TheChek News Flow

DAX:

MDAX:

SDAX:

Nikkei +0,47% Hang Seng -0,15% CSI +0,89% Shanghai +0,59% Shenzen +0,82%

Eur$ 1.1481 CNH 6.4037 CNY 6.4039 JPY 113.96 GBP 1.3420 CHF 0.9188 RUB 71.1930 TRY 9.9011 WTI$ 81.55 +0.26% Gold 1854 +0.25% BTC 64,750 +0.71% ETH

S&P +0,12% Nasdaq +0,27% EuroStoxx -0,25% FTSE +0,012% Dax -0,10% SMI -0.26%

Macro :

- Gensler Signals New Rules for Private Equity, Hedge Fund Fees

- Tesla Chair Calls on APEC to Tighten Vehicle Emission Standards

Keep an eye on :

- ARL GY : Aareal Rejects Petrus Demand for Partial Board Replacement

- ARL GY : Aareal Bank 3Q Operating Profit EU50M Vs. EU11M Y/y

- AGN NA : Aegon 3Q Pretax Loss EU107M

- AIR FP : Boeing Agrees to Settlement With Victims in Ethiopia Air Crash

- AKERBP NO : Aker BP Offering by Holders Aker, BP Prices at NOK310/Share

- ALFEN NA : Alfen 3Q Adjusted Ebitda EU9.7M Vs. EU7.5M Y/y

- MT NA : ArcelorMittal 3Q Ebitda Misses Estimates, ADDS $1B TO SHARE BUYBACK PROGRAM

- AR4 GY : Aurelius 9M Oper Ebitda EU181.4M Vs. EU100.2M Y/y

- AUSS NO : Austevoll Seafood 3Q Ebit Beats Estimates

- BAYN GY : Bayer-Monsanto Jury Awards $62 Million for Toxic PCBs at School

- BYW6 GY : BayWa 9M Ebit EU191.7M Vs. EU102.7M Y/y

- BC8 GY : Bechtle 3Q Pretax Profit Beats Estimates

- GBF GY : Bilfinger Names Schulz as Executive Board Chair Effective March

- BNP FP : BNP Unit Fined EU3M by French Bank Regulator Over Fees

- BRBY LN : *BURBERRY 1H RETAIL COMP SALES +37%, EST. +38%

- CA FP : French Antitrust Raids Target Large-Scale Food Retailers

- CALTX SS : Calliditas Therapeutics Cut to Hold at SEB Equities

- CBK GY : Erste Group May Buy Commerzbank’s Hungarian Unit, Telex Says

- DAI GY : Daimler Sold Stake in Renault for Proceeds of ~EU305m: Terms

- DHER GY : Delivery Hero Sees FY Total Seg. Rev. at Upper End of Range

- DIC GY : DIC Asset Sees FY FFO EU106M to EU110M

- ENGI FP : Engie Raises Outlook for Revenue, Profit on ‘External Tailwinds’

- EXS SS : Exsitec Holding Offering by Holder Prices at SEK210/Share

- EXS SS : Exsitec Holding Holder Standout Capital Holding Offers Shares

- FIE GY : Fielmann 3Q Sales Meet Estimates

- FLS DC : FLSmidth Names Mikko Keto Group CEO as Thomas Schulz Steps Down

- FRA GY : Fraport Oct. Frankfurt Airport Passengers +218.5%

- G IM : Generali 9M Net Rises on Life Segment, Asset Management Income

- GFT GY : GFT 9M Revenue EU405.4M Vs. EU327.0M Y/y

- ILTY IM : Illimity 3Q Net Income EU18.8M Vs. EU9.5M Y/y

- INH GY : Indus Holding Cuts FY Ebit Forecast

- KER FP : Kering Says Bottega Veneta Creative Head Daniel Lee to Leave

- SDF GY : K+S 3Q Revenue Beats Estimates

- LSG NO : Leroy 3Q Adjusted Ebit Misses Estimates

- LSEG LN : LSE Holder Offer Upsized to 5.03m Shrs; Books Closed: Terms

- MRK GY : Merck KGaA 3Q Rebif Sales Miss Estimates

- MITRA BB : Mithra Raises EU5.73m Issuing 314,162 Shares to LDA Capital

- MOR GY : MorphoSys 3Q Revenue Beats Estimates

- NG/ LN : Full Return of U.K.-France Power Cable Expected 10 Months Early

- NOKIA FH : Nokia Now Has 4,000 Patent Families Declared as Essential to 5G

- NEXI IM : Alpha Bank Sells Its Merchant Acquiring Business Unit to Nexi

- PAT GY : Patrizia Narrows FY Operating Income Forecast

- VOW GY : Porsche CEO Says EV Shift Progressing Faster Than Anticipated

- PST IM : *POSTE ITALIANE RAISES 2021 GUIDANCE

- POST AV : Austrian Post 3Q Ebit Beats Estimates

- QFUEL NO : Quantafuel Says Skive Progress on Track for Full Capability

- RNO FP : Daimler to Sell Entire Stake of About 9.2M Shares in Renault

- RIVN US : Electric truck maker Rivian soars to a $100 BILLION valuation in year's biggest stock market debut - topping GM and Ford even

