Activists like Elliott Investment Management often hog the limelight as makers or breakers of mergers and acquisitions. But in Australia superannuation, or pension, funds do a lot of the heavy lifting. Take Monday's agreed A$11.7 billion, opens new tab ($8.3 billion) buyout of Qube. Leading the deal is Macquarie Asset Management, whose interest in taking private the container and logistics firm publicly emerged almost three months ago. But it had to contend with a potential spoiler in the form of UniSuper. Ultimately, the investment house, one of the country's top-five super funds with A$166 billion in assets, joined the deal. But the ability of these money managers to be an M&A blessing or curse is only going to increase.

British skin-health company SkinBioTherapeutics said on Monday that misrepresentations in its accounts uncovered in an ongoing investigation into its former CEO will leave annual earnings "significantly below" market expectations. Last Friday, the company suspended CEO Stuart Ashman, who has since resigned, following initial concerns over his conduct, with new information casting doubt on accrued royalty income recorded in accounts for the year ended June 30, 2025. The group alleges Ashman had misrepresented material information, which would require reversing about 770,000 pounds ($1.05 million) in royalty income from its fiscal 2025 accounts, prompting the restatement of its FY25 results.

Iran is pursuing a nuclear agreement with the U.S. that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian diplomat was reported as saying on Sunday, days before a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington. Iran and the U.S. renewed negotiations earlier this month to tackle their decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme and avert a new military confrontation. The U.S. has dispatched a second aircraft carrier to the region and is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, U.S. officials have told Reuters. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a news conference in Bratislava, said President Donald Trump had made it clear that he would prefer diplomacy and a negotiated settlement, while making clear that may not happen.

Bank of America said on Friday it had approved $41 million for CEO Brian Moynihan's total compensation for 2025, reflecting a more than 17.1% rise from last year. Moynihan, 65, is one of the industry's longest-serving leaders. He took the reins in 2010 following a tumultuous succession process, steering the bank's turnaround after the 2008 financial crisis. The compensation includes $1.5 million of base salary and the rest in equity incentives, the bank said. Moynihan had received $35 million in total compensation in 2024. In a filing explaining the compensation, BofA highlighted strong company financials, employee welfare, and philanthropy efforts led by Moynihan.

La haute direction de la Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) sera la principale cible des blâmes du commissaire Denis Gallant, si l’on se fie aux préavis de manquements transmis à celui que l’on surnomme l’architecte du fiasco SAAQclic: Karl Malenfant. Du côté politique, seule la ministre Geneviève Guilbault risquerait d’être sévèrement blâmée, une partie de son témoignage ayant été jugée «non crédible». M. Malenfant réfute l’ensemble des accusations du juge Gallant, chargé de faire la lumière sur ce fiasco, qui pourrait coûter jusqu’à 1,1 milliard $ d’ici 2027, selon le Vérificateur général du Québec (VGQ). Dans les documents consultés, l’ex‐PDG Nathalie Tremblay, l’ex-PDG Denis Marsolais et l’ancien vice‐président Karl Malenfant auraient manipulé des informations afin de dissimuler aux élus l’explosion des coûts et la déroute du projet.

Canada signed an agreement with the Kingdom of Denmark to work more closely together on matters of Arctic security and defence, as global leaders assembled at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday. The signing, done by Defence Minister David McGuinty, was one of several opportunities Mr. McGuinty took at the international conference to speak about how Canada’s approach to defence is changing. And quickly. “In Canada, people have finally woken up to one fundamental factor. Our geography will no longer protect us,” he said during a panel about strengthening defence industrial co-operation.

The events that plunged the $23-billion CAAT Pension Plan into crisis, culminating Friday when its chief executive was put on leave and the leaders of its board were replaced, reached a tipping point in mid-November when a letter flagged concerns about alleged governance failures. Three of CAAT’s top executives wrote to the pension plan’s board of trustees to outline several instances in which they felt governance controls had broken down, urging board members to investigate, four sources told The Globe and Mail. One of the central concerns outlined in the letter was the approval of a $1.6-million vacation payout to CEO Derek Dobson last year as compensation for unused time off.

