Hungry Investors Set to Feast on Deals in Asia Pacific
Hi, it's Manuel Baigorri and Pei Li in Hong Kong, where we sat down with Bank of America's Adnan Meraj to talk about private equity deals in APAC. Also today, Aramco weighs a bid for BP's Castrol and more on BlackRock's acquisition of ports in the Panama Canal.
Today's top stories
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fast Company
6 hours ago
- Fast Company
How smart leaders balance urgency with curiosity
Modern business operates under a dangerous paradox. The same forces that make curiosity essential—rapid change, complexity, and uncertainty—are the ones that systematically suppress it. While organizations desperately need the innovation and adaptability that comes from asking better questions, the relentless pressure for speed creates an environment where curiosity dies. Pressure Points This isn't theoretical. The consequences play out in boardrooms and headlines daily. Three pressure points consistently strangle organizational curiosity: Always-On Urgency transforms work into endless reaction cycles. Volkswagen's emissions scandal emerged when employees, under pressure to quickly meet environmental regulations, defaulted to shortcuts rather than pausing to ask whether their approach was ethical or sustainable. The constant demand for immediate responses eliminates space for the fundamental question: 'Is this the right approach?' Pressure to React Immediately equates speed with competence while framing thoughtful questioning as hesitation. During the Deepwater Horizon crisis, BP executives rushed to provide public reassurances rather than taking time to fully assess the damage. This premature response not only eroded public trust but led to operational missteps that worsened the disaster. When leaders feel compelled to have answers immediately, they abandon the inquiry that leads to better solutions. Speed-Obsessed Work Culture makes 'move fast and break things' the dominant operating principle. Theranos epitomized this danger—under immense pressure to deliver revolutionary blood-testing technology, leadership ignored scientific red flags and silenced employees who questioned feasibility. The rush to market created a fraudulent enterprise that collapsed under scrutiny. It's the combination of these pressures that puts organizations at risk. Diane Hamilton, author of Curiosity Unleashed and creator of the Curiosity Code Index, researched what inhibits curiosity in the workplace to help leaders break out of stagnant patterns. According to her findings, when environments squeeze out curiosity, 'People start holding back ideas, skipping conversations, and sticking to what feels safe. That's when curiosity shuts down and organizations cling to past ways of doing things that no longer work.' Speed Bumps The solution isn't choosing between speed and curiosity—it's installing 'strategic speed bumps' which create just enough pause for better questions to emerge. Leaders need speed bumps at three levels: interpersonal, team, and organizational. Interpersonal. Curiosity often gets squelched in one-on-one dialogues, but the most powerful speed bump is deceptively simple: pause during heated discussions to state what you heard and ask if you understood correctly. Instead of rapid-fire debate, try: 'I'm gathering that you're worried about this direction because it might alienate our longest-standing clients. Is that an accurate understanding of your concern?' This technique significantly increases accurate listening while slowing potentially tense exchanges. It creates room for questions and deepens relationships by signaling that you value others' perspectives enough to ensure you've heard them correctly. When leaders model this behavior, it spreads throughout the organization. Team-Level. Teams need built-in moments that interrupt the execution mindset. The most effective approach involves structured quiet time before critical discussions or decisions. Allocate a few minutes for everyone to write down thoughts, questions, or concerns before opening discussion. Use question-oriented brainstorming techniques with creative constraints, such as: 'Generate five 'what if' questions about our marketing strategy in the next two minutes.' This approach maximizes diverse perspectives while ensuring introverts have processing time and extroverts can refine initial thoughts. These pauses aren't about halting team progress—they're about widening the lens to identify hidden opportunities and blind spots. Organizational. The highest-leverage organizational speed bump involves reframing acute problems as opportunities for systemic improvement rather than issues requiring quick fixes. When urgent issues arise, resist the default response of immediate patches. Instead, pause to examine underlying causes and explore broader solutions. Great Ormond Street Hospital demonstrates this approach brilliantly. Facing critical errors during patient transfers between operating rooms and intensive care, hospital leaders could have simply demanded faster, better execution of existing procedures. Instead, they paused to seek inspiration elsewhere. After observing Formula One pit crews, they invited Ferrari's team to analyze their patient handover process. The racing experts identified fundamental structural problems: unclear roles, overlapping conversations, and unpredictable leadership transitions. By applying pit crew principles—defined roles, synchronized actions, and systematic error tracking—the hospital reduced technical errors by nearly half while improving information transfer. The breakthrough came not from moving faster, but from pausing to intentionally redesign the system. The Roadmap Start immediately with these three steps: This week: Implement 'paraphrase and check' in your next three important conversations. Notice how it changes the dynamic and information quality. This month: Introduce two-minute question-oriented brainstorming sessions before your team's most critical decisions. Track whether this generates insights you would have missed. This quarter: Identify your organization's next acute problem as an opportunity for strategic learning rather than quick fixes. Ask what other industries or approaches might offer unexpected solutions. Organizations don't need to choose between speed and learning—they need both. Strategic speed bumps maintain momentum while ensuring critical thinking and innovation never get sacrificed. The most successful organizations don't just move fast—they move wisely.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bank of America Reiterates ‘Buy' on Amazon.com (AMZN) as AI Delivery, Prime Ads Drive Growth
