TheChek News Flow

Continent still exposed to supply disruptions despite cutting Russian gas reliance, says Markus Krebber

Europe is still vulnerable to gas supply shocks despite significant progress in cutting its reliance on Russia, the chief executive of one of Germany’s largest energy companies has warned. 

RWE chief executive Markus Krebber said Europe needed to boost its capacity to import gas to make sure it could cope with any unexpected outages on pipelines or import terminals.

The warning came despite Europe entering winter with gas stocks about 99 per cent full after a major effort to fill them up over the summer to cope with cuts to supplies from Russia following Vladimir Putin’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Krebber said: “Continental Europe is in a much better position than last year. Gas storage is at maximum capacity and we have built some infrastructure.

“But we are not where we need to be because we shouldn’t have an energy supply system which is without any margin or buffer. 

“So it also needs to be able to cope with the situation where you have an ‘N-1 event’— [for example], problems with one of your big suppliers because the pipeline fails, or a liquefied natural gas terminal fails. We are not there yet, so I think more import capacity is needed to replace the full [lost] Russian gas.”

Gas prices soared last year as Europe scrambled to replace lower Russian pipeline supplies, climbing above €300 per megawatt-hour in August, more than 10 times its normal level. 

Prices have since fallen, trading at €43 per MWh on Friday, but markets remain jittery and sensitive to global events, with worker strikes at gas terminals in Australia leading to a surge in prices in September. 

EU gas storage alone can meet about two to two-and-a-half months of peak winter consumption. But depleting it too much during the winter heating months could make it much harder to refill storage ahead of next winter.

RWE, which has its headquarters in Essen and is listed in Frankfurt, trades and stores gas and runs a fleet of gas-fired power plants, alongside a growing portfolio of wind, solar and battery plants. It plans to close its coal-fired power plants by 2030.

Last week, RWE said it planned to invest €55bn globally between 2024 and 2030. Just over one-third of that will go towards offshore wind projects, in a boost for the technology that has struggled this year because of rising costs. 

“We see an attractive overall investment environment,” said Krebber. “The energy systems where we operate are underinvested. And I think it is without doubt that the investments have to go into clean energy.”

However, he warned that Germany would struggle to meet its goal of “ideally” phasing out coal-fired power plants by 2030 unless the government designed the electricity market to incentivise the development of new hydrogen-ready gas-fired power plants.

These will be needed as part of the future energy system to step in on windless days, but may only run for short periods of time so are difficult for developers to justify unless they are compensated for the important back-up role they provide. 

“In Germany we have a problem because we are relying for security of supply on nuclear and coal and both are exiting,” he said. 

“So we need to build a full new fleet of flexible generation capacity — but the coalition has not yet presented a framework for that. If we don’t get it this year or next year, I think it’s going to be difficult to phase out coal by 2030.” He stressed RWE’s own plans to exit coal were “firm”, so others would need to step in.

Fin juillet, l’accord trouvé avec Daniel Kretinsky était censé sauver le groupe. Depuis les pertes s’accumulent, et il doit vendre des centaines d’hyper et supermarchés, avec un risque de casse sociale.

«Mon honneur, c'est de transmettre le groupe dans son intégrité. C'est une promesse morale faite à Antoine Guichard qui méritait que l'on mène la plus dure des batailles.» En se confiant à une journaliste du Point, ce matin du dimanche 30 juillet, Jean-Charles Naouri, le PDG de Casino, dont il a pris le contrôle il y a plus de trente ans en s'alliant avec le petit-fils de son fondateur Geoffroy Guichard, semble soulagé et satisfait du devoir accompli. Résigné à perdre le contrôle absolu qu'il a depuis des décennies sur le distributeur stéphanois (Casino, Monoprix, Franprix, Naturalia, Vival, Cdiscount…), le septuagénaire se félicite de l'accord scellé le jeudi précédent avec le milliardaire tchèque Daniel Kretinsky, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière et le fonds britannique Attestor. À la fin du premier trimestre 2024, ce consortium doit prendre le contrôle de Casino, après une augmentation de capital où il injectera 1,2 milliard d'euros, en échange de l'abandon de 5 milliards de dettes par les créanciers.