The head of Enbridge says the company is unwilling to take on the financial risk of developing a new oil pipeline from Alberta to Canada’s west coast. Calgary-based Enbridge is one of three energy infrastructure companies tapped by the Alberta government to provide technical and regulatory expertise on a proposal for a new oil pipeline. But chief executive Greg Ebel said Friday his company has no intention of floating such a project. “I don’t think investors or the infrastructure companies should be taking on the risk of development in jurisdictions that have historically created a challenge,” Mr. Ebel told analysts on an earnings call.

Two of Australia’s largest institutional investors are challenging Canadian pension funds in the $1-billion bidding war for property registry Information Services Corp. Infrastructure-focused fund managers Queensland Investment Corp. (QIC) based in Brisbane, and Macquarie Asset Management, headquartered in Sydney, are in talks to acquire Regina-based ISC, one of the country’s largest real estate data services, according to two sources familiar with the auction. In addition, Melbourne-based infrastructure fund Plenary Group is working with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec on a possible ISC bid, said the sources. At least one other Canadian pension plan, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) is also bidding for ISC, the sources said.

Ottawa is promising to buy Canadian, cut down bureaucratic barriers and rearm the country in its new Defence Industrial Strategy, under which the federal government also plans to select companies to be strategic partners from the vast number vying for a piece of the country’s ballooning defence budget. Over the next 10 years, the government says it plans to double Canada’s defence exports, create 125,000 new jobs and increase the share of defence-related acquisitions awarded to Canadian companies to 70 per cent. To this point, a similar share of the country’s defence expenditures have been directed to the U.S. In addition, the government plans to grow defence revenues for small- to medium-sized businesses by more than $5.1-billion annually.

Les gens d’affaires feraient plus de démarches à l’international pour diversifier leurs marchés, si l’on se fie aux commentaires d’Air Canada.   Le transporteur aérien a enregistré une hausse de la demande de 30 % pour les voyages d’affaires en Europe et dans la région du Pacifique, rapporte vendredi son chef des affaires commerciales, Mark Galardo, lors d’une conférence téléphonique en marge de la publication des résultats trimestriels.   M. Galardo estime que cette hausse s’explique par les tentatives du Canada de réduire sa dépendance aux États-Unis et de diversifier ses marchés d’exportations.  

The total remuneration package of BBVA's executive chairman Carlos Torres and chief executive officer Onur Genc fell around 3% in 2025 from 2024, according to the bank's annual remuneration report published on Friday. The lower remuneration comes after BBVA failed in its over 16 billion euro ($19 billion) hostile takeover bid for Sabadell. A spokesperson for the lender said that the executives' salary package was not linked to the outcome of the bid, but due to some short-term incentives not being met. Torres' total remuneration, including fixed and a variable package, fell 3% in 2025 to 8.108 million euros, while in the case of Genc, it fell 2.5% to 6.97 million euros.

British money manager Aberdeen will vote against the proposed 7.8 billion euro ($9.25 billion) takeover of InPost by a consortium led by FedEx (FDX.N), opens new tab, saying the offer materially undervalues the parcel locker company. The firm, which holds a 0.2% stake in InPost according to LSEG data, urged InPost's board to reassess its support for the "unjustifiably low" 15.60 euros per share cash offer. "The offer is opportunistic, seeking to exploit a temporary dislocation in the share price at the expense of long term shareholders," said Matthew Peacock, a research analyst at Aberdeen Investments, according to extracts of a letter seen by Reuters.

« Les trois plus gros gestionnaires de fonds de placement en Amérique du Nord, soit les sociétés BlackRock, Vanguard et State Street, que l’on désigne aussi comme le “Big Three” dans le milieu boursier, détiennent environ 20 % des actions et contrôlent environ 25 % des droits de vote de l’ensemble des entreprises cotées en Bourse aux États-Unis et au Canada. Ça leur donne un levier d’influence extrêmement important sur la haute direction de ces entreprises », signale François Dauphin, PDG de l’Institut sur la gouvernance d’institutions privées et publiques (IGOPP).