Inc. (NASDAQ:) is one of the . One of the biggest analyst calls on Thursday, June 12, was for Amazon. Bank of America reiterated the stock as 'Buy' with a $248 price target. The firm said that Amazon continues to innovate using AI to improve package delivery. The firm is bullish on the company's strategic growth initiatives and operational efficiencies, with one key reason being its increased ad loads on Prime Video. These increased loads are expected to nearly double ad revenues by 2025, boosting high-margin growth. Moreover, Amazon's restructuring of its grocery business is also likely to boost year-over-year margin growth. Even though it has a smaller market share compared to competitors, integrating Whole Foods under its broader umbrella is viewed as a positive step towards growth and customer retention. Finally, the company's efforts in artificial intelligence for package delivery are destined to improve efficiency and reduce costs. There are significant savings expected from robotics as well. 'Amazon announced three AI innovations improving delivery: 1) Wellspring, an AI-powered system that collects data from dozens of sources including satellite imagery, road networks, and prior deliveries to create a comprehensive map.' Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is an American technology company offering e-commerce, cloud computing, and other services, including digital streaming and artificial intelligence solutions. While we acknowledge the potential of AMZN as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Women Are About To Inherit $30 Trillion in ‘Great Wealth Transfer' — How To Prepare for Your Windfall
American women are poised to inherit $30 trillion in wealth in the next 10 years in what experts are calling the Great Wealth Transfer, already in progress. Much of this money will be passed generationally, and a significant amount will move from men to their wives, according to The Rising Wealth of Women, a Bank of America Institute report published last year. Although this transfer is narrowing wealth disparities between women and men, the study found that women are still less confident in their ability to manage a financial windfall. Watch Out: Read Next: A recent survey from Citizens Bank found 66% of Gen Z women and 50% of millennial women said they'd delayed actively managing their wealth because they lacked confidence or didn't know how to do it, and just 16% felt completely confident in their ability to manage an inheritance. Keep reading to learn how to take control of your money and prepare for your eventual windfall. The vast majority of women who've already inherited money from their parents or their husbands felt unprepared. Global wealth manager UBS noted in its May Own Your Worth report that 40% of women who inherited from their parents had done so with no wealth-transfer or estate plan in place. Widowed women faced similar predicaments, with 25% not even knowing where their husbands' wealth was. At the very least, know what assets your family has, where they're held and how they'll pass on to you. Tax planning is also important, according to 87% of the inheritance recipients surveyed by UBS. Discover More: Defining your short-term and long-term goals in writing gives you a blueprint to guide your financial decisions now and after you've received your inheritance. These priorities might include: Building an emergency fund Saving for retirement Paying off debt Starting a business Saving for your kids' education Buying a home Planning your own estate It's never too early to start working toward your financial goals. A budget is the best way to do it. In addition to eliminating waste, it gets you in the habit of spending mindfully and deliberately. That accountability is the key to financial health, and it'll give you more choices when it comes time to decide how to use your inherited funds. A high percentage of women have never had their own investment account — and those who do invest do so more conservatively compared to men. Bank of America found that they allocate smaller percentages of their portfolios to stocks, for example, and are less likely to invest in risky assets like cryptocurrency. That's not a bad thing if it aligns with your risk tolerance. But if you're staying out of the market or investing conservatively because you don't feel competent enough to take more risk, make financial education a priority. Many resources are available online. You can find continuing/community ed courses through local colleges and universities. A certified financial planner (CFP) can help advise you on the best approach to meet your financial goals and help you figure out how your inheritance fits into that plan — and into your own estate plan as well. When the time comes, they can also advise you about the benefits of working with an attorney, tax accountant and/or insurance agent to protect your expanding assets. It's not unusual to have mixed feelings about planning for an inheritance. After all, it forces you to acknowledge your family members' and your own mortality. But laying the groundwork now can put everyone's minds at ease knowing that you're ready to receive this transfer of wealth and prepare the next generation to receive theirs. More From GOBankingRates Mark Cuban Warns of 'Red Rural Recession' -- 4 States That Could Get Hit Hard Clever Ways To Save Money That Actually Work in 2025 I'm a Retired Boomer: 6 Bills I Canceled This Year That Were a Waste of Money This article originally appeared on Women Are About To Inherit $30 Trillion in 'Great Wealth Transfer' — How To Prepare for Your Windfall
