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Macro :

- Europe Auto Sales Fall 2 Million Cars Short of 2019’s First Half

- EU June Car Registrations Rise 10.4% Y/y to 1.048m Units

- U.K.’s Office Workers Set to Stay Home as Reopening Falls Flat

- JPMorgan Strategist Warns of Dot-Com Era ‘Bull Trap’ in Ark Fund

- Gundlach Says Fed Changed Meaning of ‘Transitory’ Inflation

- Japan said to be increasing staffing at new Section of FSA Govt agencies to deepen its dialogue on regulating digital currencies - Press

- African Swine Fever Confirmed in Domestic Pigs at German Farms

Keep an eye on :

- AC FP : Accor CEO Seeing Strong Rebound in U.S. and China: Les Echos

- ANA SM : Acciona Energia Says Acciona’s Greenshoe Exercised (July 15)

- ADP FP : ADP June Passengers 2.86M

- ADYEN FP : Wise Listing Puts Spotlight on Fintech Funding Race: ECM Watch

- AKER NO : Aker 2Q Net Assets NOK66.9B Vs. NOK62.2B Q/q

- AA US : Alcoa Boosts FY Aluminum Shipments Forecast: Snapshot

- AZN LN : Astra, Alexion Sink Together for Worst Drop in Over Three Months

- BNTX US : BioNTech Shot Produces 10 Times Sinovac Antibodies, Study Finds

- BMW GY : Rolls-Royce Concerned Over Output as Covid Trace Alerts Rise:Sky

- BP/ LN : BP to Send Carbon Offset LNG Cargo to Sempra’s Mexico Terminal

- BRAV SS : Bravida 2Q Net Income Meets Estimates

- CPI LN : Capita Holders Approve Sale of 51% Interest in Axelos

- CCL LN : Canada to Allow Cruise Ships From November: Reuters

- CERV IM : Cerved Group Says Castor Bidco Offer Inadequate

- COFB BB : Cofinimmo Spends About EU21m on Dutch, Spanish Care Properties

- ELISA FH : Elisa 2Q Comparable Ebitda Meets Estimates

- ELK NO : Elkem 2Q Ebitda Beats Estimates

- EMSN SW : EMS-Chemie 1H Ebit Meets Estimates

- ERICB SS : Ericsson 2Q Adjusted Operating Profit Misses Estimates (1)

- ERICB SS : Ericsson, Verizon Ink Multi-Year $8.3B 5G Deal

- GM US : China Market Regulator (SAMR): Company to recall 1.44M cars

- GRNG SS : Granges 2Q Adjusted Operating Profit Misses Estimates

- SHBA SS : Handelsbanken 2Q Net Income Beats Estimates

- HUSQB SS : Husqvarna 2Q Adjusted Operating Profit Beats Estimates

- IIA AV : Austrian Landlord Seeks Divorce After Years of Failed Coupling

- INTC US : Intel Is in Talks to Buy GlobalFoundries for About $30 Billion - WSJ (attached)

- INWI SS : Inwido 2Q Ebita SEK264M Vs. SEK193M Y/y

- IPN FP : Irlab to Get up to $363M in Parkinson’S Pact With Ipsen

- JEN GY : Jenoptik FY Revenue Forecast Beats Estimates

- KEMIRA FH : Kemira 2Q Oper Ebitda Beats Estimates

- LIFCOB SS : Lifco 2Q Net Sales SEK4.50B Vs. SEK3.08B Y/y

- LONN SW : Lonza Extends Monoclonal Antibody Supply Agreement

- MRNA US : Moderna Climbs as S&P 500 Set to Welcome Covid Vaccine Maker

- MTRS SS : Munters 2Q Net Sales Meet Estimates

- NTGY SM : Spain to Ask IFM for More Details on Naturgy Offer: Economista

- NTG DC : Nordic Transport Group Buys Furniture Logistics Specialist LGT

- PGHN SW : Partners Group Assets Under Management $119B

- PUB FP : Publicis Agrees to Acquire Australia-Based CitrusAd

- PUM GY : Puma Raises FY 2021 Guidance

- RATOB SS : Ratos 2Q EPS SEK1.90 Vs. SEK2.18 Y/y

- REC IM : Recordati Appoints Rob Koremans as New CEO as of Dec 1

- CFR SW : Richemont 1Q Sales Beat Estimates

- RIO LN : Rio Tinto 2Q Pilbara Iron Ore Shipments On 100% Basis Meets Est.

