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Even a giant capital increase will not clear Ørsted’s storm clouds

The Danish group has little choice but to pursue a rights issue given its Sunrise Wind project has run into a Trump-shaped obstacle

Capital increases among European utilities come in two distinct flavours. On the one hand, companies such as Iberdrola have raised equity to invest in attractive new growth opportunities. At the other end of the spectrum is Denmark’s Ørsted. It plans to raise $9.4bn of equity — equivalent to about two-thirds of its market value after Monday’s 30 per cent share price fall — to plug a leak in its financing model.

As unwelcome as this rights issue is, Ørsted has little choice but to pursue it. The group was hoping to sell a stake in its Sunrise Wind project off the New York coast to reduce its share of development capex and free up money to finance other projects. President Donald Trump’s aversion to wind energy has blown potential buyers off course. Given Sunrise Wind is a roughly DKr60bn project ($9.4bn), and developers typically commit to much of the investment upfront, walking away was also not an option. 

Should everything now go according to plan, Ørsted should get some bang for its new bucks. All other things being equal, a higher-than-forecast equity stake in this large US project should deliver higher than expected earnings when the project starts producing electricity.

But the group’s new target for 2027 ebitda — of above DKr32bn — compares to consensus expectations that are already above DKr33bn on S&P Capital IQ numbers. While Sunrise Wind will only be operational for some of that year, and forecasts for the years beyond may yet rise, it is hard to escape the conclusion that post capital increase shareholders will be looking at much reduced earnings per share.

What’s more, it would take a brave investor to bet on the fact that this trouble-prone company will now face fair winds. While the US may be a particularly difficult spot for renewables developers, Ørsted’s business model is challenged more broadly. It is hard to bid for projects, do the groundwork and then sell them down to finance growth when capital is expensive, project development costs often show unhelpful bumps, and offshore wind assets are no longer the sought-after asset they once were.

In this context, Ørsted’s rights issue does have some logic. The group, which is trying to sell stakes in other wind projects, will at least have a stronger negotiating hand. And it can point to the fact that, over time, the much-buffeted offshore wind market will adjust to higher development costs, with governments offering more support to get projects off the ground. Yet Ørsted still has to get through a mountain of construction work before it can reap its rewards. Calmer waters are a way off yet.

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A deal for Nvidia and AMD to give the Trump administration a cut of chip sales to China raises questions about national security and trade policy goals.

The Trump chip commission

As President Trump has waged trade wars around the globe, he has said that his goal is to establish American superiority in international commerce and in key areas like artificial intelligence.

But news that his administration struck a deal in which Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices agreed to pay the U.S. 15 percent of what they make in selling A.I. chips to China in exchange for export licenses raises key questions. What is Trump’s actual end goal when it comes to trade? And is his approach putting Washington’s lead in A.I. — and national security — at risk?

The TL;DR: Nvidia’s C.E.O., Jensen Huang, met with Trump at the White House on Wednesday and agreed to fork over a portion of sales of H20 processors; the Commerce Department granted the licenses two days later, The Times reports. (AMD reached a similar agreement for its MI308 chip.)

Huang had called for Nvidia to be allowed to do more business with China, warning that Chinese rivals like Huawei would otherwise take market share.

The highly unusual move could mean big numbers: Nvidia is expected to sell more than $15 billion worth of H20 chips through the end of the year and AMD about $800 million worth of MI308 processors, according to Bernstein Research. That could yield more than $2 billion in revenue to the U.S. government.

What is the policy trying to accomplish? It’s a question that has also been raised by the tariff barrage, which was often described as a way to rebalance global trade — but has also been cited as a way to generate revenue. (“The good news is that Tariffs are bringing Billions of Dollars into the USA!” the president said recently on social media.)

Trump’s approach worries China hawks. They’re concerned that allowing Chinese companies to get even lesser chips like the H20 could still bolster America’s main rival in a key technology, especially one highly useful for military applications. And that it could lead to Beijing making similar demands on other companies to loosen restrictions.

