UK offers road and rail sweeteners in bid to secure £1bn Rivian factory near Bristol
New motorway junction, train link and training facilities among the incentives for US electric truckmaker
British ministers have offered a package of incentives, including a new motorway junction and training facilities, in an attempt to secure a £1bn-plus manufacturing plant planned by US electric truckmaker Rivian.
Officials have held talks in recent days with Rivian executives to convince the company of the benefits of locating its factory on the 635-acre Gravity business park near Bristol in Somerset, which is being built by developer Salamanca Group, two people familiar with the negotiations said.
The UK faces competition from Serbia and at least one other European country, and a decision may be weeks away, the people said.
The deal would be a boost to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s credibility in winning crucial inward investment for the UK, as well as furthering both his ambitions for “levelling up” regions of the UK and developing a credible car making industry for the future.
The prime minister is closely involved in the attempts to woo Rivian’s management, according to multiple sources.
The government has indicated that it will offer various infrastructure sweeteners to secure the project: it will build a new exit off the M5 motorway, provide training facilities and reinstate an old rail link that used to go north from the site — once the home of a Royal Ordnance bomb factory.
The talks are also understood to involve executives from Amazon, which owns a fifth of the US group following its initial public offering last month.
People close to the talks said the UK was also drawing on its “green credentials” to sway the decision, given the importance of carbon-neutral investments to the US business, which is developing electric vehicles including delivery vans for Amazon. The vanmaker was particularly keen to use electric rail links to transport parts and vehicles where possible, two people said.
Rivian’s interest in the UK includes the possibility of both a battery factory and an assembly plant, although a final decision on this has not yet been taken, according to two people.
Talks with the government began earlier this year, but were paused while the company completed its IPO, which valued it at more than $100bn. The two sides have yet to formally discuss financial incentives.
Governments across the world are vying to attract new electric-vehicle companies in order to protect their established automotive industries as the sector shifts towards zero-emission vehicles.
While the UK has won significant electric investments from existing manufacturers Nissan, Ford and Stellantis, securing Rivian would be a major boost, making it easier to persuade other start-ups to set up bases in Britain.
Tesla briefly considered the UK for its European plant before settling on Germany, where its plans have been delayed by local bureaucracy.
In an attempt to woo foreign companies, Johnson invited dozens of the world’s biggest investors to a two-day summit in October split across Windsor Castle, Downing Street and London’s Science Museum.
Rivian declined to comment.
FDA Aims for Quick Review of Omicron Vaccines and Drugs
Agency and drugmakers develop testing and manufacturing guidelines in case they are needed for fight against new Covid-19 variant
The Food and Drug Administration is laying the groundwork for the rapid review of Omicron-targeted vaccines and drugs if they turn out to be needed, according to people familiar with the matter.
The agency, building on rules established earlier this year to assess shots and treatments, has been meeting with drugmakers and setting guidelines for the studies and data needed to swiftly evaluate products targeting the new Omicron Covid-19 variant, the people said.
The FDA wants to be sure Omicron shots and therapies work safely and can be made correctly before authorizing their use, while moving as quickly as it can to conduct the assessment to aid efforts to stay ahead of the variant, according to people familiar with the matter.
Under the rules that the FDA is putting into place, drugmakers working on new vaccines would be expected to meet standards similar to those required for authorization of boosters, a person familiar with the matter said.
For vaccines, the companies wouldn’t have to conduct large, lengthy trials enrolling thousands of subjects that wait for a certain number to catch symptomatic Covid-19. Instead, they could, for example, study the immune responses in a few hundred subjects.
Drugmakers would need about three months to develop and test the new vaccines, a person familiar with the matter said. Then the companies would seek authorization of the shots through an expedited review process, and it would take the FDA one to two weeks to make a decision, according to the person.
Pfizer Inc. PFE -3.00% Chief Executive Albert Bourla said this week that the company and its partner BioNTech BNTX -0.30% SE could have the vaccines ready in 100 days, while Moderna Inc. MRNA -2.94% has said the company can advance new candidates to clinical testing in 60 to 90 days.
The preparations are another element of the rapid response to Omicron. Since the new variant was identified by South Africa scientists last week, health authorities and drug researchers have sought to figure out the threat it could pose to vaccines, drugs and people.
Testing to determine whether the new variant can evade current vaccines and medicines is continuing, and expected to take another week or two. To be prepared, drugmakers such as Moderna along with Pfizer and BioNTech are already moving to develop Omicron-targeted shots and treatments.
