Challenges : Les 3 questions que tout le monde se pose sur l'affaire Veolia-Suez

Les 3 questions que tout le monde se pose sur l'affaire Veolia-Suez
Par Challenges.fr le 12.04.2021 à 16h19
Lecture 4 min.
La tentative de rapprochement entre Veolia et Suez a mis des mois avant d'aboutir à un accord de principe. Emploi, prix, périmètre, concurrence, rôle de l'Etat... éclairage sur les multiples paramètres qui ont compliqué ce dossier.

1. Pourquoi tant de complications?

Veolia dévoile vouloir racheter à Engie 29,9% des parts de Suez dès le 30 août 2020, en vue de créer un "champion" du secteur. Il faudra près de huit mois pour parvenir à un accord de principe entre les deux groupes français.

Prise de court en cette fin d'été, Suez se dit d'abord surprise par la manoeuvre.

L'entreprise liste ensuite très vite ses griefs, à commencer par un prix proposé trop bas, à 18 euros par action.

Soutenue par les syndicats, la direction de Suez a alerté également sur les conséquences sociales, estimant que près de 5.000 emplois pourraient être supprimés en France.

Suez, qui criait au démantèlement, a bataillé également sur la taille du périmètre qui resterait sous son nom à l'issue d'un éventuel rapprochement de la plus grosse partie de ses activité avec Veolia. La direction ne voulait pas d'un "mini Suez" qui n'aurait pas la taille critique.

Pour se faire entendre, Suez a multiplié les embûches judiciaires sur le chemin de son rival. Le groupe a même créé une fondation néerlandaise destinée à bloquer la cession de ses actifs Eau France.

2. Qui sont Veolia et Suez?
Autre facteur de complication ancré dans 150 d'histoire: les deux protagonistes possèdent chacun un long héritage et se sont construits en opposition l'un de l'autre.

Poussées avec l'essor des villes, l'ex-Compagnie générale des eaux (CGE), créée par décret impérial en 1853, et l'ex-Lyonnaise des Eaux, née en 1880, sont des produits de la Révolution industrielle.

Aujourd'hui, Veolia et Suez dominent le marché français de l'eau et des déchets, loin devant le troisième acteur privé, la Saur.

Cette situation particulière explique la dimension politique de l'affaire: les collectivités voulaient notamment s'assurer que la concurrence soit maintenue dans le pays, gage de choix et de prix contenus.

Cette question cruciale de la concurrence explique aussi pourquoi il fallait maintenir a minima une activité de Suez en France.

3. Que restera-t-il de Suez?
Avec l'accord de rapprochement dévoilé lundi, Suez ne va pas disparaître pour autant. La taille de cette entreprise avait justement fait l'objet d'âpres batailles.

Le périmètre du "nouveau Suez" sera finalement constitué de ses activités dans l'eau et les déchets en France ainsi que des activités de Suez dans l'eau à l'international.

Au final, ces activités représentent un chiffre d'affaires de l'ordre de 7 milliards d'euros, à comparer aux 17 milliards réalisés en 2020.

C'est moins que ce qu'avait demandé la direction de Suez mais plus que ce que voulait Veolia au départ: "une vraie solution négociée", selon un proche du dossier.

L'accord porte aussi sur des "engagements sociaux" pour quatre ans.

L'entreprise sera détenue par un "groupe d'actionnaires" qui comporterait les fonds Meridiam, Ardian, GIP et la CDC.

Quant à Veolia, il semble réussir son pari de constituer un "champion mondial de la transformation écologique". Il va devenir un mastodonte pesant 37 milliards d'euros de chiffre d'affaires et enrichi d'"actifs stratégiques" arrachés à Suez, y compris des activités en Australie dont son concurrent venait pourtant d'annoncer la cession.

Question subsidiaire. Qu'en pense l'Etat?
Dans un premier temps, l'Etat avait semblé soutenir le projet de Veolia: le 3 septembre, le Premier ministre Jean Castex estimait que son plan "fait sens".

