The President of the Commercial Court of Nanterre forbidsthe irrevocability of the “stichting-foundation” of Suez in the PaysLow.Veolia welcomes the decision of the President of the Commercial Court of Nanterre which prohibitsSuez to take any decision likely to make the device irrevocableforeigner inalienability of Eau France de Suez, designed and set up todissuade Veolia from carrying out its takeover bid.In an enforceable order issued today, the President of the Commercial Court of Nanterre thus madeforbidding Suez to take any measures which could result in the irrevocability of the placement of Suez EauFrance within an opaque device in the Netherlands, thus paralyzing this "stichting-foundation". And this untilthe outcome of any meeting of a forthcoming general meeting of Suez SA, called to ruleon said legal arrangement and its consequences, and at the latest until the general meeting called toapprove the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020.In the meantime, Veolia will summon the Suez group as soon as possible to have this declared null and void.device which violates essential rules of French law.
US actions could raise risk of war over Taiwan, warns Chinese leading military researcher
- Zhou Bo from the PLA’s Academy of Military Science says Beijing does not want to use force to reunify island but it was worried about some US actions
- Comments come after two US-based researchers argue there is no reason to believe that either side is preparing an immediate strike
US actions in the Taiwan Strait could increase the risk of war, even though neither side wants a military confrontation, a prominent Chinese military researcher has said.
Zhou Bo, an honorary fellow at the Centre for China-America Defence Relations at the Academy of Military Science of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said China was reluctant to use force against Taiwan because it sees the people as their compatriots.
“The development of cross-strait relations is not solely decided by the Chinese mainland. It is, on the contrary, a result of the interaction between Taipei, Washington and Beijing,” he said.
Zhou was reacting to an article written by Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia and director of the China Power Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, and Jude Blanchette, Freeman Chair in China Studies at the CSIS, which was published by the South China Morning Post on Thursday.
In the article, Glaser and Blanchette said the confrontation between China and the US won’t turn into a war, insisting “neither the Trump nor Xi administrations are currently planning immediate military action”.
They argued a military confrontation with the US, which was highly likely if China attacked the island, risked undermining Xi’s position and could threaten his plans for “national rejuvenation”.
Zhou said military action targeting Taiwan was seen as a last resort by Beijing, but it was worried about some of Washington’s actions.
Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that must eventually be reunified with the mainland – by force, if necessary.
An Anti-Secession Law, passed in 2005, says it can use force if the island formally declares its independence.
“Now the US is increasingly edging closer to Taiwan, and [President] Tsai Ing-wen holds a totally different stance to developing ties with Beijing when compared to her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou,” said Zhou, referring to Ma’s mainland-friendly approach.
Tensions between China and the US have also escalated this year. Beijing has stepped up its military exercises around Taiwan and criticised the US for sending military vessels and aircraft into the Taiwan Strait and for visits to the island by senior Washington officials.
The two countries have also confronted each other in the South China Sea, where China has a number of competing claims with other countries.
In July the US sent two carrier groups into the disputed waters and the following month China tested two missiles, a move seen as a sharp warning to Washington.
In October the two countries held crisis talks in which the US dismissed speculation it was planning a surprise attack on China’s facilities in the region.
Glaser and Blanchette’s article also argued there “is no reason to believe” that Donald Trump was planning military action in the wake of his election defeat and said any such attempt would face substantial resistance from his cabinet and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
They urged the incoming Biden administration to re-establish robust strategic dialogue with Beijing and strengthen existing communication channels between the two countries’ militaries,
Zhou also said both Beijing and Washington are unwilling to fight a war over the South China Sea, but said there was a risk of accidental clashes.
“It’s not 100 per cent sure that a hot war won’t happen between China and the US. This goal [avoiding war] can only be achieved if both countries are working towards it. However, if the US continues its provocative actions over Chinese islands and shoals and in the meantime harshly criticises Beijing, what attitude can Beijing have?” said Zhou.
Zhou said China’s increased military activity should not be seen as a surprise given the increasingly confrontational relationship that developed during Trump’s presidency.
“Relations between the two countries, which included bilateral military ties, were deeply hurt by the Trump administration,” he continued.
Zhou also argued that the confrontational relationship would continue once Joe Biden takes office.