“What’s next — letting Lockheed Martin sell F-35s to China for a 15 percent commission?” Liza Tobin, who previously served as China director at the National Security Council during the Trump and Biden administrations, told The Financial Times.

A bigger test of Trump’s approach to China looms: The F.T. reports that Beijing has pressed Washington to relax export restrictions on high-bandwidth memory chips, which were imposed last year by the Biden administration. Experts say that resuming those sales could help Huawei and other Chinese companies eventually produce chips whose performance rivals Nvidia’s.

Remember that sky-high tariffs on China are set to take effect tomorrow, though Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last week that a 90-day delay was probable. With pressure building on the Trump administration to reach a trade deal with China and with Nvidia potentially setting a precedent of companies paying for export licenses, what will the president do?

Leaders discussed war in Ukraine, the role of Brics and G20 in defending multilateralism, and COP30 summit, according to Brasilia

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has spoken by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for about an hour, in a high-level contact aimed at reinforcing ties with Brazil’s largest trading partner while confronting a sudden rupture in trade relations with the United States.

The call on Tuesday morning Beijing time, requested by Lula, had been in preparation for several days, according to Brazilian officials. Advisers at the Planalto Palace and the foreign ministry had been in contact with Beijing since last week to arrange the timing, which had to accommodate the 11-hour time difference with the Chinese capital.

During the call, Xi told Lula that bilateral relations were at their best ever and that the nations should work together to set an example of solidarity and self-reliance for the Global South, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Sources told the South China Morning Post that the decision to press ahead with the meeting came after Lula consulted senior ministers about the potential impact of new US trade measures and the diplomatic message he wanted to send.

The conversation took place four days after US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed a 50 per cent tariff on a broad range of Brazilian exports, measures that threaten billions of dollars in annual trade.

Hours earlier, Washington extended a 90-day pause on similar duties for Chinese goods, highlighting a stark difference in treatment between Beijing and Brasilia.

Xi told Lula that China supported Brazil in defending its legitimate rights.

“Countries should unite and take a clear stand against unilateralism and protectionism,” Xi was quoted as saying.

According to a statement from the Brazilian presidential palace, Lula and Xi discussed the war in Ukraine, the role of Brics and the G20 in defending multilateralism, and preparations for COP30, the United Nations climate summit to be hosted by Brazil in November.

Xi confirmed “China will send a senior delegation to Belem”, the city hosting the summit, and the leaders agreed to deepen cooperation in health, energy, the digital economy and satellite technology.

“President Lula reiterated China’s importance to the success of COP30 and the fight against climate change. President Xi indicated that China will work with Brazil to ensure the conference’s success,” according to the readout released by the Brazilian government.

Brazilian officials say Lula also wanted to use the call to ensure that trade between the two countries remains stable despite broader tensions in global markets.

The phone call was part of a broader diplomatic push by Lula in recent days to align positions among Brics members in response to US trade actions. He spoke last week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country faces the same tariff rate, and with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose economy has been hit by separate sanctions.

China has already signalled public support for Brazil in the dispute. On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Celso Amorim, Lula’s chief foreign policy adviser, that Beijing opposed “unjustified external interference” in Brazilian affairs and criticised the “use of tariffs for political leverage”.

In late July, the Chinese foreign ministry offered to strengthen economic cooperation with Brasilia, citing interest in aviation, a key industry for Brazil’s Embraer.

Brazil counts China as its largest export market, with soybeans, iron ore and oil dominating sales. The United States remains a smaller but strategic buyer, particularly for higher-value manufactured goods such as aircraft. The sudden tariff increase threatens to disrupt trade flows and inject new volatility into Brazil’s economy at a time of sluggish growth.

Trump has frequently accused the Brics bloc of acting against US interests. Lula has sought to position the grouping as a counterweight to what he calls protectionist and unilateral measures by Washington. Talks among Brics leaders on trade coordination are expected to continue in the coming weeks, according to Brazilian officials.

