Trump threatens to slap 35% tariff on BMW imports
Republican warns carmaker on Mexico plant and complains Germans do not buy Chevrolets
Donald Trump has threatened German carmaker BMW with a 35 per cent tariff on imports to the US from a new facility in Mexico as he escalated tensions with Europe ahead of his inauguration as US president on Friday.
Mr Trump’s warning, made in an interview with German newspaper Bild, is the latest in a string of attacks on carmakers that manufacture in Mexico, including General Motors and Toyota.
The US president-elect also complained in Bild that Germans do not buy Chevrolets in similar numbers as German brands, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
However, Chevrolet, owned by GM, ceased selling all but a few of its models in Europe in 2015. GM’s European brands Opel and Vauxhall also outsell Germany’s BMW and Mercedes-Benz in Europe.
BMW said on Monday that its new plant will cater “for the world market”, adding that the company “feels right at home in the US”, where it supports more than 70,000 jobs.
Only a few days earlier, BMW board member Ian Robertson said its facility in San Luis Potosi was for global production, and would not need to sell to the US.
“It’s a full-blown operation to produce cars for anywhere in the world,” he said at the annual motor show in Detroit, in anticipation of criticism from Mr Trump.
“The plant is capable of making right-hand drive, left-hand drive, various models, various derivatives, so when we know what we need to know, then we can decide where it goes. We need the capacity anyway.”
When asked if the plant could survive without selling any models to the US, he said “absolutely”.
Separately, when asked what Mr Trump could do to make sure German customers bought more American cars, Germany’s economy minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday: “Build better cars.”
He added that the US car market would be worse, weaker and more expensive if tariffs were imposed.
Matthias Wissmann, president of German car industry body VDA, said the US would “shoot itself in the foot” by imposing tariffs on imported cars.
“For the German manufacturers, the United States is not only the second-largest export market, but also an important production base, used to supply the world market,” he said.
BMW’s insistence that it would not need to sell models in the US is highly unusual, with almost all Mexican plants heavily dependent on US sales.
Mexico’s car industry has grown on the back of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which gives it access to the US and Canadian markets.
The country produces 3.3m cars a year, with 82 per cent of its 2.7m exports going to either the US or Canada.
But Mr Trump has called for a renegotiation of Nafta, saying it harms US manufacturing jobs.
Fiat Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne has said it would be too expensive to reconfigure some of the company’s plants in Mexico if they faced tariffs with the US, their main market.
As a result, some facilities may end up closing, he said last week.
But BMW believes it can be more flexible. Its plant will open in 2019 and make 3-series sedans for the global market, coming alongside existing production in Germany and China.
BMW already has a site in the US in Spartanburg, South Carolina, which makes more than 400,000 cars a year including the X5 SUV.
It is the company’s largest plant anywhere in the world, supporting 70,000 jobs, and it is the single biggest exporting plant in the US, according to the group.
“The [US] Department of Commerce is regularly using us as an example of how to export,” said Mr Robertson, adding that the group exported $10bn worth of vehicles a year from the US and is investing a further $1bn into the plant.
Saudi Arabian budget carrier flynas is to buy 80 Airbus (AIR.PA) A320neo narrow body jets in a deal worth $8.6 billion that includes upgrading an earlier order, it said on Monday.
The 80 A320neo order is valued at $8.6 billion, flynas Chairman Ayed Al Jeaid said at press conference in Riyadh on Monday.
The order is for 60 A320neos and an upgrade of an existing order for 20 current model A320s to neos, an Airbus spokesman confirmed.
The agreement also includes purchasing options for a further 40 A320neo jets, according to flynas.
Reuters reported last week that Flynas, partly owned by Saudi billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal's investment vehicle, had agreed to buy more than 60 A320neos.
Delivery of the 80 A320s will take eight years from 2018, according to an Airbus statement, likely to give flynas one of the largest Middle East budget airline fleets
The order means Airbus has beat rival Boeing (BA.N) to replace and expand flynas' fleet of 27 leased A320 jets.
Flynas, which launched as Nas Air in 2007 and first turned a profit in 2015, is facing increasing competition in Saudi Arabia, its primary market.
Start-up SaudiGulf Airlines and Saudi-owned, Egypt-based Nesma airline were granted domestic operating licenses in 2016. State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines has announced plans for its own budget carrier, Flyadeal, to launch in mid-2017 with a target of 50 jets by 2020. Qatar Airways-owned Al Maha is waiting for a domestic Saudi operating license.
Luxottica/Essilor: vision thing Premium
The merger makes sense if Luxottica’s founder bows out gracefully
Stepping back is tough for entrepreneurs, whose temperament inclines them to push forward. A €50bn merger with Essilor gives 81-year-old Leonardo del Vecchio, founder and executive chairman of Luxottica, a chance to retire. The logic of the deal is elegant: the first group specialises in sunglasses and spectacle frames, the second in lenses. It is up to Mr del Vecchio to make his eventual exit equally stylish.
