Javier Arce | The ECB does not get the banks to move their money, interbank market is still broken and eurozone lenders are accumulating the ECB’s liquidity injections (almost 700bn) at the central bank itself.
After closing their acquisition of Abertis, ACS and Atlantia’s aim is to cut debt, and to do that it will refinance 7 billion euros via bond issuances and the sale of assets, keeping bank financing of 3 billion euros as a long-term loan.
There are rumours of a corporate transaction. Iberdrola, Gas Natural, Engie and Enel are tipped in the press to be candidates for a key role in a corporate deal with EDP. These companies would potentially be interested in participating in an operation, so as not to be outmanoeuvred in the next wave of mergers in the sector.
Ewald Nowotny, a member of the ECB Governing Council said recently he was comfortable with the possibility of an increase in the deposit rate, from -0.4% to -0.2%, “as a first step” before any change in the official interest rate. At April 6, European banks kept 690, 384 million euros in the ECB. It’s the first time, since interest rates have been at a record low of 0%, that an ECB member has talked so clearly about a rise.
Inmobiliaria Colonial announced at the market close on Tuesday that its board and that of the socimi Axiare have approved the merger of both companies. The integration still has to be ratified at the respective shareholder meetings. It will be carried out via a share exchange: 1,8554 shares of Colonial for each share of Axiare.
Iberdrola has exceeded 56% of its share buyback programme by up to 1.543% of its capital, after investing over 3 million euros in its own shares in its last buyback operations, according to a statement from the company lodged with the Stock Market Regulator (CNMV).
On Friday, S&P raised its rating on the main Spanish banks by one notch. The decision came in the wake of the rating upgrde by the same agency for Spain’s public debt on March 23, so its “a logical move,” according to Renta4.
European buybacks seem to be increasing by approximately 25 billion euros to a universe of 420 shares (excluding the banks) with a combined market capitalisation of 8 billion euros.
Glen Kuecker and Kris Hartley | Technological fixes such as smart cities make a system more complex, resulting in “wicked problems” that require ever more extensive technological remedies.
S. Ramakrishna Velamuri via Caixin | A leading Indian business daily reported on March 6 that Chinese corporations had made investments of $5.2 billion in Indian early- and growth-stage companies in 2017, and the figure for the first two months of 2018 had already crossed $1 billion.