Très vite, le ton a changé cependant. Le ministre de l'Economie Bruno Le Maire s'est chargé du dossier et tenté de jouer l'apaisement. Il est intervenu pour que les deux rivaux trouvent "un accord amiable".

Toutefois, l'Etat s'est montré longtemps impuissant à faire valoir sa position.

Bien qu'actionnaire d'Engie et représenté au conseil d'administration, il a échoué à bloquer la vente de 29,9% de Suez à Veolia.

Dans les mois qui ont suivi, les appels au dialogue n'ont guère trouvé d'écho auprès d'entreprises certes françaises mais aux capitaux privés. Les deux champions nationaux ont continué de s'écharper en public.

"On ne s'est pas très bien débrouillés", reconnaissait Bruno Le Maire en janvier, avant de saluer lundi un "accord à l'amiable" qui "préserve l'emploi".

FT : Ant ordered to restructure by Chinese regulators

Ant ordered to restructure by Chinese regulators
Lending services could be severely weakened by separating them from Alipay payment platform

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group must “cut off” the “improper connections” between its payment platform and its financial products, the country’s regulators said, in the first public announcement of Ant’s “rectification programme” since its record-breaking public offering was halted.

The impact could be to strip Ant down into returning to its roots as a mobile payment platform, severely weakening its credit businesses, say analysts and one official. Only 36 per cent of Ant’s revenues at present come from its payment services, with the remainder coming from digital finance.

The announcement by the People’s Bank of China on Monday clarifies some of the uncertainty hanging over Ant group since November last year when Beijing halted Ant’s public offering in Shanghai, days before it was set to raise a record $37bn.

“The aim is to restrict the financial nature of Ant’s activities, and to make it return to its origins as a payments platform. It will have a big impact on suppressing Ant’s consumer credit-lending businesses,” said a senior official at a state-owned bank who regularly deals with Ant.

“The plans will force Ant to completely restructure their business,” said Zhao Xijun, professor of finance at Renmin University of China.

“Under the rectification plan, they will need to put walls among their different businesses, and each business shall be under the regulation of its specific industry. The impact could be huge,” Zhao added.

China’s top financial regulators met the company on Monday to “demand Ant Group face up to the severe problems existing in its financial business activities, and the seriousness of its rectification work”, according to People’s Bank deputy governor Pan Gongsheng, in a summary posted on the bank’s website.

“The need for a second meeting [since the first in December] suggests the PBOC has not been 100 per cent happy with Ant’s progress on its rectification plan so far,” said Chen Long, partner at Beijing-based research company Plenum. “It is likely that what Ant was putting on the table was not deemed harsh enough.”

Since December, the People’s Bank and Ant had conducted “in-depth communications” on the group’s rectification programme, Pan said. The two sides had reached an initial deal earlier this year, according to Financial Times sources.

Pan emphasised that the regulatory drive to strengthen oversight of fintech was in order to reduce financial risk, improve data protection and anti-monopoly measures, giving the example of recent antitrust regulation and cases in the EU and US.

“Under the guidance of financial regulators, Ant Group will spare no effort in implementing the rectification plan . . . we will put our growth proactively within the national strategic context,” announced Ant on Monday.

Ant must “cut off” the “improper connections” between its financial products — including lending services Huabei and Jiebei — and its mobile payments platform Alipay, one of the country’s most popular, the regulators said.

Ant arranged about one-tenth of China’s total consumer lending in 2020 via Huabei and Jiebei, with the group’s total outstanding loan balance at Rmb2.2tn ($336bn) as of June 30. At present, Alipay links to the two micro-lending services within its Alipay app, and its affiliate Alibaba promotes Huabei at the checkout stage in its ecommerce app.

“It will eliminate a lot of the business that Jiebei and Huabei have at the moment,” said Chen.

The group will also have to “actively” reduce the balances held in its money-market fund, Yu’ebao.

