Ackman reinvents SPAC in Universal Music deal talks

William Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings (PSTH.N) said on Friday it was in talks to buy 10% of Universal Music Group at a 35 billion euro ($42 billion) valuation, in a departure from the playbook of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).

Analysis: India’s vaccine inequity worsens as countryside languishes

Urban Indians are getting COVID-19 shots much faster than the hundreds of millions of people living in the countryside, government data shows, reflecting rising inequity in the nation’s immunisation drive. In 114 of India’s least developed districts – collectively home to about 176 million people – authorities have administered just 23 million doses in total. […]

Trafigura, Yara sign MoU on clean ammonia for shipping fuel

Global commodities trader Trafigura (TRAFGF.UL) and Norway’s Yara (YAR.OL) said on Monday they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aiming to supply the marine industry with carbon emissions-free ammonia for fuel. Under the plan, Yara is to supply Trafigura with clean ammonia, and the firms are to jointly conduct research as well as develop marine fuel […]

Global M&A surges to record high for third straight month

Global mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity hit a record high for the third straight month in May, driven mainly by low interest rates, soaring equities and higher dealmaking interest in sectors that have received a boost from the COVID-19 pandemic.