Dans la débâcle de son groupe, fragilisé depuis des années par une insupportable dette, c'est la seule victoire de Jean-Charles Naouri : profitant de la présence d'autres candidats à la reprise de Casino (le trio composé de Moez-Alexandre Zouari, Matthieu Pigasse et Xavier Niel, avec qui il négociait depuis fin 2022), le PDG a tordu le bras de Daniel Kretinsky. Ce dernier ne voulait pas reprendre les hypers et les supermarchés ? Le PDG lui a imposé de s'engager à préserver l'intégrité du groupe, ou ce qu'il en reste après la vente de ses filiales au Brésil, en Argentine et en Colombie et la cession de centaines de magasins à Intermarché. Jean-Charles Naouri martèle que son Casino a plus de valeur dans son intégralité que «cassé en morceaux après un bain de sang».

Intermarché et Auchan en position de force

C'était le 30 juillet, c'était il y a une éternité. Moins de quatre mois plus tard, Jean-Charles Naouri, qui reste PDG jusqu'à l'augmentation de capital, a engagé un virage à 180 degrés. Lundi 27 novembre, au lendemain de la publication d'un article sur le site des Échos, son groupe Casino a indiqué qu'il allait analyser les «marques d'intérêt» reçues pour ses 67 #Hyper Frais et ses 441 supermarchés Casino. Même si certains de ces magasins perdent (beaucoup) d'argent, tous les rivaux sont à l'affût. Dans un marché fragilisé par les conséquences de l'inflation, qui a fait baisser les ventes en volumes, et alors que la réglementation complique les créations de magasin, c'est une opportunité exceptionnelle de gagner des parts de marché. En position de force, Intermarché s'est associé à Auchan pour racheter l'intégralité de ce périmètre ; Lidl, de son côté, s'intéresse à un nombre important de supermarchés, tandis que Carrefour et Système U lorgnent chacun une poignée de magasins.

Mais que s'est-il donc passé entre août et novembre pour entraîner un tel revirement ? Dans l'entourage de Jean-Charles Naouri, on assure que le PDG de Casino a fini par céder à la pression de Daniel Kretinsky pour examiner les marques d'intérêt. Dans le camp du consortium, on dément cette version et d'aucuns suggèrent que les cessions ont été imposées par le Tribunal de Commerce de Paris. Une hypothèse réfutée par un acteur-clé du dossier, qui rappelle que ni le tribunal de commerce ni le consortium n'ont, en droit, le pouvoir de contraindre le PDG de Casino.

Unique certitude : selon les chiffres publiés par le groupe, sa situation économique s'est terriblement dégradée. Fin juillet, la direction attend encore pour 2023 un Ebitda (excédent brut d'exploitation) de 214 millions d'euros. C'est deux fois moins que les prévisions publiées fin juin. Depuis, le groupe enchaîne les profit warning : le 26 octobre, il abaisse sa prévision à 100 millions d'euros ; un mois plus tard, il prévient que cet indicateur clé de ses performances opérationnelles sera, en fait, négatif pour l'année 2023, avec une perte comprise entre 78 et 140 millions d'euros. «Trois révisions des prévisions depuis le mois de juillet, et d'une telle ampleur, c'est inédit dans un secteur qui se distingue habituellement par sa stabilité et sa visibilité, souligne Nicolas Champ, analyste chez Barclays. Cela interpelle.»

Chez In Vivo, qui négociait avec Casino depuis fin 2021 aux côtés du trio Zouari-Pigasse-Niel, on n'est pas surpris d'une telle déroute. «Nous avions observé la dégradation de la situation depuis janvier, et c'est pour cela que nous sommes sortis du dossier mi-juin, confie Thierry Blandinières, le patron d'In Vivo. Dans notre worst-case scenario, Casino risquait de finir avec un Ebitda négatif de 200 millions d'euros.» Ce scénario du pire, aucun autre acteur du dossier ne semble l'avoir sérieusement envisagé mi-juillet : ni les créanciers, ni les deux camps qui bataillaient pour récupérer Casino (même si le trio Zouari-Pigasse-Niel était plus prudent pour 2023), ni les nombreux experts appelés à évaluer le business plan établi par la direction du distributeur stéphanois.

