Chinese regulators have given their blessing to the acquisition of media company 21st Century Fox by Disney. This is what CNBC reports on the basis of insider information. This has again created a major hurdle for what could become one of the biggest media mergers ever, after the European Union gave green light.
The deal is not complete yet. Several countries still have to agree with the takeover, but with the approval of the EU and China the main obstacles have been removed. The US Department of Justice has already agreed.
With the $71 billion transaction, well-known film series such as Avatar and X-Men are in the hands of Disney, which also holds the rights to cinema hits such as Star Wars and the Marvel films. In addition, the deal involves a large number of Fox television channels. By incorporating those components from Fox, Disney hopes to be stronger in the competitive battle with streaming services such as Netflix.
The French bank Société Générale has agreed a settlement with the US authorities for non-compliance with sanctions against Iran, Sudan and Cuba. SocGen has to pay $1.34 billion and therefore also acknowledges that it did a mistake. The violations of the embargoes took place between 2003 and 2013. This involved more than 2,600 outgoing payments amounting to 8.3 billion dollars. The fine had been in the air for some time.
The Brazilian state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras will get a new CEO. The economist Robert Castello Branco will take the lead at the company. He was a board member of Petrobras until 2016.
Castello Branco takes over the helm at Petrobras from Ivan Monteiro. It remains in place until the appointment of his successor has been officially declared by incoming Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who will take office on 1 January. Bolsonaro had said earlier that Monteiro might have to leave.
Castello Branco also operated in the past at mining company Vale and at the Brazilian central bank. He studied economics at the University of Chicago.