Genuine mergers of equals are as rare in real life as Hogwartian beasts such as Bowtruckles and Occamies. The Italian and French groups nevertheless look closely matched. Luxottica’s enterprise value before the deal announcement was only €300m higher than Essilor’s at €24.7bn. Sales are heftier and margins lower, albeit partly due to tougher accounting. Neither company has agreed to pay a control premium.
Luxottica shareholders would get more of the combined equity, based on average prices over the past three months. But Essilor investors have the whip hand. Mr Del Vecchio has agreed to limit his family’s voting rights in the combined group to 31 per cent, despite a 38 per cent economic stake.
Cost synergies have a net present value of just €2bn (or €300m a year, the companies estimate), calculated conservatively. Market optics are friendlier. The capitalisation of the pair jumped €4.8bn, with three-fifths of the move in Essilor’s shares. That implies investors believe the combination can deliver top-end synergies of €600m a year. Half would be marketing synergies, whose existence sceptics doubt as much as that of the Demiguise, a JK Rowling creature prone to vanishing.
The grand vision of Hubert Sagnières, Essilor’s chairman and CEO, concerning the merged group’s potential to bring stylish eyewear to the whole of humanity may evaporate too. Potential for cross-selling — and the good old backloaded razor-and-blades pricing strategy — is glaring.
If there is a plank in the market’s eye, to wax biblical, it may have obscured antitrust and managerial issues. The EU’s antitrust authorities may truculently decide eyewear is one market rather than separately siloed frames and lenses. Mr del Vecchio may find it hard to relinquish the chairman and CEO role he will share pro tem with Mr Sagnières. Absent such problems, the future’s so bright you gotta wear shades.
Thales, l’autre gagnant du retour en vol de SpaceX - http://bit.ly/2jQc0CA
Le succès du tir de Falcon 9 le 14 janvier, le premier après l’explosion de septembre dernier, a permis de mettre sur orbite les 10 premiers satellites de la constellation Iridium, fabriqués par Thales Alenia Space.
Elon Musk peut donc souffler. Il n’est pas le seul. Son client Iridium, qui prévoit de mettre sur orbite une constellation de 81 satellites télécoms, rongeait son frein depuis plusieurs mois en attendant le fameux tir: une trentaine de satellites étaient prêts au lancement, et une dizaine d’autres étaient en voie d’achèvement, ce qui n’était pas sans poser quelques problèmes de stockage. Surtout, Iridium, en attendant la mise sur orbite des nouveaux satellites Iridium Next, devait composer avec des satellites sur orbite en bout de course. "Ils étaient théoriquement construits pour durer 7 à 10 ans, ils vont fêter leurs vingt ans en mai", souligne Matt Desh, le patron d’Iridium. Les nouveaux satellites ne seront donc pas de trop pour renouveler la constellation, dont 2 satellites sur 66 sont déjà hors d’usage.
Un satellite produit par semaine
Le retour en vol réussi de SpaceX fait un autre heureux, même s’il s’est fait discret: Thales Alenia Space (TAS), le fabricant des satellites Iridium. L’industriel franco-italien, numéro quatre mondial des satellites (2,1 milliards d’euros de chiffre d’affaires, 7.500 salariés), assemble en effet les satellites à une cadence d’un par semaine dans l’usine de son sous-traitant Orbital ATK, près de Phoenix (Arizona). "C’est une cadence jamais vue dans l’industrie", souligne Denis Allard, en charge du programme Iridium chez TAS. La mise sur orbite réussie des dix premiers satellites ouvre la voie à des lancements réguliers de nouvelles séries de dix satellites par SpaceX, ce qui permettra de vider progressivement les stocks de TAS. Iridium espère, à terme, un lancement par mois.
Pour la filiale de Thales (67% du capital, l’italien Leonardo détenant 33%), le contrat Iridium est hautement symbolique. Il avait arraché ce gigantesque contrat de 2,2 milliards de dollars à un concurrent de poids, l’américain Lockheed Martin, en 2010. La mise sur orbite réussie de tous les satellites (72 en orbite, plus 9 de rechange au sol) est donc primordiale pour l’industriel, qui a un titre de champion mondial des constellations à défendre. Outre Iridium, TAS fournit ainsi les satellites d’O3B, de Globalstar et développe une nouvelle génération de satellites pour la start-up LeoSat (données haut début pour les grandes entreprises et les organisations gouvernementales).
