Spanish pharmaceutical firm Esteve sells 26% stake to Germany's Lubea
Reuters
23-05-17 16:11
Esteve, the Spanish pharmaceuticals company, has sold a 26% stake to German investment firm Lubea. Esteve will remain the majority shareholder, and did not disclose the value of the deal. Esteve CEO Staffan Schuberg stated that the investment will help the company to accelerate growth and expand its reach in international markets. Esteve had revenues of €644m ($709m) in 2022, and owns production sites across Spain, Mexico and China..
Thomas Coesfeld, a member of the Bertelsmann dynasty and grandson of Reinhard Mohn, is to become the chief executive of BMG in July. BMG is the record label behind artists such as David Bowie and The Rolling Stones. Coesfeld, aged 33, has been groomed for senior roles within the family empire alongside his brother Carsten. Both are seen as possible candidates for the chairmanship of Bertelsmann. Coesfeld took the role of chief financial officer at BMG in April 2021 and will replace the outgoing CEO, Hartwig Masuch.
Stellantis’ warning that Britain’s trade rules with the EU could threaten electric van plant viability at Ellesmere Port has reopened the issue of rules of origin for the car industry. Car factories are concerned that anything that affects their exports to Europe will make them less competitive and more at risk. Rules of origin ensure that goods have sufficient locally-made content to qualify for tariff-free access to markets. Under the EU's post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement, vehicles sold from one to the other must have 55% of their “content” from within the EU or UK. By January 2024, 60% of an electric vehicle battery pack must originate from Europe or UK to qualify as “local”.
Regional and national elections in Madrid will determine whether Spain's ultra-rich pay the Solidarity tax, which was introduced in December 2021 and targets individuals with more than $4.1m in wealth and imposes a temporary levy of up to 3.5%. This tax has caused unrest among the country's 27,000 millionaires or billionaires, many of whom are seeking ways to avoid paying it and some of whom are considering moving away from the country altogether. Madrid's conservative president, Isabel Ayuso, has also expressed criticism of the tax and has challenged it in court.
FIFA, football clubs, and other industry stakeholders have agreed on a date on which players should start preparing for Australia and New Zealand's Women's World Cup. Clubs and countries had previously been at odds, with clubs citing concerns over player welfare and injury risks while national teams were concerned that player rest periods would lead to deconditioning before the World Cup was due to take place. FIFA imposed a mandatory release date for players on 10 July for 2023's Women's World Cup. Now, players may prepare for the tournament no earlier than 23 June and no later than 29 June.
Brentford striker Ivan Toney has been suspended from football for eight months after admitting to 232 breaches of the Football Association’s betting rules. Other Premier League footballers who have faced lengthy bans include Joey Barton, who was initially suspended for 18 months for betting on 1,260 matches between 2006 and 2013, which was later reduced to 13 months; Portugal defender Abel Xavier, who was banned for 18 months by UEFA for testing positive for anabolic steroids in 2005, later reduced to 12 months; Mark Bosnich, who was banned for nine months by the FA after failing a drugs test for cocaine in 2003; Eric Cantona, who was banned for eight months and fined £30,000 by the FA after kung-fu kicking a Crystal Palace supporter in 1995; and Rio Ferdinand, who missed a drugs test in 2003 resulting in an eight-month ban.
A federal judge in Houston has dismissed criminal charges against Paulo Murta, a Swiss banker accused of helping stash millions in bribes paid to senior Venezuelian oil officials in a money laundering case. The judge ruled that the delays violated his constitutional rights to a speedy trial. Murta was indicted in 2019 on money laundering charges and spent nine months in pre-trial detention before being released on bond. Prosecutors are appealing against the dismissal of charges. Murta was accused of creating fake loans and setting up shell companies in Switzerland, Curacao and Dubai to hide the proceeds of PDVSA's bribery scheme.
Manchester City beat Real Madrid 4-1, making the aggregate score 4-2 and booking their spot in this year’s UEFA Champions League Final against Inter Milan. Real Madrid needed to win by two clear goals and took the lead, but goals from Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden, who secured a 2-1 home win in the first leg, sealed the win. The victory was City’s first over Real in the Champions League knockout stages, and they go into the final on 10 June at Istanbul’s Ataturk Stadium as clear favourites to claim their first Champions League trophy.
Leaders from the EU, Germany, France and Italy are set to join the G7 summit in Hiroshima, where tensions surrounding China are expected to dominate. While the thread linking the issues of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific tensions and the promotion of free market policies on trade is Beijing, negotiations are likely to be tricky; European officials are wary of directly anti-Chinese language, believing engagement with China is the smarter way to address the issue and cautious of creating more of a “west vs rest” global picture. Developing and emerging countries have also reportedly expressed concern that the G7 is focused too heavily on Ukraine and not enough on their needs and priorities.
Before the EU elections next June, Brussels lawmakers are bracing themselves for the mountain of legislation they have to get through, which includes around 200 files still open for approval by MEPs and member states, as well as proposals yet to be presented. With just over a year to go until the European Parliament votes again, including on rules relating to the digital euro and transparency requirements for NGOs, Brussels’ consensus on the new laws’ priority runs the risk of limiting progress on key environmental legislation. Proposals such as the new rules on healthy soils and genomic techniques for plants have already been been delayed or dropped from the commission agenda, to the alarm of EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who has warned the EU would struggle to absorb more environmental laws.