- ROTH FP : PJ Solomon Raises Bankers’ Salaries Amid Wall Street Bidding War

- SAB SM : MoraBanc To Buy Sabadell’s Stake in BancSabadell d’Andorra

- SAN FP : Sanofi Postpones Conversion of Kiadis Into Private LLC

- SAN SM : Santander to Buy Broker Amherst Pierpont in $600 Million Deal

- SHOT SS : Scandic 2Q Adjusted Ebitda Loss SEK364M Vs. Loss SEK1.14B Y/y

- SCHA NO : Schibsted 2Q Ebitda Beats Estimates

- SRC LN : SigmaRoc Agrees to Acquire Rettig’s Nordkalk for About EU470M

- SINCH SS : Sinch 2Q Adjusted Ebitda Beats Estimates

- SOON SW : Sonova Looking at Big and Small M&A Targets, CEO Tells FuW

- SQ US : Square's DeFi Thrust Faces Bitcoin, Clients, Feds Hurdles: React

- STAN LN : Citi Seeks to Sell Korea, SE Asia Business to Stanchart: Daily

- STVN US : Italian Packaging Firm Stevanato Raises $672 Million in U.S. IPO

- SWEDA SS : Swedbank 2Q Net Interest Income Meets Estimates

- HO FP : Thales May Decide Not to Sell Signaling Business, Les Echos Says

- TOM NO : Tomra 2Q EPS Beats Estimates

- WISE LN : Wise Listing Puts Spotlight on Fintech Funding Race: ECM Watch

Libertarian vision of operating outside mainstream is giving way to the need to comply with regulators

Crypto asset companies face a stark choice: learn to live with regulators or endure their wrath.

One of the main draws for hardcore advocates of digital assets is that many theoretically sit outside the reach of government and monetary authorities that oversee activities in conventional markets.

While the dream of a decentralised financial system is still alive and well in the crypto community, what has actually developed is an industry full of very large financial companies.

Big Crypto includes exchanges like Coinbase and Binance as well as issuers of stablecoins, digital tokens backed by or linked to other assets, such as Tether and USD Coin backer Circle.

The exchanges process hundreds of billions of dollars combined each month, and the market value of just the two largest stablecoins has reached around $90bn.

This activity is increasingly spilling into the tightly regulated traditional financial system. Many exchanges allow withdrawals and deposits from bank accounts and through major payments cards. Tether and USD Coin are backed by reserves that include short-term debt issued by traditional companies, their issuers say. That means they could become systemically significant outside of the crypto market, something that has prompted concern at the Federal Reserve and ratings group Fitch. 

Crypto firms are also racing to public equity markets. US-based Coinbase listed on Wall Street this year, while Circle is planning to debut in New York through a deal with a listed investment vehicle. High-profile financial companies and hedge funds are also looking to get into the game.

The industry’s blockbuster growth and big ambitions have been fed, at least in part, by its ability to operate with a “move fast and break things” mentality. When crypto was still in its earlier stages, regulators were able to mostly shrug this off as a sideshow.

But financial watchdogs are now grappling with serious questions: how can they ensure crypto is not being used for money laundering or the financing of terrorism? How do they protect consumers from scams or other schemes? At what point does Big Crypto begin causing a systemic risk to traditional asset markets?

This surge of supervisory interest poses a serious risk to some players, but also presents an opportunity for others. It has caused something of a split in the crypto industry. Some operators are slowly winning over officials by professing their compliance bona fides or by explaining their business models in extensive detail. Others are playing catch-up.

“We’re exactly in the eye of the storm,” said Ian Taylor, executive director of CryptoUK, a trade body that represents the industry. He said many “early adopters” have to shift from a mindset of crypto “being outside of centralised control” to being large, mainstream operators.

This process will ultimately be a boon to the sector’s prospects. Many crypto industry participants fret that a few bad actors will ruin it for everyone. A serious blow-up could destroy the progress made by proponents who have worked for years to sell consumers, investors and regulators on their vision for the future of finance.

Crypto companies that submit themselves to more rigorous scrutiny should also have an easier time operating within the bounds of traditional finance.

Some companies are making progress in this area. Hong Kong-based exchange Crypto.com last week, for example, said it became the first global crypto company to obtain an electronic money institution license in Malta, allowing it to issue payment cards and offer bank transfers directly to consumers.

In the UK, Gemini, a crypto company founded by the Winklevoss twins, is among the few operators to have been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to become a registered cryptoasset company.