- RWE GY : RWE Maintains FY Adjusted Ebitda EU3B to EU3.4B, Est. EU3.21B

- SBANK NO : Sbanken 3Q Net Income Misses Estimates

- SBMO NA : SBM Offshore Cuts FY Adjusted Revenue Forecast

- SU FP : Schneider Electric to Build Three Plants in North America

- G24 GY : Scout24 SE 3Q Oper Ebitda EU54.5M Vs. EU52.2M Y/y

- SGL GY : SGL 9M Sales Revenue EU743.5M Vs. EU683.5M Y/y

- SIE GY : Siemens Sees Slight Rise for 2022 Margins After Profit Beat

- SIKA SW : Sika to Buy Construction Chemicals Rival MBCC for $6 Billion

- SIX2 GY : Sixt 3Q Pretax Profit EU253.2M Vs. EU66M Y/y

- AM3D GY : SLM Solutions Sees 2022 Revenue At Least EU100m

- SON PL : Sonae 9M Net Income Rises to EU158m From EU4m Loss Y/y

- FGR FP : Spie in Exclusive Talks to Buy Worksphere in the Netherlands

- TSLA US : Elon Musk Sells $5 Billion of Tesla Stock After Twitter Poll

- TOD IM : Tod's 9M Sales EU622.6M

- VAR1 GY : Varta 9M Revenue EU622.3M Vs. EU630.3M Y/y

- VEI NO : Veidekke 3Q Net Income Beats Estimates

- VEZ GY : Vegan Food Is Supermarket Hit, But Stock Market Dud

- FHZN SW : Zurich Airport Oct. Passengers 1.61M Vs. 468,616 Y/y

- ZURN SW : Zurich Ins. 9M P&C Gross Written Premiums $31.15B

Property company is second-biggest borrower on international high-yield markets after Evergrande

Kaisa was downgraded on Thursday as the Chinese developer faces a crucial payment deadline, providing a new flash point for global investor concerns that have been heightened by a sharp sell-off in property groups’ offshore debt.

S&P lowered its rating of the company, which has $88m in coupon payments due by Friday, to triple C minus, saying it “may not be able to service its debt in time” and pointing to a potential debt restructuring.

Kaisa’s deadline is the latest strain on the Chinese property sector reeling from a liquidity crisis, following a severe sell-off in developers this week that pushed borrowing costs on the country’s riskier offshore bonds to their highest level since the financial crisis.

Kaisa, the sector’s second-biggest borrower on international high yield markets after Evergrande, pleaded with investors this week for more time after payments were missed on wealth management products it guarantees.

“Based on Kaisa’s recent statements, it seems probable that it will enter the grace period for its USD coupon due today,” said Paul Lukaszewski, head of corporate debt for Asia-Pacific at Abrdn.

Holders of some bonds in Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, said they had received payments before a 30-day grace period expired on Wednesday. Evergrande did not respond to a request for comment.

Property companies are under pressure from Beijing to reduce their debts, with several defaulting in the past month at a time when property sales had slowed. Distress across China’s real estate sector forced yields on bonds issued by the country’s riskier offshore borrowers to hit 29 per cent this week, compared with 14 per cent at the start of September — their highest level since 2008-09.

Chinese developers are almost entirely shut out of international bond markets, which analysts and investors worry could worsen liquidity issues by restricting the companies’ ability to refinance existing debts.

“I think there’ll be more and more defaults to come,” said a Hong Kong-based investor who holds developer bonds. “One of the biggest points is that we see a lot of pain now in the property sector but we haven’t seen that spreading to other sectors, which is probably why the Beijing government hasn’t done anything”.

A report in the Securities Times, a state-owned media outlet, on Wednesday indicated that regulators were considering loosening the restrictions related to domestic bond issuance to help developers. Prices of some bonds were boosted on Wednesday and Thursday morning following the report.

Evergrande has struggled to sell assets and raise cash over recent months as part of its battle to stave off a liquidity crisis. Sinic and Fantasia, two smaller developers, defaulted last month. Fantasia’s shares resumed trading in Hong Kong on Wednesday and slumped 37 per cent.

