Envision Healthcare Corp said on Tuesday it would sell its ambulance business to
buyout firm KKR & Co in an all-cash deal valued at $2.4 billion as it sharpens its
focus on its core businesses. The merger with American Medical Response (AMR), the
largest US provider of ambulance services, would allow KKR's Air Medical Group to
easily substitute costly helicopter flights with ambulances for shorter trips. The
combined company is expected to transport more than five million patients per year
through a fleet of air and ground ambulances across 46 states and the District of
Columbia. Reuters reported last month that KKR was in advanced talks to acquire
the business. The buyout firm had acquired Air Medical two years ago. The deal would
also help streamline Envision's business after its $10 billion merger with AmSurg
Corp late last year, helping the company focus on providing services to physician
practice groups and operating outpatient surgery centers.
Internet giant Google has fired the male engineer at the center of an uproar in
Silicon Valley over the past week after he authored an internal memo asserting there
are biological causes behind gender inequality in the tech industry. James Damore,
the engineer who wrote the memo, confirmed his dismissal, saying in an email to
Reuters on Monday that he had been fired for "perpetuating gender stereotypes".
Damore said he was exploring all possible legal remedies, and that before being
fired, he had submitted a charge to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
accusing Google upper management of trying to shame him into silence. "It's illegal
to retaliate against an NLRB charge," he wrote in the email. Google, a unit of Alphabet
Inc based in Mountain View, Calif., said it could not talk about individual employee
cases. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told employees in a note on Monday that
portions of the anti-diversity memo "violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line
by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace," according to a copy of
the note seen by Reuters.
Tesla Inc said on Monday it intends to raise about $1.5 billion in a bond offering
as the U.S. automaker seeks to ramp up production of its newest electric sedan,
the Model 3. The debt offering comes as Tesla receives thousands of advance reservations
for the Model 3, which were averaging at about 1,800 per day since the car's launch
in late July. Elon Musk-led Tesla is counting on the Model 3, its least pricey car,
to become a profitable, mass market electric car maker. At the launch event, Musk
said the company would face "at least six months of manufacturing hell" as it increases
production of the Model 3, which has a $35,000 base price. Tesla had over $3 billion
in cash on hand at the end of the June quarter, compared with $4 billion at the
end of the previous quarter and $3.25 billion a year earlier. Tesla's cash burn,
expected to top $2 billion this year, has prompted short-sellers like Greenlight
Capital's David Einhorn to bet against the Palo Alto, California company
MUMBAI: Eros Group, the largest movie producer in India, is in talks with Apple
Inc, the world's most valuable public company, to sell its entire content library
of films and music for around $1 billion multiple sources aware of the ongoing negotiations.
A deal may also include their digital OTT platform, Eros Now, billed as the Netflix
of Bollywood. Parallel discussions with rival media and technology majors Amazon
and Netflix have also gathered momentum as the Kishore Lulla led company is planning
to embark on a mega restructuring exercise that is likely to result in a reverse
merger of its NYSE listed parent Eros InternationalBSE -2.87 % Plc into its locally
listed subsidiary Eros International Media by the end of this financial year to
create a single listed firm. The move is seen as an attempt to soothe investor nerves
that has rattled since 2005 repeatedly over allegations of corporate misgovernance,
non-transparent related party transactions, financial malpractices and fraud. The
company has always denied any irregularities. Eros' Indian listed entity is the
subsidiary of Eros PLC which owns approximately 73 per cent in Eros India. Eros
PLC manages the overseas distribution of the films and houses Eros Now while Eros
India is the main operating entity, primarily responsible for content creation.
LONDON: Britain does not recognise media reports that the government is willing to pay 40 billion euros ($47.21 billion) to exit the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday. The so-called "exit bill" is one of the first issues on the Brexit negotiating agenda, and also one of the most contentious. The EU has floated a figure of 60 billion euros, while Britain has not indicated how much it would be prepared to pay. The Sunday Telegraph reported that Britain would be willing to pay up to 40 billion euros, citing three unnamed sources familiar with Britain's negotiating strategy. "In terms of this figure, I don't recognise it," May's spokesman told reporters. "The prime minister made clear in the letter triggering Article 50 (the EU exit process) that the UK and the EU need to discuss a fair settlement of both our rights and obligations as an EU member state." Britain has less than two years to negotiate the terms of its exit from the EU - an unprecedented untangling of more than 40 years of legal, economic and political ties. Early rounds of talks have made little progress, with the EU's negotiating team demanding more clarity from Britain on what it wants
CAIRO: Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal will invest about $800 million to expand the Four Seasons resort in Sharm el-Sheikh, in partnership with Talaat Moustafa Holding Group, Egypt's Investment Minister Sahar Nasr said on Monday. Billionaire Alwaleed's investment will also include establishing two new hotels in al-Alamein, a town on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, and Madinaty, a residential compound east of Cairo, Nasr said in a statement. Alwaleed owns about 40 hotels and resorts in Egypt, in addition to 18 others that are still under construction. In June, Egypt passed a long-delayed investment law that aims to make doing business there easier and lure back investors after years of turmoil following a political uprising in 2011.
FRANKFURT: German dialysis services provider Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) said on Monday it has agreed to buy for around $2 billion in cash NxStage , a US maker of devices for use in home dialysis. FMC said it planned to offer $30 per share to acquire all of NxStage's outstanding shares. The price represents a 22 percent premium to NxStage's 90-day moving average share price. The German company plans to finance the acquisition, which has been approved by NxStage's board, with cash and debt, it said. It expects to close the deal next year. "Home dialysis is a critical component of renal care, and this acquisition would help us accelerate growth and innovation in this important modality," said Bill Valle, CEO of FreseniusBSE 0.26 % Medical Care North America.