Iran accuses Israel of airstrike on its consulate in Syria

Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

---

1.

Israel-Hamas war: The Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus has been flattened by what Syrian and Iranian media are claiming was an Israeli air strike on Monday. The Israeli military has not yet commented on the attack. Early reports state that up to six people were killed in the strike, and a Lebanese security source told Reuters that one of those killed was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Syria accused Israel of targeting several sites across the Aleppo region which reportedly killed over 40 people last week, as it steps up its campaign against the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and Iranian proxies in its ongoing Gaza war. (Reuters)

2.

Strategic sale: French renewables group Neoen is reportedly in talks to sell a 30% stake in its Australian unit to raise over €1 billion ($1.6 billion) to fund its Australian expansion. The sale would allow Neoen to grow in Australia after 2025 without resorting to a new share sale, as well as avoid any rights issues that would dilute the holdings of Impala SAS, which owns 42% of Neoen. At the end of 2023, the French firm had over 3.75 gigawatts of assets in operation or under construction in Australia, accounting for 47% of its portfolio. It plans to reach 10 gigawatts in Australia by 2030. According to sources cited by the Australian Financial Review, Neoen has tapped Bank of America to lead the sale, which could take place during H2 this year. Shares in Neoen have fallen 16% during 2024. (Bloomberg)(AFR)

3.

Incognito mode: Google has pledged to destroy the data collected from users browsing in ‘incognito’ mode in order to settle a US lawsuit that accused the tech giant of tracking users without their knowledge. A class action filed in 2020 accused Google of misleading users about the way in which Chrome tracked the activity of users in ‘incognito’ mode. It argued that Google’s marketing and privacy disclosures did not properly inform users of the types of data being collected. Under the settlement agreement, Google will destroy billions of data points collected without user consent, update disclosures about its collection processes, and will give users the option to disable third-party cookies in incognito mode. While the settlement does not include damages for individual users, it will allow individuals to file claims. (Wall Street Journal)

4.

Shock results: The party of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has suffered a strong defeat in the country’s local elections, marking the leader’s largest electoral setback in decades and signalling a broad discontent with the party’s direction. According to the state broadcaster, support for Erdoğan’s AK Party (AKP) stood at 35.5% while the opposing Republican People’s Party (CHP) achieved 37.7% of the votes with 99.8% of the ballots counted. AKP was set to win the mayor’s seat in just 24 cities compared to the CHP’s decisive win of 35. CHP leader Ekrem İmamoğlu is gaining popularity as Erdoğan’s authoritarian style of rule and efforts to curb skyrocketing inflation fall flat with voters. (Financial Times)(Bloomberg)

5.

Forging ahead: President of Nippon Steel, Tadashi Imai, has committed to forge ahead with plans to purchase the United States Steel Corp. despite recent opposition from President Biden. Nippon Steel announced its plans to purchase US Steel for USD14.1 billion in late December. According to Bloomberg, Imai told a press gathering that Nippon is not considering alternative options and that the deal is key to making the US company more competitive. Imai said: “There’s not a company in the US that can domestically produce the high-end, electrical steel sheets for automobiles which we produce at our steel mills in Japan […] We have over 2,000 patents in North America alone — much more than the other American steelmakers.” Biden has sided with the United Steelworkers union which opposes the deal, and is due to meet with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on April 10. Shareholders of US Steel will discuss Nippon Steel’s bid two days two days after the meeting. (Bloomberg)(Nippon Steel press release)

6.

Missed delivery: The US postal service has awarded UPS a contract to replace FedEx as the government’s primary air cargo provider. FedEx had been the primary provider for the postal service’s air cargo for over 20 years, and said that they will not renew their agreement when the current contract expires in September. FedEx said that the parties were unable to reach mutually agreeable terms during negotiations. FedEx added that it will eliminate the structural costs currently in place to support the postal service volume and expects profitability to improve from FY2025. (FedEx press release)(UPS press release)

7.

Antitrust attention: Microsoft will begin selling its Teams video and chat app separately from its Office products across the globe, six months after unbundling the same products in Europe to avoid competition fines. Teams was added to Office 365 in 2017, replacing Skype for Business, and became widely used for its video conferencing capabilities during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, rivals argued that offering the products as a bundle gives Microsoft an unfair advantage and Salesforce-owned Slack made a complaint in 2020. The European Commission has been investigating the complaint, prompting Microsoft to unbundle Teams from Microsoft365 and Office365 in the Euro area in August last year. A Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters that today’s decision to unbundle the two products globally follows on the European decision. (Reuters)

8.

Nuvei buyout: Private equity giant Advent International in advanced talks to buy payments processor, Nuvei, which was last valued at USD4.4 billion. Shares in the company have climbed over 10% since news of the buyout first emerged in mid-March, and according to sources cited by Bloomberg an agreement could be announced as early this week. The deal would be one of the largest PE buyouts of late as the sector bears the brunt of higher interest rates. Actor Ryan Reynolds invested an undisclosed amount in Nuvei in April 2023. Following Reynolds’ investment, short seller Spruce Point Capital Management published a report questioning the firm’s rationale behind its USD1.3 billion purchase of payments platform, Paya Holdings. (Bloomberg)