The flipside is that regulators are taking a stronger line in their scrutiny.

Tether and exchange Bitfinex, for example, agreed in February to pay an $18.5m penalty after New York’s attorney-general said they had “recklessly and unlawfully covered up massive financial losses”. Neither firm admitted wrongdoing. The FCA last month also issued a consumer warning against Binance, one of Big Crypto’s most significant players which has faced concerns over its compliance practices.

Regulators are now closing in on the industry. Big Crypto groups that enjoy market leadership will face heavier demands on compliance, transparency and consumer protection.

Civil case launched by Turkish duo in France centres on allegations that state illegally seized assets in 2004

Members of Turkey’s Uzan family of business tycoons are suing multiple groups including Vodafone, Motorola and BlackRock for $68bn over assets and potential earnings they claim were “fraudulently” taken from companies formerly owned or affiliated with the family.

The civil case, which has been brought in Paris by two Uzan brothers who live in France, centres on allegations of a “colossal abuse of power” by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). The Turkish state body takes over banks, as well as other assets held by their owners, when lenders fail.

The sprawling saga dates back two decades and involves more than 50 defendants, including the TMSF and dozens of Turks, who the Uzan family claim either colluded or collaborated in the seizure of companies and assets by the state.

Cem Cengiz Uzan, who has been granted political asylum in France according to his lawyer, and his brother Murat Hakan Uzan, allege that more than 130 companies — of which family members were either shareholders or beneficial owners — had their assets “fraudulently captured”. 

They claim that there was no proof that these companies or their owners had any connection to illegal activity allegedly committed by the now-defunct Imar Bank, also once owned by the Uzan family, who were accused of siphoning nearly $6bn of funds from it. Though not the subject of the current lawsuit, the Uzan family deny any alleged fraud connected to the bank, which they say was never proven. 

In 2004 the TMSF seized the sprawling media-to-energy business empire of the Uzan family to “recoup public money” lost in the collapse of Imar. It then sold the assets to groups including BlackRock to pay down some of the billions of dollars in bad debts.

Motorola’s involvement in the affair dates back to 1998 when the US group lent $2bn to Telsim, a telecoms company owned by the Uzans, which was subsequently defaulted on. In the early 2000s, a US district court found that the Uzans had committed a “massive fraud” in obtaining loans from Motorola. Telsim was then sold to Vodafone for $4.5bn. 

A TMSF spokesman said the regulator has received no official notification of the lawsuit and could not comment further at this time. 

Motorola said it was aware of the claims filed in France, which it described as “part of the Uzan family’s continued efforts to evade a multibillion-dollar judgment entered in favour of Motorola Credit Corporation”. 

“Motorola Solutions intends to continue its legal efforts to obtain a full collection of the sums it is owed by the Uzans,” it added.

Vodafone said it had not been notified about the case and that any allegations that it had contributed to defrauding the Uzan family “are strongly denied, contradicted by the facts and will be strongly defended if they are pursued in any legal proceedings”.

BlackRock declined to comment.

The $68bn the Uzans now claim relates both to the value of the assets at the time of their sale and the dividends they say they would have received since then.

At the time that the Turkish government took over the Uzans’ assets, many investors applauded the move as a commitment to the rule of law.

Cem Uzan’s flight from Turkey more than a decade ago allowed him to avoid a lengthy prison sentence after his conviction for membership of a criminal organisation that engaged in forgery, bribery and fraud. Turkey had sought his return from France, arguing he had caused significant damage to the broader economy. 

Before their fall from grace, the Uzans crossed paths with some of the world’s most elite figures. A 2018 biography of Prince Charles claimed the billionaire Cem Uzan made a charity donation of £200,000 for his wife to sit next to the prince at a dinner in 2000.

The Uzan case follows on the heels of another dramatic legal move in France. Scottish oil producer Cairn Energy said it had effectively seized Indian state-owned properties in Paris, an action stemming from a long-running tax dispute between the company and the Indian government.

The three hospital operators are holding off on administering Aduhelm amid a debate over its effectiveness

Three large hospitals are declining to administer Biogen Inc.’s BIIB -6.79% new Alzheimer’s treatment, Aduhelm, the latest rupture to emerge from the Food and Drug Administration’s controversial approval of the drug last month.

The Cleveland Clinic, Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Providence in Renton, Wash., said they wouldn’t administer Aduhelm, which is also called aducanumab, to patients amid a debate about the drug’s effectiveness and whether the FDA lowered its standards in approving the medicine.