He said Biden would uphold a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal that dismissed China’s claims over waters claimed by the Philippines, adding: “From China’s perspective, why should the US – a country that’s not in Asia and has no sovereign claims – meddle in this matter?
“The South China Sea issue should be solved by China and claimant states in Southeast Asia through direct negotiations.”
The C.D.C. strongly urged Americans to avoid travel for Thanksgiving.
As the United States struggles with surging coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday urged Americans not to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday and to consider canceling plans to spend time with relatives outside their households.
“Amid this critical phase, the C.D.C. is recommending against travel during the Thanksgiving period,” said Dr. Henry Walke, Covid-19 incident manager at the agency, during a news briefing.
“We’re alarmed,” he added, citing an exponential increase in Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. “What we’re concerned about is not only the actual mode of travel — whether it’s an airplane or bus or car, but also the transportation hubs we’re concerned about, as well.”
“When people are in line” to get on a bus or plane, social distancing becomes far more difficult and viral transmission becomes more likely, he said.
The agency’s overriding concern is that the holidays may accelerate the spread of the virus, C.D.C. officials said. Older family members are at great risk for complications and death should they contract the virus.
If Americans choose to travel, they should do so as safely as possible, wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, even during the Thanksgiving meal with others outside the household.
“The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is at home with members of your household,” said Dr. Erin Sauber-Schatz, who leads the C.D.C.’s community intervention and critical population task force.
EU Commission to intervene in tech, carmakers' patent dispute - document
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission plans to step into the patent dispute between tech companies and carmakers and may set up a system to check whether some patents are essential to a technology standard as claimed, according to a Commission document.
The proposals are outlined in the Commission’s Intellectual Property Action Plan, seen by Reuters, which European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and EU digital chief Thierry Breton will present on Nov. 24.
As a first step, the Commission will engage with the automotive sector to explore the possibility of effective licensing solutions, the document said, adding that the industry’s needs are the most acute.
While the car industry currently faces the most problems between standard essential patent (SEP) holders and licensees, the issue is also relevant in the digital and electronics sectors and internet-connected devices in energy, health and smart manufacturing, it said.
The Commission to date has refrained from the disputes and has urged the companies to resolve the issue themselves, with some seeing it as a contractual issue. Carmakers, however, see it as an antitrust issue, with Daimler lodging a complaint with Vestager.
Patents are a lucrative source of revenue for Nokia which makes 1.4 billion euros ($1.7 billion) in licensing revenues annually. It says Daimler has been using its cellular standard-essential patents (SEPs) without authorisation.
Daimler however wants Nokia to license its suppliers rather than with the company itself, a move which could cut the level of fees.
To further clarify the regulatory framework for declaring, licensing and enforcing SEPs, the Commission will consider regulatory reforms such as setting up an independent system of third-party essentiality checks, the document said.
Such vetting would look into whether some patents are essential to a standard as claimed by the patent holders and also counter fears that some royalties are calculated at too high a level due to companies licensing unnecessary patents.
Experts, however, say essentiality checks may be difficult to carry out in a global market and that it may be difficult to find a qualified body with the technical competence to do them.
Wirecard’s Markus Braun says regulators not to blame in scandal
Former CEO gives statement to German parliamentary inquiry but refuses to answer questions
Markus Braun, the former chief executive of disgraced payments company Wirecard, told MPs that German regulators and politicians were not to blame for the fall of the company, and that he hoped prosecutors would succeed in tracing its missing billions.
Mr Braun is one of at least seven former top managers of Wirecard suspected of running a criminal racket that defrauded creditors of €3.2bn. His appearance on Thursday before the Bundestag inquiry investigating Wirecard was his first in public since his arrest last summer, shortly after the company he led collapsed into insolvency in one of the biggest accounting scandals in postwar German history.
In a statement to the inquiry, Mr Braun said he had “at no point” concluded that “authorities, supervisory bodies or politicians had behaved improperly, dishonestly or in breach of their duties” in the run-up to Wirecard’s collapse.
“I can’t understand why external regulators should be held responsible for failures here,” he said. Mr Braun added that EY, Wirecard’s longtime auditor, was “apparently comprehensively deceived” during the annual audits as it did not spot irregularities “despite extensive checks”.
But having delivered his statement, Mr Braun refused to answer any questions from MPs, citing his right under German law to remain silent. He declined to answer even basic inquiries, such as what the subject of his PhD thesis was or if he had a daughter.