Kaisa was downgraded on Wednesday by Moody’s to Ca, deep into junk territory. The company, which in 2015 became the first Chinese developer to default offshore, relies on international markets for over half its debt, according to the rating agency.

One person familiar with the matter said they were told the company would not make the coupon payment on Thursday, which would trigger a 30-day grace period. Kaisa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Contracts with BT and CityFibre enable Europe’s largest provider to increase its reach across domestic market

Vodafone has stepped up its push into the UK broadband market after striking new deals with BT’s Openreach and challenger network CityFibre that hand the group the largest ultrafast broadband footprint in the country.

The deals means Vodafone will be able to offer the high-speed broadband product to 8m homes by next spring at steep discounts as it looks to grow its share of the market.

The UK company is Europe’s largest broadband provider, with more than 25m customers after acquiring cable networks in markets including Germany and Spain. Yet it does not own a residential fixed-line network in its home market and instead leases capacity from its rivals.

In recent days it has signed new deals with BT and has deepened its partnership with CityFibre having initially signed a deal with the ‘alt-net’ provider in 2017.

“A couple of years back we were new to broadband but by spring we will have the widest fibre-to-the-premises footprint in the UK,” Ahmed Essam, chief executive of Vodafone UK, told the Financial Times.

Essam said that not owning a broadband network in the UK has meant Vodafone could play the field and expand its reach. “BT will always sell on BT. Virgin Media will always sell on Virgin Media,” he said of his main rivals.

He said he remained open to a deal with Virgin Media O2, or other network builders, to expand its capacity further.

CityFibre’s original deal with Vodafone, worth up to £500m at the time, helped establish the company’s initial network expansion into cities and towns such as Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry and Edinburgh as the alt-net looked to lay fibre in places BT had yet to upgrade.

The new agreement, which has not been previously reported, will support CityFibre’s national build to 285 cities and towns alongside TalkTalk, which also uses its fibre.

Greg Mesch, founder and chief executive of Goldman Sachs-backed CityFibre, said Vodafone was now an “anchor tenant” that would underpin its expansion to 8m homes across the country from 1m today.

CityFibre raised £1.1bn in equity and debt in September backed by Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala and Interogo Holding, the investment arm of Ikea’s owner, to accelerate its expansion.

“There’s not only room for a third network but there’s room for a third network to thrive,” said Mesch.

It is the most established of dozens of ‘alt-nets’ that have emerged in recent years to lay fibre in the UK and is looking to use its financial muscle to acquire some of smaller rivals.

The group has opened talks with Toob, a rival that has built fibre in Southampton and expanded into nearby areas on the south coast of England, in recent weeks, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. CityFibre and Toob declined to comment on the talks.

O’Keeffe’s Hawaiian painting at Phillips; Renaissance rediscoveries at Colnaghi; Sean Kelly opens in LA — and keeps it in the family

Christie’s kicked off the New York season of auctions on Tuesday with an evening sale dedicated to its new category for mostly 21st-century art. The fare was fittingly broad-ranging, including Banksy’s take on Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” from 2005 (spoiler alert: they’re dead), sold by the fashion designer Paul Smith for $12.4m ($14.6m with fees); 13 repurposed African masks in a 2004 sculpture by David Hammons, which sold for $3.1m ($3.8m with fees); a three-part non-fungible token by Urs Fischer, minted less than three weeks before its sale, which went for an above-estimate $180,000 ($225,000 with fees).

There was even the first physical, digital and token-backed work by the NFT superstar Beeple at auction. His “Human One” (2021) sold for $25m to an online bidder registered in Switzerland who revealed himself on Twitter as tech investor Ryan Zurrer ($29m with fees, estimate $15m).

Half the 40 works were covered by guarantees, though some estimates were even more wild than the art in this “let’s see what happens” market. Basquiat’s “The Guilt of Gold Teeth” (1982) had a wide-ranging estimate of $40m-$80m, having last sold publicly for $387,500 in 1998. This time, the painting sold for $37m ($40m with fees), reportedly from the collection of the artist-musician José Cano André.

Perhaps Christie’s most frank valuation was “estimate unknown”, attached to another new NFT, “Arcadia” — a collaboration on existentialism made by a visual artist, a poet and a musician — which went for $420,000 ($525,000 with fees). The evening sale made a within-estimate total of $190.1m ($219.3m with fees), topped by the 1982 Basquiat, and was fully sold, known as a “white glove” auction, injecting some early confidence into a jam-packed fortnight.