Goats are helping to fight wildfires in central Chile by eating vegetation to reduce the amount of fuel available for the flames. They also fertilise the soil with their droppings, which prevent sediment erosion. Their use means that the herbalicides applied to enclosed spaces such as Park La Leonera, which was spared during devastating wildfires last February, can be minimised. The intervention of a super-hydrophobic coating that doesn’t allow anything to catch fire which was recently launched by Chilean start-up SAV will also enable plants to build up a natural coating which prevents them from catching fire. Goat herds have long been employed in Spain, Portugal and Ireland for fire prevention. Californian authorities also have used the animals since 2014. Mechanical thinning and prescribed burning are other strategies used by fire prevention teams in Chile, but they have environmental limitations.
EasyJet expects a strong summer season, stating it is confident due to promising booking levels, rising ticket prices, and growing its holidays business. The airline has been slowly increasing its capacity as it recovers from COVID-19 lows, and expects to be back to pre-pandemic levels by July. Despite incomes being squeezed by inflation, many major European airlines are confident about summer bookings, with Ryanair, Lufthansa, and IAG pointing to high demand. EasyJet's shares have climbed 60% since the start of the year, but remain approximately 60% down from pre-pandemic levels. The airline has confirmed guidance for revenue per seat to be 20% higher for the April-June period.
Manchester City beat Real Madrid 4-0 in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final to set up a meeting with Inter Milan in next month’s final in Istanbul. Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva scored twice in the win, and is determined to avoid a repeat of City’s last appearance in the final, when they lost to Chelsea. Victory in the final would represent the crowning moment of a treble-winning season for Pep Guardiola’s team. Before then, City can win the Premier League title if they beat Chelsea on Sunday.
The Vatican has recalled a postage stamp featuring Pope Francis promoting this year’s World Youth Day in Portugal due to complaints that it celebrated Portugal’s colonial empire and the nationalist dictatorship of Antonio Salazar. The stamp features Pope Francis leading a group of children up Lisbon’s Monument to the Discoveries, a giant stone and concrete monument built in 1960 to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator, which some people in Portugal repudiate due to being built by the Salazar dictatorship to promote national identity and Portugal's colonial expansion in Africa. The Vatican only formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery” in March, which theorised in the 15th century that the Pope backed Spain and Portugal's colonial-era conquests in Africa and the Americas.
The US government's decision to push campaigner Amy Pope into the International Organization for Immigration (IOM) contest for Director General is causing tension with its European allies, says Jamestown Foundation contributor Daniel Runde. The IOM is a significant organisation in the humanitarian community, tasked with aiding the resettlement of refugees. The US is one of the largest contributors to the organisation, providing approximately 27% of its total revenue in 2021. Historically, a US national has held the position but Portuguese incumbent Antonio Vitorino took the position from the former Trump administration pick Ken Isaacs in 2018.
UK journalist and author Alex Renton has revealed that his Scottish ancestors made much of their wealth from enslaving Africans some 250 years ago. Renton is a member of Heirs of Slavery, a newly created group of descendants of transatlantic slavery profiteers. The group intends to apologise for its ancestors' involvement and support reparative justice initiatives. Some members are also reportedly pressing newly crowned King Charles to issue a formal apology for the monarchy’s role in the slave trade. The British Empire successfully abolished slavery in 1834 but the government spent £20m compensating owners for their "loss of property", and this was only finally settled by taxpayers in 2015.
The Women's Shed group at the Summit Good community farm in Swansea has seen a surge in demand as people come together for outdoor activities. The group, created by Elizabeth Walshaw, aims to provide a social space for people of all ages to meet and support each other. Members range from people in their 20s to women in their 60s and one woman said it had provided her with something to look forward to after her husband died. The idea has been so successful, the team is supporting others to start their own version and hopes to create a blueprint for new groups in the UK.
Best-selling novelist Bernard Cornwell spoke to The Telegraph in an interview published on Sunday about his latest work Uhtred’s Feast, its focus on recipes from the ninth and tenth centuries, and some personal history. Cornwell claims to have been banned from watching television or film or reading anything frivolous as a child and was beaten by adoptive father for reading Treasure Island. He broke free from his evangelical upbringing and has since gone on to write 50 adventure novels. His latest book includes three new short stories and Pollak’s recipes, eschewing the historically based sex scenes widely found in comparative works.
Southern European countries such as Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal are set to reap the economic benefits of tourism once more as travel restrictions ease and record early bookings are made for luxury holidays. The travel and holiday industry in Italy, for example, accounted for 100 billion euros ($110 billion), or 6.2% of output, before the pandemic, and Greece's GDP includes one-fifth generated by tourism. However, the sector is not without challenges such as strikes and extreme weather.
Labour's recent spending pledges ahead of the 2024 general election are uncosted, according to The Telegraph. Sir Keir Starmer is putting more promises for major public expenditures, among them £200bn to match US President Joe Biden's per capita expenditure and £100bn of Blair-era healthcare investment. However, estimates on costs for raising revenue from additional taxes, such as non-dom and VAT on private schools, are likely to be overoptimistic, while windfall taxes are likely to deter investment, the paper said. This leaves the party's most logical option as a mix of wealth taxes, which other countries have shown can prove counterproductive and encourage avoidance, evasion, and capital flight.
US President Joe Biden plans to discuss the situation in Ukraine with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Group of Seven (G7) summit this weekend. Biden plans to focus on the "sacrosanct" issue of sovereignty and territorial integrity in the discussions. Brazil and India have previously played a bridge-building role in relations with Russia and China, however, Lula angered the West last month by asking the US and European allies to stop supplying arms to Ukraine. The Brazilian leader has since toned down his comments. Biden also aims to discuss supply chain resilience, infrastructure investments and dealing with large debt burdens with the G7 summit attendees.
