Energy firm Eni and plastics unit fined over €32m
Milan — Italy’s antitrust authority said on Tuesday it had imposed fines exceeding €32m on energy company Eni and its plastics unit Novamont for abusing a dominant market position in the production of plastic bags.
Novamont, which makes bioplastics, employed practices aimed at excluding competitors in domestic markets for raw materials used to produce light and ultralight bags for fruit and vegetables, the regulator said in a statement.
It fined Eni €1.7m, while Novamont faced penalties totalling €30.4m for market abuse spanning from at least January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2023.
Novamont “firmly disagrees” with the watchdog’s decision, the bioplastics maker said in a statement, adding it would “assert its rights in judicial proceedings”. Reuters
Dollar facing decline against emerging currencies
London — The US dollar’s share in global currency reserves could fall below 50% over the next decade as other currencies gain traction, a Czech central bank official said on Tuesday.
“Other currencies will emerge, probably (the) Chinese currency or some other emerging countries. For this reason, the weight of dollar will decline,” Jan Kubicek, a board member at the Czech National Bank, told an Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) webinar, predicting a drop to 47%. Reuters
Impact of Brazil’s rapid bank cycle ‘yet to be felt’
Brasilia — Brazil’s central bank said on Tuesday that much of the impact from its “particularly quick and very firm” tightening cycle is yet to be felt, which is why it now foresees a pause in interest rate increases to assess those effects.
In the minutes of last week’s decision, when it raised rates by 25 basis points to 15% and signalled a “very prolonged” pause ahead, policymakers said the economy remains resilient, complicating efforts to bring inflation back to target. Reuters
Artemis issues €400m Kering-linked cash bond
Milan — Artemis, the holding company of the Pinault family and the leading investor in French luxury group Kering, has launched a non-dilutive cash-settled exchangeable bond worth €400m, it said on Tuesday.
Investors in the bond, Artemis said in a statement, will have the right to exchange the securities for an amount of cash linked to the performance of ordinary Kering shares.
The cash amount will be based on the average price of the Kering stock over a period after the exchange, without any delivery of shares, it said. Reuters
Cheniere Energy approves $25bn LNG expansion
US liquefied natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy on Tuesday said its board has approved the final investment decision for the Corpus Christi Midscale Trains 8 & 9 project, which will add nearly 5-million tonnes per year of production capacity.
The company has also given Bechtel Energy full notice to proceed with construction of CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9.
Cheniere expects to deploy more than $25bn of available cash through 2030 towards accretive growth, share repurchases, balance sheet management and dividends. Reuters
Healthcare AI user raises $300m in funding round
Bengaluru — Healthcare firm Abridge, which uses artificial intelligence to build medical documents, has raised $300m in a funding round, it said on Tuesday.
The funding round was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Khosla Ventures.
Founded in 2018, Pittsburgh-based Abridge automates clinical notes and medical conversations for doctors using artificial intelligence.
The latest fundraise comes after the firm raised $250m earlier this year. Reuters
Royality Pharma to support Revolution Medicines cancer drug
Bengaluru — Royalty Pharma said on Tuesday it would pay up to $2bn to Revolution Medicines to support the companies’ plans for global development and sales of the experimental cancer drug daraxonrasib.
Under the agreement, Royalty Pharma will provide up to $1.25bn, including a $250m upfront payment, in exchange for a synthetic royalty on annual worldwide net sales of daraxonrasib.
The company will also extend $750m in secured debt to Revolution Medicines. Reuters
Spain sets new rules for BBVA’s takeover of Sabadell
Madrid — The Spanish government has set new conditions in its approval of BBVA’s proposed hostile takeover bid for smaller rival Sabadell, including that they remain distinct legal entities over the next three years, economy minister Carlos Cuerpo said on Tuesday.
