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Musings From Abroad

Twitter initiates talks with Elon Musk over his $43b takeover bid

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The board of microblogging giant, Twitter, has reopened talks for a takeover by billionaire Tesla Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, after his initial bid was rejected.

On April 14, shortly after becoming Twitter’s single largest shareholder by buying 9.2 percent of its stock, Musk had announced an offer to buy the social media platform for $54.20 per share, or about $43 billion, but did not say at the time how he would finance the acquisition.

The announcement was said to have put serious pressure on the board to negotiate a deal but after rejecting the bid, the two sides are now open to a negotiation and as at Monday morning, were discussing details including a timeline and fees if an agreement was signed and then fell apart.

Shortly after Musk, the world’s richest man according to Forbes and founder of SpaceX, a privately held space company, announced the takeover bid, Twitter had enacted an anti-takeover measure known in international business circles as the “poison pill” that could make a takeover attempt prohibitively expensive.

But now, it appears the Twitter board has decided to negotiate after Musk updated his proposal to show he had secured financing.

While announcing the bid, Musk, said in documents filed with U.S. securities regulators that the money would come from Morgan Stanley and other banks, some of it secured by his huge stake in Tesla, the electric car maker.

He had hinted that he wanted to buy Twitter because he doesn’t feel it was living up to its potential as a platform for free speech while in recent weeks.

He had also promised a number of changes for the company, from relaxing its content restrictions such as the rules that suspended former President Donald Trump’s account, to ridding the platform of its problems with fake and automated accounts.

Musings From Abroad

Angola, Portugal sign 13-point pact spanning finance, law, others    

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Angola and Portugal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding including 13 different agreements that cut across financial, legal and other critical areas.

The Angolan President, João Lourenço, who received his Portuguese counterpart, António Costa on Monday, revealed that the country was enthusiastic about partnering with its erstwhile colonialist.

“I have to say that we sensed a great willingness to collaborate on the part of the Portuguese justice system, with whom we were able to exchange not only information but also the alignment of Angola’s anti-corruption strategy and to say that in principle everything that was asked of the Portuguese authorities so that we could find the right correspondent”, president Lourenço said.

The Portuguese president announced a rise in its financial commitment to Angola which is a top oil producer in Africa.

“To support the Angolan government’s ambition and strategic approach to diversifying the country’s economy, we have significantly increased the credit line from one thousand five hundred to two billion euros”, announced Costa.

The new agreement will run till 2027. The economies of Angola and Portugal are deeply intertwined, and the two countries share a language and cultural heritage.

According to consular statistics, approximately 100,000 Portuguese nationals work in Angola, with approximately 10,000 Portuguese firms operating in a variety of sectors such as construction, engineering, hospitality, law, and financial services.

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Musings From Abroad

Israeli PM, Netanyahu demands investigation over killing of soldiers in Egypt

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Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has called for an explanation from Egyptian authorities following the reported killing of three Israeli soldiers by a member of the Egyptian security services.

He told his cabinet in televised remarks that “Israel relayed a clear message to the Egyptian government. We expect that the joint investigation will be exhaustive and thorough.

“We will refresh procedures and methods of operations and also the measures to reduce to a minimum the smuggling and to ensure tragic terrorist attacks like this do not happen again.”

Three Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack near Egypt’s border by a gunman wearing an Egyptian police uniform— the first deadly exchange along the border shared by the two countries in more than a decade.

According to the Israeli military, two soldiers were killed by an Egyptian policeman while securing a military post near the Egyptian border early Saturday. According to the report, the Egyptian officer and a third Israeli soldier were killed in a clash on Israeli territory hours later.

Israeli military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, while addressing journalists, said: “From that moment a terrorist event was declared, leading to sweeps of the area.”

He also revealed that “a drone was sent up and 1.5 kilometres inside Israel a suspicious person was identified.”

Egypt’s relationship with Israel is complicated and has evolved significantly over time. Despite having fought four wars, the two countries now work closely together, primarily on security issues.

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