Corporate governance - Vigil

Bell Canada annonce lundi un partenariat avec Cohere, une entreprise d’intelligence artificielle, afin de fournir des solutions complètes d’intelligence artificielle (IA) souveraine aux clients du gouvernement et des entreprises au Canada. Cohere offrira ses services d’IA par l’intermédiaire du Réseau d’IA tissé de Bell, un projet dévoilé par Bell en mai pour répondre aux besoins en IA des entreprises et des gouvernements canadiens. « Ensemble, Bell Canada et Cohere offriront une solution clé en main aux organisations canadiennes souhaitant déployer des capacités d’IA de calibre mondial », indique l’entreprise dans un communiqué de presse. Il s’agit de la dernière étape en date du plan de longue date de Bell visant à se transformer en une entreprise axée sur la technologie.

Sous le feu des critiques, Bruxelles a présenté lundi l’accord commercial avec les États-Unis de Donald Trump comme le « meilleur » compromis possible dans un contexte « très difficile ». Il doit encore être précisé dans une déclaration commune des deux partenaires attendue d’ici au 1er août. Voici ce que l’on sait à ce stade. Négocié âprement depuis des mois, il prévoit le principe d’une surtaxe de 15 % sur toutes les importations européennes aux États-Unis, comme dans l’accord USA-Japon annoncé la semaine dernière. Ce niveau absorbe toutes les taxes déjà existantes et évite le spectre des 30 %, la menace que brandissait Donald Trump ces derniers jours. Avant le retour de Trump à la Maison-Blanche, les biens européens étaient taxés en moyenne à 4,8 %.

HSBC is struggling to find a replacement for chair Mark Tucker. A relatable problem, probably, to many British boards. BP just named a new chair; Prudential seeks one, too. Finding the right balance of experience and availability can be a real chore. Yet if HSBC was based on the other side of the Atlantic, there might be a simple solution: give the job to the chief executive. Nothing provokes pearl-clutching among UK investors and heavyweight governance watchers as much as the idea of combining the chair and CEO roles. It’s simply not the done thing. Shareholder advisory service ISS calls it “a serious breach of good practice” given the chair’s importance in keeping the chief in check. The UK’s corporate governance code asks companies to comply with the principle of separating the two jobs, or explain. Almost all comply.

Tesla said on Friday it had received a number of shareholder proposals regarding the company's plan to invest in CEO Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI. Musk ruled out a merger between Tesla and xAI earlier in July, but said he planned to hold a shareholder vote on investment in the startup by the automaker. The proposals come amid significant funding activity for xAI this year. The startup completed a $5 billion debt raise alongside a separate $5 billion strategic equity investment, Morgan Stanley said last month. Musk has pursued an integration strategy across his business empire, with xAI acquiring social media platform X in March for $33 billion to enhance its chatbot training capabilities, while also integrating the Grok chatbot into Tesla vehicles.

Le PDG de Tesla, Elon Musk, a confirmé lundi que l’usine texane de Samsung Electronics fournira des puces à son entreprise, après l’annonce par la société coréenne d’un accord de 16,5 milliards de dollars américains. « La nouvelle usine géante de Samsung au Texas sera dédiée à la fabrication de la puce AI6 de nouvelle génération de Tesla. L’importance stratégique de cette décision est difficile à surestimer », a-t-il écrit sur le réseau social X, dont il est également le propriétaire. Samsung a annoncé lundi avoir conclu un accord de huit ans, sans nommer le client, le décrivant uniquement comme une « grande entreprise mondiale », dans un document réglementaire. Dans le cadre de cet accord de 16,5 milliards de dollars, le partenariat, qui a pris effet le 24 juillet, se poursuivra jusqu’à fin 2033.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the U.S. automaker had signed a US$16.5 billion deal to source chips from Samsung Electronics, a move expected to bolster the South Korean tech giant’s loss-making contract manufacturing business. Samsung shares soared nearly seven per cent after news of the deal on Monday which comes as the world’s top memory chip maker faces mounting pressure in the race to produce artificial intelligence chips, where it trails rivals such as TSMC and SK Hynix. Musk said Samsung’s new chip factory in Taylor, Texas will make Tesla’s next-generation AI6 chip, potentially re-energizing the project that has faced long delays amid Samsung’s difficulties in retaining and attracting major clients.

