TD buying Cowen for US$1.3B in U.S. investment banking push - BNN | Canada News Media
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TD buying Cowen for US$1.3B in U.S. investment banking push – BNN

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The Toronto-Dominion Bank confirmed Tuesday morning that it has agreed to buy Cowen Inc. in its latest U.S. takeover.

Under the terms of the deal, TD will pay US$1.3 billion, or US$39 per share, in cash to buy the New York-based investment bank. TD said it sold 28.4 million shares in The Charles Schwab Corp. to finance the transaction; as a result, TD said the deal will be neutral to its Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio.

“Cowen is a leading independent dealer with a premier U.S. equities business and a strong, diversified investment bank that, when combined with TD Securities, will allow us to accelerate our strategic U.S. growth plans,” said TD President and Chief Executive Officer Bharat Masrani in a release.

The deal has been a source of speculation for weeks, after Bloomberg News reported in early July that talks were underway. The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that a deal for more than US$1 billion could be announced as early as today.

Paul Harris, a partner and portfolio manager at Toronto-based Harris Douglas Asset Management, said the scale of TD’s investment banking ambitions in the U.S. will go a long way in determining the success of the Cowen deal.

“Is this really a deal to help their existing client base grow and help them with investment banking, and corporate finance, etcetera? Is that the goal? Or is the goal to say we want to be a big investment bank in the United States? And I think if that’s the case, I think that’ll be very difficult. … And so if you’re going to compete with Goldman (Sachs), I think this would be a very bad thing, or with Morgan Stanley or JP Morgan.”

Harris, whose firm owns shares in TD, added the Cowen deal would probably “look terrible” in a few years if TD has any intent of trying to compete with those Wall Street giants.

TD said the purchase of Cowen will “modestly” boost its fiscal 2023 adjusted earnings per share, and that it’s expecting up to US$450 million in pre-tax integration and retention costs over a three-year period. The transaction, which TD said is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, is subject to regulatory approvals in Canada and the United States, as well as a vote by Cowen shareholders.

“The reality is that by selling down its Schwab stake, [TD] is simply trading some U.S. wealth exposure for U.S. capital market exposure. The diversification inherent in that trade is not necessarily a bad thing, although we note that the market generally prefers wealth to capital markets especially coming off of a historic M&A cycle. On top of that, the track record of successful cross-border capital markets acquisitions is small, with retention of people being the key obstacle over the medium to long term,” wrote Meny Grauman, an analyst at Scotia Capital, in a note to clients.

Cowen is the second major U.S. takeover that TD has revealed this year. In February, the Canadian bank announced it agreed to buy Memphis-based First Horizon Corp. for US$13.4 billion. That deal is still awaiting final regulatory approvals.

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Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

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NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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