2024-11-21 23:53

STOCKHOLM, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Sweden's Northvolt said on Thursday it will seek U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the cash-strapped battery start-up seeks to sort out its finances. The company went in a matter of months this year from being Europe's best shot at a home-grown electric-vehicle battery champion to racing to stay afloat, hobbled by production problems and as funding ran out. Northvolt, whose motto is "make oil history", has received more than $10 billion in equity, debt and public financing, and counts Volkswagen, with a 21% stake, and Goldman Sachs, with a 19% holding, as its biggest owners. Here is a timeline of major events. 2016-2018 Company founded in 2016 as SGF Energy by two former Tesla executives and venture firm Vargas Holding. It becomes Northvolt in 2017, receiving equity funding of $12 million that year and an additional $120 million in 2018. The group in 2017 announces plans to build $4 billion lithium-ion battery gigafactory Northvolt Ett and research facility Northvolt Labs. It partners with BMW and truck maker Scania. It says in October 2018 it is developing a battery systems factory in Poland. 2019 Volkswagen, BMW and Goldman Sachs are among investors in a $1 billion equity capital raise. Volkswagen takes a stake of about 20%, becoming the biggest owner, with battery production for the automaker planned for late 2023 or early 2024. 2020 Northvolt raises $600 million in equity and $1.6 billion in debt. BMW signs a 2 billion euro ($2.16 billion) contract for battery cells to be produced from 2024. 2021 Volkswagen places a 10-year, $14 billion battery cell order with the company, Northvolt says in March. In the same month it announces the acquisition of California-based lithium-metal battery start-up Cuberg. Later that year the group raises $2.75 billion in equity to finance an expansion of Northvolt Ett, aiming for the plant to have annual capacity of 60 gigawatt hours, enough for some one million cars. It also establishes the Novo joint venture with Volvo Cars, with plans for a 50 GWh factory, and in December announces that it has formed the Aurora lithium joint venture with Portugal's Galp. The company says in December it has assembled the first lithium-ion battery cell at Northvolt Ett. 2022 Sweden is turning into a battery-making superpower, the then-industry minister tells news agency TT. Northvolt announces in February plans for gigafactory Northvolt Fem in Sweden. This is first meant to be a battery cell factory, then an active cathode material plant. It is cancelled in 2024. The group also in 2022 delivers the first battery cells to customers. It says in July it has raised $1.7 billion in convertible debt for factory rollouts. 2023 Sources tell Reuters in February that Northvolt plans to hire banks for an initial public offering that could take place within 12 months and value the company at more than $20 billion. The IPO is later postponed. The group says in August it has raised $1.9 billion in convertible debt to finance expansion in Europe, North America. Northvolt announces plans in September for the $5 billion Northvolt Six battery plant in the Montreal region of Quebec, Canada. It touts a $50 billion order book and almost 6,000 employees. 2024 January - Northvolt inks a $5 billion loan package to pay for the second stage of Northvolt Ett, a tripling of capacity. Sweden issues credit guarantees for $1.5 billion of the package, but the money is not paid out as construction is halted. March - In the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Northvolt starts construction of Northvolt Drei in Germany, with planned annual production capacity of 60 GWh. The plant wins 900 million euro in subsidies. June - BMW cancels , opens new tab a 2 billion euro battery order signed in 2020. Sources tell Reuters the reason is that Northvolt cannot deliver on time. July - Northvolt launches a strategic review of its business, with the CEO saying the company expended too aggressively. August - The group shuts Cuberg in California, concentrating R&D in Sweden. Sept. 9 - Northvolt says it will focus on battery cell production. It halts cathode active material production, effectively shelving plans to become end-to-end self-sufficient in the battery-making value chain. The group says planned battery plants in Canada and Germany may be delayed. Sept. 16 - Sweden's prime minister says the government will not take a stake in Northvolt. Sept. 23 - The company announces layoffs of 1,600 employees in Sweden and cancels the Northvolt Ett expansion, adding it will concentrate on raising production at the current plant. Sept. 24 - Northvolt says Northvolt Ett produced a record 60,000 battery cells in one week, a tiny fraction of the plant's capacity, according to analysts, as production problems persist. Oct. 8 - The Northvolt subsidiary in charge of expanding the plant in Sweden files for bankruptcy with billions of crowns in unpaid debt. Oct. 9 - The head of Northvolt Ett steps down after 15 months in the job. Oct. 10 - The company seeks to sell its stockpile of surplus battery-making materials, sources tell Reuters. Oct. 11 - The group is in talks with investors and lenders to secure about 200 million euros in funding, sources tell Reuters, far less than the $1.4 billion that Swedish media reported earlier in the year that Northvolt hoped to raise. Oct. 21 - Northvolt says it is making significant progress on financing. A source tells Reuters the company aims to raise more than $300 million, which could give it funds until next year. Oct. 31 - Volvo Cars says it is seeking to take full control over Swedish battery-making joint venture NOVO, as Northvolt is no longer contributing funds. Nov. 11 - Northvolt says the head of investments at Volkswagen is leaving the group's board. Nov. 15 - Northvolt has considered seeking U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as one of several potential survival options, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Nov. 18 - Northvolt has missed some in-house production targets and has curtailed production at its plant in northern Sweden, according to internal company documents reviewed by Reuters and company sources. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/northvolt-goes-europe-battery-promise-crisis-2024-11-21/