KPMG's tally of consumer and retail deal activity shows a market that is charging ahead despite uncertainty.

When President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs first hit in April, the conventional dealmaking wisdom was that the mergers and acquisition market would get swamped in the trade war.

The outlook was just too uncertain and the expense of even the threat of tariffs was too high to make any kind of real bets on the future. Both strategic and financial buyers were expected to wait until the smoke cleared and then buy into whatever new market reality emerged.

But the market decided not to wait.

Investors last quarter felt good enough to go with their gut and bet on their own reality.

The result was fewer, but bigger, deals, according to KPMG’s second-quarter update on M&A trends in the consumer and retail space.

“Economic uncertainties and geopolitical challenges, such as tariffs and looming inflation concerns, haven’t paralyzed the market,” KPMG said. “On the contrary, significant transactions have flourished, driven by dealmakers’ recalibration of priorities and a flight to quality in response to consumer demand.”

While the number of deals fell to 496, a 14.6 percent decline from a year earlier, the value of the transactions that did get signed shot up 194 percent to $34.7 billion.

“Dealmakers doubled down on wellness, digital, and distressed assets — prioritizing strategic clarity over deal count as consumer and retail M&A roared back in value,” said Frank Petraglia, a partner at KPMG Advisory, in the report.

KPMG pointed to an increase in “high-confidence investments” for both private equity and strategic buyers.

“They bought digital-native brands, consolidated distressed assets, and doubled down on wellness, frozen foods, and omnichannel capabilities,” the report said.

That included Unilever’s $1.5 billion deal for Dr. Squatch and E.l.f. Beauty’s $1 billion acquisition of Hailey Bieber’s Rhode.

“Retail, meanwhile, is undergoing a survivalist transformation,” KPMG said. “Consolidation is no longer optional, it’s existential. Dick’s Sporting Goods’ $2.4 billion acquisition of Foot Locker and DoorDash’s multibillion-dollar spree — Deliveroo, SevenRooms, Symbiosys — reflect a strategic pivot toward operational efficiency, market share capture and tech-enabled resilience.”

And KPMG said private equity firms are “targeting carve-outs, founder-led brands, and wellness platforms with scalable economics and strong exit potential, bolstered by expanding access to private credit.” The example there was 3G Capital’s $9.4 billion deal to take Skechers private — the biggest buyout in shoe history.

All in all, the report called it “a quarter of bold moves and strategic clarity.”

“Corporate and PE dealmakers alike are coming off the sidelines when the strategy is sound and the value creation path is visible from Day One,” KPMG said.

If Trump’s tariffs gave dealmakers pause at first — and still have would-be investors looking over their shoulders — other elements of the president’s agenda have helped nudge the big-money buyers ahead.

“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is reshaping the M&A landscape in consumer and retail by incentivizing greater capital deployment through an enhanced cash tax shield for new investments and the immediate expensing of R&D, exploration costs, and capital expenditures — boosting ROI and freeing up funds for expansion,” KPMG said. “For PE, front‑loading these deductions over a typical three to five year holding period materially improves after‑tax returns. For corporates, it reduces income tax expenses and increases earnings per share. Additionally, the removal of prior interest‑deductibility limits tied to EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] gives PE portfolio companies a broader range of deductible interest, further enhancing leveraged deal economics.”

The cleanup is expected to cost nearly $63 million and take more than a decade to complete

General Electric GE 0.07%increase; green up pointing triangle and United Nuclear have agreed to a U.S. consent decree requiring an estimated $63 million cleanup of uranium mine waste at sites in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation.

The Justice Department said Monday the agreement requires the two companies to excavate and remove approximately one million cubic yards of uranium mine waste from the Northeast Church Rock Mine Superfund Site, located on the Navajo Nation.

The companies will transfer the waste to the UNC Mill Site, a federally licensed disposal facility located adjacent to Navajo Nation, the DOJ said.

The cleanup is expected to cost nearly $63 million and take more than a decade to complete, the DOJ said.