Les hauts dirigeants du ministère du premier ministre Mark Carney se sont accordé des primes totalisant plus de 2,9 M$ l’an dernier pour se féliciter d’avoir effectué leur travail adéquatement et avec une belle attitude. «La rémunération au rendement est versée aux cadres supérieurs en fonction de la mesure dans laquelle les engagements décrits dans leurs ententes annuelles de rendement ont été atteints», explique-t-on dans un rapport du secrétariat au Conseil du Trésor. 129 des 135 cadres supérieurs du Bureau du Conseil privé (95,5%) ont eu droit à leur prime, nommée dramatiquement «rémunération à risque», d’une valeur moyenne de 27 925$. Treize d’entre eux ont en plus touché un boni supplémentaire pour leur «rendement exceptionnel».

« Un ancien ministre de l’Énergie (2021-2025) est soupçonné de blanchiment d’argent et de participation à une organisation criminelle », indique un communiqué de l’Agence, formulant officiellement les charges pesant sur M. Galouchtchenko, dont elle ne cite pas le nom. Le blanchiment d’argent est passible de 15 ans de prison et la participation à une organisation criminelle de 12 ans. L’Agence avait annoncé dimanche l’arrestation de M. Galouchtchenko alors qu’il cherchait à quitter le pays. Il fait partie des ministres qui ont démissionné en 2025 dans le cadre de l’affaire « Midas », un vaste scandale de corruption dans le secteur énergétique qui a ébranlé l’Ukraine.

The CAAT Pension Plan has placed chief executive officer Derek Dobson on administrative leave, installed an acting CEO and appointed a new chair and vice-chair to its board of trustees as a governance crisis at the $23-billion pension plan has spurred an overhaul of its leadership. Mr. Dobson is being sidelined, effective immediately, after some of the plan’s top executives raised concerns about his conduct as well as oversight by CAAT’s board of trustees, setting off multiple investigations into possible governance failures. Kevin Fahey, who was promoted to chief investment officer in late January, has been appointed as CAAT’s acting CEO and plan manager, CAAT said in a statement on Friday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on Friday for the United States and Europe to “repair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together,” saying that even the U.S. isn’t powerful enough to go it alone in an world whose old order has withered. Merz called for a “new trans-Atlantic partnership,” acknowledging that “a divide, a deep rift” has opened up across the Atlantic as he opened the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top global security figures, including many European leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Merz said that the post-World War II world order, “as imperfect as it was at its best times, no longer exists” today.

Mr. Wiseman, a 56-year-old veteran of Bay Street, Wall Street and three major public pension funds, is Ottawa’s first envoy to Washington not to come from a political or diplomatic background. He does, however, have extensive international experience landing complicated deals. He succeeds Kirsten Hillman, a career civil servant and trade negotiator who served as ambassador for more than six years. With more than $1.2-trillion in annual trade and countless jobs on the line, the new ambassador will face the ultimate test of his negotiating prowess.

La présidente par intérim du Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez s’est engagée, dans un entretien avec la chaîne américaine NBC diffusé jeudi, à organiser des élections libres dans un pays sous pression américaine, plus d’un mois après la capture de Nicolas Maduro. Interrogée pour savoir si elle s’engageait sur la tenue d’élections «libres et équitables», celle qui a pris la relève de Nicolas Maduro, capturé début janvier par les États-Unis, a répondu «oui, absolument», selon la traduction de NBC.

CarMax on Thursday named Keith Barr as its next chief executive, who will take over the helm at the used-car retailer as it navigates a turnaround plan and lower demand. Shares of the company were down more than 5% in early trading. Barr, a veteran from the hospitality industry, most recently served as the top boss at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG.L), opens new tab. He takes charge effective March 16. CarMax has to navigate a choppy used vehicle market amid a nationwide dip, as cash-conscious buyers hold on to their older cars for longer.