"WeWork has spent the past year transforming the business and refocusing its core.... [It] has emerged as the global leader in flexible space, with a value proposition that is stronger than ever," said the group's CEO Sandeep Mathrani as the office-sharing group announced plans for an audacious comeback on the stock markets.
Late last year, the New York-based start-up looked to have been ruined. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had brought its business model into question and a string of high-profile investors were left nursing heavy losses after fledgling attempts at a flotation in September 2019 collapsed acrimoniously.
Now WeWork is back, with the help of another special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Elsewhere, oil prices ticked up as efforts continue to dislodge the 400-meters-long container ship that is blocking the Suez Canal. Markets bought into the idea that oil supplies would be hampered by the situation.
Meanwhile, China's Xiaomi joins the growing band of global tech giants, hinting that an electric car project may be on the way.
And the group of investment funds that has agreed to boycott the forthcoming flotation of food delivery firm Deliveroo is growing by the day.
On top of claims that many of the group's 100,000 couriers earn less than the UK minimum wage, the business model of Deliveroo, which has yet to make a profit, has been questioned by some fund managers.
And finally, despite the multi-billion-dollar hit to the flow of world trade due to the Suez events, our graph shows just how badly the global container shipping industry has already been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read on for more of the day's business news in full.
Louise Greenwood
Digital correspondent
P.S. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here
Source: CFP.cn
WeWork is to make a second attempt at a stock market flotation after agreeing terms with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a deal that could value the office space-sharing firm at $9 billion.
The agreement with the soc-called "blank-check" firm BowX Acquisition Corporation, falls far short of the $47 billion price tag given to WeWork when it last attempted a listing in 2019, which at the time made it one of the most highly valued "unicorns" in the tech start-up sector. However, the float plans later collapsed amid investor concerns about the group's business model and the direction WeWork was taking under CEO Adam Neumann.
Late last year, it was revealed that Japan's premier tech fund SoftBank's Vision Fund had lost an estimated $4.6 billion backing the New York-based start-up.
Updating potential new investors on its current finances, WeWork admitted it lost about $3.2 billion last year as it pitched for new backing. Under the terms of the new deal, the group will raise $1.3 billion in cash, including $800 million in investment from a group of private backers, including Fidelity Management.
WeWork is the latest in a string of high-profile companies to choose a SPAC merger over traditional IPOs to float.
The transit of an estimated $9.6 billion worth of goods a day is being held in the Suez Canal, as efforts continue to dislodge the container vessel the Ever Given, which ran aground in the strait on Tuesday. The shipping insurance giant Lloyd's List claims there are currently 160 vessels waiting at either end of the canal, including 41 bulk carriers and 24 crude oil tankers.
Shares in oil giants BP and Shell have risen amid growing signs that world supplies may be stymied if, as expected, tankers will soon be forced to re-route around the Cape of Good Hope.
Accordingly, crude prices have risen again due to the situation in Suez. Brent crude was up 54 cents, or 0.9 percent, to just over $62 a barrel in pre-market trading in London. While U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 1.1 percent at $59.21 a barrel. However, Both benchmarks are on track for a weekly loss of about 3 percent, following a more than 6 percent decline last week, as the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdowns continue to cut demand.
The number of UK investment funds that have boycotted the forthcoming UK flotation of Deliveroo has risen to six. BMO Global Management, CCLA, Legal & General Investment Management, and M&G have joined Aberdeen Standard and Aviva investors in saying they will not be taking part in the IPO of the food delivery firm, which is expected to raise upwards of $7 billion when it lists on the London Stock Exchange next month. Most have primarily cited concerns about working conditions and employment rights of Deliveroo's fleet of dispatch riders in questioning the sustainability of the firm's plans.
France's Bpifrance bank has warned of rising defaults on state-guaranteed COVID-19 loans as the lockdown continues in Europe's third-largest economy. The publicly backed lender says it expects up to 7.5 percent of all France's COVID-19 business loans to default, higher than previous estimates in October, with more firms delaying repayment by a year.
Investors put $45.6 billion into cash funds in the week to Wednesday, according to new figures from Bank of America. It's the largest inflow since April of last year, as investors get jumpy about the impact of inflation on asset classes such as bonds and savings funds.