In addition, regulators have demanded Ant apply for a personal credit reporting licence — an unprecedented move in China’s nascent credit-rating sector, where the only two such licences in existence are held by government-backed agencies.

Ant also confirmed that it would “in its entirety” apply to set up a financial holding company, as has been previously reported.

FT : Hyundai faces regulator probe over alleged insider trading

Hyundai faces regulator probe over alleged insider trading
Carmaker’s shares rose 20% on news of Apple electric vehicle discussions that later ended

South Korea’s financial regulators are examining allegations that Hyundai Motor executives traded on inside information about the company’s talks with Apple on developing an autonomous electric car, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Hyundai shares rose more than 20 per cent after it confirmed early-stage discussions with Apple in January but subsequently fell back after the group said on February 8 that it was no longer in talks with the US tech giant.

After Hyundai announced the initial discussions, 12 Hyundai executives sold about 3,400 shares, worth about Won833m ($753,000), according to Reuters calculations based on the company’s regulatory filings.

The probe by South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service is expected to take about six months. A person close to the regulator said the FSS was “looking into suspicions about insider trading at Hyundai”. South Korea has tough rules against insider trading and the regulator can refer its findings to prosecutors for potential legal action.

Some retail investors have questioned in online forums whether insider trading took place at Hyundai.

The probe comes at a critical time for Hyundai, which has been trying to build a presence in the autonomous vehicle market through tie-ups with foreign companies.

“This is about corporate ethics. Their alleged insider trading is against the ESG moves of global companies,” said Lee Hang-koo, an adviser at research group Korea Automotive Technology Institute. “Its corporate image will be hurt and could have a negative impact on potential future talks with external partners.”

In February, when he was asked about alleged insider trading at Hyundai, the country’s top financial regulator Eun Sung-soo told a parliamentary hearing that he would “take proper measures if there is a problem”.

“Their stock trades look quite suspicious if you look at the circumstances, but it is hard to prove that they used inside information,” said Hwang Seiwoon, a researcher at the Korea Capital Markets Institute. “I have hardly seen any cases where the alleged perpetrators have seriously been punished for insider trading.”

Hyundai declined to comment. Shares of Hyundai closed down 1.1 per cent at Won226,000 on Monday, underperforming a 0.12 per cent rise in the benchmark Kospi Composite index.

>>> Weekly SPACs report



From: research@oscargruss.com At: 04/12/21 14:09:57
To: Laurent Chekroun (MAKOR SECURITIES LO )
Subject: Weekly SPACs report

DISCLAIMER This information represents neither an offer to buy or sell any security nor, because it does not take into account the differing needs of individual clients, investment advice. Those seeking investment advice specific to their financial profiles and goals should contact their Oscar Gruss & Son Incorporated sales representative. Oscar Gruss & Son Incorporated believes this information to be reliable, but no representation is made as to accuracy or completeness. This information does not analyze every material fact concerning a company, industry, or security. Oscar Gruss & Son Incorporated assumes that this information will be read in conjunction with other publicly available data. Matters discussed here are subject to change without notice. There can be no assurance that reliance on the information contained here will produce profitable results. A security denominated in a foreign currency is subject to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which may have an adverse effect on the value of the security upon the conversion into local currency of dividends, interest, or sales proceeds. The value of securities and depositary receipts of foreign issuers that are denominated in United States dollars are also influenced by fluctuations in currency exchange rates. © 2021 Oscar Gruss & Son Incorporated. All rights reserved.