The hospitals’ moves come as some health insurers also restrict access to the therapy—unusual pushback against a drug targeting a devastating disease like Alzheimer’s that has few effective treatments.

While some doctors have been eager to start prescribing the newly approved drug, others have criticized the FDA for clearing the drug before studies proved it works. The critics have also expressed concerns about whether the drug’s benefits, which appeared to be modest in studies, are worth the risks of side effects such as brain bleeding that require regular monitoring by physicians.

“Clinical studies failed to demonstrate the effectiveness of Aduhelm…while documenting significant risks, like brain swelling and bleeding,” said a spokeswoman for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, which won’t cover the drug for its commercially insured patients.

Federal officials recently began a monthslong review of whether Medicare will cover Aduhelm and under what circumstances. The vast majority of patients expected to get the drug are on Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

The Cleveland Clinic won’t carry the drug in its pharmacy or provide infusions of it to patients following a review of available scientific evidence by a multidisciplinary panel of experts, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Cleveland Clinic doctors, the spokeswoman said, can still prescribe the medicine, but patients will have to receive their infusions at an outside facility.

Aduhelm is given with a monthly infusion, typically at an outpatient medical center. Biogen priced the drug at $56,000 a year, though one health researcher said it will probably cost more for a typical patient.

“Based on the current data regarding its safety and efficacy, we have decided not to carry Aducanumab at this time,” the Cleveland Clinic said. The hospital said it will reconsider the decision when more data are available.

Mount Sinai said it won’t infuse Aduhelm until it sees the findings of a U.S. government investigation into interactions between FDA staff and Biogen during the review process. The investigation, which was requested last week by FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock, has raised concerns about the integrity of the approval process, Mount Sinai said.

“Medical decisions should be based on science and data, so it is disappointing that patients living with Alzheimer’s disease may reportedly not be able to access Aduhelm at some facilities,” a Biogen spokeswoman said. “Biogen continues to stand 100% behind Aduhelm and the clinical data that supported approval.”

Jason Karlawish, an Alzheimer’s specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, said the decision of some health systems to not give Aduhelm suggests an erosion of trust in the FDA’s decision making.

“It’s very disturbing that we’re starting to hear health systems that rely on the FDA sending signals that they don’t trust the FDA,” Dr. Karlawish said in an interview. “I have to trust the system that puts drugs into the pharmacy so that I can prescribe them with confidence.”

The New York Times earlier reported that Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai weren’t going to administer Aduhelm to patients.

In June, the FDA approved Aduhelm based on two large but inconclusive studies of its effect in slowing cognitive decline in people with mild Alzheimer’s symptoms.

The agency issued the approval using a regulatory mechanism that allows for drugs to be cleared before they are definitively proven effective, saying the Aduhelm was reasonably likely to provide a benefit by reducing levels of a sticky protein called amyloid from the brain.

The FDA approval was made over the objections of some of its own statisticians and members of an outside committee of experts convened by the agency to provide advice on the drug. Three of the outside advisers resigned from the committee in protest of the FDA’s decision.

The FDA subsequently narrowed its recommendation for who should get the drug, to Alzheimer’s patients in the early stage of the disease.

Dr. Woodcock’s request for an investigation last week prompted Mount Sinai to hold off on treating patients with Aduhelm.

A Mount Sinai spokeswoman said that in addition to completion of the investigation, the hospital is awaiting the writing of “best practices” guidelines for Aduhelm by its own experts, as well as a standard review necessary for adding Aduhelm to its formulary of available drugs.

Sam Gandy, a Mount Sinai professor of Alzheimer’s disease research, said he and his colleagues, who are setting guidelines for Aduhelm, were open to prescribing the drug for certain patients, although only one of Biogen’s two clinical studies appeared to show the drug worked.

Dr. Woodcock’s request for an investigation, however, threw into question whether the drug was appropriately evaluated and approved in the first place, Dr. Gandy said. Over the following days, the group decided they would wait for the investigation’s conclusion before considering infusions.

“I’m willing to allow for the possibility that the FDA may have the latitude to approve [Aduhelm] along this accelerated approval pathway, but not if I can’t trust the integrity of the process,” Dr. Gandy said in an interview. “We still want to do what’s best for our patients, but we simply don’t want to make a decision we can’t sustain.”

Washington neurologist Nancy Isenberg, one of the Providence doctors involved in the decision to not administer Aduhelm, cited the drug’s potential for serious side effects, lack of clear benefit and high cost as reasons behind the policy. Providence, whose system includes 52 hospitals and more than 1,000 outpatient clinics, is also wary of prescribing the drug before investigators return results of an investigation of Aduhelm’s regulatory approval, she said.

