Twitter says waiting period for Elon Musk deal under antitrust act has ended

The waiting period under a US antitrust act for billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s $44 billion proposal to acquire Twitter has ended, with the deal now subject to other regulatory approvals.

The expiry of the waiting period of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR Act) occurred at 11.59pm Eastern daylight time on Thursday, which was a condition to the closing of the pending transaction, the San Francisco-based company said in a statement to the Nasdaq on Friday.

“Completion of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of the remaining customary closing conditions, including approval by Twitter stockholders and the receipt of remaining applicable regulatory approvals,” the statement said.

The HSR Act aims to provide the Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice with information about large mergers and acquisitions before they happen.

In April, Twitter entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Mr Musk for $54.20 a share in cash for a total of $44bn.

The microblogging site's share price is down about 6 per cent since the start of this year.

It was trading at $40.25 a share, up almost 1 per cent, at 6.50pm UAE time on Friday.

While the deal to buy Twitter is supposed to be finalised by the end of this year, Mr Musk said last month it had been temporarily put on hold pending details on the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.

The chief executive of world’s biggest electric vehicle maker, Tesla, entered into a public spat with Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal over the company's estimates of spam accounts and said the deal could not move forward unless the company provided proof that less than 5 per cent of its users were fake.

In a regulatory filing, Twitter said false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5 per cent of its monetisable daily active users during the first quarter.

A recent study by Israeli cybersecurity company Cheq said Twitter bots amount to up to 12 per cent of visits on the social media platform. It analysed 5.21 million website visits originating from Twitter, using more than 2,000 cybersecurity tests to determine each user's authenticity.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has also asked Mr Musk to explain delays in filings related to the deal.

In one of its previous communications to Mr Musk, the regulator asked him to explain why he did not disclose, within a stipulated time period, his increased stake in Twitter, especially if he planned to purchase the company.

“Your response should address, among other things, your recent public statements on the Twitter platform regarding Twitter, including statements questioning whether Twitter rigorously adheres to free speech principles,” the regulator said in an earlier letter.

If Mr Musk decides to abandon the agreement, he would have to pay the social media company a $1bn break-up fee.

Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015

- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo

Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic

Power: 242bhp

Torque: 370Nm

Price: Dh136,814

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The biog

Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology

Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India

Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters

Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”