Brazil is in talks with global investors including TPG and Brookfield to raise nearly US$4 billion for climate-focused projects, as it ramps up a green finance push ahead of hosting the COP30 climate summit in November. Led by state development bank BNDES, the move is the latest attempt by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government to encourage private-sector investment in the climate agenda of Latin America’s largest economy amid rising fiscal pressure. “Together with BNDES we are talking to some of the biggest asset managers like Brookfield and TPG and others that could be partners in the funds,” Tatiana Rosito, Brazil’s Secretary for International Affairs at the finance ministry, told Reuters.

Big companies are getting smaller—and their CEOs want everyone to know it.  The careful, coded corporate language executives once used in describing staff cuts is giving way to blunt boasts about ever-shrinking workforces. Gone are the days when trimming head count signaled retrenchment or trouble. Bosses are showing off to Wall Street that they are embracing artificial intelligence and serious about becoming lean. After all, it is no easy feat to cut head count for 20 consecutive quarters, an accomplishment Wells Fargo’s chief executive officer touted this month. The bank is using attrition “as our friend,” Charlie Scharf said on the bank’s quarterly earnings call as he told investors that its head count had fallen every quarter over the past five years—by a total of 23% over the period.

Indigenous-led companies are weighing the economic potential of controversial new federal legislation that could streamline major projects against fears it could sidestep treaty land rights. Ottawa’s Bill C-5 provides the federal cabinet with power to disregard various laws to speed up approval of projects and construction if they’re deemed to be in the national interest. Indigenous leaders and groups across Canada have strongly criticized the bill as a way for governments to ignore the constitutional requirement to consult First Nations about development on their traditional territories and have called for the legislation to be rescinded.

The Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve are expected to hold interest rates steady this week, while central bankers in both countries navigate waves of uncertainty created by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tumultuous trade policy and his attacks on Fed chair Jerome Powell. Both central banks will deliver interest-rate decisions on Wednesday, only two days before the Aug. 1 deadline that Mr. Trump set to strike some sort of U.S.-Canada trade deal. Financial markets and analysts expect the BoC to keep its policy rate at 2.75 per cent for the third consecutive time. The Fed is expected to keep the benchmark federal funds rate in the 4.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent range, where it has been since December.

En Colombie-Britannique, les fabricants indépendants de produits du bois affirment que des centaines de petites et moyennes entreprises pourraient être contraintes de fermer leurs portes à la suite de la récente décision des États-Unis d’augmenter les droits antidumping sur le bois d’œuvre canadien. L’Association des transformateurs de bois indépendants de la province souligne dans un communiqué que la décision du département du Commerce des États-Unis d’augmenter les droits de douane comprend également l’obligation pour les entreprises canadiennes de verser rétroactivement les droits sur les produits

L’Union européenne (UE) et les États-Unis ont conclu dimanche un accord commercial global qui fixe des droits de douane de 15 % sur la plupart des produits européens, y compris les voitures, évitant ainsi ce qui aurait pu devenir une guerre commerciale douloureuse avec son partenaire commercial le plus important. Le président des États-Unis, Donald Trump, a annoncé dimanche que l’Union européenne avait accepté d’acheter pour 750 milliards de dollars d’hydrocarbures et de combustibles nucléaires américains, ce qui, selon Ursula von der Leyen, présidente de la Commission européenne, serait étalé sur trois ans.

French luxury goods group LVMH is in discussions with multiple buyers to offload its fashion label Marc Jacobs, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The Bernard Arnault-led company has been holding talks with potential buyers including Reebok-owner Authentic Brands Group and WHP Global, the sources said, who asked not to be named because the discussions are confidential. Authentic Brands declined to comment on the matter while WHP did not immediately respond. Brookstone's owner Bluestar Alliance is also a suitor for Marc Jacobs, which could be worth around $1 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal, which earlier reported the news. LVMH, Marc Jacobs and Bluestar Alliance did not immediately respond to requests for comments on the WSJ report.

