Schick owner retreats from $1.37bn buyout of Harry’s

The company that owns Schick has termi-nated its attempt to buy the upstart shaving company Harry’s for $1.37 billion, just days after the US sued to block the acquisition.

Edgewell Personal Care Co. said Mon-day that it will move forward as a standalone company. It also said that Harry’s Inc. is now suing Edgewell, a case that it says has no merit. The Federal Trade Commission cited antitrust issues in trying to derail the deal last week. Schick is the No. 2 razor company in the US behind Gillette. Both brands have slashed prices and overhauled their sales

operations in recent years in response to the rise of Harry’s and rival Dollar Shave Club, which both started as direct-to-consumer dig-ital brands. Harry’s co-CEOs, Jeff Raider and Andy Katz-Mayfi eld, said they “continue to be perplexed by the FTC’s process and disre-gard of the facts.” And they said that they’re “disappointed by the decision by Edgewell’s board not to see this process to its conclu-sion.” The statement made no mention of Harry’s intention to pursue litigation.

Raider and Katz-Mayfi eld said their com-pany, which has launched a brand for wom-

en and has moved into traditional retail at stores like Target and Walmart, is “stronger than ever.” “We’re growing, profi table, well capitalized and excited about the opportu-nities ahead for our business,” Raider and Katz-Mayfi eld said.

Harry’s, based in New York, had hoped to capitalize on Edgewell’s large distribution channels and Schick’s blade technology. Edgewell believed that it would be able to leverage Harry’s direct-to-consumer mar-keting base and digital savvy. Shares of Edgewell spiked 23% Monday. (AP)

Market Movements 10-02-2020

Business Change Closing ptsCHINA - Shanghai SE +14.52 2,890.49

Change Closing ptsAUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries -13.44 7,107.99EUROPE - Euro Stoxx 50 -5.31 3,793.18FRANCE - CAC 40 -14.08 6,015.67GERMANY - DAX -19.78 13,494.03INDIA - Sensex -162.23 40,979.62JAPAN - Nikkei -142.00 23,685.98PAKISTAN - KSE 100 -846.93 39,296.70PHILIPPINES - PSEi -76.34 7,430.86 S. KOREA - KRX 100 -33.83 4,793.55

In this fi le photo, the Winston razor and Harry’s face lotion are on display at the headquarters of Harry’s Inc., in New York. Federal antitrust regulators say a proposed merger that would combine old-school shaving company Schick with upstart Harry’s would end up costing consumers some skin. (AP)

Exports weak in December: data

German industrial production drops sharplyBERLIN, Feb 10, (AP): German in-dustrial production dropped sharply in December and exports barely edged higher, offi cial data showed, rounding off a poor year for manufacturing in Europe’s biggest economy.

Production was down 3.5% com-pared with the previous month, the Economy Ministry said. It added that production over the full fourth quar-ter was down 1.9%, led by sharper drops in the machinery and auto in-dustries.

Those fi gures came on top of a 2.1% month-on-month decline in factory or-

ders reported Thursday.Also Friday, Germany’s Federal

Statistical Offi ce reported that exports were up 0.1% on the month in Decem-ber after dropping 2.2% the previous month. Imports were down 0.7%.

That meant that, for the full year, exports rose just 0.8% – compared with 3% the previous year and 6.2% in 2017. Imports were up 1.4%, down from 5.6% in 2018 and 8% in 2017.

Germany’s economy has grown for 10 consecutive years but last year’s 0.6% growth was the weakest since 2013. Fourth-quarter fi gures haven’t

yet been released, but offi cials estimat-ed last month that the economy grew slightly compared with the previous quarter.

ING economist Carsten Brzeski said that would now be “a positive sur-prise.”

“The German manufacturing sec-tor remains caught between cyclical weakness, on the back of the trade confl ict and weaker global growth, and structural weakness, on the back of disruption in the automotive sector and too little investment,” he wrote in a research note.

Part of KFH Capital’s efforts to diversify investing opportunities for its customers

Capital Markets Authority lists fi rst ‘Reit Fund’ on bourseKUWAIT CITY, Feb 10, (KUNA): Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) approved Saturday, a request to list (KFH Capital Reit Fund) on Kuwait bourse, as the fi rst real estate yield-generating fund.

The Authority said in statement that this approval brings a new in-vestment product that allows invest-ment in real estate assets and gener-ates a periodic income on the fund’s assets to benefi t from the income of these properties by up to 90 percent of operating income.

