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☆ German voters send ominous message to Brussels
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s resounding defeat in key local elections on Sunday will be as traumatic in Brussels as in Berlin. Voters dealt a sharp blow to all three parties in Scholz’s centre-left executive. The victory of conservative opposition party CDU came together with a strong showing of far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), who won 15% of the votes in the populous state of Bavaria and 18% in Hesse. In Berlin, divisions on the pace and cost of the green transition between the Green Party and the liberal FDP, whose leader Christian Lindner is the coalition’s finance minister, have already led to a watering down of a planned boiler ban from 2024. In Brussels, a German government preoccupied with its domestic travails may be unable to rally other member states around the sort of compromise proposals the EU needs to clinch some key deals.

Persons: Olaf Scholz’s, Christian Lindner, Scholz, Pierre Briancon, Sandoz, Lisa Jucca, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Voters, Social Democrats, Greens, European Union, Green Party, X, Alstom, Brookfield, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Berlin, Scholz’s, Bavaria, Hesse, Germany, France, EU

☆ Finnair is one daunting rights issue that can fly
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A Finnair Airbus A320-200 aircraft prepares to take off from Manchester Airport in Manchester, Britain September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Rights issues worth almost the value of a company’s equity rarely get off the ground. Tell that to 700 million euro Finnair (FIA1S.HE), which on Friday unveiled a 600 million euro rights issue. For one thing, the Finnish state owns over half of the Nordic airline and is supporting the rights issue. The government is offsetting the cost of the cash call by being partly refunded a 400 million euro capital loan it granted to the airline in the wake of the pandemic.

Persons: Phil Noble, Aimee Donnellan, Tesla, Sandoz, George Hay, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Airbus, Manchester Airport, REUTERS, Reuters, Nordic, SAS, X, Alstom, Brookfield, Thomson Locations: Manchester, Britain

☆ Vietnam’s Tesla justifies stock price reversal
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A VinFast VF 8 model is seen during a car delivery ceremony at the VinFast car factory in Haiphong province, Vietnam, September 10, 2022. REUTERS/Thinh Nguyen Acquire Licensing RightsSINGAPORE, Oct 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Vietnam’s richest man may have to get used to spending some time in the slow lane. In August, Pham Nhat Vuong closed an unconvincing merger with a blank-cheque company that bestowed a $23 billion market value on his Tesla (TSLA.O) wannabe VinFast . There are no details of sales in the United States, a key target market where it has been burdened by poor reviews. Without some impressive progress outside of Vietnam, though, the EV company’s stock is going nowhere fast.

Persons: Thinh Nguyen, Pham Nhat Vuong, Sandoz, Antony Currie, Thomas Shum Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, EV, X, Alstom, Brookfield, Temasek, Thomson Locations: Haiphong province, Vietnam, Rights SINGAPORE, United States

☆ Alstom cash crunch dents management credibility
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Alstom (ALSO.PA) CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge faces an uphill struggle to shore up his credibility. The French train maker lost 35% of its market value – amounting to 3 billion euros - on Thursday after announcing that it would book negative free cash flow of 500 to 750 million euros this year. Finally, weaker than expected orders in the first half of the year generated less cash in the form of down payments. Given the potential for the group’s net debt to be 3 billion euros by year-end, 1 billion euros more than expected, Deutsche Bank analysts reckon it may soon need a capital increase. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Henri Poupart, Pierre Briancon, Aimee Donnellan, Streisand Neto Organizations: Alstom, REUTERS, Reuters, London Underground, Deutsche Bank, X, Sandoz, Brookfield, Temasek, Thomson Locations: Saint, Ouen, Paris, France

☆ Sandoz owners are banking on margin cure
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sandoz’s (SDZ.S) investors are giving CEO Richard Saynor the benefit of the doubt. Shares in the generics drug maker, which $217 billion pharma giant Novartis (NOVN.S) has finally managed to spin off, started to trade in Zurich on Wednesday. There was a risk that Novartis investors, who have long called for a sale or spinoff, would quickly dump the new Sandoz shares. At current market prices, Sandoz is worth nearly $11 billion, or $14.4 billion once net debt is added in. For now, Novartis investors seem to believe Sandoz’s treatment may be effective.

Persons: Richard Saynor, Sandoz, Aimee Donnellan, Lisa Jucca, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, Novartis, Sandoz, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, X, Brookfield pounces, Temasek, Thomson Locations: Zurich, That’s

☆ Brookfield pounces on two new green trends
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - European green assets are starting to look cheap. That’s the implication of Brookfield’s $1 billion swoop on Banks Renewables, one of the UK’s largest green energy developers. Having largely deployed a $15 billion energy transition-focused fund outside Europe, the Canadian investment giant’s new geographical focus is unlikely to be a one-off. Amid a green bubble in early 2021, when Orsted was worth $80 billion, Banks might have fetched way more. While Banks is big in onshore wind farms, the bulk of its 3.5 GW pipeline is focused on solar power and battery storage.

Persons: Orsted, Banks, George Hay, Aimee Donnellan, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Banks Renewables, International Energy Agency, Brookfield, X, Temasek, Thomson Locations: Europe, Brookfield

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