President Biden said Monday that he is directing the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to use “the fastest process available without cutting any corners for safety” to authorize new vaccines and make them available if needed.
Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said Tuesday that the agency would work quickly with companies to develop and test vaccine modifications if they are determined to be necessary.
The FDA had limited the use of some monoclonal antibody treatments depending on their effectiveness against circulating variants, Dr. Woodcock said, and is working with pharmaceutical companies to determine the impact of the Omicron variant on treatments.
By directing what kind of studies and data it will need to evaluate new medicines, the FDA helps drugmakers save time designing studies and gathering the evidence the agency wants to see for its evaluations.
Drugmakers will also know what kind of evidence the agency wants to see to make sure the companies can manufacture the new products correctly, another typically time-consuming part of the FDA review process.
The FDA’s Omicron guidance stems from preliminary work to pave the way for variant-specific vaccines and drugs completed earlier this year. The companies have tested vaccines for other variants, but none has been rolled out.
Under the updates, the agency would clear products that were already authorized but are being tweaked to fight Omicron with less data than required for the initial authorization, a person familiar with the matter said.
“It’s a way of looking at the strength of the body’s response, that gives you answers more quickly,” said Jesse Goodman, a professor of medicine at Georgetown University and a former FDA chief scientist, speaking generally about such studies.
The late-stage studies that the agency reviewed before authorizing Covid-19 vaccines were far larger, with Pfizer-BioNTech enrolling more than 43,000 people and Moderna enrolling about 30,000 people. And the studies looked at how many vaccinated people compared with volunteers on placebo developed symptomatic Covid-19, rather than their immune responses.
The FDA is still determining how much the effectiveness of current vaccines would need to drop to merit authorizing new ones, a person familiar with the matter said.
Agency officials have been discussing the matter with Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, JNJ -0.63% companies and U.S. officials have said.
In addition to establishing their own requirements, U.S. officials expect to be in contact with health authorities from other countries and the World Health Organization before deciding whether a new vaccine is needed, a person familiar with the matter said.
They will discuss what new candidates would target because the vaccine makers aren’t likely to make different shots for different places, one of the people familiar with the matter said.
The FDA said it believes that PCR and rapid tests will continue to work well, but is prepared to adjust course if needed.
AmEx Global Business Travel Going Public Through $5.3 Billion Merger With Apollo SPAC
Booking services provider is combining with a blank-check company after it made several acquisitions during pandemic
American Express Global Business Travel is merging with a blank-check company backed by Apollo Global Management Inc. APO 1.63% to go public with a roughly $5.3 billion valuation, the companies said.
A travel-booking services provider for corporate customers, AmEx Global Business Travel is 50% owned by American Express Co. AXP 4.47% It is combining with the special-purpose acquisition company Apollo Strategic Growth Capital. APSG 0.20% The Wall Street Journal previously reported the two sides were nearing a deal.
The merger represents a vote of investor confidence in business travel despite a bumpy 2021 recovery in the industry. Although business travel is bouncing back as more people are vaccinated, new Covid-19 variants and travel restrictions continue to emerge and keep activity well below pre-pandemic levels. Paul Abbott, chief executive officer of American Express Global Business Travel, responded to plunging sales at the start of the pandemic by cutting costs.
In May 2020 the private-equity firm Carlyle Group Inc. and the Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd. backed away from a deal to take a 20% stake in the company after it was hit by the pandemic. That transaction would have valued it at about $5 billion, including debt.
The company has since made several deals, including the acquisition of the digital travel platform Egencia from Expedia Group Inc. As part of that transaction, Expedia became an AmEx Global Business Travel investor. AmEx Global Business Travel also bought an artificial-intelligence business-travel startup, 30SecondsToFly, and Ovation Travel Group in recent months.
“The pandemic has created challenges, but it has also created significant opportunities,” Mr. Abbott said in an interview. “We have this huge runway for growth ahead of us.”
SPAC mergers such as the company’s deal with Apollo Strategic Growth Capital have exploded in the past year, in part because they allow companies to raise large sums of money and accelerate growth. Firms going public in SPAC deals can make business projections, which aren’t allowed in traditional initial public offerings.
London-based American Express Global Business Travel is raising about $335 million in a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, associated with the merger. PIPE investors include Zoom Video Communications Inc., the travel technology firm Sabre Corp. and Apollo Global Management.