The approval came after the re-quest met relevant requirements and criteria, the statement added.

In September 2019, with a fi xed capital of KD 100 million (USD 330 million), KFH Capital, the invest-ment arm of Kuwait Finance House Group (KFH), has announced the launch of “KFH Capital Reit Fund”, the fi rst local real estate investment trust.

This comes as part of KFH Capi-tal’s efforts to diversify investing opportunities for its customers, of-fering new tools that generate sus-tainable yields as well as strengthen the company’s position as the best

investment destination in the region.The fund invests mainly in in-

come-generating real estate assets in various sectors in Kuwait including

the investment, commercial and in-dustrial, sectors. Equipped with pro-fessional team with long experience in the local real estate market.

Kuwait’s money supply down 0.2% in Dec: CBKKUWAIT CITY, Feb 10, (KUNA): Money supply (M2) declined 0.2 per-cent in December on monthly basis, recording KD 38.1 billion (USD 125.7 billion), the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) said Monday.

The CBK economic research de-partment reported that deposits in the Kuwaiti dinar by the private sector in local banks were steady, in Decem-ber, at KD 33.7 billion (USD 111 bil-lion).

Those of foreign currencies went down 7.5 percent reaching KD 2.5 bil-lion (USD eight billion), where this sector overall deposits amounted to KD 36.2 billion (USD 119.4 billion).

Local banks’ claims on the CBK in the Kuwaiti dinar, represented by the

CBK bonds, also in December, settled at KD 2.97 billion (USD 9.8 billion).

Total local banks assets increased 0.5 percent, reaching USD seven bil-lion (USD 23 billion).

Net foreign (currencies) assets in the domestic banks climbed 1.7 percent to KD 7.1 billion (USD 23.4 billion), while time deposits with the CBK were down 8.7 percent, reaching KD two billion (USD 6.6 billion).

Meanwhile, average interest rates on treasury bonds of one-year maturity settled at three percent.

Financing of Kuwaiti imports jumped in 35.9 percent in December, whereas the average USD exchange rate against the KD steadied, at KD 303.4, the CBK report concluded.

Traders seen on the fl oor of Boursa Kuwait. CMA approved Saturday, a request to list (KFH Capital Reit Fund) on Kuwait bourse, as the fi rst real estate yield-generating fund.

Fed signals steady ratesas economic risks lessen

Spillovers from deadly virus in China represent a new threat

In this fi le photo, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting

in Washington. (AP)

WASHINGTON, Feb 10, (AP): The Federal Reserve believes that downside risks to the US economy have lessened with the easing of trade tensions and better pros-pects for global growth but offi cials note a con-cern that possible spillo-vers from a deadly virus in China represent a new threat.

In its semi-annual monetary policy report released Friday, the Fed did not signal any im-minent changes in its bench-mark interest rate, which it cut three times last year to the cur-rent historically low range of 1.5% to 1.75%. The Fed said after quarter-point rate cuts at the July, September and Octo-ber meetings it has viewed the present level of interest rates to be “appropriate to support sus-tained expansion of economic activity” and a strong labor market and infl ation rising to the Fed’s 2% target.

Federal Reserve Chairman Je-rome Powell will testify before congressional committees on the new report on Tuesday and Wednesday, and his testimony is expected to amplify the Fed’s view that no further changes in interest rates are needed.

Many economists believe the Fed will keep rates unchanged for the entire year although some ana-lysts think there is still the chance of one more rate cut if risks such as the coronavirus outbreak in China threaten to slow US growth.

The report said the Fed “will continue to monitor the implica-tions of incoming information for the economic outlook as it assesses the appropriate path” for interest rates.

Generally, the report provided an upbeat assessment of economic prospects, noting that downside risks to the US economy had re-ceded in the latter part of 2019 with the announcement of a Phase One trade agreement that allowed for a cease-fi re in a trade war be-tween the United States and Chi-na.

In addition, the Fed said a slow-down in global growth, which had dragged down US manufacturing, appeared to be leveling off and fi nancial market conditions had improved, led by a rebound in the stock market.

But the report cautioned, “The recent emergence of the coronavi-rus ... could lead to disruptions in China that spill over to the rest of

the global economy.”By law, the Fed chairman is re-

quired to deliver twice a year an economic report to the House Fi-nancial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee explaining the Fed’s views on the economy and its decisions on inter-est rates.

