In this photo illustration, a Candy Crush game is seen on an iPad on November 3, 2015 in Miami. It was announced today that game maker Activision Blizzard has paid $5.9-billion to purchase King, the parent company of games like Candy Crush Saga and Bubble Witch Saga.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
DEAL OF THE DAY
Activision Blizzard buys King Digital Entertainment
King Digital Entertainment PLC didn't last long as a standalone company. The video game maker, which only went public in March of 2014, is being acquired by rival game maker Activision Blizzard Inc. for $3.4-billion (U.S.). The purchase price is 20 per cent above King's Friday's closing price, but significantly below its going-public price.
King Digital's Candy Crush Saga game became a worldwide phenomenon when it was released in 2012. But King Digital has been unable to top that success. Story
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Targa Resources buys subsidiary
U.S. pipeline company Targa Resources Corp. is acquiring its subsidiary Targa Resource Partners in an all-stock deal valued at $6.7-billion (U.S.).
Targa Resources Partners' shareholders will receive 0.62 shares of Targa Resources Corp., which represents a modest premium to where the shares have recently traded. Story
RANDOM RANT
RBC should be miffed it didn't make the the 'too-big-to-fail' list
On Tuesday, The Financial Stability Board (FSB), a global financial watchdog, updated its list of 30 global systemically important banks that it deems "too big to fail." On the list are some names you'd absolutely expect to be there: Big Chinese banks. American big macs such as Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. European juggernauts like HSBC Holdings PLC and BNP Paribas SA. Weirdly though, Royal Bank of Canada, Canada's biggest bank by market capitalization, is not on the list. RBC had been viewed as a candidate but seemingly did not make the cut.
RBC can argue that's it's a good thing that the bank did not pass muster. Avoiding the list means it will not have to raise additional capital to satisfy FSB demands. I would posit, however, that it's an insult for a big Canadian bank not to be on the list, and that it's a case of the world simply not caring enough – to their detriment – about Canada.
RBC is a massively successful dominant franchise that operates in the oligopolistic, wildly profitable and deeply interconnected Canadian market. It has a strong international footprint, particularly in the critical U.S. market, where it has a growing retail and investment banking presence. If RBC were to fail, the tidal wave of interconnectedness would cause the Canadian market to crater. I find it unfathomable that its failure wouldn't also have far-reaching global implications.
RBC not too big to fail – give me a break. If Nordea (who?) – the largest bank in the Nordic and Baltic region – is on the list, then RBC should be too. RBC executives may be smiling publicly, but privately they should be seething.
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