Les principaux dirigeants d’Alimentation Couche-Tard ont fait moins bonne figure dans leur évaluation annuelle que l’an dernier, selon des documents réglementaires envoyés aux actionnaires. En moyenne, les principaux dirigeants de la société lavalloise ont atteint 67,33 % de leurs objectifs annuels au cours de l’exercice 2025 clos le 27 avril, peut-on lire dans sa circulaire de direction. Cela se compare avec une note de 92,57 % au cours de l’exercice précédent. Couche-Tard ne dévoile pas la nature des objectifs individuels des dirigeants à ses actionnaires pour des « raisons de concurrence ». En ce qui concerne l’objectif de rentabilité, le bénéfice net de 2,6 milliards US ne représentait que 85,59 % de la cible fixée par la société, un seuil insuffisant pour obtenir le boni annuel lié aux cibles financières.

The UK online payments company Wise is to move its main stock market listing to the US after shareholders approved the move. Investors in Wise, one of the biggest financial technology businesses in the UK with a market value of about £11bn, voted on Monday in favour of a dual listing in the US in an attempt to attract more investors and boost its value. The vote at the extraordinary general meeting was controversial because it was bound with also agreeing an extension of the company’s “dual-class” structure giving enhanced voting rights to those holding class B shares. A chief beneficiary of this is the co-founder and chief executive, Kristo Käärmann, with his 18% economic interest in Wise becoming 55%, although his voting power is capped at 50%.

EU antitrust regulators are seeking feedback from third parties on Prosus' offer to slash its Delivery Hero stake to below 10% to address EU concerns about its 4.1 billion euro ($4.77 billion) Just Eat Takeaway deal, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. Amsterdam-headquartered Prosus has proposed incrementally selling down its 27.4% stake in Delivery Hero and giving up its board seat, other people familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this month. The company, which is majority owned by South Africa's Naspers is banking on its AI capabilities to boost Just Eat Takeaway, Europe's biggest meal delivery firm. The European Commission, which acts as the competition enforcer in the 27-country bloc, did not detail the size of the stake to be sold off in the document sent to third parties, the person said.

L’entreprise québécoise iA Groupe financier offre d’acheter le gestionnaire de patrimoine indépendant RF Capital, un projet d’acquisition évalué à 600 millions. RF Capital est une entreprise canadienne inscrite à la Bourse de Toronto exerçant ses activités sous la marque Patrimoine Richardson. L’ex-Industrielle Alliance propose 20 $ par action en argent aux actionnaires de RF Capital, l’équivalent d’une prime supérieure à 100 % par rapport au cours de clôture de l’action de 9,65 $ de RF Capital vendredi à la Bourse de Toronto. Cette transaction élargirait le réseau d’iA Gestion de patrimoine à 2750 partenaires en plus de porter l’actif sous administration combiné à environ 175 milliards de dollars avec l’ajout de 40 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous administration.

Cenovus Energy is said to be preparing a competitive bid for MEG Energy Corporation setting the stage to potentially challenge a lucrative offer from Strathcona Resources, according to a report in the Financial Post. MEG Energy, valued at $6.8 billion on the TSX, has established a Monday deadline for interested parties to submit bids. Cenovus is believed to be seeking financing to support its offer though there is no guarantee it will proceed. “There could be a bit of a bidding war here, but ultimately I think the stronger party here could win,” Julian Klymochko, Accelerate CEO & Chief Investment Officer told BNNBloomberg in a Thursday interview. MEG Energy urged shareholders to reject an offer from Strathcona on June 16 after the company previously announced a $6 billion cash-and-stock takeover offer for MEG in May.

hares of U.S. liquefied natural gas developers surged in premarket trading on Monday, after the European Union pledged to purchase US$750 billion worth of the super-cooled fuel over the next three years as part of a sweeping trade pact. NextDecade, Venture Global, and Cheniere Energy jumped between seven per cent and 8.8 per ent, with the deal bolstering the prospects for American LNG exporters as they expand to meet growing demand for cleaner-burning fuels. The EU, seeking to phase out its dependence on Russian gas, committed to buying $250 billion annually in U.S. LNG as part of the framework trade agreement unveiled on Sunday.

