– The Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported that Honeywell International said it was considering a potential separation of its aerospace business, about a month after activist investor Elliott Investment Management called for the company to break itself up. Honeywell said its board continued to explore strategic alternatives and plans to provide an update on its portfolio review with its fourth-quarter results early next year.
‘Honeywell is now well-positioned for significant transformational alternatives, and we are continuing our deeper, more granular exploration of their feasibility and possible timing,’ chair and CEO Vimal Kapur said. In November, Elliott said it had built a $5 bn stake in Honeywell and wanted to see it broken up.
‘We look forward to the upcoming completion of the review and to supporting Honeywell as it implements the necessary steps to realize its full value,’ Elliott partner Marc Steinberg and managing partner Jesse Cohn said in a news release.
– The SEC announced that Erik Gerding, director of the division of corporation finance, will leave the agency at the end of the month. Cicely LaMothe will serve as acting director following his departure.
Gerding became the division’s director in February 2023 and was in that role as it recommended rules to the commission on climate-related disclosures and cyber-security risk management, strategy, governance and incident disclosures. During his tenure, the division also implemented new or updated rules on beneficial ownership reporting, universal proxy, listing standards for clawbacks of erroneously awarded compensation, ‘pay versus performance’ executive-compensation disclosures, and Rule 10b5-1 plans regarding when insiders can sell their shares.
‘I want to thank Erik for his leadership of the [division],’ said SEC chair Gary Gensler. ‘During his time of service, we’ve adopted important reforms regarding corporate governance to better promote trust in the markets. We’ve adopted important reforms to enhance investors’ access to full, fair and truthful information, a founding principle of our securities laws. I wish him very well in his next pursuits. I also want to thank Cicely for stepping up as acting director and for being a longstanding leader within the division.’
– Starbucks Workers United said 98 percent of union baristas have voted to authorize a strike as they seek a contract with the coffee company, CNBC reported. Bargaining delegates were due to return to negotiations with Starbucks on Tuesday in the last scheduled session of the year with the aim of agreeing on a ‘foundational framework.’
Starbucks and Workers United have spent hundreds of hours this year at the bargaining table and both sides have put forward dozens of tentative agreements, the union said in a press release. But the union said Starbucks has not yet proposed a comprehensive package that would address barista pay and other benefits.
In a statement, Starbucks disputed the union’s characterization and said the company remains committed to reaching a final framework agreement. ‘It is disappointing that the union is considering a strike rather than focusing on what have been extremely productive negotiations. Since April we’ve scheduled and attended more than eight multi-day bargaining sessions where we’ve reached thirty meaningful agreements on dozens of topics Workers United delegates told us were important to them, including many economic issues,’ the company said.
– According to the WSJ, although a wave of startups offering AI-infused compliance software are promising to help companies meet complex new regulations while keeping costs in check compliance executives are proceeding with caution. On one hand, these executives say using AI to automate tedious tasks such as fraud reviews or compiling data security reports could be a big help.
But some worry that new technologies could be more prone to making errors. Others are concerned about investing in AI tools before guidelines for the technology are set. However, compliance teams are experimenting with AI software.
– The value of M&A deals around the world is expected to surpass $4 tn next year – the highest total in four years – buoyed by US President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to cut red tape and lower corporate taxes, data from Dealogic suggests.
Reuters (paywall) reported that the total value of M&A rose 15 percent from last year to total $3.45 tn as of December 19 this year, recovering from a decade-low of about $3 tn during the same period last year.
Top dealmakers expect a more deal-friendly antitrust enforcement in the US next year to undo regulatory changes that were put on hold under the Biden administration, Dealogic said.
– Workers at seven Amazon facilities across the US left their jobs earlier on Thursday ahead of the holiday shopping rush, as employees of the tech giant protest what they say is unfair treatment, according to Reuters.
Warehouse workers in cities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco were taking part in what union officials called the largest-ever strike against Amazon, but which may cause barely a ripple in the company's extensive shipping operations.
Amazon has long been a target for unions that say the company's emphasis on ever-faster speed and efficiency can lead to injuries. The company says it pays industry-leading wages and uses automation designed to reduce repetitive stress.
Separately, Reuters also reported that Amazon will implement employee safety measures at all of its US facilities to settle a federal agency's claims that it failed to prevent workers from developing back problems and other ergonomic injuries.
The retailer has settled a series of complaints by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) involving 10 facilities across the country, which were set to go to trial before administrative judges next year, OSHA said in a release.
– Swiss lawmakers have blamed ‘years of mismanagement’ by executives at Credit Suisse following the bank’s implosion in March 2023, according to the Financial Times (paywall).
In a long-awaited 569-page report published on Friday, lawmakers exposed Swiss bureaucracy that is unaccustomed to scrutiny, rebuking regulators for being secretive and mistrustful, and for responding unevenly to the crisis that led to Credit Suisse’s rival, UBS, buying the bank for a fraction of its value.
Presenting the report, a Swiss parliamentary committee said it considered years of mismanagement by Credit Suisse to be the cause of the crisis and urged the government to draw up better regulation.
‘It's also important to us that we don't punish a bank performing well, such as UBS, because of a bank performing poorly, CS [Credit Suisse],’ said Thomas Matter, a committee member from the right-wing Swiss People's Party.
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
