DAILY DOSE: April 9, 2021
Posted on 04/09/2021
1. Boeing announces a new problem with its 737 Max jet. Boeing informed 16 airlines to halt flights to check on an electrical issue. The repairs could take a matter of hours or a few days, according to a notification to operators seen by Reuters.
2. Located in Syracuse, Destiny USA is the largest shopping center in New York. The owner of the mall is Pyramid Management Group and is seeking a possible restructuring of the struggling property’s municipal and mortgage-backed debt obligations. Pyramid Management Group hired financial adviser Houlihan Lokey Inc. and law firm Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP to explore options. Destiny USA has debts of approximately US$ 286 million in municipal bond debt and about US$ 430 million in commercial mortgage-backed securities.
3. PGIM, a unit of Prudential Financial, Inc., seeks to open up a current US$ 400 million U.S. agriculture portfolio to other investors in a bid to convert it into a perpetual-life fund. The fund would be called PGIM Agriculture Fund.
4. AXA IM Alts (part of AXA SA) has raised €799 million at the first closing of its fifth generation development strategy. AXA IM Alts aims to invest across all asset classes, but will primarily focus on the development of office and residential assets in Europe’s key locations. The equity capital was raised from five Asian, North American, and European institutions including investors into AXA IM Alts’ four generations of previous development strategies.
5. The European Union is seeking a new contract with Pfizer-BioNTech for up to 1.8 billion COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered in 2022 and 2023.
6. Wanda Group, the Chinese conglomerate, has given up its majority stake in movie theater giant AMC Entertainment, doing business as AMC Theatres. According to SEC filing data, Wanda had reduced its stake to 23.08% of the company’s outstanding common stock and 47.37% of the combined voting power of common stock as of Dec. 31.
Wanda recently sold 15,648,494 shares of AMC.
7. Pfizer Inc requested the FDA to expand emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine to include American kids ages 12 to 15. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech are also studying how well their vaccine works in children aged six months to 11 years old and expect approval in early 2022.
