LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - 5G has had an inauspicious start to life. Though politicians have spent years debating security risks associated with suppliers of the high-speed mobile technology, few people have used it. Conspiracy theorists blamed it for Covid-19. And with mass gatherings like concerts and sports events cancelled, telecommunication bosses had few chances to show off their latest toy. The stage is set for a dramatic coming-out party.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Britain is giving a worrying glimpse of where the pandemic could go next. A more contagious variant of Covid-19 spreading through the south-east of England prompted major European Union states, Canada and India to suspend air links with the United Kingdom on Monday, while France has halted road freight for 48 hours. The next act has a local and a global component.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Glencore is getting a new green-tinged lease on life. On the same day it announced long-term Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg’s successor, the 31 billion pound miner committed itself to net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Given it plans to get there by running down coal mines while digging up more copper and cobalt, it could become a surprise model citizen of the low-carbon future.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - To 17th century Dutch tulip bulbs and 1929 Wall Street shares, it may soon be time to add 2020 puppies. Demand for pets has rocketed under Covid-19, doubling the average price of a British pooch to 1,875 pounds ($2,500). Breeders flooding the market just as economic hard times bite has all the ingredients of a canine crash.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - What a difference a year makes. In 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was basking in the adulation of a Nobel Peace Prize and his country’s economy was expanding at nearly 10%. Now, the government says its tanks are about to besiege a rebellious regional capital, and growth has collapsed. A prolonged conflict would expose the African giant’s reliance on foreign capital as a soft underbelly.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Cellnex Telecom’s freedom to roam across Europe may be coming to an end. Spurred by the telecommunication tower operator’s rise, Vodafone is preparing to float its mobile mast unit early next year. Other European rivals are also carving out their infrastructure divisions. With half of Europe’s 700,000 mobile towers still potentially up for grabs, the 25 billion euro Spanish M&A machine faces serious competition.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hopes of a Covid-19 vaccine have already given equity capital markets bankers a boost. As stock markets soared after encouraging test results from Pfizer and BioNTech, companies in hard-hit sectors like travel and leisure rushed to top up their balance sheets. With the end of the year looming, smaller equity issues and instruments like convertible bonds may go down better than big, drawn-out offerings.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - The switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is putting wind in turbine makers’ sails. Combined, Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems and Spanish-German rival Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy now boast more than 60 billion euros of orders. Even so, with share prices up 70% this year, their valuations may imply a bigger gust of wind than is actually likely.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - International Airlines Group boss Luis Gallego won’t be the only airline chief executive bracing for a wretched Christmas. Barely six weeks into the job, the Spaniard revealed that the parent of British Airways and Iberia lost 1.3 billion euros in the third quarter, and would not break even in the next three months due to rising infections and renewed travel restrictions. Dashed hopes are becoming aviation’s default setting.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - The European telecommunications buyout buffet just added a meaty Dutch main course. Private equity firm EQT is casting a hungry eye over KPN, Bloomberg reported on Friday. At 16 billion euros including debt, the former Netherlands state monopoly would make a sizeable meal, rendered all the chewier by the need to keep the government on side. Happily, for potential corporate raiders, there are more digestible morsels on the menu elsewhere.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) -A parked motor home exploded in downtown Nashville at dawn on Friday morning minutes after a recorded announcement emanating from the vehicle warned of a bomb, in what police said was an "intentional act" that injured at least three people.