Irruption d'Airbus
La réussite du programme Iridium est d’autant plus essentielle pour TAS que l’industriel voit débarquer sur ses plate-bandes son grand rival européen Airbus Defence & Space. Le groupe européen va ouvrir une nouvelle usine en Floride pour assembler les 900 satellites de la constellation OneWeb, start-up de l’ex-Google Greg Wyler, qui vise un accès internet pour tous dès 2027. Un contrat pour lequel TAS avait été candidat, avant de renoncer du fait de la nécessité, outre de construire les satellites, d’investir dans OneWeb.
Mais la comparaison a ses limites: à l’inverse des satellites OneWeb (150 kg seulement, et 500.000 dollars de coût unitaire), les Iridium Next sont de jolis bébés de 850 kilos pièce, destinés à une orbite de 780 km environ, et leur coût unitaire est estimé entre 15 et 20 millions de dollars. TAS et son sous-traitant Orbital ATK ont créé une ligne d’assemblage dédiée à Phoenix pour mener à bien leur production dans les délais et les coûts. Comme leurs prédécesseurs déjà sur orbite, ces satellites permettront d’offrir un réseau de téléphonie satellite sur l’intégralité du globe. Iridium (411 millions de dollars de chiffre d’affaires en 2015) revendique 800.000 clients, dont le principal est le gouvernement américain (72.000 utilisateurs, 88 millions de dollars de chiffre d’affaires en 2016).
3 milliards d'investissement
Les nouveaux satellites construits par TAS devraient permettre à Iridium d’augmenter son chiffre d’affaires annuel d’une centaine de millions d’euros, assure Matt Desh, soit 25% de ventes en plus. "Ils permettront plus de débit, plus de couverture, plus de services, indique le PDG d’Iridium. A la fin des lancements, en 2018, nous aurons investi 3 milliards de dollars en 6 ans." Ce n'est pas TAS qui s'en plaindra.
Le PDG d'Aéroports de Paris perquisitionné pour soupçon de détournement de fonds public
Ces investigations visent la période durant laquelle Augustin de Romanet était président de la Caisse des dépôts et consignation. Des perquisitions ont également été menées chez le criminologue Alain Bauer.
Le 10 janvier, des perquisitions ont été menées au domicile du criminologue Alain Bauer ainsi qu'à celui de l'ex-président de la Caisse des dépôts et consignation, Augustin de Romanet, a appris l'AFP de sources concordantes. Les locaux du groupe Aéroports de Paris (ADP) ont également été perquisitionnés, Augustin de Romanet étant actuellement son PDG.
Ces investigations ont eu lieu dans le cadre d'une enquête préliminaire ouverte par le parquet national financier (PNF) en décembre 2014 notamment pour « abus de biens sociaux » et « détournement de fonds publics ».
200.000 euros annuels facturés à la CDC par Alain Bauer
En novembre 2014, Mediapart avait affirmé qu'Alain Bauer, ancien grand maître du Grand Orient de France, avait profité de contrats de complaisance à la Caisse des dépôts, alors sous la direction générale d'Augustin de Romanet (de 2007 à 2012). Professeur en criminologie, Alain Bauer aurait facturé ses services en matière de sécurité.
Toujours selon Mediapart, le nouveau directeur général de la CDC, Pierre-René Lemas, s'était étonné à son arrivée de certains contrats passés par ses prédécesseurs, notamment cette commande de notes relatives à la sécurité en France et dans le monde, facturée 200.000 euros annuels à la Caisse des dépôts par la société d'Alain Bauer, AB Conseil.
Le site d'information s'étonnait aussi de l'achat par la CDC de « plusieurs milliers d'exemplaires » du Guide gastronomique Champérard, dont le directeur de la publication est Alain Bauer. Sollicité, Alain Bauer n'a pas souhaité faire de commentaires.
Saudi Arabia will launch in coming weeks a renewable energy program that is expected to involve investment of between $30 billion and $50 billion by 2023, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday.
Falih, speaking at an energy industry event in Abu Dhabi, said Riyadh would in the next few weeks start the first round of bidding for projects under the program, which would produce 10 gigawatts of power.
In addition to that program, Riyadh is in the early stages of feasibility and design studies for its first two commercial nuclear reactors, which will total 2.8 gigawatts, he said.
"There will be significant investment in nuclear energy," Falih said.
Under an economic reform program launched last year, Saudi Arabia is seeking to use non-oil means to generate much of its additional future energy needs, to avoid running down oil resources which are required to generate foreign exchange through exports.
Falih said Saudi Arabia was working on ways to connect its renewable energy projects with Yemen, Jordan and Egypt. "We will connect to Africa to exchange non-fossil sources of energy," he said, without elaborating.
Its finances strained by low oil prices, Riyadh wants to conduct many of its future infrastructure projects through partnerships in which private companies from within the kingdom and abroad would bear much of the cost and risk.