«Il y a eu une forme de déni collectif. Tout le monde était trop content que Casino soit sauvé», estime un acteur du dossier. «Dans l'état du droit, c'est l'actionnaire actuel qui établit le business plan et continue de gérer l'entreprise jusqu'en mars. Le consortium a les chiffres qu'on veut bien lui communiquer», souligne Nicolas Champ.

Le distributeur stéphanois est victime de sa politique tarifaire. En 2022, il a répercuté intégralement l'inflation dans ses prix pour préserver ses marges. «Les hypers Casino étaient 40% à 45% plus chers que Leclerc, constate Clément Génelot, analyste chez Bryan Garnier. Ils étaient très généreux avec les clients abonnés, mais tous les autres sont partis à la concurrence.» Pour les faire revenir, Casino a amorcé en janvier une baisse des prix de 10%, qui réduit mécaniquement son chiffre d'affaires. La direction savait bien que le retour des clients serait bien plus lent que leur départ, mais il s'avère encore plus lent que prévu. «Dans la distribution, les coûts fixes sont élevés, explique Nicolas Champ. Il y a des frais de personnel incompressibles. Casino a maintenant des loyers à payer. Quand le chiffre d'affaires baisse, le cash brûle très vite. En réinvestissant pour faire baisser les prix, Casino a encore accéléré le mouvement ».

Dans ces conditions, la pérennité du groupe est à nouveau menacée. D'où l'urgence de céder les hypers et supermarchés. L'accord de lock-up, signé le 5 octobre entre Casino, les créanciers et le consortium, prévoit la possibilité de déroger à l'engagement de garantir l'intégrité du groupe en cédant les activités déficitaires de Casino, avant ou après l'augmentation de capital. «Le consortium était très favorable aux cessions, explique un proche de Casino. Le fait d'avoir négocié cette clause au préalable le montre. Les manifestations d'intérêt reçues, associées aux mauvais résultats du groupe, ont créé un momentum.» En revanche, l'accord de lock-up ne permet pas au consortium de revenir sur son engagement d'investir 1,2 milliard. Les seules conditions suspensives sont liées à l'accord de Bercy pour cet investissement étranger, à celui de l'Autorité de la concurrence et la dispense d'OPA par la gendarme de la Bourse. «Nous comprenons la décision de Casino d'examiner les offres d'acteurs crédibles pour l'acquisition d'un certain nombre d'hypermarchés et de supermarchés, confie un porte-parole de Daniel Kretinsky. Ces cessions n'affecteraient en rien notre volonté de devenir l'actionnaire de contrôle de Casino et d'investir dans le développement du reste du périmètre, notamment dans les enseignes Monoprix et Franprix.»

La soudaineté de l'annonce a laissé pantois les salariés de Casino. Vendredi 24 novembre, en fin de journée, Jean-Charles Naouri prévient une poignée de collaborateurs que le groupe fera une annonce dans Les Echos le dimanche soir. La veille, il planchait pourtant sur la relance des hypers et supermarchés. «Cette décision a créé une rupture entre Jean-Charles Naouri et les directions des filiales», assure un bon connaisseur du groupe.

La cession pourrait menacer 3000 à 3500 emplois chez Casino. Une fois le groupe délesté de ses hypers et supermarchés, le siège historique de St-Étienne sera surdimensionné et certains entrepôts inutiles. Dans une région très syndiquée, le spectre d'un nouveau Manufrance inquiète les élus locaux et les entreprises de la région. Les cinq organisations syndicales du groupe ont déposé vendredi un préavis de grève du 5 au 31 décembre. «1500 emplois sont menacés dans les bases logistiques de la Loire et du Rhône, explique Ali El Oued, délégué syndical CGT de Casino. Depuis des mois, les gens ici craignent la mort de Casino. Aujourd'hui, avec la vente annoncée des magasins, c'est concret».

Le gouvernement fait du maintien du siège de St-Étienne une ligne rouge. Le consortium a donné des garanties. Les emplois des sièges de Monoprix (Clichy-la-Garenne) et de Franprix (Vitry-sur-Seine) pourraient être transférés de la région parisienne à St Étienne. «Mais s'il n'est plus besoin d'approvisionner les hypers et les supers, ils ne vont pas garder autant de monde, explique Jean-Luc Frafal, délégué CFDT. L'arrivée des sièges de Monoprix et de Franprix générera forcément des doublons. Nous craignons une grande casse sociale à venir.»

