2026-02-10 11:07

Presidio's Goldman facility is a first in oil and gas industry Acquisition finance provided by Goldman, with debt held by bank for use in future ABS Structure offers lower debt costs, as well as speed and more certainty in deal talks NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Presidio Investment Holdings is working with Goldman Sachs (GS.N) , opens new tab on a first-of-its-kind debt facility worth up to $1 billion to give the U.S. oil and gas producer a war chest to pursue acquisitions as it becomes a publicly listed company, Presidio's executives told Reuters. The energy producer is set to list , opens new tab in the coming weeks via a combination with blank-check firm EQV Ventures Acquisition Corp (FTW.N) , opens new tab. Presidio's business model involves improving production from existing oil and gas wells through more efficient operations, rather than prospecting for new drilling locations, to provide steady returns to investors. Sign up here. The debt facility will allow Fort Worth, Texas-based Presidio to finance buying new assets, with the acquisition debt held by Goldman until it is put into a future asset-backed securitization (ABS). Standard ABS financing allows companies to secure debt by pledging future cashflows from production as collateral, and has become an increasingly common way for oil and gas companies to finance buying low-decline, mature wells. The Goldman facility utilizes a structure known as ABS warehousing which, while commonplace in areas including mortgages and credit cards, has never been used in the oil and gas industry. Presidio Chief Financial Officer John Brawley said it will give Presidio a significant advantage over those using standard ABS when bidding for deals, as the company will have immediate access to funds and can close deals much quicker. As the facility is linked to a future ABS issue, the debt costs are also much lower versus a bridge loan. "We're going to show up at first bid with up to $1 billion from a Goldman Sachs credit facility," Brawley said. "It's a very powerful tool to help us execute on our strategy." BUYING OPPORTUNITIES Presidio was founded in January 2017 by Will Ulrich and Chris Hammack. It forecast 2025 net production of 26,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to the August announcement of the deal with EQV. As it nears becoming a public company, and having helped pioneer the use of standard ABS financing in oil and gas, Ulrich said they developed the financing with Goldman to help maintain an edge over their competition. "It was important for us to come up with a novel ABS structure," said Ulrich, adding that given its business model, buying new assets was critical in maintaining, and increasing over time, Presidio's shareholder payouts - initially set at $1.35 per share per annum. Presidio previously said it has identified near-term acquisition opportunities worth as much as $15 billion it could pursue once it completes the EQV combination. Ulrich declined to provide details on which assets it plans to bid on. The company has said it could buy assets worth as much as $3 billion each. This price point would include the value estimates of some analysts for Ovintiv's (OVV.N) , opens new tab Oklahoma acreage, which it is planning to market this year after buying NuVista. While currently focused on the Mid-Continent shale basin, which predominantly covers Oklahoma, Ulrich said Presidio could target other formations including the southern portion of the Midland basin and parts of the Eagle Ford in Texas. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-energy-producer-presidio-plans-first-of-kind-1-billion-goldman-debt-facility-2026-02-10/

2026-02-10 11:03

CONAKRY, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Sustained gunshots were heard near the central prison in Guinea's capital, Conakry, on Tuesday, causing panic in the surrounding neighbourhood, Reuters witnesses said. It was unclear who was shooting or what triggered the gunfire. The West African nation's authorities were not immediately available for comments. Sign up here. A Reuters witness reported seeing several military pickup trucks carrying armed security forces, and a machinegun-mounted armoured carrier, deployed around the city's central administrative district. Guinea, a major bauxite and iron ore producer, held an election on December 28, in which Mamady Doumbouya secured a landslide victory. Doumbouya first came to power in September 2021 through a military coup. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sustained-gunshots-cause-panic-guineas-capital-2026-02-10/

2026-02-10 10:21

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Sterling dropped against the dollar and the euro on Tuesday as a broad selloff of the U.S. currency faded, while concerns about British politics and the path of Bank of England monetary policy continued to weigh. Two-year UK government bond yields were roughly unchanged after falling by almost 11 basis points since Thursday, when the Bank of England kept interest rates on hold, but only after an unexpectedly narrow 5-4 vote. Sign up here. The central bank also said borrowing costs were likely to fall if an expected drop soon in inflation was sustained. STARMER NOT QUITTING British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused on Monday to heed calls to quit, after a second aide resigned from a team in crisis over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, seen as a potential challenger, threw her support behind Starmer on Monday. Lee Hardman, a senior currency analyst at MUFG, noted that Labour sources indicated significant resistance within the party to launching a leadership challenge ahead of May's local elections. "A development that should help to reduce the risk of a sharper pound selloff in the near-term," he argued. The euro was last up 0.26% against the pound at 87.19 pence. It hit 86.96 on Monday, its highest since January 21. "Nevertheless, it remains questionable whether Starmer will still be prime minister by the end of the year, despite winning the 2024 election with a strong result and setting out to ensure stability,” said Michael Pfister, forex analyst at Commerzbank, before mentioning signs of recovery in the British economy and easing inflation. “The pound is currently suffering from uncertainty, and this is likely to continue until the matter is resolved sustainably,” he said. Against the dollar, sterling fell 0.2% at $1.3669 . The greenback was little changed against European currencies before key U.S. economic data due on Wednesday. “However, the risk of a leftist turn in the government, particularly under an Angela Rayner-led Labour Party, presents downside risks to the pound and British assets generally,” said Enrique Diaz-Alvarez, chief economist at global financial services firm Ebury. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/sterling-drops-politics-boe-easing-path-focus-2026-02-10/

