2024-06-24 11:22

BRUSSELS, June 24 (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Monday it had fined U.S. company International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF.N) New Tab, opens new tab (IFF) and its French affiliate 15.9 million euros ($17.05 million) for obstructing an inspection in an ongoing investigation of a suspected cartel in the supply of fragrances and fragrance ingredients. "The Commission found that during the inspection (in March 2023), a senior employee of IFF intentionally deleted WhatsApp messages exchanged with a competitor," the Commission said. "After the detection, IFF immediately acknowledged the facts and proactively cooperated with the Commission during and after the inspection. IFF cooperated by helping the Commission recover the deleted data." The investigation of a suspected fragrance cartel, which was opened in March 2023 and also targets Swiss companies Givaudan (GIVN.S) New Tab, opens new tab and Firmenich International as well as German player Symrise (SY1G.DE) New Tab, opens new tab, is ongoing, the Commission added. The companies have said they are cooperating with anti-cartel investigations - which are also being conducted in other jurisdictions - without commenting further, although Symrise has challenged the Commission's investigation in court. ($1 = 0.9327 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/eu-fines-iff-obstructing-investigation-suspected-fragrance-cartel-2024-06-24/

2024-06-24 11:21

June 24 (Reuters) - Sonoco Products (SON.N) New Tab, opens new tab said on Monday it would buy European food cans maker Eviosys from private equity group KPS Capital Partners in a $3.9 billion deal, to expand its metal and aerosol packaging business. The U.S. packaging firm expects to achieve more than $100 million in synergies from the integration of Eviosys with Sonoco's complementary metal can business. The deal, expected to close by end-2024 subject to certain conditions, will immediately add to Sonoco's adjusted earnings per share (EPS) and result in a more than 25% increase to its 2025 adjusted EPS. The company intends to finance the deal with new debt and proceeds from an equity issuance of up to $500 million. KPS Capital Partners said in a statement Sonoco has the option, under certain circumstances, to pay up to $200 million of the purchase consideration with its stock. Eviosys CEO Tomas Lopez will remain with Sonoco and lead the company's Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) metal packaging business. Sonoco said the acquisition advances its portfolio transformation strategy that also featured the divestiture of ThermoSafe, its temperature-assured packaging unit, and other businesses. It expects total proceeds of at least $1 billion from divestitures in the next 12 to 18 months. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/packaging-firm-sonoco-products-buy-eviosys-39-bln-deal-2024-06-24/

2024-06-24 11:17

Sanctions hit gas exports for first time New restrictions aim to reduce Russia's LNG revenues EU also sanctions six people for malicious cyber activity Proposed expansion of 'No Russia clause' scrapped for now BRUSSELS, June 24 (Reuters) - European Union countries adopted a 14th package of sanctions on Russia that aims to close some loopholes and hits Russia's gas exports for the first time, EU foreign ministers said on Monday. Western powers imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which have been progressively ramped up since. The new restrictions on gas aim to reduce Russia's revenues from liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports by banning trans-shipments off EU ports and a clause allowing Sweden and Finland to cancel some LNG contracts. The measures stop short of an EU ban on LNG imports, which have risen since the start of the war. The sanctions will take effect after a nine-month transition period. The package also prohibits new investments and services to complete LNG projects under construction in Russia. Gas market experts say the measure will likely have little impact as Europe still buys Russian gas itself and trans-shipments via EU ports to Asia represent only around 10% of total Russian LNG exports. An EU official said the estimated hit on Russia would be in the millions of euros rather than billions. Some central European countries still receive pipeline gas from Russia via Ukraine. The EU banned Russian oil imports in 2022 with some limited exemptions. SANCTIONS LIST The new package aims to limit circumvention of sanctions by creating more responsibility and penalties at member state level for those found flouting the regulations. It adds 116 entities and individuals to the sanctions list bringing the total to more than 2,200. In a separate move, the EU also announced New Tab, opens new tab sanctions against six people it said were involved in Russian "malicious cyber activities" against EU countries and Ukraine. It linked four of them directly to Russian intelligence and security services. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, had also proposed expanding the so-called "No Russia clause" passed in a previous package. The measure would have obliged subsidiaries of EU companies in third countries to prohibit the re-export of certain goods to Russia, including those with a dual-use for military purposes, as well as ammunition and firearms. However, it was scrapped at Germany's behest. The clause may be added later pending an impact assessment, diplomats said. In a further move to hurt Moscow's ability to trade, the package bans EU banks outside Russia from using Moscow's SPFS system, its equivalent to the global payments system SWIFT. Western powers banned Moscow from SWIFT in 2022. "It also allows the Council to draw up a list of non-Russian third country banks connected to such system; those banks will be banned from doing business with EU operators," a statement from the European Commission said. SHADOW FLEET The package aims to crack down on the so-called shadow fleet helping Russia's war effort by creating a framework to add ships to the list of sanctions, such as oil tankers circumventing the Russian oil price cap set by the Group of Seven nations as well as vessels moving North Korean ammunition to Russia. Vessels could be designated for instances including the "transport of military equipment for Russia, the transport of stolen Ukrainian grain and...the transport of LNG components or trans-shipments of LNG," the EU ministers' statement said. Diplomats said 27 ships- mostly tankers - would be listed initially with more to be added later. The EU has also sanctioned Russia's state-owned shipping behemoth Sovcomflot and its CEO Igor Vasilyevich Tonkovidov, according to the measures published in the EU's Official Journal on Monday. Included in the measures are restrictions on helium, rare earths and manganese ores as well as limits to Russian funding for think tanks and NGOs. EU countries are now debating a package that would better align sanctions against Belarus that predate Moscow's invasion of Ukraine with the ones targeting Russia since 2022. Belarus has been major loophole for goods reaching Russia, but members have been reluctant to tackle this over concerns around Belarus' major fertilizer exports. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-adopts-new-sanctions-against-russia-including-lng-2024-06-24/

