December, 2021

• 1 December

  Activist Bluebell asks Glencore to separate its thermal coal mines

  

  Bloomberg Activist hedge fund Bluebell Capital Partners has asked Glencore Plc to separate its thermal coal business because it has become a barrier to investment. The hedge fund firm said that the commodities giant could realise more value for shareholders if it separates that business, simplifies its asset base, disposes of non-core asset Viterra, and tackles governance issues. Bluebell’s partners ...

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• 1 December

  Enel planning to invest $191b on clean energy

  Bloomberg Enel SpA plans to invest 170 billion euros ($191 billion) this decade to accelerate its shift to greener energy sources. The strategy indicates a 6% increase from the previous investment plan, documents published showed. It also brought forward its net zero commitment by 10 years, from 2050 to 2040. Enel is the latest energy company in Europe to reveal ...

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November, 2021

• 30 November

  Eskom is delaying power projects: Minister

  Bloomberg South Africa’s Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd is delaying emergency power projects that would have started generating 1,996 megawatts of electricity by next August, City Press reported. The state-owned utility hasn’t approved 11 generation projects that are intended to provide power supplies when the national grid is vulnerable, the newspaper reported, citing ...

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• 30 November

  Is Joe Biden’s democracy summit a diplomatic flub?

  

  Supposedly, US President Joe Biden’s “Summit for Democracy” — which begins on December 9 — would show America was back as leader of the free world. Unfortunately, the Biden administration isn’t big on either thoughtfulness before the fact, or justification after. And in many parts of the world, including here in South Asia, the summit is likely to do more ...

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• 30 November

  What should Twitter’s new CEO do?

  

  After years of stumbles and underperformance, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is finally stepping aside as chief executive. The long-awaited move creates an opportunity for the social media platform to regain its footing, but there is much to be done. The company’s board announced that Twitter veteran Parag Agrawal, who has served as chief technology officer since 2017, will succeed Dorsey ...

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• 30 November

  Are hedge fund ‘bubble’ bets naughty or nice?

  More than a decade after Lloyd Blankfein, then-boss of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, claimed banks do “god’s work,” the finance industry still struggles to convince the public it’s a force for good. A new chapter in this debate has erupted in Europe where hedge funds and national governments can’t agree on what constitutes “good” financial speculation. Funds who bet that ...

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• 30 November

  For banks, omicron is new word for ‘reset’

  Since the summer, it’s not been a fun time to be a central banker: What with not-so-transitory inflation playing havoc with official targets and leading to some pretty terrible attempts at forward guidance. Let’s look at Bank of England (BOE). But the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street has not been the only major institution struggling to chart a clear course ...

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• 30 November

  EasyJet says Covid variant puts back fragile travel recovery

  

  Bloomberg EasyJet Plc said the omicron variant of Covid-19 is impacting short-term demand but hasn’t yet derailed a recovery in air travel. The UK discount carrier has reined in capacity plans for the current quarter as some customers with reservations delay flying and others put off booking, it said in a statement. Demand for city-to-city flights has taken the biggest ...

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• 30 November

  Amazon staff in Alabama to get second union election

  

  Bloomberg A US federal labour official has ordered a new union election at an Amazon.com Inc warehouse in Alabama. After losing the first election in April, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union appealed the outcome to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that Amazon had intimidated workers and pressured them to cast votes in a mailbox the company ...

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• 30 November

  Lululemon fires back at Peloton in feud over its clothing patents

  

  Bloomberg Lululemon Athletica Inc sued Peloton Interactive Inc for patent infringement five days after the fitness bike company filed a preemptive suit against the clothing maker, as a dispute over a busted co-branding deal heats up in the booming home fitness space. Peloton “imitated several of Lululemon’s innovative designs and sold knockoffs of Lululemon’s products, claiming them as its own,” ...

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