Markets & Finance

Enbridge has agreed to acquire Tallgrass Energy's crude oil transportation, gathering, storage, and terminaling business for US$2.55 billion in cash, adding a 75% stake in the 1,050-mile Pony Express Pipeline and 8.4 million barrels of storage capacity across nine terminals. The deal, announced September 9, remains subject to FTC clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and is expected to close later in 2026. Enbridge separately launched a C$2.6 billion equity offering to partially fund this and a concurrent Salt Creek Midstream acquisition.

CVC Capital Partners is in final, unsigned talks to acquire the mainland-China operations of contact-lens maker Ginko International from EQT at a reported valuation of $700 million to $800 million including debt, roughly $200 to $300 million below EQT's previously stated target of at least $1 billion. This is the second attempt to sell the business: Advent International agreed to buy it for a reported $1.1 billion but withdrew in late 2025, paying approximately $10 million in termination fees. No purchase agreement, closing date, or regulatory clearance has been publicly confirmed, and the financial terms remain subject to change.

The European Commission paused its Phase II merger review of Saipem and Subsea7 on August 25, 2026, under Article 11(3), pending supplementary information from the parties with no fixed resumption date. Combined with a prior 14-working-day extension, the suspension puts the reported December 16, 2026 decision deadline at risk and raises the possibility that the transaction's close, originally targeted for the second half of 2026, could slip into early 2027. The pause does not signal a block, and no remedy package has been publicly confirmed.

Activist investor Oasis Management, holding a 6.5% beneficial ownership stake in Vail Resorts, nominated four directors — Robert Chapek, Ashton Hudson, Bryce Roberts, and Picabo Street — before the September 10, 2026, nominations deadline, confirmed by Vail the following day. No annual meeting date has been set, no shareholder vote has occurred, and no settlement has been identified. Vail stated it will evaluate all candidates and file a proxy statement ahead of its 2026 annual meeting.

Kroger lowered its FY2026 identical-sales-without-fuel guidance from 1.0–2.0% to 0.2–0.8% after second-quarter identical sales growth slowed sharply to 0.2%, down from 3.4% a year earlier. The revision reflects macroeconomic headwinds and an approximately 140-basis-point drag from the Inflation Reduction Act. Despite the sales cut, Kroger held its adjusted EPS guidance at $5.10–$5.30, crediting cost savings and strong pharmacy and fuel performance.

JetBlue updated its Q3 2026 guidance on September 10, raising its revenue per available seat mile outlook from a 12.5-16.5 percent year-over-year range to 17-20 percent, while cutting capacity growth to 1.5-3.5 percent from 3-6 percent. The revision reflects stronger demand and pricing offset by weather and air-traffic-control disruptions that pushed severe-weather days more than 40 percent above the prior three-summer average and nearly doubled ATC-related cancellations. Non-fuel unit costs and fuel prices also rose, with the projected fuel price per gallon increasing from $3.49 to $3.96.

S&P Global Ratings lowered Queensland's long-term issuer credit rating one notch to AA on September 11, 2026, the state's first downgrade since 2009, citing forecast deficits averaging 16% of total revenue over the next three years. Total tax-supported debt is projected to rise from 101% of operating revenue in fiscal 2024 to approximately 160% by fiscal 2029, driven by a capital expenditure program averaging A$24 billion annually that includes Brisbane's 2032 Olympics infrastructure. Queensland Treasury Corporation has flagged term-debt borrowing requirements rising from A$28.7 billion in FY27 to A$35.7 billion in FY30, meaning the higher rating costs will apply to a substantially growing debt load.

Allarity Acquisition Corp., sponsored by Allarity Therapeutics subsidiary ALLR Sponsor LLC, filed a preliminary Form S-1 with the SEC on September 10, 2026, proposing a $100 million SPAC IPO of 10 million units at $10.00 each, with no acquisition target yet identified and no effective registration. The offering terms remain subject to change and securities cannot be sold until the registration statement is declared effective, meaning this is a proposal rather than a completed or priced transaction. Readers tracking SPAC activity should note the sponsor's 25% post-offering ownership stake, an 18-month window to complete a business combination, and an open acquisition mandate that extends beyond life sciences.

FutureCore Acquisition Corporation submitted a preliminary S-1 to the SEC on September 11, 2026, proposing a $75 million SPAC IPO structured as 7.5 million units at $10.00 each, with a 15-month window to complete a business combination targeting companies valued between $180 million and $1 billion. No acquisition target has been identified and no substantive discussions with prospects have occurred, meaning the vehicle is entirely blank-check at this stage. The filing also contains an unresolved inconsistency naming two different individuals as the sponsor's controller, a detail that will require clarification before the registration can become effective.