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:

  • APHA -9.5%

Select Biotech/Pharma related names showing early weakness following AACR presentations:

  • GLSI -10.4%, JNCE -2.9%, MEIP -2.3%, OCX -2.2%, PHIO -2.2%, BDTX -2.1%, GLYC -1.7%, MRSN -1.6%

Other news:

  • IRTC -29% (provides statement on Medicare Administrative Contractor Novitas's updated rate publication; plan to discontinue serving this Medicare segment with Zio XT)
  • INMB -6.1% (files for 1.693 mln share common stock offering by selling shareholder)
  • AVTR -3.6% (to acquire privately held Ritter GmbH, a manufacturer of robotic and liquid handling consumables, in an all-cash transaction with an upfront equity purchase price of ~EUR 890 million)
  • FSM -1.1% (Q1 production)

Analyst comments:

  • EURN -4.3% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at ING Group)
  • JKS -3.4% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at ROTH Capital)
  • MAXN -2.1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at ROTH Capital)
  • PLUG -2% (downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley)
  • PAC -1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman)
  • KNX -0.9% (downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna)
  • QCOM -0.8% (downgraded to In-line from Outperform at Evercore ISI)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance: 

  • GTEC +8.3%, SIG +4.3% (raises guidance), UBER +2.2% (guidance)

Select Biotech/Pharma related names showing strength following AACR conference:

  • CRDF +7.3%, CMPI +6.9%, ZNTL +5.6%, TIL +5%, SPPI +4.2%, LYRA +4%, NCNA +3.9%, AFMD +3.7%, KZR +3%, AGEN +2.3%, ITOS +1.8%, ACHL +1.7%, ONCY +1.7%, SYBX +1.5%, REGN +1.4%, CLVS +1.3%

Other news:

  • NUAN +23.3% (Microsoft is in advanced talks to buy Nuance Communications (NUAN) at about $56/share)
  • CADE +7.3% (BancorpSouth and Cadence Bancorporation (CADE) merge in all stock deal worth more than $6 bln)
  • TSHA +6.6% (acquire exclusive worldwide rights to a clinical-stage AAV9 gene therapy program for the treatment of giant axonal neuropathy)
  • BABA +6.2% (receives Administrative Penalty Decision issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People's Republic of China)
  • SJ +6.2% (established a strategic partnership with Fujian Chuanzheng Communications College and Hangzhou Liyumen Technology Development to establish a broadcaster training academy for live stream entertainment and e-commerce)
  • IR +4.8% (sells Club Car to Platinum Equity for $1.68 bln)
  • FGEN +4.2% (granted Fast Track designation for the company's anti-CTGF antibody, pamrevlumab, for the treatment of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy)
  • WTRE +2.9% (announces acquisition of Axeria IARD; terms not disclosed)
  • UBER +2.3% (files for 1,561,341 share common stock offering by selling shareholders)
  • FTFT +2.3% (amends its Share Exchange Agreement with Joy Rich Enterprises to acquire 90% of the issued and outstanding shares of Nice Talent Asset Management)
  • EGY +2.2% (names George Maxwell CEO)
  • CYTK +1.6% (present data related to the optimization of CK-3773274 (CK-274), including the first disclosure of its chemical structure)
  • MRNS +1.2% (appoints Steven Pfanstiel as Chief Financial Officer)

Analyst comments:

  • TREX +3.1% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Truist)
  • MTCH +1.6% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BTIG Research)
  • TSLA +1.4% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity)
  • LYG +1.3% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank)
  • CMG +1.1% (upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James)

WSJ : Jack Ma’s Ant Group Bows to Beijing With Company Overhaul

Jack Ma’s Ant Group Bows to Beijing With Company Overhaul
People’s Bank of China said Ant representatives were summoned to a meeting Monday

Ant Group Co., the financial-technology giant controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, will apply to become a financial holding company overseen by China’s central bank, overhauling its business to adapt to a new era of tighter regulation for internet companies.

In a statement, the People’s Bank of China said Ant representatives were summoned to a meeting Monday with four regulatory agencies that also included the country’s banking, securities and foreign exchange overseers. It said a “comprehensive, viable rectification plan” for Ant has been formulated under the regulators’ supervision over the past few months.

