Spanish renewable energy company and Germany’s E.On have signed an agreement for the purchase and sale of commercial electricity assets in Hungary. The deal involves the transfer of a portfolio of over 82,000 customers accounting for 25% share of the market. It includes the supply by E.On to Audax of up to 6 TWh for two years.
Peter Isackson | Though the cost of the fine imposed on the bank by New York authorities will only make a small dent in its earnings, Deutsche Bank promises to learn how to perfect its methods of due diligence.
Scope Ratings | The appointment of a new prime minister and a shift towards greening the economy could help to restore political integration across government levels over the medium term but reviving the economy remains the key near-term priority. Emmanuelle Macron is facing the multi-faceted challenges of reviving the economy, addressing the climate imperative and resetting his presidency amid declining approval ratings.
BofA Global Research | Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the global gold sector “heated” up in Q2’20 with twelve transactions announced (highest quarterly total since Q4’12) with a total transaction value of $2.86 billion, nearly double that in Q1’20. Historically global gold sector M&A activity heats up during times of buoyant gold prices. The “elephant-in-the-room” was SSR Mining’s friendly $1.71 billion all share merger with Alacer Gold on May 11 2020. The remaining eleven transactions ranged in size from $27mn to $238mn.
US biotech firm Moderna and Spanish laboratory Rovi announced a collaboration agreement to carry out the filling and finishing of a candidate vaccine for Covid-19 (mRNA-1273) outside the US. ROVI will carry out the phases of vial filling and completion. Thus it will acquire a new production line and the necessary equipment for formulation, filling, inspection and labelling, as well as the additional personnel required.The new line would be owned by Rovi, but Moderna will make the investment.
Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe has been elected as the new Eurogroup President, replacing Portugal’s Mario Centeno. He beat out Spanish minister Nadia Calviño, who had the favourable support of the countries accounting for 80% of the Eurozone’s GDP, including Germany, France and Italy.
Trinh D. Nguyen (Natixis) | Here comes the good news: emerging Asia is turning the corner and on its upward trajectory in terms of growth in H2 2020. But increasingly, the pace of recovery from the trough is much slower for some and faster for others, creating widening divergence in emerging Asia. China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines to a lesser extent, have shown a rapid rebound from their trough, based on the latest June manufacturing data. Other indicators such as retail sales also confirm this. That said, Indonesia and India are still struggling as the recovery is more sluggish and in contractionary territory. Singapore and Thailand are also lagging but have more buffers to offset drag.
Just 6% of Spanish companies generated 80% of the new jobs created in the recent years, specifically in the period 2004-2017. These firms were characterised by their rapid growth, according to the study ‘Business dynamics in Spain and digitalization: challenges in the face of the new crisis of COVID-19’. The study was published this Wednesday by the Ramón Areces Foundation and the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE).
Spain’s Cabinet has authorised the processing of the emergency decrees to regulate the procedure for auctions and access and connection to the energy transmission networks. These decrees will provide legal certainty for the Spanish energy framework, preparing it for the installation of some 60 GW of renewables in the next decade. Up until now, the product auctioned has been the installed capacity, subject to a minimum and maximum in order to receive the return per operation.
James Reilly (Schroeders)| The current coronavirus crisis appears to be a rather potent cocktail of all three of these events: a viral epidemic more widespread than SARS, an economic downturn sharper than the GFC, and a fear of flying comparable to the aftermath of 9/11. This points to a trough far greater than the 45% downturn in international travel seen nine months into the GFC.