2024-11-21 23:39

U.S. indicts Adani Group executives for alleged $265 million bribery scheme Sagar Adani's 'bribe notes' on phone detail payments to Indian officials, filings say Adani Group says allegations are baseless Nov 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. indictment of top executives of India's Adani Group has put a spotlight on Sagar Adani, a millennial scion of the company who kept track of hundreds of millions of dollars of alleged bribes to Indian officials on his mobile phone, court filings show. U.S. prosecutors called the notes on Adani’s phone “bribe notes." In those notes, Sagar Adani, nephew of the Indian conglomerate's billionaire founder Gautam Adani, noted the amount of the bribe he offered, which government official had been offered the money and how much solar power the official's region would buy in return. He even identified a per megawatt bribe rate to secure the power contracts, the court filings show. In discussing how the bribery scheme was moving along in 2020, Sagar Adani remarked in a WhatsApp message: “Yup…but the optics are very difficult to cover.” Those optics became impossible to cover on Wednesday when Sagar Adani, his uncle Gautam, one of the world's richest men, and six others were indicted for fraud by U.S. prosecutors over their alleged roles in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power-supply deals expected to yield $2 billion in profit over 20 years. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a parallel civil case. Sagar Adani and Gautam Adani did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. In a statement, Adani Group said the allegations made by U.S. authorities in criminal and civil cases were "baseless and denied," adding that it would seek "all possible legal recourse." Sagar Adani, 30, was educated at Brown University, an Ivy League college, and joined the Adani Group in 2015. He is credited with building the entire solar and wind portfolio of Adani Green Energy. He currently oversees "all strategic and financial matters of Adani Green Energy," its website says. The crisis is the second in two years to hit the ports-to-power conglomerate founded by Gautam Adani, 62, who Forbes magazine says is the world’s 25th richest man. The fallout was felt immediately, as billions of dollars were wiped off the market value of Adani Group companies and Kenya's president canceled a massive airport project with the group. ‘BRIBE NOTES’ At the center of prosecutors' investigation were Sagar Adani’s "bribe notes," the court filings show, in which he kept track of the payments to secure power deals. In his notes, Sagar Adani was detailed, sometimes calculating the bribe’s value down to the per megawatt rate. He also sought to be discreet, alluding to the government officials who had taken the money with their abbreviated titles. One WhatsApp message dated Feb. 25, 2021, dealt with the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Chhattisgarh as potential purchasers of green power. Sagar Adani wrote: “Just so you know, we have doubled the incentives to push for these acceptances.” In another example laid out in the filings, Sagar Adani offered a bribe in July 2021 worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to government officials in the Indian state of Odisha in exchange for the state agreeing to purchase 500 megawatts of power. Just one month later, in a series of meetings, the filings allege that Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani offered a bribe to Andhra Pradesh government officials, including the chief minister, in exchange for a power deal of 7,000 MW. The bribe payment was worth approximately $200 million, the court filings say. Sagar Adani was also instrumental, the court filings show, in recouping some of the bribe money he paid out from others involved in the scheme. Between April and June 2022, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, along with other company executives, met in person in India multiple times with the chairman of a power company called Azure and other officials. The discussion included how Gautam Adani, with Sagar Adani’s assistance, “had promised or paid bribes to state government officials" in India to procure contracts, the filings said. U.S. prosecutors said the Adanis repeatedly sought to collect from Azure its agreed-upon share of those bribes. Azure did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, Azure said it was aware of regulatory actions against former directors and officers who it said had not been associated with Azure for more than a year. Azure said the company "has cooperated with those agencies and it will continue to do so." In a conversation with Indian students in 2020, Sagar Adani was asked how he deals with risk. He responded: "When you talk about risk, every single thing that you do in business, there is a risk associated with it." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/bribe-notes-with-per-megawatt-rates-filings-detail-sagar-adanis-role-indian-2024-11-21/