These conditions are different from the competition criteria used by Spain’s antitrust watchdog when it cleared the deal, currently valued at about €14bn and subject to several remedies. Reuters
Austria completes report on Signa graft probe
Vienna — Austrian anticorruption and economic crime prosecutors have wrapped up their initial investigation into the collapse of the Signa property empire and filed a report so that a decision on potential prosecutions can be made, they said on Tuesday.
In a statement, they said there were four new strands, including an investigation into Signa founder Rene Benko and people unknown on suspicion of favourable treatment to a creditor over an about €15m repayment relating to a loan to Signa Prime while that Signa unit was insolvent.
Other investigations involve alleged fraud relating to rental of a luxury chalet in the Austrian alpine village of Lech and a €17m loan to Signa Holding, as well as allegations of inflated prices in a Viennese residential project.
Benko has previously denied allegations made against him. Reuters
France tells Tesla to stop deception
Paris — French investigators on Tuesday ordered Tesla to stop what they called “deceptive business practices” or face thousands of euros in fines.
Investigators at the finance ministry’s Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control office said the carmaker had engaged in deceptive commercial practices over the fully autonomous driving capabilities of its cars, had issued sales contracts with no date, time or place of vehicle delivery, and had failed to provide timely refunds, among other infractions.
The office, which said the investigation began in 2023, ordered Tesla to comply with regulations within four months or face fines of €50,000 a day after that date until it complies.
Tesla did not respond to an email request for comment. Reuters
Oil prices ‘will not stop EU disinflation’
Frankfurt — Disinflation in the eurozone is set to continue regardless of some volatility in oil prices related to turmoil in the Middle East, the European Central Bank’s vice-president, Luis de Guindos, said on Tuesday.
“If the oil price rises — though it looks like it has been somewhat contained — this will be something we will have to take into account, but always in a context in which the underlying disinflation process is relatively clear,” De Guindos told an event in Spain. Reuters
Iberdrola names Pedro Azagra Blazquez new CEO
Madrid — Spain’s Iberdrola has appointed the chief of its US subsidiary Avangrid, Pedro Azagra Blazquez, as new group CEO, replacing Armando Martinez Martinez, who resigned as CEO, the power utility company said on Tuesday.
The change comes as Europe’s largest utility has expanded its focus on the US, which it sees as a key market for its renewables operations and grid business.
Azagra Blazquez held different positions at the company, including as strategy and mergers & acquisitions chief. He will now be second in command at the group behind executive chair Ignacio Sanchez Galan, who has led the company for about two decades.
Martinez Martinez had been named CEO in 2022. Reuters
Australia starts sale of Gupta’s Whyalla Steelworks
Sydney — The Australian government on Tuesday formally opened the sale process for commodity tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s Whyalla Steelworks, which it said has attracted strong interest.
The South Australia steel plant was placed in administration in February, with its operating company owing tens of millions of dollars to creditors, and forced the state and federal government to come up with an A$1.9bn (R22bn) bailout package.
Gupta’s family conglomerate, GFG Alliance, said in March it remained the largest creditor in Whyalla Steelworks at A$536m (R6.1bn). The privately held conglomerate has been refinancing its global businesses in steel, aluminium and energy since its backer, Greensill, filed for insolvency in March 2021. Another subsidiary, Liberty Steel East Europe, was put into administration late last year. Reuters
German business sentiment surprises in June
Berlin — German business morale improved more than expected in June, a survey showed on Tuesday, potentially marking a turning point for Europe’s biggest economy as lower borrowing costs and the government’s fiscal package boost confidence.
The Ifo Institute said its business climate index rose to 88.4 in June from 87.5 in May, ahead of the 88.2 reading analysts forecast in a Reuters poll, with the services sector showing the strongest improvement. “The German economy is slowly gaining confidence,” Ifo president Clemens Fuest said.
A jump in the expectations index to 90.7 from 89.0 accounted for most of the improvement, which Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank, attributed primarily to the new government’s huge fiscal package and falling eurozone interest rates. Reuters
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