That money and funds from the SPAC could be used to fund the company’s growth. The Apollo SPAC has about $815 million, making it the 12th-largest out of the 550 blank-check companies that hadn’t announced deals as of Wednesday, according to SPAC Research.
AmEx Global Business Travel has commitments for a roughly $1 billion term loan facility, some of which could be used for existing debt and some of which could cover other corporate costs, including any SPAC investor withdrawals before the deal is completed. Such withdrawals have become common in recent months because of low share prices.
The Apollo SPAC is the first blank-check company fully backed by Apollo Global Management. Another Apollo SPAC raised nearly $700 million in February. Many large private-equity and investment firms now launch their own SPACs, in part because the unique incentives granted to creators allow them to make several times their initial investment.
AmEx Global Business Travel became its own entity in 2014, when American Express sold half of the corporate-travel business to a group of investors led by Certares LP.
A SPAC, or blank-check company, is a shell entity that raises money and begins trading on a stock exchange with the purpose of merging with a private firm to take it public. After the private firm files detailed financial statements with regulators and the deal is approved, it replaces the SPAC in the stock market.
SPACs have raised roughly $150 billion this year, nearly doubling last year’s then-record total of roughly $80 billion, SPAC Research figures show.
Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- DOCU -31.6%, OLLI -22.8%, SWBI -17.7%, ASAN -14.2%, DOMO -8.9%, VRNT -2.9%, BIG -2.6%
Other news:
- ESPR -31% (prices $225 mln offering consisting of stock and warrants)
- SPWH -9.1% (disclosed termination of merger agreement with Great Outdoors Group)
- APP -6.4% (announced secondary offering of common stock by selling stockholders)
- DIDI -6% (authorized the necessary procedures and file the relevant application for the delisting of the Company's ADSs from the NYSE)
- FRT -4.9% (announces holding company reorganization)
- PTGX -3.6% (announces selection of PN-235 for Phase 2 clinical development program in multiple indications)
- SAND -1.2% (provides asset update)
Analyst comments:
- BLD -1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG Research)
- AFL -1% (initiated with a Sell at Goldman)
Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- MRVL +21.3%, SMAR +16.5%, TLYS +9.8%, ZG +9.4%, HIBB +6.9%, GCO +5.9%, ULTA +5.6%, SYNA +4.9%, ZUMZ +4%, JOAN +2.3%, BMO +1.9%, YEXT +1.1%, DOLE +0.7%
Other news:
- ENFA +8.1% (received shareholder approval for BuzzFeed combination)
- SYNA +4.9% (completes acquisition of DSP Group; updates Q2 guidance to include DSPs expected contribution)
- SBGI +4.2% (subsidiary Diamond Sports Group announced multi-year renewal of digital rights agreement with the NHL)
- KZIA +2.9% (final data from phase II clinical study of paxalisib in newly diagnosed glioblastoma)
- FOLD +2.9% (European Medicines Agency validates amicus therapeutics marketing authorization applications for AT-GAA for the treatment of pompe disease)
- NUE +2.5% (raises quarterly dividend by 23%to $0.50 per share; authorizes new $4 bln share repurchase program)
- RIOT +2.2% (provided November production and operations update)
- XENE +1.7% (provides updates on proprietary neurology pipeline programs at the Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society; Presents Additional Positive Data from Phase 2b ‘X-TOLE' Clinical Trial at the Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society)
- FIZZ +1.5% (announced special cash dividend)
- HCM +1.5% (HUTCHMED announces agreement with NHSA for continued inclusion of ELUNATE and addition of SULANDA in the National Reimbursement Drug List in China)
- ENBL +1.4% (closed combination with Energy Transfer [ET])
- VERI +1.1% (announces contract for aiWARE with the Environmental Protection Agency)
- NDAQ +1% (reports November 2021 metrics)
- BGNE +0.9% (announces inclusion in the China National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) of Tislelizumab in three new indications BRUKINSA (Zanubrutinib) in one new indication and the first listing for Pamiparib; also receives approval of SYLVANT from China's NMPA)
Analyst comments:
- CDTX +6.2% (assumed with a Buy at H.C. Wainwright; tgt $6)
- APPN +3% (upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley)
Early premarket gappers
- Gapping up:
- MRVL +19%, SMAR +15.4%, ENFA +12%, ZG +8.8%, TLYS +8.1%, ULTA +6.3%, SYNA +4.9%, HIBB +4.4%, SBGI +4.2%, ZUMZ +4%, DIDI +2.9%, BGNE +1.8%, JOAN +1.7%, RIOT +1.6%, NUE +1.6%, FIZZ +1.5%, HCM +1.5%, ENBL +1.4%, KZIA +1.4%, VERI +1.1%, NDAQ +1%, YEXT +1%, RJF +0.9%, DOLE +0.6%
- Gapping down:
- DOCU -31.6%, ESPR -30.9%, OLLI -21.3%, SWBI -18.1%, ASAN -14.8%, BIG -12.9%, DOMO -8.9%, SPWH -8.3%, APP -8.1%, FRT -4.9%, PTGX -3.6%, VRNT -2.9%, SAND -1.9%, LYFT -1.6%
Les Emirats commandent 80 Rafale, revanche éclatante après les sous-marins australiens
Comme révélé par Challenges le 17 novembre, les Emirats Arabes Unis ont annoncé la commande de 80 Rafale à l'occasion de la visite d'Emmanuel Macron dans le Golfe. Plus gros contrat export du chasseur français, cet accord est surtout une revanche éclatante après la catastrophe des sous-marins australiens.