The new report Friday came out hours after the government re-ported that the job market is still solid, creating 225,000 new jobs in January as the unemployment rate edged up to 3.6% as a half-million people were encouraged to enter the labor market to look for work.

The Fed report contained eco-nomics forecasts that all members of the Fed’s rate-setting panel had made in December.

They showed said that Fed of-fi cials believe the unemployment rate will end this year at 3.7% and then rise modestly to 3.8% at the end of 2021 and 3.9% at the end of 2022.

This fi le photo shows the headquarters of the Simon Property Group in downtown Indianapolis. The Simon Proper-ty Group will buy mall operator Taubman Realty in a deal valued at around $3.6 billion as those properties continue to struggle along with their retail tenants. Simon Property Group Inc said Feb 10, that its operating partnership,

Simon Property Group, LP, will buy all of Taubman stock for $52.50 per share. (AP)

Simon buys Taubman for $3.6 billion

Now for sale at the mall ... the mallINDIANAPOLIS, Feb 10, (AP): As mall-based retailers struggle to compete with the onslaught from online shopping, the companies that own and manage the malls are fi nding their own business models severely challenged.

For the second time in as many weeks, there is a major agreement involving mall operators.

The Simon Property Group will buy mall operator Taubman Realty in a deal valued at around $3.6 bil-lion.

Simon Property Group Inc. is the nation’s largest mall operator. It said Monday that its operating partnership, Simon Property Group, LP, will buy all of Taubman stock for $52.50 per share. The Taubman family will sell about one-third of its ownership stake at the transac-tion price and remain a 20% partner in Taubman Realty Group LP.

Taubman Realty owns, manages or leases 26 shopping centers in the US and Asia, including The Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, and Waterside Shops in Naples, Florida. Simon owns or has a stake in 204 properties in the US, including pre-mium outlets as of last year.

“By joining together, we will en-hance the ability of (Taubman) to invest in innovative retail environ-ments that create exciting shopping and entertainment experiences for consumers, immersive opportuni-ties for retailers and substantial new job prospects for local communi-ties,” said David Simon, Simon’s chairman, CEO and president in a statement.

Malls have struggled with retail bankruptcies and store closings af-ter a vast shift in the way Americans shop.

Since 2015, only nine malls have been built, a dramatic fall from their peak construction in 1973 of 43, ac-cording to CoStar Group, a real es-tate research fi rm.

Vacancy rates at malls are hoo-vering around 4% on average, says CoStar, though struggling malls are closer to 7% vacant.

Last week Macy’s, a cornerstone in many malls, announced that it is closing 125 of its least productive stores and cutting 2,000 corporate jobs. The store closures represent about one fi fth of all its locations and are in poor-performing malls. And consortium of buyers, includ-ing mall owners Simon and Brook-fi eld Property Partners, bid $81 mil-lion last week for Forever 21, the ubiquitous mall staple that fi led for bankruptcy protection in Septem-ber.

Several years ago, Simon and the company that became Brookfi eld Property Partners, another big mall

operator, teamed up to save strug-gling teen apparel retailer Aeropost-ale, which was in bankruptcy.

Traditional malls are adding more entertainment and other non-retail options like restaurants and gyms to create new energy at their properties. They’re also trying to avoid darkened areas inside their properties, which can exacerbate their problems and trigger lease clauses that allow tenants to rene-gotiate.

The acquisition of a majority stake in Taubman is expected to close by the middle of the year. It still needs approval from two-thirds of the outstanding Taubman voting stock and a majority of outstanding Taubman voting stock not held by the Taubman family.

Shares of Taubman Centers Inc, based in Bloomfi eld Hills, Michi-gan, soared 53% Monday. Shares of Simon Property, based in Indian-apolis, rose less than 1%.

Xerox says it will offer $35 blnfor HP after lower bid rejectedNEW YORK, Feb 10, (AP): Xerox says it will raise its offer for com-puter and printer maker HP to nearly $35 billion after a lower bid was re-jected.

Xerox said Monday that it plans to make the offer about March 2. It will consist of $24 per HP share, includ-ing $18.40 in cash and 0.149 Xerox shares for each HP share.

In November, HP rejected a roughly $33.5 billion buyout offer

from Xerox, saying that the bid un-dervalued HP. HP said at the time that it remained open to exploring other options to combine with Xerox Holdings Corp, best known for its copying machines.

The companies have struggled as the demand for printed documents and ink have waned, and both are cutting costs.

HP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.