CLOs

Jensen Tuna announced this week a voluntary recall of its frozen ground tuna for its potential link to salmonella, and FDA has issued an advisory notice regarding the Louisiana-based company’s recall. FDA says the product was sold to wholesalers in Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York, and Washington. The regulator adds that these wholesalers also distribute the product to restaurants and retail locations. Like the FDA, CDC has recommended that consumers avoid eating tuna without knowledge of its origin. Jensen Tuna's recall comes after the FDA and CDC's investigation into 13 reported illnesses caused by salmonella, notes Newsweek (17 April, Jackson).

From "Frozen Tuna Recall Linked to Salmonella Outbreak, FDA and CDC Says"
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Pinterest has priced its shares at US$19 each for its initial public offering (IPO), valuing the company at US$12.7 billion, just above its previous private fund-raising round that had pegged the company at US$12 billion. The digital pin board company allows people to save images and links from all over the Internet, notes the New York Times (18 April, Griffith). By selling at US$19 a share, Pinterest has managed to raise US$1.6 billion from large investors in the offering. The shares start trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PINS.

From "Pinterest Prices IPO at US$19 a Share, for a US$12.7 Billion Valuation"
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Scores of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other medical professionals have been charged with scheming to distribute more than 32 million addictive pain pills. The Justice Department on Wednesday described the indictments as the “largest prescription opioid enforcement effort ever undertaken.” The scheme involved 350,000 illegal prescriptions written in Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia, among the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. The number of pills peddled by those charged on 17 April constitutes the equivalent of one dose of opioids for “every man, woman and child” across the five states, said Brian Benczkowski, head of the department’s criminal division. The indictments accuses the health professionals of knowingly providing addictive drugs to vulnerable patients, accepting cash payments, signing blank prescription forms to be completed by their staff, and billing Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary tests and procedures, reports the Wall Street Journal (17 April, Gurman, Randazzo).

From "Medical Professionals Charged in Opioids Sting"
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Energy giant Saudi Aramco is in talks with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries to buy a minority stake in the Indian company’s refining and petrochemicals business, deepening the ties between the world’s largest crude exporter and the fastest-growing oil consumer. According to people familiar with the discussions, Reliance has made several proposals to Saudi Aramco, but the energy giant has sought a larger share. Reliance owns India’s largest refining and petrochemicals complex in the state of Gujarat and the company plans an expansion in the coming decade, which Saudi Aramco could invest in, reports the Financial Times (17 April, Raval, Mundy).

From "Saudi Aramco in Talks to Buy Reliance Industries Stake"
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Robert Jackson Jr., the only Democratic member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to leave later this year and join New York University Law School for the fall semester. Earlier this month, the White House announced plans to nominate Allison Lee, a former SEC enforcement attorney and a Democrat, for a seat on the five-member commission. If Jackson steps down before Lee is confirmed, the agency would have only three commissioners and no Democrats, which would pave the way for a more conservative tilt on some regulatory decisions, according to the Wall Street Journal (17 April, Michaels).

From "U.S. SEC's Lone Democratic Member Expected to Step Down in Fall"
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Janet Bawcom has left a 20-year in-house law career at Dell Technologies Inc. to become general counsel and corporate secretary of Ingredion Inc., which provides ingredients for foods, beverages, and other products in more than 120 countries. Bawcom replaces Ingredion general counsel Christine Castellano, who resigned effective 1 February, reports Law.com (17 April, Reisinger). Castellano was also Ingredion’s senior vice president, corporate secretary, and chief compliance officer.

From "Longtime Dell Lawyer Becomes General Counsel of Ingredion"
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JPMorgan Chase & Co. has placed two females at the top of the list to one day succeed James Dimon as chief executive officer at the bank. The first is Marianne Lake, who has served as chief financial officer since 2012. She will exit that post to run all of the bank's consumer-lending businesses. The second is Jennifer Piepszak, who was head of JPMorgan's credit-card business. She succeeds Lake as finance chief, effective 1 May. The latter has agreed to join JPMorgan's operating committee of top executives, a group that includes Lake, reports the Wall Street Journal (17 April, Benoit). Still, Dimon is in no rush to retire. Asked at the bank's February investor day when he planned to depart, he replied: "Five years. Maybe four now."

