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Chair António Horta-Osório banished one demon by settling a Mozambican scandal for $475 mln. The Swiss bank also closed the book on a spying saga. Yet a U.S. deferred prosecution agreement prolongs the haunting. And the ghosts of clients Greensill and Archegos still linger.

Australia-based Aristocrat is paying a chunky 58% premium to buy UK gambling software maker Playtech. The tech-related stakes are big, but plans to close in some areas will come at a cost. Backlash against giddy growth in online wagering also lowers the odds of financial success.

Top owner Invesco has finally spelt out its concerns and plans for broadcaster Zee after going to court to force a shareholder meeting and oust boss Punit Goenka. In a market where big backers rarely agitate, a fund manager is helpfully rewriting the governance script.

A tie-up between the $15 bln French grocer and rival Auchan fell apart amid a valuation dispute. Concerns over competition and jobs complicate local mergers, while a failed Canadian takeover showed foreign buyers are unwelcome. Carrefour has little choice but to expand abroad.

A landmark accord backed by 136 countries offers little scope for non-U.S. governments to raise money from giants like Facebook. One fix is to give nations with big markets a larger share of tax receipts. Sharing out levies according to where revenue is generated would be ideal.

Memory chips are set to help lift the South Korean company’s quarterly operating profit 28% to $13 bln. Growth at its small semiconductor design and manufacturing arms also warrant greater attention. Customers like Tesla could make the units secret weapons against Taiwans titan.

The Abu Dhabi-owned chip manufacturer has filed for a U.S. IPO. It has tailwinds thanks to industry capacity shortages and Western countries’ desire to produce semiconductors at home. But it’s plagued by persistent losses and a reported $25 billion valuation looks a stretch.

France’s Eutelsat rejected the telecom billionaire’s $3.2 bln bid. If a follow-up offer succeeds, Drahi could pursue a cost-saving merger with rival SES, whose TV-signal business is also succumbing to gravity. A chunky spectrum refund from the U.S. government makes a deal easier.

The African state owes Chinese lenders $6.6 bln, twice as much as previously thought. That doesn’t change its overall debt burden, just the mix of creditors. But it alters the power balance in restructuring talks. The case for borrowers to be more transparent just got stronger.

Combining CK Hutchison’s local 3 unit with Ooredoo’s Indosat produces a $6 bln No. 2 player and synergies of $400 mln. If past industry tie-ups in similar markets are a guide, the Hong Kong and Qatari groups’ deal will also lift rivals’ revenue and cut their costs too.