Business leaders on both sides of the Atlantic breathed a sigh of relief that the U.S. and European Union had averted a bruising trade war with their agreement on tariffs and investment. Now attention is shifting to assessing the deal’s winners and losers. President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who leads the EU’s executive body, announced the preliminary deal on Sunday that puts baseline tariffs at 15% for most European goods. In parallel, the EU said European companies would buy $750 billion of American energy products over three years and invest an additional $600 billion in the U.S. Aircraft and their components, certain chemicals, semiconductor equipment and some agricultural products looked set to be exempted from the new tariffs. Cars appeared on course to face 15% tariffs, lower than the current level.

ProsiebenSat.1 Media shares climbed after the company’s biggest shareholder, MFE-MediaForEurope, sweetened its takeover bid with an offer that values the target at around $2.4 billion and exceeds a rival partial proposal from Czech investor PPF. MFE, a Netherlands-based media broadcasting group steered by Italy’s Berlusconi family, said Monday that it would improve the share component of its cash-and-stock offer for German media company ProsiebenSat.1 in an escalation of a bidding war with PPF, ProsiebenSat.1’s second-largest shareholder. In early European morning trading, shares in ProSiebenSat.1 were up 11% at 7.79 euros. Year to date, shares have risen about 56%. Meanwhile, shares in MFE were down 2.2%.

The mortgage company backed by billionaire Canadian financier Stephen Smith, First National Financial Corp. is being acquired by private equity buyers Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and Birch Hill Equity Partners Management Inc. Brookfield and Birch Hill are jointly acquiring a 62-per-cent stake in First National for $48.00 per share in cash. That is a 15-per-cent premium to First National’s average share price over the past 30 days and gives the company a total equity value of $2.9-billion. First National’s founders, Mr. Smith and Moray Tawse, as well as their associates, are selling about two thirds of their existing ownership in First National – currently 37.4 and 34 per cent respectively.

Toronto-Dominion Bank appointed John MacIntyre as its new board chair, capping a year-long overhaul of its executive team and board of directors after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in the United States. Mr. MacIntyre is well-known in financial circles, having co-founded private equity firm Birch Hill Partners Management in 2005, and before that, co-founding the mid-market private equity group at TD Bank. He joined TD Bank’s board in August, 2023. The new chair replaces Alan MacGibbon, who is retiring on Sept. 1. Mr. MacGibbon is a long-time TD board director and was appointed board chair in late 2023, taking over from the then-retiring chair Brian Levitt. However, last fall the bank started overhauling its corporate governance in the wake of the scandal.

Trois administrateurs du Canadien National ont profité de la faiblesse du titre du transporteur ferroviaire montréalais cette semaine pour acheter des actions de l’entreprise.
Le Canadien National a perdu au moins deux appuis cette semaine après que la direction eut abaissé ses prévisions pour la troisième fois en trois ans.

Bombardier a perdu le soutien de l’analyste de la TD cette semaine. Tim James a retiré mardi sa recommandation d’achat sur le titre du constructeur montréalais de jets privés même s’il dit toujours apprécier les perspectives à long terme.

Des délégations chinoise et américaine ont entamé lundi à Stockholm de nouvelles discussions sur les droits de douane réciproques entre les deux pays, qui pourraient aboutir à une prolongation de la trêve tarifaire. Le premier ministre suédois, Ulf Kristersson, a accueilli les représentants des deux principales puissances économiques mondiales en début d’après-midi dans le bâtiment de Rosenbad, où se trouve son cabinet, ont constaté des journalistes de l’AFP. Peu de temps après, son porte-parole a indiqué à l’AFP que les pourparlers avaient commencé. Se tenant au lendemain d’un accord commercial conclu entre Américains et Européens, ce troisième cycle de négociations sino-américaines doit durer près de deux jours.