From "JPMorgan Shuffles Roles at Top"
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ExxonMobil shareholders attending the corporation's annual general meeting (AGM) in May will vote on whether the board of directors should share more details about board members' characteristics after the company failed to have the measure nixed by the SEC. The proposal comes amid continuing focus among investors on diversity at the board level. If approved, the proposal would request that ExxonMobil's board disclose to shareholders each director and director nominee's gender and race/ethnicity, as well as skills and experiences most relevant to the company's business and long-term strategy "presented in a matrix form." The requested matrix would be presented to shareholders in the annual proxy statement and on the company's website within six months of the AGM. The New York City Employees' Retirement System brought the proposal, reports Corporate Secretary (17 April, Maiden).

From "ExxonMobil AGM to Include Board Matrix Proposal"
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U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is recommending that the agency deny China Mobile's application to provide telecommunications services in the U.S. due to concerns about national security and law enforcement risks. The move represents a further escalation in the slow-building conflict between the U.S. and China over telecommunications trade, notes Axios (17 April, Hart). The Trump administration has already blocked Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei from selling to U.S. companies on national security grounds. China Mobile's application, submitted in 2011, requested permission to provide telecom services in the U.S., including connecting calls between the U.S. and the vast majority of countries, which would involve interconnecting with American internet networks. FCC officials say China Mobile USA is indirectly and ultimately owned and controlled by the Chinese government. It's a subsidiary of global telecom giant China Mobile Limited. The full commission will vote on Pai's recommendation at its May 9 meeting.

From "FCC Chief Seeks to Block China Mobile From Operating in U.S."
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Argentinian lawyer Michael Rattagan, who helped Uber set up its corporate presence in Argentina in 2013, is suing the company over the alleged harm it caused him and his law practice after he was left facing up to nine years in prison. Following the ride-sharing company’s Buenos Aires launch in April 2016, Uber’s Argentina representative, Rattagan, was subjected to police investigations and tax evasion charges for Uber’s violation of local regulations, according to the lawsuit. Rattagan said in the lawsuit that he had no knowledge of the company’s plans to enter the city. According to the complaint, he only heard of the news through an announcement that landed in his spam folder. For its emergence into Buenos Aires, Uber tapped a different law firm, and did not request any major services from Rattagan’s team for about two years before entering the city, the lawsuit said. The former Rogers & Wells attorney resigned and asked Uber to update public records naming the other law firm as Uber’s legal representative. The attorney also asked Uber to update its information identifying the interim managers for its subsidiary, and its legal domicile in the city, all of which referenced Rattagan’s law firm. Uber did not process the update for two months, opening Rattagan’s team to investigations for federal and provincial tax evasion and money laundering, according to Law.com (17 April, Lancaster).

From "Argentine Lawyer Sues Uber Over Fallout From Buenos Aires Launch"
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Apple is accused in a new lawsuit of securities fraud for hiding a decline in demand for iPhones, particularly in China, leading to a US$74 billion one-day slide in its market value once the truth became known. The complaint, filed on 16 April, seeks damages for investors who purchased Apple shares stock in the two months prior to CEO Tim Cook unexpectedly reducing Apple's quarterly revenue forecast on 2 January as much as US$9 billion. The cut marked the first time since the iPhone's 2007 launch that the technology giant had slashed its revenue forecast. Apple's share price dipped 10 percent the following day, leaving the California-based company's market value roughly 40 percent under its US$1.1 trillion peak just three months prior. Cook and CFO Luca Maestri have been named as defendants in the proposed class action, reports Reuters (17 April, Stempel).

From "Apple Accused in U.S. Lawsuit of Securities Fraud Over iPhone Sales in China"
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Security experts at Cisco Talos are warning of a new state-sponsored domain name system (DNS) hijacking campaign affecting at least 40 organizations across 13 countries. Attackers first sought to gain DNS credentials from target organizations, either by exploiting known vulnerabilities or sending spear-phishing emails. They then used these log-ins to target the firm’s registrar, accessing their DNS records and modifying them to point users to a malicious server under the hackers’ control. Primary targets were military organizations, national security agencies, foreign affairs ministries, and energy companies in Libya, Egypt, UAE, Cyprus, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Armenia, Syria, and Albania. Secondary targets were mainly based in the U.S. and Sweden and included DNS infrastructure firms such as registrars, ISPs, telcos, and one registry, reports InfoSecurity (18 April, Muncaster).

From "DNS Hijackers Target Middle East Governments"
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Many large companies are endorsing British firms that aim to do good. For example, global technology giant SAP has unveiled plans to promote ethical firms on its trading platform Ariba. SAP will award more contracts to British social enterprises, firms that aim to do good as well as make profit - although it did not give details, reports Reuters (17 April, Shearman). A growing number of companies are measuring the impact of their operations and supply chains on major issues, from slavery to climate change. Over the past three years, 15 corporations have awarded contracts worth US$85 million to 250 British social enterprises, creating 637 jobs, according to a report published by Social Enterprise UK, which has been brokering these partnerships as part of a campaign launched three years ago to change how companies spend their money.

