Corporate governance - Vigil

British Columbia’s Labour Relations Board has rejected a bid by e-commerce giant Amazon to overturn an earlier decision that awarded union certification to workers at a facility in Delta, B.C. A Labour Relations Board panel ruled in a decision dated Tuesday that it agrees with the board’s original decision in July that ordered remedial certification due to Amazon ramping up hiring “in order to thwart the union’s certification application.” The panel says evidence presented by Unifor showed “a deliberate decision by the employer” to increase its employee roster to dilute union support during its membership drive. The decision also says Amazon’s move to intentionally pad its employee list and then use it to argue that the union does not meet the threshold for certification “is manipulating the employee list in order to avoid certification.”

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that aims to allow private equity, real estate, cryptocurrency and other alternative assets in 401(k) retirement accounts, a White House official said. “The order directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to facilitate access to alternative assets for participant-directed defined-contribution retirement savings plans by revising applicable regulations and guidance,” the White House official said on condition of anonymity. The order also directs the Labor Secretary to consult with her counterparts at the Treasury Department, the SEC and other federal “regulators to determine whether parallel regulatory changes should be made at those agencies,” the official said.

Les nouveaux droits de douane américains sur les produits en provenance de dizaines d’économies sont devenus effectifs jeudi, esquissant le nouvel ordre commercial mondial voulu par Donald Trump. De nouveaux droits de douane américains sur les produits en provenance de dizaines de pays sont entrés en vigueur jeudi à 0 h 01 ; Ces surtaxes se situent dans une large fourchette, comprise entre 15 % et 41 % ; Ces droits de douane remplacent ceux de 10 % appliqués depuis avrils sur quasiment tous les produits entrant aux États-Unis ; Faute d’accord, le Canada écope de droits de douane de 35 % sur les produits qui ne sont pas couverts par l’accord commercial entre le Canada, les États-Unis et le Mexique (ACEUM) ; Seulement sept accords ont été conclus avec les États-Unis, notamment par l’Union européenne, le Japon et le Royaume-Uni.

Claire’s Holdings LLC says it’s filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and will soon follow suit in Canada. The accessories and cosmetics retailer says it will make a filing with the Ontario Superior Court under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. Claire’s stores in North America will remain open as it embarks on the process, which it says will help monetize its assets and allow it to explore strategic alternatives for the business. Claire’s CEO Chris Cramer positioned the decision to file for creditor protection as difficult but necessary. He says the company made the move because of increased competition, consumer spending trends and the ongoing shift away from brick-and-mortar retail. Claire’s was founded in 1974 and has more than 2,750 Claire’s stores in 17 countries throughout North America and Europe. It is known for selling jewellery, cosmetics, accessories to girls between the ages of three and 18.

Blackstone said on Wednesday it would launch a $3.5 billion offer to take TechnoPro Holdings private, the latest in a series of deals that have helped push M&A dealmaking to record levels in Japan this year. The world's largest alternative asset manager is offering 507.4 billion yen, or 4,870 yen per share, for TechnoPro, a 17.4% premium to its closing average for the past three months. Global private equity firms are competing to close deals to take Japanese companies private, following management reforms to tackle low valuations. Blackstone was up against rival private equity powerhouse Bain Capital in the final round of bidding for engineering staffing firm TechnoPro, three people with knowledge of the matter said. Last week Swedish investment firm EQT announced a $2.7 billion tender offer for lift-maker Fujitec, while in February KKR took software developer Fuji Soft private after a protracted bidding war with Bain.

The European Union still expects turbulence in trade relations with Washington, but it believes it has a good insurance policy thanks to a framework deal that covers most goods it exports to the U.S. by a maximum 15% tariff, an EU official said. With the new rates set to enter into force in a couple of days, the 27-nation bloc, which is the U.S.'s biggest trading partner, is still waiting for executive orders that would bring down the tariff on some products, including cars and car parts, down to the agreed 15% rate. A senior EU official said he expected that to happen "very soon". "We do expect further turbulence, but we have a clear insurance policy - the 15% tariff across the board. If the U.S. administration does not stick to that, we have the means to react to that," the official told reporters.