“I wish and I hope we can offer safe, effective and affordable treatments” for Alzheimer’s patients, Dr. Isenberg said. “At the same time, this is not that.”

Resistance to Aduhelm from some hospitals and insurers may not affect Biogen, which analysts project could eventually ring up billions of dollars in sales from the drug.

A fair number “of academic medical centers etc. can stay on sidelines and [the] math may still work,” Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat said in a research note.

Some skeptical doctors, he added, have said they won’t deny Aduhelm to interested patients.

Move comes as Intel is launching a major push to become a chip manufacturer for others

Intel Corp. INTC -1.26% is exploring a deal to buy GlobalFoundries Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would turbocharge the semiconductor giant’s plans to make more chips for other tech companies and rate as its largest acquisition ever.

A deal could value GlobalFoundries at around $30 billion, the people said. It isn’t guaranteed one will come together, and GlobalFoundries could proceed with a planned initial public offering. GlobalFoundries is owned by Mubadala Investment Co., an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, but based in the U.S.

Any talks don’t appear to include GlobalFoundries executives, as a spokeswoman for the company said it isn’t in discussions with Intel.

Intel’s new chief executive, Pat Gelsinger, in March said the company would launch a major push to become a chip manufacturer for others, a market dominated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TSM -5.51%

Intel, with a market value of around $225 billion, this year pledged more than $20 billion in investments to expand chip-making facilities in the U.S., and Mr. Gelsinger has said more commitments domestically and abroad are in the works.

GlobalFoundries is one of the largest specialist chip-production companies. It was created when Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in 2008 decided to spin off its chip-production operations.

AMD remains a big customer for GlobalFoundries—agreeing to a multiyear, roughly $1.6 billion chip-component supply deal this year—and that could complicate a takeover by Intel. GlobalFoundries is relocating its corporate headquarters to Malta, N.Y., from Santa Clara, Calif.

GlobalFoundries has about 7% of the foundry market share by revenue, according to Taiwan-based research firm TrendForce. Some of the largest chip companies, including Qualcomm Inc. QCOM -1.59% and Nvidia Corp. NVDA -4.41% , rely on third-party producers to make their products, preferring to focus on design and without the hassle of running their own factories. Nvidia last year overtook Intel as America’s biggest semiconductor company by value.

Like Intel and TSMC, GlobalFoundries is expanding its manufacturing footprint amid a global shortage of semiconductors. GlobalFoundries last month said it broke ground on a new chip-production facility, called a fab, in Singapore, investing more than $4 billion in the site.

The shortage has disrupted manufacturing across various sectors, leading to temporary shutdowns of automobile factories and reduced supply of items such as computers and some appliances.

Car makers have been hit particularly hard, unable to get enough chips for all their vehicles. The shortages are starting to drive up the costs of some electronics, too.

President Biden has promised to take steps to help mitigate the chip shortage, pledging to spend billions of dollars to boost capacity. Governments overseas have signaled similar commitments.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker, this week said it expects the chip-supply issues hampering car makers to start easing in the coming months after it ramped up its production of auto chips. Car makers have signaled they expect shortages to persist into next year.

Mr. Gelsinger, who was Intel’s chief technology officer before leaving to run VMware Inc., VMW 0.29% returned to the chip giant to be its chief executive in February, following major delays in chip-making advances under his predecessor, Bob Swan.

Mr. Gelsinger has vowed to make Intel more reliable in producing new chips.

Intel, a serial deal maker, in October agreed to sell its flash-memory manufacturing business to South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. 000660 -2.02% for about $9 billion.

Its biggest deal so far is its $15.4 billion purchase of Altera Corp. in 2015. It agreed to buy Israel-based Mobileye, a maker of driver-assistance systems, for around $14 billion in 2017.

Consolidation has swept through the semiconductor sector as industry players seek scale and expand their product portfolios to support the increasing number of everyday items that are connected to the internet.

Last year, Analog Devices Inc. ADI -1.50% agreed to pay more than $20 billion for Maxim Integrated Products Inc., MXIM -1.29% and Nvidia agreed to pay $40 billion for Arm Holdings, the British chip designer backed by SoftBank Group Corp. 9984 -0.64% AMD later agreed to buy Xilinx Inc. XLNX -2.28% in a roughly $35 billion deal.