2024-11-21 23:25

BRASILIA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's government has blasted French retailer Carrefour (CARR.PA) , opens new tab after its CEO vowed to keep South American meat off its shelves in France in solidarity with farmers, calling the comments part of a wider push to undermine a pending trade deal. Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro called the pledge part of an "orchestrated action" by French companies to sabotage the trade pact between the European Union and South American trade bloc Mercosur, which officials aim to finalize this year. In a social media post addressed to leaders of France's farm lobbies on Wednesday, Bompard said the EU-Mercosur deal presented the "risk of meat production spilling over into the French market failing to meet its requirements and standards." "Carrefour wants to form a united front with the agricultural world and is today committing not to sell any meat from Mercosur," he added. Carrefour representatives clarified to Reuters that the retailer does not currently source meat in France from Mercosur. The company did not answer questions about sourcing for its stores elsewhere in Europe. Brazilian meat industry group Abiec, which represents beef suppliers including JBS (JBSS3.SA) , opens new tab, Marfrig (MRFG3.SA) , opens new tab and Minerva (BEEF3.SA) , opens new tab, called the retailer's plan "contradictory" as its local unit Carrefour Brasil (CRFB3.SA) , opens new tab operates 1,200 stores in the country selling mostly domestic beef. "It seems to me that they are trying to find some pretext so that France does not sign ... the finalization of the Mercosur-European Union agreement," Favaro said. In a separate statement, Brazil's Agriculture Ministry had said Brazil's rigorous controls made it the largest exporter of beef and poultry in the world, selling to 160 countries and meeting the strictest standards, including those of the EU. Conrado Ferber, head of Uruguay's National Meat Institute, said Carrefour's stance was "regrettable" and "commercially incomprehensible" because it disregarded the basis of free trade that allows economies to grow. In a statement to Reuters on Thursday, Carrefour clarified that the CEO's comments applied only to stores in France, and is not related to the quality of Mercosur meat but rather concerns from the French agricultural sector. Carrefour said all other countries where the group is present, including Brazil and Argentina, can continue to purchase meat from Mercosur. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/brazil-blasts-carrefour-over-vow-keep-mercosur-meat-off-shelves-2024-11-21/

2024-11-21 23:16

BRASILIA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's Finance Minister said on Thursday that government will freeze $860 million in 2024 spending and maintain its yearly primary deficit goal, adding that a fiscal package with budget cuts for the next years could be announced as soon as Monday. Speaking with journalists in Brasilia, minister Fernando Haddad said this year revenues have been performing as expected, but government will need to block or freeze some 5 billion reais ($859.9 million) in spending. Brazilian government has until Friday to release a bi-monthly revenue and expenditure report with updates on its budget outlook for this year. Haddad said the government will not change its primary deficit target for this year, which mandates zero deficit excluding interest payments, with a tolerance margin of 0.25 percentage points of GDP in either direction. The minister also said that government would be ready to announce a fiscal package with broad spending cut measures for the next years as of Monday, when he will attend an internal meeting to finalize the plan. Expectations for more details on the fiscal package impact have been driving Brazil's assets in recent weeks, as investors await to see if the measures would be enough to end their worries on government's ability to comply with its fiscal framework. ($1 = 5.8144 reais) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-freeze-860-mln-2024-spending-nears-fiscal-package-announcement-2024-11-21/