Seven & i Holdings’ planned listing of its North American operations would enable the Japanese convenience store operator to take on additional debt for more aggressive growth than currently planned, its chief executive said on Wednesday. The listing, billed for the second half of 2026, would allow for faster store rollouts in the U.S. and additional bolt-on M&As, CEO Stephen Dacus said at a strategy briefing for analysts and media in Tokyo. The fate of the beleaguered operator of the 7-Eleven chain rests on its ability to demonstrate it can grow independently, having successfully fended off a takeover bid from Canadian rival Alimentation Couche-Tard. Couche-Tard withdrew its US$46 billion offer last month citing a lack of engagement from Seven & i, which precipitated a nine per cent fall in the latter’s share price that reflected investor skepticism about Seven & i’s standalone growth plans.

Disney’s and TKO Group’s World Wrestling Entertainment have reached a more than $1.6 billion agreement that will give the sports-media company exclusive rights to many of WWE’s most high profile events. The five-year deal, which will begin in 2026, includes the U.S. streaming rights to major events including WrestleMania and SummerSlam. ESPN will pay $325 million a year for the rights, according to people familiar with the matter.  That is a significant increase from the WWE’s current five-year deal with Peacock, which was valued at $900 million, according to people familiar with the pact. The new agreement with ESPN follows a 10-year deal the WWE struck with Netflix last year for its weekly show “Raw” valued at more than $5 billion. “Raw” has become a solid performer for the streamer.

Top executives at Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. expect the Trump administration will open the gates to Americans who want to invest their retirement savings in private assets such as infrastructure or private equity, setting off a new wave of growth for asset managers. Chief executive officer Bruce Flatt and president Connor Teskey said a “global shift is already under way” that could allow hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars of wealth to invest in funds such as the ones Brookfield offers. “The ability to serve individual savers directly, whether through workplace defined contribution plans, annuities, or wealth accounts, has the potential to double the size of the private markets industry in the years ahead,” Mr. Flatt and Mr. Teskey said in a letter to shareholders published on Wednesday.

Conséquence directe et prévisible de la guerre commerciale déclenchée par les États-Unis, les exportations totales de biens canadiens sont en baisse de 12,8 % au deuxième trimestre de 2025 par rapport au trimestre précédent. Les voitures et les pièces de véhicules automobiles, de même que les biens de consommation, qui sont au centre des hostilités commerciales, sont les produits qui ont contribué le plus à cette baisse des exportations au deuxième trimestre, selon Statistique Canada. Au premier trimestre, les exportations avaient été gonflées par les achats devancés avant l’imposition des droits de douane. Les chiffres du commerce extérieur pour le seul mois de juin, publiés mardi, indiquent une légère hausse de 0,9 % des exportations totales par rapport à mai et une augmentation plus importante des importations, de 1,4 %, ce qui a fait passer le déficit commercial du Canada avec le monde de 5,4 milliards en mai à 5,9 milliards en juin.

Les droits de douane de 50 % prévus sur les produits brésiliens sont entrés en vigueur mercredi à 0 h 01 (0 h 01 heure de l’Est), sept jours après la signature du décret par le président américain, Donald Trump. Alors que le Brésil ne devait initialement pas être concerné par des droits de douane au-delà du plancher de 10 % s’appliquant désormais à une large part des produits importés aux États-Unis, Donald Trump a annoncé son intention d’imposer une surtaxe de 50 %, soit la plus élevée appliquée à un pays particulier. Le président américain reproche à la justice brésilienne de poursuivre l’ex-président Jair Bolsonaro, accusé d’une tentative de coup d’État après sa défaite lors de l’élection présidentielle de 2022.

Alors que les États-Unis mettent en place des droits de douane différenciés selon leurs partenaires commerciaux, Donald Trump cherche à éviter leur contournement, en particulier par des entreprises chinoises. Pour lutter contre cette pratique, qui consiste à faire transiter un produit par un pays dans lequel les droits de douane sont moins élevés, le président américain prévoit d’instaurer à compter de jeudi une surtaxe de 40 %. Cette mesure ne vise pas spécifiquement un pays, mais les analystes s’attendent à ce qu’elle touche principalement les entreprises chinoises, centrales dans l’industrie manufacturière. Certaines d’entre elles réalisent leur assemblage final dans un autre pays, comme le Vietnam, pour échapper au label « Made in China ».

