Infrastructure

Corona Capital: Black Friday, JPMorgan’s new tower

14 October 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Walmart’s Black Friday rejig makes for a curious experiment; JPMorgan goes all-in on New York real estate.

Suez uses leaky defence against hostile bid

24 September 2020

The 9 bln euro utility put its water unit in a non-profit foundation. That frustrates bidder Veolia, which wants to sell the business to allay competition issues, but may not stop it. Even if the ploy works, adding complexity dents CEO Bertrand Camus’ pledge to be more efficient.

Breakup could remove Benettons’ Italian roadblock

24 September 2020

Atlantia, the clan’s infrastructure group, is at loggerheads with Rome over the sale of its crisis-hit motorway unit. Spinning off the division could end the dispute by establishing a fair market price. It’s a risky manoeuvre, but the threat may bring the government to the table.

Corona Capital: Coca-Cola, Viral inequality

22 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Coca-Cola, once an icon of temperance, is diving into the hard seltzer market; and California is considering using the disparity in numbers of Covid cases between neighborhoods to steer its response.

Sewage keeps Parisian banking elite in Hermès ties

15 September 2020

Veolia’s hostile approach to rival Suez is providing utility-like returns to some 16 banks and M&A boutiques. Not bad for a 2.9 bln euro bid. But as private equity eyes a potential entrée, the fees may add up to more than wastewater and put an end to a pandemic-induced drought.

Italy road saga hands Benettons life-saving finale

15 July 2020

The clan’s infrastructure group Atlantia could end a government dispute over a bridge disaster by letting state actors invest in its motorway unit, and list it. The shakedown may leave the group with a stake worth just 5 bln euros, but it’s better than a threatened expropriation.

Benettons face only bad options in Italy road row

13 July 2020

Premier Giuseppe Conte wants the family to exit their motorway unit to end a dispute over a collapsed bridge. A cut-price deal would shrink indebted owner Atlantia’s EBITDA by nearly a third. But failure to comply would likely cost the 10 bln euro group its Italian concession.

Biden task force lacks sense of dollars

9 July 2020

A wish list from the U.S. presidential candidate’s advisers runs the gamut from universal healthcare and zero emissions to racial equity and infrastructure spending, plus tax increases. Missing is much, if any, clarity on the financial equation. Trillions of dollars are at stake.

Virus inflates allure of Abu Dhabi gas pipelines

23 June 2020

The emirate’s oil giant ADNOC has sold 49% of its infrastructure arm to investors including GIC and Brookfield. A $21 bln valuation is higher than mooted before Covid-19. That’s probably because the virus has made a combination of secure assets and leverage even more appealing.

Corona Capital: Goldman, Vroom, Deutsche Bank

9 June 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Goldman does too well in Britain; shares in online used-car sales outfit Vroom double on their market debut; and Deutsche Bank gets another shot at redemption in the U.S. market.

The Exchange: Verizon’s HR chief

31 March 2020

Christy Pambianchi oversees the well-being of more than 100,000 people. She explains how Verizon quickly rewrote the rule book to address the coronavirus outbreak from getting people set up at home to ensuring the safety of field employees providing critical infrastructure.

Turkish canal is bad way to fix infrastructure gap

31 March 2020

President Tayyip Erdogan is building a $12 bln waterway in Istanbul. The stated aim of stopping ships from crashing into the Bosphorus fails to make up for the risk of environmental catastrophe. There’s no promise of new revenues either. The only winners will be land speculators.

HS2 green light makes UK less of a runaway train

11 February 2020

Boris Johnson has approved the controversial 107 bln pound rail link. As with a recent call on Huawei, the prime minister has chosen the least-bad strategic path. That should reassure foreign investors jittery at Brexit and recent state support plans for budget airline Flybe.

Uncle Sam’s 5G telecom fantasy is M&A nightmare

7 February 2020

Attorney General William Barr thinks the U.S. could buy Nokia or Ericsson to counter China’s Huawei. But making private firms do the state’s bidding is not how America works. Wrapping suppliers in the flag would also destroy value. Selling shareholders would be the only winners.

Atlantia charts tentative path to road truce

24 January 2020

The $19 bln infrastructure group’s new boss wants outsiders to invest into its units. These include embattled motorway operator ASPI, which risks losing a rich road concession after a bridge collapse. Opening ASPI’s capital to state investors offers a way out of the crisis.

Plane woes cast doubt on Beijing’s DIY tech plan

14 January 2020

The C919, intended to compete with Airbus and Boeing commercial jets, is behind schedule and riddled with problems despite vast state support. China’s plan to replace foreign hardware and software with local versions may struggle to take off for similar reasons.

New York entertains a lesson in secession

10 January 2020

Staten Island may reanimate a 26-year-old bid to break away from the Big Apple. There are countless reasons not to, and the economic case is sketchy – but residents could back it anyway. New York’s “forgotten borough” is a fitting ambassador for a world that’s getting smaller.

Benettons play risky game of chicken in road row

10 January 2020

Motorway operator Atlantia, part-owned by the Italian dynasty, is haggling with the government over toll fees following a 2018 bridge collapse. Betting that the fragile executive won’t cancel its concession could backfire. Besides, the $20 bln group can afford Rome’s demands.

Infrastructure investors catch the tech bug

9 January 2020

Macquarie may be in talks to buy AirTrunk for over $2 bln. It follows a record year for data centre M&A which saw volumes triple. Growing consumption of the new oil is fuelling demands for storage warehouses. And the hunger for yield is building up towering multiples.

India’s big build hinges on credibility revamp

7 January 2020

New Delhi wants the private sector to fund one fifth of a $1.4 trln infrastructure plan over five years. Much of the country’s bad debt, however, has come from previous projects. Investors will want evidence politicians are offering manageable risks before they sign up again.