2024-11-21 23:06

Exporters' dollar pile tops $836 billion Options pricing suggests increased demand Businesses seek new markets, two-way trade to offset risk SHANGHAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Chinese firms are squirreling away even more dollars, pricing contracts in yuan and opening import lines to mitigate currency risks as trade tensions threaten to roil foreign exchange rates. The trend shows exporters are preparing for a long-term shift in trade towards Asia, Latin America and Africa, and safeguarding against potential currency fluctuations like those seen during U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's first term. Knife-edge margins are also adding to companies' anxieties, with spot markets already pushing the dollar about 2% higher on the yuan in the weeks since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. "There's an obvious spike in willingness to hold dollars offshore," said David Jiang, founder of risk management consultancy Qian Jing. A business in eastern Jiangsu province, which earns $300 million in annual exports, wants help to protect 5% margins from currency risks as it must also navigate Trump's threat of imposing 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, he said. For now, most firms are holding on to their dollar earnings from exports and keeping them offshore, if possible. Onshore foreign-currency deposits swelled 6.6% to $836.5 billion over the 12 months to end-October, central bank data showed. Analysts' average forecast is for the yuan to fall to 7.3 per dollar by the end of next year from around 7.24 per dollar currently. "The interest rate differential between the United States and China is wide and that will continue to persist for a prolonged period ... holding dollar assets is natural for Chinese exporters," said Liu Yang, general manager of the financial market business department at minerals exporter Zheshang Development Group. High U.S. interest rates have pressured forwards such that it is un-economic for exporters to lock in future rates, though Liu said it was favourable for importers to do so and for exporters to sell call options at around 7.5 . CHANGING TRADE Owning dollars has been a winning strategy. The currency has been kept strong by high U.S. rates and falling Chinese ones. However, with the trade turmoil of Trump's first presidency, Chinese businesses are preparing for future disruptions. The yuan rallied 10% through the first 18 months before sliding about 12% through his imposition of tariffs and the pandemic. That experience has China more prepared this time and has already begun a re-shaping of global trade that is flowing through into financial markets, especially foreign exchange. "A heavy tariff regime could also change the constitution of currency hedging flows in the long run," said Nathan Swami, Asia-Pacific head of currency trading at Citi in Singapore. "The renminbi's share of global payments and trade has been growing over the years and it is possible that some of that new trade could be non-USD denominated, thus changing the need for underlying currency hedging." The yuan's share in global trade finance stood at 5.77% at the end of October - ranking it second behind the dollar - compared with about 2% in 2020, according to data from the global bank messaging network SWIFT. The share of Chinese exports sent to the U.S. has steadily decreased in recent years, while increasing to Southeast Asia, India and Mexico, customs data shows. Some exporters are already making their own attempts to cut out currency risks by quoting prices in yuan or taking positions in two-way trade flows. Jacky Wang, a businessman based in southern Guangdong, who sells LED lights in South America and Africa, is setting his own FX deals with customers and says companies should reduce risks by striking up bilateral trades. "That means using export proceeds to buy local products for imports into China, while converting profits into the U.S. dollar," he said. "This is a simple, and basic way to manage currency risks," he said, without using complex hedging tools. The view was echoed by Han Changming, a car importer in southern Fujian province, who also exports commodities. "The two-way trade provides a natural hedge," Han said. While most businesses are not agile enough to lessen risks effectively, exporters are benefiting from a weakening currency as it increases global competitiveness and boosts profits when converted to yuan. Still, advisers say the backdrop is putting hedging front of mind. "When Chinese companies venture into new markets, they need to think seriously if they are at the table or on the menu," said Joseph Liu, chief operating officer of consultancy FX Expert, noting companies were entering volatile FX countries. "While Trump ... stirs short-term anxiety, the trend of going overseas is a long-term positive to my business." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/corporate-china-seeks-dollars-trade-tensions-rise-2024-11-21/

2024-11-21 22:22

Nov 21 (Reuters) - The chief engineer for nuclear weapons at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is joining nuclear fusion startup Fuse, the company said Thursday. James Owen spent over 28 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, focused on weapons engineering. The New Mexico-based lab, set up in 1943 as the top-secret facility for the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, maintains the nation's largest nuclear weapons arsenal, and oversees the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. At San Francisco Bay Area-based Fuse, Owen will be leading the company's efforts to sell to U.S. governmental agencies, in areas including radiation services, a critical component of nuclear fusion energy. Fuse is one of a number of startups, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman-backed Helion, that is racing to commercialize nuclear fusion technology as a source of clean energy, though some experts have said its commercial viability is still decades away. "If I thought it was well outside of my career horizon, I'd be less interested in trying to solve this problem," Owen told Reuters. "Some argue it's within a decade, others argue it’s beyond that, but recent advancements give me hope." Fusion, which fuels the sun and stars, is in the experimental stage on Earth, but could one day generate enormous amounts of energy that emits virtually no greenhouse gas and without generating large amounts of long-lasting radioactive waste. Fusion is of particular importance to the artificial intelligence industry, which has been hamstrung by not having enough power to fuel the ever-growing computing clusters it needs to train smarter AI systems. Altman has said that an energy breakthrough such as nuclear fusion is necessary to the future of artificial intelligence. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/los-alamos-national-laboratory-chief-engineer-joins-nuclear-fusion-startup-fuse-2024-11-21/