2024-06-24 11:06

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) said on Monday it would publish guidance to harmonise how companies across the world publish details on their "transition plans" to meet net-zero targets. Such plans are becoming increasingly important as companies face a series of deadlines for cutting carbon emissions in the world's attempt to cap global warming. They are already mandatory for listed companies in the European Union under the bloc's corporate sustainability disclosure regulation. Companies outside the bloc, such as in Britain, Canada and in Asia are set to apply disclosures written by the ISSB that require information on transition plans to be disclosed, if a company has such a plan. "To support application of these disclosure requirements and to reduce fragmentation in information provided in the market, the ISSB plans to support work to streamline and consolidate frameworks and standards for disclosures about transition plans," the ISSB said in a statement. "The focus of the ISSB in this regard will continue to be on the provision of high-quality, decision-useful information about the plans that companies have... rather than requiring that companies engage in transition planning, per se." The ISSB will initially thrash out guidance based on existing private-sector best practices before considering the need to toughen up its application. Regulators see the plans as a key, future-facing element in the wider package of climate-related disclosures. Jean-Paul Servais, chair of IOSCO, which groups market regulators from across the world, said transition plans would benefit from consistency and comparability to aid investors. "IOSCO is undertaking its own engagement on transition plan disclosures and is considering the role of markets regulators in promoting integrity and mitigating greenwashing in that regard," Servais said. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero or GFANZ, a grouping of financial institutions, said that with 250 transition plans to be published by major financial firms this year alone, there is strong demand for a common global approach. "The G20 should now mandate transition plans for large companies and financial institutions to help turn commitments into action and unlock the capital needed to decarbonise the economy," GFANZ said. Climate-related disclosures in the United States have been approved, but are facing a court challenge. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/issb-seeks-harmonise-disclosures-corporate-climate-transition-plans-2024-06-24/

2024-06-24 11:04

NEW DELHI, June 24 (Reuters) - India has imposed limits on wheat stocks that traders can hold, and it may abolish or trim the import tax on the grain to keep prices low, a senior government official told reporters on Monday. Wheat prices in India, the world's second-biggest producer of the grain, have been rising in recent weeks because of concerns over supplies. "Imposing stock limits was just one option. We have many other tools at our disposal to ensure that wheat prices do not rise abnormally," food secretary Sanjeev Chopra told reporters. The government can consider other options like reducing import duty or allowing duty free imports, he said. New Delhi imposes a 40% tax on wheat imports. The reduction could allow private traders and flour millers to buy from producers such as top exporter Russia, for the first time in six years. The imports would help India replenish depleted reserves and hold down prices that leaped following three years of disappointing crops. There is no shortage of wheat in the country, Chopra said. Wheat stocks in state warehouses dropped to 7.5 million metric tons in April, the lowest in 16 years, after the government was forced to sell more than 10 million tons, a record, to flour millers and biscuit makers to tame prices. On April 1, 2023, wheat stocks in government warehouses totaled 8.2 million metric tons. India banned exports of wheat in 2022 and there is no proposal to lift the ban on the exports, Chopra said. Separately, there is no proposal to lift export curbs on sugar and rice, he added. India is the world's biggest exporter of rice and the second-biggest producer of sugar. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/india-imposes-limits-wheat-stocks-may-turn-imports-if-required-2024-06-24/

2024-06-24 11:03

CABILDO, Chile, June 24 (Reuters) - As heavy rains continue to pummel Chile, cutting off areas of the country and damaging thousands of homes, one community is dealing with a tailings dam rupture that has sent heavy metals throughout the community and nearby water supplies. A tailings dam belonging to copper miner Las Cenizas in central Chile began overflowing overnight on June 13 due to heavy rains and put nearby water sources, including the La Ligua river at risk of "adverse effects," Chile's environmental SMA agency said in a statement. "Sediment from the tailing was dragged through creeks and fell on some houses. This has been very worrying for the community," said Victor Donoso, the mayor of Cabildo said on Saturday. "Nobody likes living with a tailing dam right behind them." Chile is the world's largest copper producer and Cabildo is an agricultural area that is known for producing avocados and many residents are worried about the impact the overflow will have on their livelihood. Citizens expressed their worries in meetings with government officials and representatives from the mining company, which were working to rebuild the containment wall the overflowed last week. "I recognize there were some errors in our management," Andres Monarde, operations manager for Las Cenizas, told residents on Saturday. "But let's take a step forward together." Donoso said a formal complaint has been sent to the environmental regulator to see the impact the overflow has had on agriculture, houses and water sources. "The little I used to water my fruit trees, fill the pond, the avocados, the tailing burst and it got contaminated," said Jose Olmos, a local farmer. "The tailing brings heavy metals, like lead arsenic and a lot of metals. This is irreversible, I won't be able to use it anymore." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/heavy-rains-chile-cause-mining-tailing-overflow-2024-06-24/