The agreement comes after two decades of coordination between the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Interior Department, state and tribal stakeholders, and UNC and GE.

The Northeast Church Rock Mine operated from 1967-82 and was the principal source of uranium ore for the UNC Mill.

The EPA has required several shorter-term cleanups at the site, but it continues to pose a risk of releasing hazardous substances to the air and surrounding soils, sediments, surface water and groundwater, the DOJ said.

China Creates World’s No. 1 Shipbuilder, Driven by Rivalry With U.S.

In $16 billion deal, Beijing looks to counter Trump’s moves to rebuild American shipyards

A $16 billion merger of two state-controlled shipbuilders in China is set for completion this week, creating the world’s biggest shipbuilder while the U.S. searches for a path back into the business.

American shipbuilders are playing catch-up after decades of maritime-industry decline, though President Trump’s ambitious plans to revive American shipbuilding have hit snags recently. In the shorter term, Trump’s threat to impose higher fees on ships made in China is giving South Korean and Japanese rivals an opening to win back market share.

The Chinese champion is called China State Shipbuilding, or CSSC. This week it is scheduled to absorb its merger partner, China Shipbuilding Industry, and take the sole listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange after regulators recently approved the deal.

The merged company hopes to use its bulk to cut costs and help it ride out industry turmoil brought on by Trump’s moves.

The two companies were originally one and split up in 1999, when the government wanted to promote competition. These days, Beijing is looking to consolidate state-led companies in sensitive industries, particularly those connected with the military.

CSSC’s main business is commercial, but it is also an important contractor for the Chinese navy. The company it is absorbing designed and built China’s first homegrown aircraft carrier, the Shandong.

The company said the merger will allow it to better fulfill the navy’s need for advanced equipment.

“This is a key milestone in China’s long-term push to dominate global shipbuilding,” said Matthew Funaiole, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Together, the companies accounted for almost 17% of the global market last year, based on new-orders data from Clarksons Research. The merged company’s combined order book will total more than 530 vessels and 54 million deadweight tons, the most in the world, with an annual revenue of around $18 billion, based on the latest annual reports.

“It strengthens Beijing’s ability to execute its military-civil fusion strategy,” Funaiole said. “Commercial and naval production are increasingly integrated, sharing technology, talent and infrastructure.”

Beijing set its sights on dominating the shipbuilding industry decades ago, and now Chinese shipbuilders make up more than half of the global market. China-built ships accounted for about 55% of global tonnage last year, compared with less than 0.05% for the U.S., data from the United Nations show. China possesses 232 times the shipbuilding capacity of the U.S., according to the U.S. Navy.

But recent data suggest China is facing rougher times because the prospect of U.S. port fees on Chinese-made ships has prompted owners to look at non-Chinese shipyards. In addition, Trump’s tariffs and countries’ focus on domestic supply chains have raised the specter of less global trade overall, meaning fewer ships would be needed to carry goods.

Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, China’s biggest private yard, received orders for 14 ships worth $540 million in the first half of 2025, compared with 126 vessels worth $14.6 billion for all of last year. Clarksons data show global new ship orders fell 48% year on year in the first half of 2025.

Yangzijiang said the sector faces “macroeconomic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions.”

Meanwhile, smaller rivals in Japan are looking to reclaim market share after decades of being pushed into a corner by lower-cost Chinese and South Korean rivals.

Return of FDA official targeted by Trump allies hits biotech shares

Food and Drug Administration reinstates Vinay Prasad who left agency in July after social media campaign

Shares of biotech companies endured volatile trading on Monday following the surprise return of a top US drug regulator who left in July after rightwing influencer Laura Loomer led a campaign to oust him.

The US Food and Drug Administration said over the weekend it had reinstated Vinay Prasad to his role overseeing the agency’s division for vaccines and a host of other medicines.

The U-turn caught the market off guard, with analysts warning Prasad’s return may undermine consistency in how his division approves drugs and adds a “new twist” to leadership turmoil within the FDA. It also suggests health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and the regulator’s commissioner Marty Makary were willing to test political blowback to bring back an ally.