From "Global Firms Back British Social Enterprises"
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The Wall Street Journal (15 April, FitzGerald) reports that AT&T has sold its minority ownership interest in Hulu back to the company in a deal that values the streaming video site at nearly US$15 billion. The telecommunications giant inherited its stake when it acquired Time Warner Inc. AT&T is selling its position in order to place greater emphasis on its own streaming service, which it plans to launch by the end of December. AT&T's 9.5 percent stake sold for US$1.43 billion.

From "AT&T Sells Hulu Stake"
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Due to political and economic uncertainty, consumers around the world are likely to spend more cautiously in the coming months, according to the Conference Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey. The report, which surveyed shoppers in 64 countries, found shoppers said they have cut back on clothing and entertainment costs in the past year, and have taken measures to save on gas and electricity, reports the Washington Post (16 April, Bhattarai). Consumers in Europe and Latin America are buying cheaper alcohol and groceries, while Asian shoppers are scaling back their annual vacations. Consumers in more than half of the 64 countries surveyed said they expect economic conditions to worsen in the coming year.

From "Consumers Around the World Are Spending Less"
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Godiva is opening 2,000 cafes over the next six years that will serve a complete menu of items, such as coffee, tea, as well as grab-and-go items like sandwiches and yogurt parfaits. The first café opens in Manhattan on 17 April and is part of a growth plan spearheaded by CEO Annie Young-Scrivner, who took over the Belgium confectioner in 2017 after serving as a top executive at Starbucks. The company does not report sales or profits but according to reports, Godiva was about a US$1 billion business in 2017. Godiva expects 40 percent of its total sales to come from the cafes in the next five years, reports the Associated Press (17 April, D'Innocenzio).

From "Godiva to Open 2,000 Cafes"
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Many tech companies have or plan to go public this year. The investment banks that manage initial public offerings (IPOs) have been working to space out prominent offerings by a few weeks, say insiders. For example, Lyft and Uber decided to leave breathing room between their IPO filings so as not to run into each other, said two people familiar with the deliberations. Bankers said the biggest concern has been steering clear of the week that Uber goes public, since its market debut next month is expected to be the largest since 2014, reports the New York Times (15 April, Griffith, de la Merced).

From "Tech Companies Maneuver to Stand Out in the IPO Horde"
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The Wall Street Journal (16 April , Thomas) reports that proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis say Boeing shareholders would benefit from seeing the chairman and CEO roles separated following two fatal crashes of its 737 Max plane. ISS recommended in a recent note that Boeing shareholders vote in favor of splitting the leadership roles at the company's upcoming annual meeting. Dennis Muilenburg has been Boeing's chief executive since 2015 and was given the additional role of chairman in March 2016. Glass Lewis said in its note that an independent chair would better oversee company executives and set a pro-shareholder agenda.

From "Proxy Advisers Push Boeing to Split CEO and Chairman Roles"
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U.S. Justice Department antitrust enforcement staff have told T-Mobile and Sprint that their planned merger is unlikely to be approved as currently structured, according to people familiar with the matter. Staff members have laid out their concerns with the all-stock deal and questioned the companies' arguments that the combination would produce important efficiencies for the merged firm, the people said. Meanwhile, some state antitrust officials have expressed concerns similar to those from the Justice Department and have prepared to sue the companies independently if federal officials don't join them in challenging the merger, according to a person familiar with the matter. T-Mobile's proposal to Sprint was the culmination of years of on-again, off-again talks between the rivals, reports the Wall Street Journal (16 April, FitzGerald, Kendall).

From "T-Mobile-Sprint Deal Runs Into Resistance"
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Nippon Paint will purchase Australian paint and coatings maker DuluxGroup for US$2.7 billion. The acquisition comes at a time of strong appetite for outbound deals by Japanese companies contending with a shrinking home market and ultra-low interest rates. Tetsushi Tado, Nippon Paint chief executive, added that the deal would diversify the company's China-focused global footprint at a time when growth in China has been threatened by its trade dispute with the U.S. DuluxGroup said its board unanimously backed the deal, reports the Financial Times (16 April, Inagaki, Woodhouse).

From "Nippon Paint to Buy Australia's DuluxGroup"
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