Market Beats | Oracle consumer division lays off employees; Apple issues bonds to reward shareholders; real estate company acquires student apartments; Apollo acquires air transport company Atlas; PepsiCo takes a stake in energy drink Celsius

—— Oracle consumer division lays off employees; Apple issues $5.5 billion in debt to return investors; Estee Lauder acquires Tom Ford; Global Payments acquires EVO; LA real estate company acquires student apartments; Apollo acquires air transport company Atlas.

1. Oracle consumer division lays off employees

Texas-based software company Oracle plans to lay off some workers in its U.S. consumer experience division, four people familiar with the matter said.

It is reported that the department’s entry-level sales and sales managers will be laid off. The consumer experience department is mainly responsible for analyzing consumer data and advertising promotion business.

Oracle executive vice president Douglas Kehring said the division’s past performance has generally been unsatisfactory.

The software giant Oracle, which has always been rich in cash, now also needs to save when it can be saved

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2. Apple issues $5.5 billion in debt to return investors

Apple Inc. plans to issue up to four bonds in the high-grade bond market, totaling $5.5 billion, and use the money for stock buybacks and dividends, people familiar with the matter said.

Since mid-July, the investment-grade credit market in the United States has ushered in a wave of upsurge, and many bond-issuing banks have also benefited. Wall Street expects another $30 billion in high-grade credit to be issued this week.

Recently, the credit market has become more stable and the cost of borrowing has fallen, and Apple has seized this opportunity. Currently, Apple has $180 billion in cash and equivalents on its books. Over the past three years, the company has paid out $14 billion in annual dividends.

Apple’s cash on its account is prepared for a rainy day

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3. Estee Lauder acquires Tom Ford

Estée Lauder Cos., a skincare brand founded in New York City in 1946, plans to buy fashion luxury brand Tom Ford for at least $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Estee Lauder mainly sells skin care products, cosmetics, and fragrances, and its brands include MAC, Clinique, La Mer, and Aveda. The company’s current market cap is around $100 billion, so it’s more than enough to buy Tom Ford.

Tom Ford is best known for its menswear, as well as high-end cosmetics and fragrances. Estee Lauder’s biggest focus is Tom Ford’s beauty line.

Estee Lauder executives said in the third-quarter meeting of the fiscal year that Tom Ford’s beauty products belong to the luxury level and are very popular in China, and the annual revenue growth rate has remained above double digits.

Tom Ford’s beauty products are priced at high-end levels and are very popular in China

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4. Global Payments acquires EVO

Global Payments Inc. said it plans to acquire Atlanta-based payments company EVO Payments Inc. in an all-cash transaction, which is expected to have an enterprise value of $4 billion at around $34 per share.

Shares of EVO rose more than 17% to $32.12 in premarket trading on the news.

EVO mainly provides payment technology and services in more than 150 currencies and operates in more than 50 markets. The company is currently expanding rapidly around the world. The proportion of international business income has reached 62%.

Global Payments also hopes to accelerate the development of its international business through the acquisition of EVO.

The two companies mainly provide technology and related business support for payment methods, which are horizontal integration.

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5. LA Realty acquires student housing

Los Angeles-based real estate investment and development firm Champion Real Estate recently sold two Southern California multifamily properties for $103 million in cash. The company plans to use the money to invest in more student housing.

Champion said the value of student housing properties had been rising steadily in recent years, and even in times of severe epidemics, the occupancy rate of student housing was still as high as 85 per cent.

The company mainly focuses on student housing around well-known universities, and has acquired more than 2,000 units in the past 2 years, of which 1,500 are still under construction.

Earlier this year, Champion bought a 715-unit student apartment near Syracuse University for $65 million and sold a 24-unit apartment near the University of Southern California (USC).

The occupancy rate and income of student apartments around famous schools are relatively stable, and the value is also rising steadily

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6. Apollo acquires air freight company Atlas

A consortium led by asset management giant Apollo Global Management is in advanced talks to acquire Atlas Air Worldwide, people familiar with the matter said.

Atlas Air, founded in New York State, mainly provides air transportation, commercial transportation, and military transportation, with a market value of about $2 billion. In 2016, the company reached a partnership with Amazon, which also received an option to acquire a stake in Atlas in the future.

New York-based Apollo Global, on the other hand, is one of the world’s largest private equity firms with $500 billion in assets under management.

Shares of Atlas rose 12% after the Wall Street Journal news became public.

Atlas Air is the airline that operates the most 747 freighters

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7. PepsiCo buys stake in energy drink Celsius

Beverage giant PepsiCo Inc. will invest $550 million in up-and-coming energy-drink company Celsius and boost its competitiveness in the energy-drinks market.

After the investment, PepsiCo will gain long-term agency sales rights for Celsius. In 2020, PepsiCo acquired Rockstar Energy, an energy drink company, for $3.85 billion.

Celsius produces sugar-free, caffeinated energy drinks that are healthier than sugar-sweetened products on the market. On social media, Celsius has also used many “net celebrities”, celebrities, and fitness professionals to promote it.

In 2021, Celsius’ revenue reached $314 million, up from $130 million in 2020. The company was valued at $6.7 billion when the stock market closed last week.

It is reported that PepsiCo will receive 7.33 million convertible preferred shares (Convertible Preferred Stock), the shares will reach 8.5%.

Celsius’ products are sugar-free, in line with current health trends

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The content of this article comes from various financial news media such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Bloomberg.