BP bets $200 million on solar power
BP, like other major European oil companies, is responding to pressure from investors and governments, especially in the region, to shift away from the traditional fossil fuels blamed for climate change, such as oil and gas, and into cleaner sources of energy. Statoil, the Norwegian giant, for example, is staking out a big position in offshore wind, and Total, the French company, last year bought a battery-maker called Saft for about $1.1 billion.
"The European majors feel under pressure to diversify, to get exposure to different technologies so they are not left out," said Valentina Kretzschmar, an analyst at energy consultants Wood Mackenzie. "It is what a lot of their peer group is doing."
Renewables like solar and wind power are increasingly seen as not just a science experiment or a concession to political and environmental pressures, but a good business opportunity in their own right. Wood Mackenzie estimates that renewable energy products return between 7 percent and 10 percent on capital invested.
-- The New York Times
Unilever sells margarines for $8.1B
Unilever agreed to sell its margarine and spreads business to KKR & Co. for $8.1 billion, ridding the Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods giant of one of its worst-performing units as it focuses on faster-growing food and personal-care niches.
The private equity firm's purchase of the division, whose brands include Flora and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, is the biggest leveraged buyout announced in Europe this year. Completion is expected in the middle of 2018, the companies said in a statement Friday.
The sale advances Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman's effort to focus Unilever on faster-growing brands such as Pukka Herbs tea and Sir Kensington's condiments. The company, like rivals such as Nestle SA, is grappling with changing tastes that mean some of its older products are out of favor as consumers seek fresher, healthier alternatives. The London- and Rotterdam-based company is under pressure to simultaneously cut costs and accelerate sales after fending off an unsolicited, $143 billion takeover bid this year from Kraft Heinz Co.
Unilever said it would return the net cash realized from the transaction to shareholders, "unless more value-creating acquisition alternatives arise."
-- Bloomberg News
Nazi-era claims dropped against banks
A U.S. judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG in which a Jewish trust tried to reclaim $3 billion that dates back to before the rise of the Nazis in Germany.
The case centers on funds that Karl Wertheim, the son of a German-Jewish industrialist, paid into Credit Suisse accounts in Switzerland, beginning in 1931. The Wertheim Jewish Education Trust, formed in 2016, says it acts on behalf of the lawful heirs to the fortune owned by Wertheim, who died in 1945.
Wertheim inherited all of his father Joseph Wertheim's business assets when Joseph died in 1899 having built up a "corporate empire" worth "hundreds of millions of dollars," the judgment says. That estate is now estimated to be worth $3 billion.
The trust says that, through a complex series of events, the banks have refused to help the lawful heirs to get the money since 2006, according to the judge's order. But Judge Kevin Michael Moore, a U.S. judge in Florida, said on Dec. 6 that he was dismissing the case because the court lacked "personal jurisdiction" over the banks.
The complaint says Wertheim feared the rise of anti-Semitism in 1920s Germany so moved his businesses to Spain and opened an account at Credit Suisse in 1931. The Swiss bank protected the family assets through the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s and during World War II, using secret numbered accounts, pseudonyms and trust accounts, according to the complaint.
The trust sued for the return of the $3 billion, plus interest and attorneys' fees.
-- Bloomberg News
Bitcoin's surge prompts U.S. action
Bitcoin's meteoric rise has moved it out of the shadows of finance. The latest sign that its becoming part of the mainstream came Friday when a key U.S. agency proposed that trading be regulated much like other commodities.
Specifically, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission made clear to market participants that there could be penalties if they can't show buyers can take physical control of purchased digital coins in 28 days -- a framework that already applies to wheat, oil and gold.
The long-existing rules that require traders and exchanges to be able to deliver physical commodities has sowed some confusion for bitcoin because it's an asset class that exists only in cyberspace. What makes the issue even more complicated is that many investors are amplifying their bets with margin, or borrowed money.
Bitcoin has jumped more than 1,700 percent in 2017, captivating everyone from retail investors to Hollywood celebrities. The digital currency has advanced 82 percent this month alone, a rise fueled by the trading commission's decision to allow bitcoin futures to begin trading on exchanges run by CME Group Inc. and Cboe Global Markets Inc.
In its proposal, which the trading commission will seek public comment on for 90 days, the regulator said that if a trader can't take possession of a virtual currency bought on margin within about a month, the transaction will be treated as a futures contract. Futures contracts are subject to strict trading commission oversight, and failing to register them could subject firms to fines.
-- Bloomberg News
Airbus exec to exit amid legal woes
PARIS -- Airbus said Friday that Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders will step down in 2019, as the European airplane maker shakes up management amid multiple corruption investigations.
The company said Enders, who will have been at the helm of Airbus and defense firm EADS for 14 years, won't seek another term when his current term expires.
Enders has been a key figure as Airbus has jockeyed with U.S. rival Boeing over the past decade to be the world's top-selling plane maker.
The 59-year-old was quoted Friday as saying Airbus needs "fresh minds for the 2020s" and that he would use the remainder of his time to ensure a smooth transition and to strengthen the company's ethics and compliance programs.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 12/16/2017