Some of the world's largest fund managers have been given an ultimatum to discard ESG as part of their stewardship criteria or risk losing work managing investments for 21 US states. A letter sent at the end of last week from treasurers and auditors-general asked fund managers to ensure they practise "traditional fiduciary duty" that rejects "long-term risk mitigation" that considers climate change or any other "sustainability" framework, including those in the EU. Investment managers are asked to expressly reject use of the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in investment strategies.

An Ontario judge has sided with a former independent mobile provider’s original investors in a court battle that has lasted for more than a decade, ordering the federal government to repay hundreds of millions of dollars for unexpectedly altering its spectrum policy and causing them losses. Justice Peter Osborne of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that Ottawa committed negligence and negligent misrepresentation when it induced Quadrangle Group LLC and Obelysk Media Inc. to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Mobilicity in 2008, only to change the rules for the resale of the startup’s wireless licences in 2013. Justice Osborne also ruled that the government wrongfully interfered with the sale of Mobilicity’s spectrum assets, the invisible radio waves that carry wireless signals, when it extended what was supposed to be a five-year moratorium on new entrant spectrum transfers to incumbents.

Rogers Corp. plans to seek another round of changes at the engineering-materials maker to boost shares. Starboard’s position in Rogers was disclosed Wednesday in a securities filing, confirming an earlier report from The Wall Street Journal. Its specific demands couldn’t be learned. Rogers, with a market value of around $1.3 billion, makes materials used in electric and hybrid cars, personal electronics and other industrial applications. The company’s shares have tumbled over 30% so far this year, potentially making it a ripe takeover target. The company agreed to sell itself to DuPont for $5.2 billion in 2021, but the deal was scrapped in 2022 after DuPont failed to secure regulatory approval in China. Starboard in early 2023 revealed a big stake in Rogers and sought seats on the company’s board. Rogers promptly settled with Starboard, adding two new independent directors. Starboard had since sold down its stake and held a roughly 1% position as of March 31, according to its latest 13F filing.

The EU-US trade deal and what it means for corporate governance agendas on both sides of the Atlantic: What you need to know. The trade deal signed between the Trump Administration and the European Commission signals some long-awaited clarity after months of speculation, risk assessments, and even the occasional bout of panic. While markets reacted positively to the news and politicans patted themselves on the back for a job well done, the real challenge will come to businesses in the months and years ahead. Those with any links to counterparts on the opposite side of the Atlantic will be finding their feet, trying to work out what makes sense and what doesn’t as new baseline costs are codified.

Insurer Generali has agreed to progress with talks to sell Banca Generali to its largest shareholder, Mediobanca, setting up a showdown vote this month that will determine Mediobanca’s future. On Wednesday, the insurer said that it had told Mediobanca it would proceed with negotiations about the sale of its private banking arm. Mediobanca is seeking to buy the unit in a €6.3bn deal; part of an effort to fend off a hostile takeover bid by smaller rival Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Mediobanca had asked Generali to agree crucial terms of the deal before the Milanese bank called a shareholder meeting to greenlight the bid. Under Italian law the subject of a takeover offer cannot launch other bids without putting a deal to a shareholder vote. Mediobanca, which is proposing to fund the Banca Generali purchase by selling its 13 per cent stake in Generali, will need the support of a majority of investors.

Sabadell shareholders on Wednesday unanimously approved the sale of its TSB business in Britain to Santander which analysts see as a defensive move against BBVA's hostile takeover bid. The shareholders also backed a one-off cash dividend worth 2.5 billion euros ($2.90 billion) from the TSB sale. Sabadell agreed last month to sell TSB to Santander for an initial 2.65 billion pounds ($3.53 billion) in cash, which analysts viewed as a strategy to stop BBVA's takeover approach, which aims to create Spain's second-biggest bank by credit volume after Caixabank. BBVA did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment following the Sabadell votes. BBVA can now decide whether to withdraw its 15-billion-euro offer or carry on with it, which would require approval of its bid prospectus by the market regulator - expected at the beginning of September, when the acceptance period for the bid is expected to start.

