Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — Buyout firm 3G Capital managed to build a consumer empire with a market value of over US$140 billion in just seven years. Yet its ruthless approach to costs may end up hampering 3G-backed Kraft Heinz’s US$143 billion bid for Unilever Plc. 3G made its name in corporate America by orchestrating large debt-laden acquisitions […] Read more

Austere empire-building weighs on Kraft’s Unilever bid

Activist investor activity reignites rail merger hopes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — Shares of railway operator CSX Corp. soared 20 per cent on Thursday after an activist investor’s plan to shake up the U.S. rail operator fueled speculation that the company was once again a takeover target. Investors rushed to bid up shares of CSX after news reports that former Pershing Square partner Paul Hilal […] Read more
China’s Cofco to pay $1.5B for stake in Noble agribusiness
Reading Time: 3 minutes Singapore/Hong Kong | Reuters — Cofco Corp. has agreed to pay US$1.5 billion for a majority stake in Noble Group’s agribusiness, its second acquisition in less than two months, as China’s largest grain trader seeks to strengthen its market position worldwide. The two companies plan to form a joint venture, in which Cofco will own […] Read more