Prasad, a critic of the mask mandates and quarantines that comprised the US’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, left the FDA in late July after social media attacks from conservatives including Loomer and former senator Rick Santorum over the agency’s handling of a gene therapy drug made by Sarepta Therapeutics.

Sarepta shares dropped as much as 5.2 per cent on Monday amid volatile trading, while those of Replimune — another gene therapy group — fell as much as 15.1 per cent. Replimune has a drug pending approval before the FDA division Prasad oversees. The declines eroded some of the gains the stocks experienced following his departure.

Analysts had hoped Prasad’s exit would bring more consistency to drug approvals at his division, the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. The division has approved 10 drugs this year, down from 15 at this point in 2024 and 16 in 2023, agency data show.

“The FDA leadership turmoil amid the Prasad saga raises the question: how politically vs scientifically driven is the agency today?” Jefferies, an investment bank, said in a note published on Sunday. “The FDA has experienced significant turmoil with the dramatic overturn for Sarepta, abrupt Vinay Prasad leaving and a new twist just added with Prasad being reinstated.”

In July, the FDA asked Sarepta to halt its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, after three deaths potentially related to the company’s treatment. Days later, following criticism including from Loomer and Santorum, the FDA said Sarepta could resume shipments for the medicine. Soon after, Prasad left the FDA.

“Prasad, the leftist saboteur undermining Trump’s FDA, must be fired now!” Loomer said on X last month.

Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania who has a daughter with special needs, advocated for Sarepta’s Duchenne FDA approval in 2016 and continued to support the company in July.

As a result of what they described as the “recent rapidly changing” leadership situation within the FDA, Jefferies analysts said “this headline will likely be taken with caution on how long, if at all, Prasad will actually be staying”.

The health department confirmed Prasad’s return, adding, “neither the White House nor [Health and Human Services] will allow the fake news media to distract from the critical work the FDA is carrying out under the Trump administration”.

Replimune did not respond to request for comment. Sarepta said it will continue to work with the FDA as usual.

Donald Trump says gold imports will not face US tariffs

President’s intervention comes after shock plan to hit bullion with duties triggered price surge

Donald Trump said on Monday that the US would not impose tariffs on imported gold, easing fears of disruption in the world’s bullion market.

“Gold will not be Tariffed!” the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform. His statement ended days of market uncertainty triggered by a US Customs and Border Protection ruling last week outlining new duties on imports of widely traded bullion bars.

Spot gold prices fell 1.2 per cent to $3,357 a troy ounce in Monday afternoon trading in New York after Trump’s post, while US gold futures dropped about 2.5 per cent to $3,407. The benchmark Comex contract recorded its largest one-day decline in three months, closing down $86.60 at $3,404.70.

Trump’s intervention came days after the Financial Times revealed that the US would hit one-kilo gold bars with tariffs, triggering a surge in gold futures to a record intraday high of $3,534 per ounce.

On Friday, the White House said it would issue a new executive order “clarifying” its tariff plan for gold — a move taken in the market to mean that it would adjust or scrap the duty.

News last week of the CBP ruling blindsided traders and created an unusually wide premium in futures prices of more than $100 over London spot prices as banks, as refiners and dealers raced to secure metal for delivery.

Switzerland, which refines about 70 per cent of the world’s gold, was seen as particularly exposed. The CBP ruling came just days after Switzerland’s President Karin Keller-Sutter failed to strike a trade deal with Trump to soften the high tariffs the US imposed on her country.

Much of Switzerland’s output is shipped to the US for investment and industrial use.

The unexpected CBP decision marked the first time the US had sought to levy tariffs on bullion, a product traditionally exempt because of its role in the financial system. The move appeared to overturn an April White House statement that gold would be excluded from sweeping trade measures.

Analysts warned the episode could redraw global bullion flows and undermine New York’s position as the largest gold futures market.