Mr Braun did, however, emphasise that he had signalled his willingness to co-operate with prosecutors, adding that he had “full confidence in the independence and objectivity of the investigative authorities” and their ability to trace “the whereabouts of the embezzled money”.
MPs were infuriated by his reluctance to answer their questions. Cansel Kiziltepe, a lawmaker for the Social Democrats, suggested he had “destroyed people’s faith” in German institutions. “Are you aware that your silence is dragging people into the abyss?” she asked.
Hans Michelbach, an MP for Angela Merkel’s CDU-CSU bloc, suggested in the proceedings that Mr Braun should be fined for refusing to engage with MPs.
Munich prosecutors accuse Mr Braun of being the leader of a “gang” of white-collar criminals who for years ran an elaborate fraud scheme, hoodwinked banks and investors and embezzled billions of euros — crimes that are punishable by up to 15 years in jail. Mr Braun has dismissed all the allegations against him.
MPs set up the parliamentary inquiry last summer as the Wirecard affair began to escalate from a corporate affair into a political scandal.
Lawmakers want to know why the authorities seemed so slow to recognise the gravity of the situation at Wirecard, and why Germany’s financial regulator BaFin seemed more eager to pursue journalists and short-sellers who had exposed irregularities at the payments processing group than to go after the company itself.
The nine members of the investigative committee will also look at why German politicians, including Angela Merkel herself, lobbied for Wirecard even after irregularities at the company had come to light. They will also want to know if Jan Marsalek, the former Wirecard executive who is now on an Interpol wanted list, had any connections to the intelligence services.
Mr Braun’s appearance in Berlin came almost exactly six months after his last public statement on June 18 — the day that marked the ultimate downfall of the once high-flying technology start-up. EY had refused to audit Wirecard’s 2019 financial report after uncovering that bank documents showing €1.9bn of corporate cash were “spurious”.
In a video recorded late at night, Mr Braun told investors that “at present, it cannot be ruled out that Wirecard AG has become the aggrieved party in a case of fraud of considerable proportions”.
Just hours after the video statement was published on Wirecard’s website, the company’s supervisory board forced Mr Braun to resign. Within days, he had been arrested by Munich prosecutors and Wirecard had crashed into insolvency.
Mr Braun was initially released on bail but rearrested a month later after Oliver Bellenhaus, a former senior Wirecard executive who turned crown witness, raised serious allegations against the former chief executive.
He has been in custody since late July alongside Mr Bellenhaus and Wirecard’s former head of accounting, Stephan von Erffa. A fourth suspect, former chief financial officer Burkhard Ley, was released on bail earlier this month. Mr von Erffa and Mr Ley are denying wrongdoing.
Nikola is nuts, when’s the crash?
Two weeks to lock-up expires. Tick tock
Remember Nikola?
In early September, while we were all enjoying the final dregs of lockdown-free sunshine, it came to light that the fledgling hydrogen-powered truck company might not be quite all it seems.
Following a quite frankly hilarious short report in which the author, Hindenberg Research, claimed that Nikola had overstated its technology, overpaid insiders and — most memorably — rolled a truck down a hill to prove its vehicles worked as part of a marketing campaign, everything unravelled.
The stock got slashed in half, founder Trevor Milton departed, and the US Department of Justice subpoenaed both the company and Mr Milton. After touching a market capitalisation of $28bn in midsummer, Nikola was worth just under $7bn by September’s end.
With no revenues bar those earned from its departed founder, and its product line still a long way off materialising in wheeled form, in normal circumstances you’d have expected Nikola to keep shedding market value. Particularly as it seemed its one credible partner — General Motors — was beginning to get cold feet on the deal it signed shortly before the Hindenberg report.
Yet these are not normal times. And in fact, the opposite has happened. Today, Nikola’s market cap hovers at just under $10bn. Which, for context, is one-sixth of General Motors’, and just under a third of Ford’s.
Reasoning as to why is difficult, bar the bleedin’ obvious line that the entire electric vehicle market has gone absolutely nuts.
Don’t believe us? China’s electric car hopeful NIO is valued at $65bn, despite reporting just $629m of revenues in the last quarter on Tuesday. And then there are others, like Xpeng at $33bn, and Workhorse Group at $2bn. Not to mention Tesla’s ludicrous-mode market cap of $474bn (obvs).
