Sep 26, 2017

Greenhill & Co. agrees to recapitalization

Investment bank Greenhill & Co. has announced plans to a leveraged recap and share repurchase. The multi-stage transaction would include $300 million in financing from Goldman Sachs, which would mostly be used to buy back stock. The investment bank's founder Robert Greenhill and its CEO Scott Bok each will buy $10 million worth of shares, with Bok taking a 90% salary cut. Overall, Greenhill could repurchase up to 30% of its outstanding stock.

Why it matters: Because this is Greenhill taking a big step toward re-privatization, 13 years after becoming one of the first M&A boutiques to go public. The firm's shares have plummeted by more than 75% since the beginning of 2014, as it has fallen from 16th to 49th among global deal advisors (per Deallogic).

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Axios

Coronavirus cases rise, as more Americans on cruise confirmed ill

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's NHC; Note: China refers to mainland China and the Diamond Princess is the cruise ship offshore Yokohama, Japan. Map: Danielle Alberti/Axios

A U.S. public health official confirms more than 40 Americans on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Japan have coronavirus, while the remaining U.S. citizens without symptoms are being evacuated.

The big picture: COVID-19 has now killed at least 1,770 people and infected almost 70,000 others. Most cases and all but five of the deaths have occurred in mainland China. Taiwan confirmed its first death on Sunday, per multiple reports, in a 61-year-old man with underlying health conditions. Health officials were investigating how he became ill.

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Sara Fischer, Jonathan Swan

Scoop: Inside the Trump campaign's big hedge on Facebook

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

The Trump campaign has invested most of its advertising budget to date on Facebook, testing thousands of versions of ads per day to maximize its spending.

But behind the scenes, a source familiar with the campaign tells Axios, the thinking has shifted: "As everyone can see, we still have strong spending on Facebook, but the percentage of our total media budget [on Facebook] is shrinking."

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Alayna Treene

Trump's revenge tour has the House in its sights

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Saul Loeb/Getty Contributor

In the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections — buoyed by Republican control of both chambers — President Trump viewed campaigning for the House as a lower-tier priority and instead poured his energy into rallying for the Senate.

But after the GOP reckoning in 2018, and experiencing firsthand how damaging a Democratic-led House has been to him, Trump is now personally invested in helping Republicans regain the majority in November, several people familiar with his thinking tell Axios.

Go deeper4 hours ago - Politics & Policy