The directive follows an intense regulatory assault on Mr. Ma’s business empire that began with the suspension of the company’s blockbuster initial public offering in November. Ant had been on track to sell more than $34 billion worth of stock and list on stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai, when Beijing pulled the plug on the deal after Mr. Ma criticized financial regulators in a public speech.

In January, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ant was planning to fall fully in line with China’s financial regulations by turning itself into a financial holding company, a relatively new designation for businesses that have substantial financial assets.

Ant, which owns the ubiquitous mobile payment and lifestyle app Alipay, will have to correct what regulators called unfair competition in its payments business and improve its corporate governance. The Hangzhou-based company will have to reduce the liquidity risks of its investment products and shrink the assets under management of Yu’e Bao, its giant money-market mutual fund. Ant will also be required to break an “information monopoly” on the vast and detailed consumer data it has collected, the central bank said.

The Economic Daily, a state-run newspaper, said in a Monday commentary that Ant’s restructuring plan reflects the central government’s recent calls that platform economies should return to their roots and focus on serving the real economy and people.

“The underlying color of financial technology is still finance,” the newspaper said. Formulating a rectification plan is only the first step and going forward Ant should benchmark itself against the plan to fully meet the regulators’ demands, the newspaper said.

Ant’s Alipay has more than a billion users in China. It handled the equivalent of more than $17 trillion of digital-payment transactions in the year to June 2020, originated unsecured short-term loans to roughly 500 million people and sells many insurance policies, mutual funds and other investment products.

FT : Dubai strikes deal with Cruise to roll out self-driving taxis

Dubai strikes deal with Cruise to roll out self-driving taxis
Contract is the first in the world between a city and an autonomous car manufacturer

Dubai has become the first city to sign a contract with an autonomous taxi manufacturer, ordering up to 4,000 vehicles from the US driverless car group Cruise with a view to deploying them from 2023.

The deal with Cruise, announced in a tweet from Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed, is aimed at delivering on a promise for a quarter of the city’s transportation to be fully autonomous by 2030.

The crown prince called the deal “the first of its kind worldwide between a government entity and a leading developer of autonomous vehicles”.

The order comes as Dubai, which already operates about 11,000 traditional taxis, is also pushing to become the first city to host flying taxi services. Since 2017 it has partnered with Volocopter, a German aviation start-up that has been trialling its technology in the city.

For Cruise, the General Motors driverless car unit that was valued at $30bn earlier this year, this marks the first time any entity has made a purchase for the Origin, the all-electric vehicle purpose-built for ride-sharing that it unveiled in early 2020. The Origin has no steering wheel or driver’s seat, can seat up to six passengers and is designed to encourage pooled rides.

Mohammed Al Tayer, chair of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, said in a press release that Dubai selected Cruise after a “multiyear process” concluded that the GM unit had an advantage over rivals thanks to its ability to build the Origin at scale on standard production lines.

“Cruise’s technology, resources, purpose-built vehicle, automaker partnerships, approach to safe testing and deployment, and strategy give them the ability to launch safely and faster than any other company,” Al Tayer said.


Cruise said it would establish a Dubai-based company that would be “fully responsible for the deployment, operation and maintenance of the fleet”. This company will have an exclusive agreement until 2029 to operate driverless ride-hailing services in the city.

The deal suggests lighter regulations could mean that cities outside of the US — where the bulk of driverless groups are based — are the first to actually take the technology mainstream.

GM acquired Cruise for “more than $1bn” in 2016 when it had just 40 employees. The group now has almost 2,000 staff and vies with Waymo, the Google sibling, as the most established “robotaxi” company. 

At present Waymo is the only company to have a truly driverless ride-hailing service in operation for ordinary customers, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Cruise had originally wanted to deploy a driverless service in San Francisco in the summer of 2019, but the plans were indefinitely postponed so more testing could be completed.

In January, Cruise raised $2bn in a new funding round that included Microsoft as an investor. Cruise is majority owned by GM, with backing from Honda and SoftBank, among others.