You can argue about the merits of each business individually — and Lord knows people have (including us) — but taken in aggregate it all looks rather darn bubbly.
Which brings us back to Nikola. On Tuesday 1 December, according to the company’s latest 10-Q, “161 million shares of our common stock will become eligible for sale beginning on December 1, 2020 upon the expiration of the lock-up agreements.” Its current free float is 141m shares — just under 37 per cent of the total shares outstanding — according to Refinitiv Eikon.
Now, we’re not economists by any means, but we’re pretty sure we know what happens when the supply curve is shifted so aggressively to the right. December might be particularly cold for its current crop of shareholders, even if they’re living in the southern hemisphere.
Is urban living dead? “I don’t buy it,” says Miki Naftali
Naftali Group founder decries New York's doubters in latest "Coffee Talk"
Last week, an unusual sign went up on Madison Avenue. Naftali Group’s latest marketing campaign features Jerry Seinfeld’s August love letter to New York City, and shone a light on the developer’s urban optimism as well.
Miki Naftali, who is of Israeli origin but a longtime New Yorker, sat with The Real Deal founder and publisher Amir Korangy to discuss his “a little bit smart, but also lucky” approach to development projects on the latest episode of Coffee Talk.
His firm’s latest condo project, The Benson, would need a little bit of luck. As Naftali Group prepared to open the sales office in the spring, the pandemic pushed buyers away from urban centers. But even while that project was delayed by about three months, Naftali wasn’t deterred. In fact, he filed plans in May for another Upper East Side condo at 1165 Madison Avenue.
“The world population is growing,” Naftali said. He also sees opportunities in some of the sectors that have been decimated by the pandemic, such as office and retail. “Going back to the beginning of my career, I converted office buildings to residential,” he said. “Nothing is new.”
In March Naftali called for a total shutdown on a TRD panel. “Obviously, I thought the pandemic would be over by now,” he said. As infection rates rise in New York, it’s increasingly clear that the city isn’t out of the woods.
Still, about seven weeks ago, the sales office at The Benson finally opened. And last week, amid the best week for the luxury market since the spring, the project’s penthouse closed.
“Full ask, $35 million. We sold Penthouse C, full ask, $22 million. We sold the full floor unit for just shy of $15 million, full ask,” Naftali said. “And we sold another full floor unit for about $13 million and another unit. We are, in seven weeks, just shy of $400 million dollar and you know what?”
“You’re a very happy man,” Korangy said.
Baidu is getting some useful M&A advice from an unlikely source. Days after the Chinese search-engine operator agreed to buy a short-video-streaming app for $3.6 billion, short-seller Muddy Waters has accused its owner Joyy of fraud. It’s a blessing in disguise.
The one-time web powerhouse has been under pressure to find new sources of growth. Advertising revenue from its main business was flat in the third quarter at $2.7 billion from a year earlier, according to results released this week alongside the transaction announcement. Boss Robin Li’s track record has been mixed. Forays into online services such as movie-ticketing and food delivery were disastrous, while the company’s Netflix-like subsidiary, iQiyi, has shown promise.
His latest deal, for YY Live, looks like another dud. Parent Joyy doesn’t break out net profit for the Chinese business, but analysts at Morningstar estimate that Baidu is paying about 12 times estimated earnings for this year, roughly in line with New York-listed peer Momo. The trouble is that YY has fallen far behind in an increasingly cutthroat market dominated by giants including TikTok-owner ByteDance. Paying users at YY slipped by some 5%, to 4.1 million, in the latest quarter from the same period in 2019.
The reality could be even worse. Muddy Waters alleges that YY Live is “about 90% fraudulent” and that the parent company inflated revenue and user metrics, among other misdeeds. Joyy has not responded. Its shares tumbled by more than a quarter, erasing some $2 billion in market value.
It is the second time this year $39 billion Baidu has been linked to fraud charges. Another short seller in April targeted iQiyi, claiming that its reported figures were inflated. The company said last month that an internal probe found the attack had no merit, but it prompted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate.
Baidu has other things to consider, too. Its bets on artificial intelligence, such as cloud computing and autonomous driving, require heavy upfront investment. Spending roughly a third of its net cash pile on a video laggard looks foolish. All things considered, Baidu would be wise to use the pressure on Joyy to renegotiate or rethink its deal.