Même si Daniel Kretinsky assure qu'il «est inimaginable de fermer le site de Saint-Étienne», les acteurs de la région s'interrogent sur la façon de garder 2500 personnes avec un chiffre d'affaires divisé par deux. «Il va falloir redimensionner le siège social, reconnaît Irène Breuil, présidente de la délégation stéphanoise de la CCI Lyon, Métropole, Saint-Étienne, Roanne. On travaille sur ce sujet avec l'État et Saint-Étienne métropole. Localement on ressent un front commun pour conserver Casino ici. »

Reconfiguration de la distribution française

Si Casino parvient à céder ses hypers et supermarchés, sa part de marché passera de 6% à 3%, avec 8 milliards d'euros de chiffre d'affaires. «Ce groupe risque d'avoir un problème de taille critique, qui grèvera sa capacité d'achat auprès des fournisseurs, souligne Nicolas Champ. Cela ne va pas l'aider à rester compétitif en prix». Le consortium devra réinvestir pour baisser ses prix toujours élevés, rénover les magasins et réembaucher. Une facture à 500 millions d'euros, estime Bryan Garnier. Le 1,2 milliard d'euros promis par le consortium suffira-t-il, compte tenu de l'argent brûlé par Casino ? La direction assure que la position de cash du groupe sera en mars «peu ou prou au même niveau qu'anticipé dans le plan initial. Les mauvais résultats ont été compensés par des cessions réalisées dans de meilleures conditions que prévu». D'après Bryan Garnier, il faudrait vendre les hypers et les supers au moins 800 millions d'euros pour compenser tout l'argent brûlé par ces magasins jusqu'en mars. Sous couvert d’anonymat, certains acteurs du dossier assurent que le consortium n’aura pas d’autre choix que de céder Monoprix et Franprix à Carrefour.

Quoi qu’il arrive, Jean-Charles Naouri n'aura pas réussi à tenir la promesse faite à Antoine Guichard de préserver l'intégrité de Casino. «Mais dans son dernier combat, il est intimement persuadé qu'il fait ce qu'il y a de mieux pour sauver le groupe», assure un acteur du dossier. Le PDG de Casino se voit en grand ordonnateur de la reconfiguration de la distribution française. Au printemps, il avait choisi Intermarché pour lui céder des centaines de magasins. Ceux aujourd’hui en vente ne tomberont pas forcément dans l’escarcelle des Mousquetaires, même s'ils les partagent avec Auchan. En privilégiant Lidl, Jean-Charles Naouri renforcerait la part du marché du discounter allemand (7% aujourd’hui). De quoi empoisonner la vie de Leclerc, Carrefour, Intermarché, Système U

The luxury e-tailer could be the latest e-commerce firm to go private amid its worst year as a public company. But Farfetch’s much scrutinised lack of focus could persist outside the public market.

Farfetch’s long, tumultuous quest for profitability is far from over, but whatever comes next will likely happen away from investors’ prying eyes.

On Tuesday, The Telegraph reported that Farfetch’s CEO Jose Neves, who founded the company in 2007 and holds the majority of its voting shares, was in discussion with top shareholders and JP Morgan to delist the luxury e-tailer. Farfetch then cancelled its quarterly earnings release, scheduled for Wednesday, an unusual move that strongly implied seismic changes were imminent.

The potential delisting caught the market by surprise, with Farfetch shares jumping more than 20 percent on Tuesday. While analysts and fashion insiders have been speculating about the marketplace’s trajectory for years, few had a Neves-led buyout on their list.

In retrospect, of course, this outcome feels almost inevitable. Since its IPO in 2018, Farfetch’s stock has lost more than 90 percent of its value, and its market capitalisation has plummeted from a high of $26 billion in February 2021 to just over $600 million today. The company has never turned an operating profit, prioritising marketing spend as it sought to dominate the online luxury e-commerce space. Worryingly, its momentum has also stalled, with sales declining in recent quarters. New businesses meant to drive sales and profits, including beauty and brand operator New Guards Group, have struggled.