C'est ce qu'on appellerait le "contrat du siècle", si l'expression n'avait été un rien galvaudée. Moins de trois mois après l'uppercut de l'annulation du contrat de sous-marins australiens, le camp français prend une revanche éclatante. Comme révélé par Challenges le 17 novembre, les Emirats Arabes Unis ont annoncé, à l'occasion de la visite d'Emmanuel Macron vendredi 3 décembre, la commande de 80 chasseurs Rafale dans son standard F4, le plus gros contrat export de l'histoire de l'avion de combat français. Cette commande monumentale, 16 milliards d'euros armement compris, confirme l'année exceptionnelle pour l'appareil de Dassault. Avec la commande supplémentaire de 30 avions par l'Egypte (en plus des 24 déjà achetés), et les commandes de la Grèce (24 avions), et de la Croatie (12 appareils d'occasion), la prise de commandes 2021 atteint 166 avions en un an. Un chiffre inédit, qui correspond à 16 ans de production du Rafale au rythme actuel.
Cette commande, en tous points historique, n'efface évidemment pas le traumatisme des sous-marins australiens, une humiliation qui risque de poursuivre longtemps l'industrie de défense française. Mais elle compense largement, sur le plan financier, le manque à gagner lié à la décision de Canberra. Pas convaincu? Prenons notre calculatrice. Le contrat australien était estimé à 35 milliards d'euros, dont 8 à 10 milliards d'euros pour la part française (Naval Group). La commande émiratie de Rafale, de 16 milliards d'euros (14 milliards pour le Rafale, 2 milliards pour les missiles Mica NG et Black Shaheen/Scalp de MBDA), est donc quasiment deux fois plus grosse. Elle a, en outre, deux avantages que n'avait pas le contrat de sous-marins. Un, le paiement aura lieu assez rapidement: l'acompte à l'entrée en vigueur du contrat, donc maintenant ; et l'essentiel à la livraison des Rafale à Abu Dhabi, prévues de 2027 à 2031. Le paiement des sous-marins australiens, lui, ne serait arrivé que très tard, avec une bonne partie lors de leurs livraisons respectives, prévues de 2032 à 2050.
Valeur ajoutée en France
Deuxième avantage du gigantesque contrat émirien: là où les sous-marins Attack devaient être assemblés en Australie (Osborne, près d'Adélaïde), avec un très fort contenu américain (le système de combat développé par Lockheed Martin), les Rafale seront, eux, fabriqués à 100% en France: assemblage à Mérignac (Gironde), moteurs M88 à Villaroche (Seine-et-Marne), avionique chez Thales au Haillan (Gironde), et pièces primaires dans 500 PME tricolores. Le contrat émirien est donc, sur le strict plan industriel, plus intéressant pour les groupes français que le contrat Attack, la valeur ajoutée étant à presque 100% sur le territoire national (7.000 salariés en tout).