READ MORE:
Eight fruit, vegetables & herbs vs COVID-19
The missing 40 years in virus origin search
The Hungarian doctor still working at 97
Spain's economy shrank by 10.8 percent last year. The figure is below analysts' expectations but still the worst annual decline on record. Zero growth was recorded in Europe's fourth-largest economy in the last quarter of 2020 as the COVID-19 impact drags on growth.
German business sentiment is running at its highest level in almost two years as data show demand for manufactured goods kept factories going through the latest lockdown restrictions. The Ifo Institute report says its influential business climate index shot up to 96.6 points for March, its highest reading since June 2019 and ahead of expectations.
Retail sales in the UK partly recovered in February, as consumers splashed out on garden furniture and home improvement goods as the third national lockdown continues. Sales volumes were up 2.1 percent, compared with a plunge of more than 8 percent in January.
Insurance giant Aviva has sold its Polish operations to Germany's Allianz in a $2.9 billion cash deal. The sale to Allianz, Europe's biggest insurance group, is part of Aviva's long-term plans to offload businesses in Asia and Europe to instead refocus on core operations in the UK, Ireland, and Canada.
China's economic output is expected to grow by between 5 percent and 7 percent over the next five years, according to a central bank working paper. China has set a 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) target for the year of 6 percent.
China's Xiaomi Corporation is reportedly planning an electric vehicles project, using factory and consulting facilities supplied by the country's largest SUV and pickup manufacturer, the Great Wall Motor Company. Stock prices rose more than 9 percent in Asian trading, amid indications that Xiaomi may become the latest tech giant to join the smart mobility race as it continues its global roll-out .
Elsewhere, the Chinese-backed autonomous self-driving truck start-up TuSimple has applied to list on the Nasdaq. The six-year-old firm currently operates about 50 driverless freight trucks in the U.S. and 20 in China. While the company has not specified a size for the float, listing details lodged with the Securities and Exchange Commission show it plans to shun a SPAC-backed listing and opt instead for a traditional IPO.
German car firm Mercedes-Benz is about to unveil a new luxury sedan powered by what it claims will be a market-leading electric battery range. The EQS, Mercedes' first electric model, is expected to debut next month with a battery range that Mercedes says will exceed the 412 miles Tesla uses for its flagship Model S.
WATCH: Many have turned to music for solace during the pandemic and it's also how charity Sound UK wants to mark this historic period. It is asking musicians (both professional and amateur) to send their songs capturing their experience of lockdown. So far, more than 400 people have sent songs about nature, friends, family, love… and not wearing smart trousers on Zoom calls.
A traffic jam of global proportions has backed up in the Suez Canal, with the grounding of the massive container ship, the Ever Given, in one of the world's most important trade routes. The cost of delays to global trade is put at upwards of $9 billion per day.
CGTN Europe spoke to Rose George, author of the shipping industry expose Deep Sea and Foreign Going, and began by asking her what she made of what has happened.
It's definitely a freak event because it hasn't happened before. There have been ships that have grounded or got a little bit stuck, but I think this is the first time a ship has turned entirely sideways, and that's the problem – it's longer than the canal is wide. Of course, we don't know yet what caused it. The official reason is that there were strong winds and a sandstorm, so perhaps the containers stacked high on the deck acted like a sail, pushing the ship off course and then getting it jammed. But who knows?
How serious could this be?
It's potentially huge, it's a really important gateway for oil coming particularly from the Gulf back to the U.S. and to Europe. And obviously, the oil prices already are going up. I don't know what's on the other ships, although I do know actually that the ship that is stuck behind the Ever Given will be a mixed-container vessel, carrying all sorts back from Asia to Europe. It's a pretty robust industry, but it's an industry in which margins can be very tight. And, therefore, the two things that you don't have a lot to spare are time and money.
And finally, while more than $9 billion worth of goods may be stuck daily in the Suez Canal, on the way to Europe from Asia, data show that global container shipping has taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. Shipping industry analysts say volumes overall were down 6.5 percent just five months after the pandemic broke out and have still not recovered.