As a private company, Farfetch would face less scrutiny as it looks to improve its bottom line. A take-private deal could also be an opportunity for Farfetch to go back to basics — selling high-end goods online from the curated inventories of local luxury boutiques — after years of chasing dominance beyond luxury e-commerce with a series of acquisitions: British department store Browns in 2015, sneaker reseller Stadium Goods in 2018, brand incubator New Guards Group in 2019 and niche beauty retailer Violet Grey in 2022.

Less clear is what such a deal would mean for Farfetch’s relationship with Richemont. The two companies have been working for over a year on a complex transaction that would see Farfetch acquire a 47.5 percent stake in YNAP, mostly for shares, with the intention it would buy the rest in a few years once its onetime rival becomes profitable. European Union regulators approved the deal in October, theoretically clearing the way for all parties to proceed.

Richemont is likely to be having second thoughts, analysts say. The Swiss luxury giant released a statement on Wednesday saying that it “does not envisage lending or investing into Farfetch.” The e-tailer’s stock more than reversed the gains made on Tuesday, plunging over 50 percent on the news, its steepest one-day drop this year.

The steep sell off reflects how the YNAP deal is widely seen as a potential lifeline. It could add over $3 billion in gross merchandise volume — a measure of sales on its core marketplace. Under the terms of the deal, Richemont would also replatform its brands using Farfetch’s technology, giving a boost to Farfetch’s white label software service.

Any other potential partner in taking Farfetch private (Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which teamed up with Richemont in 2020 to invest over $1 billion in Farfetch through a joint venture could be a candidate) could be on the hook to foot the bill for the rest of its YNAP deal in the next few years, as Farfetch currently has $1 billion in debt.

Focussing on the core business may not be enough, with or without YNAP. Luxury spending generally is down as aspirational consumers see their spending power dwindle in a challenging macroeconomic environment, with even traditional luxury players like LVMH and Kering seeing softening demand.

Those challenges are even more pronounced in the luxury e-commerce sector, due in part to consumers returning to in-person shopping. YNAP has long struggled to turn a profit (the reason behind the sell-off plan in the first place), despite having the backing of a major luxury group. Canadian e-tailer Ssense reduced its workforce by 7 percent in January, citing stagnant sales growth, while Munich-based online destination Mytheresa reported a sales slowdown in September.

And then there’s the question of whether Farfetch actually would simplify its business if it was taken private. Neves has always taken big swings, whether in beauty, brand building or the “store of the future.” With a majority of voting shares he had the freedom to pursue his vision, even as CEO of a public company. Still, going private would free Farfetch from the need to issue public disclosures, and from the real-time feedback of its stock price.

“It could be José [Neves] saying, ‘well, if I’m not a publicly held entity, I can do all the initiatives that I want to do,” said Tom Nikic, an equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities. “He can’t be [backed] into a corner as far as voting rights are concerned.”

That’s certainly how things have played out at X, formerly known as Twitter, where Elon Musk has scared off users and advertisers since taking the company private last year.

Neves fortunately doesn’t share Musk’s penchant for courting controversy. But whether he has the discipline to stay laser-focused on making his marketplace profitable - and whether he’ll have the capital to implement his strategy - remains to be seen.

Rivals are discussing merger that could be announced as soon as Sunday

Alaska Air is nearing a deal to buy Hawaiian Airlines, a combination of rivals that could be announced as soon as Sunday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Could there be an earlier version of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting? Some experts are alleging that a piece depicting a younger version of the sitter could be the original.

The Mona Lisa (1503–19) is a Renaissance painting of the Florentine woman Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, by Leonardo da Vinci.

The Isleworth Mona Lisa, as it has been dubbed (because it was previously owned by an art dealer in the London suburb), shows Lisa in the same position as the original. There are, however, a few key differences. Namely, the Isleworth iteration depicts a younger version of the sitter with a thinner face.

Experts appear unconvinced that the painting is an authentic da Vinci work. As Jonathan Jones, an art critic for The Guardian, pointed out on Wednesday, da Vinci worked on the Mona Lisa layer by layer for years perfecting his masterpiece. It is unclear how or why there would be a prequel to the Mona Lisa or why the artist would have abandoned the canvas. Jones went so far as to call it a “bad copy” or a “deliberate fake.” Meanwhile, Martin Kemp, a professor of art history at the University of Oxford and a da Vinci expert, told Artnet News that he believed the work to be a copy.