A défaut d'effacer le traumatisme AUKUS, le contrat Rafale va donc probablement le rendre -beaucoup- plus supportable. Avec ce contrat, Paris montre que malgré l'humiliation australienne, il reste un partenaire de premier plan pour l'un des acteurs les plus stratégiques du Moyen-Orient, que se disputent toutes les grandes puissances (Etats-Unis, Russie, Chine). Le chasseur français s'est payé le luxe de devancer la commande de 50 F-35 américains par Abu Dhabi annoncée par Donald Trump durant les dernières heures de son mandat. L'administration Biden ayant conditionné le contrat à des conditions difficilement audibles par MBZ, l'homme fort des Emirats (arrêt du rapprochement avec la Chine, dégradation des performances du F-35 par rapport à la version vendue à Israël), Paris a su, plutôt habilement, se glisser dans l'interstice. Et boucler des négociations Rafale qui avaient débuté en 2008, avec des hauts (quelques-uns), des bas (nombreux), et un nombre incalculable de pauses.
80, un chiffre record
Le chiffre de 80 avions a de quoi impressionner. Il est au-delà du nombre de Mirage 2000-9 que les Emirats veulent progressivement remplacer (60 appareils environ). Il est supérieur aux 50 F-35 auxquels Abu Dhabi n'a probablement pas renoncé. Il est deux fois supérieur au nombre d'appareils commandés par l'Inde et le Qatar (36 avions). La conséquence, c'est que les prises de commande de l'industrie de défense française vont exploser le record historique de 2015 (16,9 milliards d'euros), d'autant que les Emirats ont aussi commandé une douzaine d'hélicoptères lourds Caracal d'Airbus Helicopters pour un milliard d'euros. Pas si mal pour un pays dont bien des observateurs avaient annoncé le déclassement géostratégique après l'annulation du contrat de sous-marins australiens.
>>> Up
* Adidas Raised to Buy at DZ Bank; PT 300 euros (+)
* AJ Bell Raised to Hold at Jefferies; PT 400 pence
* BP Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 404 pence
* FirstGroup PT Raised to 123 pence from 115 pence at Liberum (+)
* HelloFresh PT Raised to 115 euros at Deutsche Bank
* Pandox Raised to Buy at SEB Equities; PT 165 kronor
* Rotork Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 395 pence
* Schoeller-Bleckmann Raised to Buy at Raiffeisen Bank
* SSE Raised to Buy at Jefferies; PT 1,810 pence
* Verbund Raised to Hold at Raiffeisen Bank; PT 94 euros
* Verbund Raised to Hold at Raiffeisen Bank; PT 94 euros
* Vonovia Raised to Buy at DZ Bank; PT 61 euros (+)
>>> Down
* Aalberts Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; PT 58 euros
>>> Down
* Aalberts Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; PT 58 euros
* Alfa Laval Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT 310 kronor
* Amundi Cut to Neutral at Exane; PT 87 euros
* Dufry Cut to Reduce at Baader Helvea; PT 39 Swiss francs
* Vestas Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT 180 kroner
>>> Initiation
>>> Initiation
* Bekaert Rated New Buy at Kepler Cheuvreux; PT 43 euros (+)
* Bio-Gate Rated New Buy at GBC AG; PT 8 euros
* Bio-Gate Rated New Buy at GBC AG; PT 8 euros
* Damartex Rated New Buy at Euroland Corporate; PT 27 euros
* Fevertree Drinks Rated New Hold at Peel Hunt; PT 2,400 pence
* Hermes Rated New Outperform at CICC; PT 1,800 euros
* Moncler Rated New Outperform at CICC; PT 80 euros
* Nacon Rated New Buy at Euroland Corporate; PT 9 euros
* Pandora Rated New Market Perform at CICC; PT 900 kroner
* Pyrum Innovations Rated New Buy at Pareto Securities
* Richemont Rated New Market Perform at CICC; PT 120 Swiss francs
* Salvatore Ferragamo Rated New Market Perform at CICC
* Swatch Rated New Market Perform at CICC; PT 270 Swiss francs
* Titan Cement Rated New Hold at Berenberg; PT 14 euros
* Tonies Rated New Buy at Berenberg; PT 18 euros
* Vicat Rated New Hold at Berenberg; PT 42 euros
>>> Call
>>> Call
* Allianz Update Is ‘Early Christmas’ for Investors: Jefferies (+)
* Citi Cuts U.S., Japan Stock Recommendations on Omicron, Fed
* Citi Cuts U.S., Japan Stock Recommendations on Omicron, Fed
* Fevertree Rated New Hold at Peel Hunt; Share Price is Full (+)
* Morgan Stanley Sees End to Shipper Supply Chain Logjam in 2022
* Vicat, Titan Cement Get New Hold Ratings at Berenberg (+)