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(Bloomberg) -- Argentine President Alberto Fernandez dipped into the play book of his deputy, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, with a plan to seize crop trader Vicentin SAIC in a move that’ll ring alarm bells in soy markets and among investors in the country.Fernandez’s government will take control of Vicentin for the next 60 days as it seeks congressional approval to expropriate the agricultural powerhouse, which filed for bankruptcy last year after being caught out in currency swings.“This is a statist vision for the 21st century,” Production Minister Matias Kulfas said in an interview late Monday after the announcement. The company wasn’t notified, he said.Under the plan, all of Vicentin’s assets -- the crown jewels of which are soy-processing plants that supply the world with meal for animal feed and cooking oil -- will be placed in a trust managed by the agriculture arm of state-run oil company YPF SA.YPF Agro would...
(Bloomberg) -- Oil edged higher toward $39 a barrel as expectations U.S. crude stockpiles extended declines offset a decision by Saudi Arabia to cease extra voluntary production cuts by the end of this month.Futures added 0.8% in New York after snapping a four-day rally on Monday. U.S. crude inventories probably fell for the fourth time in five weeks, according to a Bloomberg survey before government data Wednesday. Saudi Arabia said the additional supply cuts, which amounted to about 1.2 million barrels a day and included contributions from allies in the Persian Gulf, would only take effect in June as planned.Oil has rebounded since dropping below zero in April as cuts reduced a global glut and demand recovered following the easing of lockdown restrictions in some countries. However, a return to pre-virus levels of consumption is expected to be slow and uneven, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. turning bearish in the short...
(Bloomberg) -- PG&E Corp. said it plans to sell its iconic downtown San Francisco headquarters and relocate to Oakland, a move aimed at lowering costs after the California power giant exits bankruptcy.PG&E, which has called San Francisco its home since the utility’s founding in 1905, will move in phases starting in 2022, the company said in a statement Monday. It plans to lease its new building at 300 Lakeside in Oakland, with the option to purchase the property from developer TMG Partners.With the move, PG&E becomes one of the most high-profile companies to leave San Francisco for Oakland, a cheaper city located just across San Francisco Bay. The sale of its headquarters also allows the utility to profit off of investor interest in its longtime hometown, one of the tightest and most expensive U.S. office markets.PG&E said any net gains realized from a sale would be passed on to customers, and...
(Bloomberg) -- Embattled Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and its two main shareholders, Swire Pacific Ltd. and Air China Ltd., suspended trading of their shares Tuesday pending an announcement.The move comes as Cathay contends with a slump in traffic brought on by the coronavirus outbreak and the travel restrictions that ensued. The curbs hit Cathay particularly hard because it has no domestic market to fall back on, whereas carriers in China are rebuilding capacity on flights within the mainland.Even before the pandemic, Cathay was under enormous financial and political pressures as it found itself caught up in the Hong Kong anti-government protests, which affected traffic numbers and led to the exit of the company’s former chief executive officer. Cathay was criticized by China, protesters and its own workers for its response to the demonstrations.Air China has owned about 30% of Cathay for more than a decade, while Swire, one...
"The high quality of our real estate portfolio positioned us well to execute this offering," Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gennette said in a statement. Gennette said the funding gives the retailer sufficient flexibility and liquidity to steer the business for the foreseeable future....
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. shares are at an all-time high. Hertz Global Holdings Inc.’s are well above where they were before the company went bankrupt. But no stock in the automotive sector is a better indication of equity-market exuberance than Nikola Corp.The aspiring battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell truck maker debuted on the Nasdaq last week following a reverse merger with a blank-check company headed by a former General Motors Co. executive and board director. It’s forecasting zero revenue for 2020 and its first $1 billion year won’t be until 2023.Ford Motor Co., by comparison, is expected to report about $115 billion of revenue for this year. And yet Nikola, whose stock more than doubled Monday, traded up another 30% to as high as $95 after the close, giving the company a richer market capitalization than the almost 117-year-old maker of the F-150.Skeptics have long questioned the market’s valuation of Tesla, which...