Still, the Mona Lisa Foundation, a Zurich nonprofit founded in 2011 to establish the Isleworth Mona Lisa as an authentic da Vinci work, is championing the privately owned piece as the first of two iterations of Leonardo’s masterpiece. For those interested in seeing it for themselves, the painting in question is currently on view in an exhibition at Promotrice delle Belle Arti gallery in Turin, Italy.

Though the work is privately owned and not currently for sale, it raises a lot of market–related questions. The controversial Salvator Mundi painting, for instance, which was marketed as a rediscovered masterpiece by da Vinci, fetched $450.3 million six years ago at auction. Despite looming questions surrounding its authenticity, it still holds the record for the most expensive painting ever sold. Should the Isleworth Mona Lisa ever hit the market, it could surpass that record.

ARTnews : Vincent Honoré, French Curator Beloved by Artists of All Kinds, Dies at 48

Vincent Honoré, a French curator whose exhibitions gained him the respect of many young artists across Europe, has died at 48.

The French publication Le Quotidien de l’Art reported that Honoré had died on Wednesday and that the cause of his death was still being investigated by the police. The report cited several relatives who said that Honoré had died by suicide.

MO.CO Montepellier, the French museum where Honoré served as head of exhibitions, confirmed Honoré’s death on Friday morning. In a statement posted to social media, the museum wrote, “Today we lose an extraordinary and inspiring colleague who will leave a huge void in our community. His legacy will live on through all the exhibitions he designed, like the current one by Huma Bhabha, and the young artists he mentored and supported. During this difficult time, our thoughts are with his family, loved ones and everyone else who had the privilege of working alongside him.”

Across the past two and a half decades, Honoré amassed a reputation for staging exhibitions of cutting-edge art, much of it by women and queer artists. “I consider exhibitions as open systems and I think that is something that can definitely be read in my work,” he said in an interview with This Is Tomorrow. “Overall, I like proposing introductions, rather than conclusions. I like things that are unresolved.”

He started his curatorial career in 2000 at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and would go on to hold positions at London institutions, like Tate Modern, the David Roberts Arts Foundation, and the Hayward Gallery, before joining MO.CO Montpellier in southern France.

Among the celebrated exhibitions that he mounted was “DRAG: Self-Portrait and Body Politics,” which he curated in 2018 for the Hayward Gallery, where he was senior curator at the time. Featuring works by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, Sin Wai Kin, and others, the show sought to show how artists—both queer and not—had incorporated drag into their work. “This timely exhibition examines how the way we look, at ourselves and at others, has been conditioned by a series of gendered, racial, class and colonial structures,” Apollo wrote in its review.

“Kiss My Genders,” a show Honoré staged the year after at the Hayward Gallery, sought to explore gender fluidity through works by Juliana Huxtable, Kent Monkman, Catherine Opie, and more, and also received positive reviews. The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones awarded the exhibition five stars, writing that it “touches, in profound ways, on what it is to be human, and why we need this great river of the unfixed.”

He also organized solo shows for artists such as Neïl Beloufa, Hans Haacke, Ana Mendieta, Pierre Huyghe, Jeff Wall, Fiona Banner, and many more, as well as the 13th edition of the Baltic Triennial in 2018.

In addition to curating, Honoré wrote criticism, contributing to Mousse regularly, and started his own journal, Drawing Room Confessions, which enlisted artists such as Miriam Cahn and David Lamelas for drawing-oriented projects.

“I really believe an art museum should be a stage on which events are happening,” he said in an interview for the website Art Map London. “It should not be a temple and it should not be an amusement park. Displaying an artwork is an event, a talk is an event, and they create memories. Therefore, a museum is made of memories and when we leave it we should be filled with these memories.”

Houthi-led Yemeni forces say attacks were response to Israeli war in Gaza

A U.S. destroyer and several commercial ships operating in the Red Sea came under drone and ballistic missile attacks, a U.S. defense official said Sunday, marking the most significant escalation of a weekslong military attack on ships operating in those waters.

The USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, struck a drone that was “in the direction of the ship” and launched from a Houthi-controlled part of Yemen, the official said.

At roughly the same time, the MV Unity Explorer, a Bahamas-flagged bulk cargo ship, came under a ballistic missile attack that landed near the ship, the official said. The commercial ship sent a distress call and the Carney moved toward the ship in response, the official said.

As the Carney was assessing the damage on the commercial ship, it spotted a second drone operating nearby and shot it down, the official said. The official didn’t say what the destroyer used to bring down the drones.

The official stressed that the U.S. has so far only done an initial assessment and is still determining the details of what happened. Other commercial ships also came under attack and the Carney also shot down additional drones, the official said, but didn’t have further details.

In a statement, the Yemeni armed forces confirmed the attack, saying it launched a missile toward the Unity Explorer and a drone at another commercial cargo ship “in response to the demands of our great Yemeni people and the calls of the free people of our Arab and Islamic nation to stand fully with the choices of the Palestinian people and their proud resistance.”

“The Yemeni Armed Forces renew their warning to all Israeli ships or those associated with Israelis that they will become a legitimate target if they violate what is stated in this statement and previous statements issued by the Yemeni Armed Forces,” the statement said.

The Carney has come under a number of attacks since it began operating in the Red Sea, shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, as have some U.S. Naval vessels. Last week, the Carney, operating in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shot down an Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen. And an Iranian-made drone flew near a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as it operated in the Arabian Gulf.

Indebted Chinese property developer faces winding-up demand in Hong Kong court on Monday

Evergrande’s international creditors are pressing for a last-minute agreement to avert a court order to liquidate the highly indebted Chinese property developer.

Investors in Evergrande’s debt have been talking to the company about various restructuring options in recent days, two people close to the talks said, aware that a formal liquidation — which could be ordered within hours — would be likely to mean lower recovery prospects for their investments.

The talks have taken on a renewed urgency since Hong Kong’s High Court is due on Monday to hear a petition from an Evergrande creditor, Top Shine Global, asking for the winding-up of the company that defaulted in 2021 with $300bn of liabilities.

Two people close to the last-ditch talks said creditors had been placing growing pressure on Top Shine to drop the lawsuit, a move that could enable restructuring talks involving debt to equity swaps to continue. Top Shine’s lawyer did not immediately comment on Sunday, and the company itself could not be reached for comment.

Evergrande has been at the heart of China’s property crisis and the indebted developer has encapsulated concern over the scale of problems in the sector, which once accounted for a quarter of the country’s economic growth.

Representatives for some of its creditors have previously said that liquidation could have a “catastrophic effect” on other developers in China, and on Chinese companies’ ability to raise money in international capital markets.

Since Evergrande’s default other developers have also run into problems as Chinese authorities have tried to rein in excessive leverage in the sector.

Hong Kong-listed Evergrande has been struggling to finalise a restructuring. Its plans were derailed in September when it failed to proceed with an offshore debt refinancing due to an unspecified regulatory investigation. 

The liquidation hearing in Hong Kong has been adjourned several times but in October Judge Linda Chan gave Evergrande “one last opportunity” to formulate a new restructuring proposal, warning that otherwise it was “very likely” to be subject to a winding-up order.

The last-minute efforts to try to negotiate show the limited options that international creditors have to recover some of their investments, people familiar with the talks said.

The winding-up petition was probably “a negotiating tool” to try to force a better restructuring deal, one of the people familiar with the negotiation said.

Days ago Evergrande proposed a debt-to-equity swap that offered creditors minority stakes in the company and two of its Hong Kong listed units, two people with knowledge of the matter said. No such deal has yet been agreed, however, and some creditors have said they want majority stakes, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.

One problem in any attempt to strike a deal over Evergrande is the role of Hui Ka Yan, its chair and founder, in any deal.

Hui was placed under “mandatory measures” by Chinese authorities on suspicion of involvement in “illegal crimes” in late September, the company said in a stock exchange filing at the time. He had a controlling 60 per cent stake in the group at the end of 2022, according to corporate filings.

Further restructuring efforts “have little meaning now”, one of the people familiar with the negotiation said. “You can’t get any investors on board with a less favourable deal and, most importantly, you can’t find the person in charge of the company to sign it off.”