After months of speculation, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank said they would explore a merger. A combined entity would be Europe’s third-biggest bank and hold about one-fifth of German deposits. The German government is thought to favour a tie-up between the Frankfurt neighbours. A deal faces many hurdles, not least from unions opposed to the potential 30,000 job losses.

In one of the biggest deals to take place in the financial-services industry since the end of the financial crisis, Fidelity National Information Services, a fintech company, offered to buy Worldpay, a payment-processor, in a $43bn transaction. It is the latest in a string of acquisitions in the rapidly consolidating payments industry amid a shift to cashless transactions.

Lyft gave an indicative price range for its forthcoming IPO of up to $68 a share, which would value it at $23bn and make it one of the biggest tech flotations in recent years. Uber, Lyft’s larger rival, is expected to soon launch its IPO.

Bayer’s share price swooned, after another jury found that someone’s cancer had developed through exposure to a weedkiller made by Monsanto, which Bayer acquired last year. The German drugs and chemicals company has been under the spotlight since August, when a jury reached a similar verdict in a separate case.

Anil Ambani avoided a three-month prison sentence when his brother, Mukesh, stepped in at the last minute to help pay the $77m that a court ordered was owed to Ericsson for work it did at Anil’s now-bankrupt telecoms firm. Anil Ambani, who was once ranked the world’s sixth-richest man, said he was “touched” by his brother’s gesture.

AB InBev shook up its board, appointing a new chairman and replacing directors. The changes are meant to reassure investors that the brewer intends to revitalise its drooping share price and pay down the $103bn in net debt it accumulated in a spree of acquisitions. They also reduce the influence of 3G Capital, a private-equity firm that helped create AB InBev via several mergers. 3G’s strategy has been called into question by mounting problems at Kraft Heinz, another corporate titan it helped bring about.

The White House nominated Steve Dickson, a former executive at Delta Air Lines, to lead the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA is under pressure to explain its procedures for certifying Boeing’s 737 MAX 8, which has crashed twice within five months, killing hundreds of people. It has not had a permanent head since early 2018, in part because Donald Trump had mooted giving the job to his personal pilot.

BMW said it expects annual profit this year to come in “well below” last year’s. Like others in the industry, the German carmaker is forking out for the technologies that are driving the transition to electric and self-driving vehicles; it unveiled a strategy this week to reduce its overheads.

The European Commission slapped another antitrust fine on Google, this time for restricting rival advertisers on third-party websites. The €1.5bn ($1.7bn) penalty is the third the commission has levied on the internet giant within two years, bringing the total to €8.3bn.

Industrial action by French customs staff caused Eurostar to cancel trains on its London-Paris route. The workers want better pay, and also more people to check British passports after Brexit. A study by the British government has found that queues for the service could stretch for a mile if there is a no-deal Brexit, as Brits wait to get their new blue passports checked. Passengers got a taste of that this week, standing in line for up to five hours because of the go-slow.

Mar 21st 2019

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