Company news in brief

AstraZeneca-Alexion deal investigated

Britain's competition regulator is reviewing AstraZeneca's US$39 billion buyout of US-based Alexion on concerns it could reduce competition in the UK market or elsewhere.

Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, also a major Covid-19 vaccine producer, agreed to buy Alexion in December in its largest ever deal in a bet on rare-disease and immunology drugs and to diversify away from its fast-growing cancer business.

Cambridge, UK-based AstraZeneca's shareholders approved the proposal at a general meeting earlier this month.

The United States has cleared the deal, as have other countries including Canada, Brazil and Russia.

AstraZeneca hopes an improved version of the drug has even larger market potential. It expects to boost growth by introducing Alexion's rare-disease medicines to China and other emerging markets. – Nampa/Reuters

Shell to sell interest in Deer Park

Royal Dutch Shell agreed to sell its controlling interest in a Texas refinery to partner Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) for about US$596 million, the latest move by the European oil major to cut its global refining footprint.

The deal makes the Deer Park, Texas, facility the first foreign refinery that Mexico's state-run oil company will own solely in its history. The agreement was announced not long after Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador complained that the 28-year-old joint venture had not been good for Mexico.

Shell is shrinking its refining and chemicals portfolio as part of a broader shift by oil majors to reduce hydrocarbon emissions and shift to lower-carbon fuels.

Pemex said it plans to control and run the refinery after the deal closes late this year.

The refinery can process up to 340 000 barrels per day of oil into gasoline and diesel. The joint venture was significantly revamped three years ago in a move to halve the facility's purchases of Mexican crude beginning in 2023.

On May 4, Shell disclosed plans to sell its 149 000-bpd Puget Sound refinery in Anacortes, Washington, to US refiner HollyFrontier. – Nampa/Reuters

Renault-Nissan, Hyundai face Indian shutdowns

Automakers Renault, its alliance partner Nissan Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co face temporary factory closures in India due to growing unrest among workers concerned about rising Covid-19 infections.

Workers at Renault-Nissan's car plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu went on strike yesterday because their Covid-related safety demands have not been met, a union representing the workers told the company in a letter on Monday.

Hyundai said it would suspend operations at its plant, also in Tamil Nadu, for five days starting Tuesday, after several workers staged a brief, sit-in protest on Monday amid rising cases in the state.

The unrest highlights the challenges companies face in India amid a huge wave of Covid-19 infections, an overwhelmed health system and a shortage of vaccines which is making employees more fearful.

Tamil Nadu is one of the worst hit states with more than 30 000 cases a day last week. The state, an auto hub known as India's Detroit, has imposed a lockdown until May 31 but allowed some factories, including auto plants, to continue operating. – Nampa/Reuters

Kenya's Safaricom heads to Ethiopia

A consortium led by Kenyan telecoms operator Safaricom aims to start operations in Ethiopia next year, it said on Monday, after winning a licence on Saturday.

The consortium, which also includes South Africa's Vodacom and Britain's Vodafone, won the licence with a bid of US$850 million, government officials in Addis Ababa said on Saturday.

"The partners ... will establish a new operating company in Ethiopia which aims to start providing telecommunication services from 2022," they said in a joint statement.

Other partners in the consortium are British development finance agency CDC Group and Japan's Sumitomo Corporation.

Safaricom's shares rose almost 7% to 42.20 Kenyan shillings at one point, though one trader had cautioned that the rally could be short-lived. – Nampa/Reuters

HSBC: ‘Bitcoin not for us’

HSBC has no plans to launch a cryptocurrency trading desk or offer the digital coins as an investment to customers, because they are too volatile and lack transparency, its chief executive Noel Quinn told Reuters.

Europe's biggest bank's stance on cryptocurrencies comes as the world's biggest and best-known, Bitcoin, has tumbled nearly 50% from the year's high, after China cracked down on mining the currency and prominent advocate Elon Musk tempered his support.

HSBC's stance also contrasts with rival banks such as Goldman Sachs, which Reuters in March reported had restarted its cryptocurrency trading desk.

The soaring popularity of cryptocurrencies has posed a problem for mainstream banks in recent years, as they try to balance catering to clients' interest with their own regulatory obligations to understand the source of their customers' wealth.

HSBC's stance against offering cryptocurrencies as an asset class marks it out against European rivals such as UBS, which is exploring ways to offering them as an investment product according to media reports earlier this month. – Nampa/Reuters