not the first time the two satellite operators have flirted with a deal. In 2022 they sat down to discuss their survival in the face of Musk’s rapidly expanding network.
Those talks came after a bout of industry consolidation. Britain’s Inmarsat had been snapped up by Viasat of the US in 2021. The following year Eutelsat secured Britain’s OneWeb, one of the few companies apart from Musk’s Starlink to have operational low earth orbit satellites. That left Intelsat.
It might have been a battle of egos, or the fact that SES is 33 per cent held by the Luxembourg state, but those initial talks collapsed and SES’s chief executive Steve Collar left soon after.
This time round, with new management at SES, the invitation has been accepted. Time for a different kind of dancing with the stars.
Job moves
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Arnaud Lagardère has resigned as chair and chief executive of media group Lagardère, which his father founded in 1992, after French financial prosecutors filed preliminary charges against him. He is also chair and CEO of publisher Hachette.
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Evercore is hiring Charles-Henri Filippi in a senior capacity, according to Bloomberg. His move from Lazard follows five other departures which saw bankers leave Lazard’s Paris office for Evercore.
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A&O Shearman has appointed Denise Gibson as a managing partner for the UK, and Dave Lewis as a co-managing partner of the US. Based in London, Gibson is the co-head of the global leveraged finance group, and Lewis served as managing partner of the New York office from 2017-23.
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Scotiabank has hired Travis Machen to lead its global banking and markets business. He joins from Morgan Stanley where he was managing director and head of banks, diversified and financial infrastructure.
Smart reads
Back to business Former Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao has been sentenced to four months in jail after pleading guilty to failing to establish adequate money laundering controls. The former co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange had spent the past five months travelling the US and laying the groundwork for his next venture, The New York Times reports.
A growing appetite As its US counterparts in China are struggling with weak consumer demand and stiff competition from local rivals, McDonald’s is building up its China operation and spending billions to claw back market share, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Heavy traffic Elon Musk is on the cusp of deploying Tesla’s “full self-driving” system in the world’s biggest car market. Here’s what his recent China trip means for Tesla, write the FT’s Edward White and Peter Campbell.
News round-up
BBVA approaches Sabadell to create €70bn Spanish banking giant (FT)
Ericsson chief says overregulation ‘driving Europe to irrelevance’ (FT)
SocGen Hong Kong traders exit after unauthorised risky bets uncovered (FT)
Skydance deal leaves Paramount commoners begging for bounty (FT)
RedBird IMI admits defeat in attempt to buy UK’s Telegraph (FT)
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