U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel’s board chair on Wednesday with questions about the chipmaker’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s ties to Chinese firms and a recent criminal case involving his former company Cadence Design. Writing to “express concern about the security and integrity of Intel’s operations and its potential impact on U.S. national security,” Cotton asked in the letter to Intel chairperson Frank Yeary whether the company’s board was aware of the subpoenas sent to Cadence during Tan’s time there as CEO before Intel hired him. Cotton asked what measures were taken to address those concerns. He also asked whether Intel’s board required Tan to divest from chip firms in China linked to the Chinese military or Communist Party, and if Tan adequately disclosed other ties to Chinese companies due to Intel’s involvement in the Secure Enclave program, an initiative desi

The National Football League has struck a wide-reaching deal with Disney in which it will take a 10% stake in the ESPN sports empire in return for control of key media assets including NFL Network. Neither Disney nor the NFL would disclose the value of the ESPN stake. Analysts have estimated ESPN’s valuation at between $25 billion and $30 billion, putting the NFL’s piece in the $2.5 billion to $3 billion range. The tie-up, between two of the biggest names in entertainment and sports, furthers the symbiotic relationship between media companies and athletic leagues that is moving beyond just traditional rights deals to televise games. Through a content partnership with Skydance Media, the NFL will also have equity in rights holder CBS after Skydance closes its deal to acquire the network’s parent Paramount Global this week. 

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will decide on a nominee to fill a coming vacancy on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors by the end of the week, and had separately narrowed the possible replacements for Fed chair Jerome Powell to a short list of four. “I’ll be making that decision before the end of the week,” Trump said of his plans to name a replacement for Fed governor Adriana Kugler, who last week unexpectedly announced she was leaving as of this Friday to return to her academic position at Georgetown University. Trump, in comments to reporters at the White House, distinguished between picking Kugler’s replacement for a term that only lasts until January, and the selection of Powell’s replacement once he leaves the top Fed job in May.

Senior Liberal cabinet ministers defended Canada’s strategy for trade talks with the United States after a day of meetings with Mexican officials who had secured a reprieve for their country on U.S. tariffs. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand also met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for more than an hour Tuesday in a visit they said was meant to shore up bilateral ties. They declined to tell reporters what they heard about why she was able to secure a 90-day extension before U.S. President Donald Trump hikes tariffs on her country, but Canada was not.

Le gouvernement fédéral a confié à une entreprise canadienne la mission d’équiper des navires de classe Halifax de la Marine royale canadienne avec une petite flotte de drones aériens. Ottawa a annoncé l’attribution de deux contrats à MDA Space pour la fourniture d’un maximum de six « systèmes d’aéronefs sans équipage » avancés destinés aux frégates de patrouille de la Marine. Le ministère de la Défense nationale indique dans un communiqué que cela renforcera les capacités de surveillance maritime à longue portée. Le ministère a affecté 39 millions à l’acquisition des deux premiers drones, avec une option pour en commander quatre autres. Le contrat de service initial de cinq ans est estimé à 27 millions et sa durée pourrait être prolongée par le ministère à 20 ans.

Claire’s Holdings LLC annonce avoir déposé une demande de protection contre les faillites aux États-Unis et qu’elle fera bientôt de même au Canada. Le détaillant d’accessoires et de cosmétiques annonce qu’il déposera une demande auprès de la Cour supérieure de l’Ontario en vertu de la Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies. Les magasins Claire’s en Amérique du Nord resteront ouverts pendant la procédure, ce qui, selon l’entreprise, contribuera à monnayer ses actifs et lui permettra d’explorer des solutions stratégiques. Chris Cramer, président et directeur général de Claire’s, a qualifié la décision de se placer sous la protection de ses créanciers de difficile, mais nécessaire.

Statistique Canada indique mardi que les exportateurs canadiens ont fait davantage d’affaires avec les États-Unis en juin, malgré la hausse des droits de douane. Selon l’agence, les exportations vers les États-Unis ont augmenté de 3,1 % en juin, mais elles étaient tout de même en baisse de 12,5 % sur un an. L’excédent commercial du Canada avec les États-Unis a atteint 3,9 milliards en juin, les importations ayant moins progressé que les exportations. Statistique Canada précise que le recul des exportations de certains métaux a coïncidé avec le doublement par les États-Unis des droits de douane sur l’acier et l’aluminium, les portant à 50 % au début du mois.