2026-02-10 10:05

Pix projected to reach 50% e-commerce share by 2028, Ebanx reports Central bank's recurring-payments feature boosts Pix's growth Consumer payments to businesses dominate Pix transactions since September BRASILIA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Brazil's instant-payment system Pix is likely to account for half the nation's e-commerce transactions by 2028, widening its lead over credit cards, according to a new study. The forecast, from payments firm Ebanx, highlights the rapid ascent of the system created and run by Brazil's central bank. Since its launch in late 2020, Pix has slashed cash use in Latin America's largest economy and in 2023 surpassed the combined number of credit and debit card transactions. (By value, Pix is the second most widely used payment method among Brazilians, trailing only traditional interbank transfers, which are typically used for very large transactions.) Sign up here. It also drew scrutiny from the U.S. last year in a probe of what Washington called potentially unfair trade practices, questioning the central bank's dual role as the operator of Pix and regulator of the financial system. Brazil's central bank has argued that it acts as a neutral provider of public digital infrastructure, enabling a more efficient, inclusive and competitive market, pointing to the entry of more than 70 million people into the financial system since Pix was introduced. The payment system's growing footprint has pressured the share of card transactions, which U.S. firms Mastercard (MA.N) , opens new tab and Visa (V.N) , opens new tab dominate. Long a stronghold of credit cards, Brazil's e-commerce market saw Pix account for 42% of online purchases last year, edging past credit cards at 41%, according to Ebanx. Based on data from Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI), Ebanx projects Pix's online share will reach 45% by year-end and 50% in 2028, when its lead over credit cards is expected to widen to 14 percentage points. Eduardo de Abreu, Ebanx's chief product officer, said the central bank's launch of a recurring-payments feature last year helped Pix gain further ground after initially taking off in person-to-person transfers. Central bank data show consumer payments to businesses have been Pix's largest category by volume since September. In January, they made up 46% of total Pix transactions, compared with 40% for person-to-person transfers. "There has been a lot of trust-building among consumers around Pix, combined with wider availability on websites," Abreu said. He added, however, that credit cards are likely to retain a loyal base because of Brazil's ingrained use of interest‑free installments, especially for higher-ticket items, even when merchants offer shoppers discounts for upfront payment using Pix. "Discounts are attractive and make mathematical sense. But people look at it and think: even with the discount, I can't pay everything this month. I'd be cash-strapped even though it's cheaper," he said. "Installments increasingly serve the segment of the population that really needs that cash-flow flexibility." https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/instant-payment-system-pix-poised-capture-half-brazils-e-commerce-market-by-2028-2026-02-10/

2026-02-10 09:36

PARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Luca De Meo, the CEO of Gucci-owner Kering (PRTP.PA) , opens new tab, said on Tuesday the crisis at high-end department store conglomerate Saks Global shows that the distribution model of department stores needs to be reinvented. Speaking to reporters after presenting the group's annual results, De Meo said that Kering further needed to cut its reliance on wholesale. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/saks-global-collapse-shows-struggles-department-store-model-kering-ceo-says-2026-02-10/

2026-02-10 08:41

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Foreign outflows from Asian stocks rose sharply in the first week of February as South Korea and Taiwan came under pressure from a global selloff in high-growth technology shares on concerns over the hefty AI-related capital spending. Foreign investors sold a net $9.79 billion worth of stocks in the week ended February 6, compared with roughly $3.9 billion net disposals in the whole of January, according to LSEG data for stock markets in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Sign up here. The U.S. Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab fell as much as 4.27% last week. Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab slid about 12.11% on worries over a jump of more than 50% in its 2026 capital expenditures forecast, intensifying worries over AI-driven investment across the tech sector. "This shift in sentiment weighed on Asia tech stocks as well," Nomura said in a report. Foreigners sold $7.48 billion worth of South Korean stocks in the week, compared with a monthly inflow of $446 million in January. Taiwan stocks also suffered a net $3.43 billion foreign divestment in the most recent week after having received $306 million in foreign inflows last month. "This past week's moves in stocks reinforce, in our view, the message of maintaining some diversification and balance in portfolios, especially when positioning is crowded in some popular thematics," the Nomura report said. Cross-border investors, meanwhile, added a net $897 million worth of Indian stocks on optimism over a trade deal with the United States that cuts U.S. tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50%. Foreigners had sold $3.98 billion worth of Indian stocks in January, the most in five months. "As such, it has to be assumed that the geopolitical cloud overhanging Indian equities, especially for foreign investors, has eased," said William Bratton, the head of cash equity research, APAC at BNP Paribas. "We see the near-term risk/reward balance (for India) as now firmly skewed to the upside," BNP Paribas' Bratton said. Equities in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, meanwhile, attracted $332 million, $103 million and $23 million, respectively, in foreign inflows last week. Foreigners sold shares worth $236 million in Vietnam. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/foreign-investors-pull-asian-stocks-ai-driven-tech-rout-spreads-2026-02-10/