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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
Eurotunnel is facing a
nerve-wracking time
after the closure of its
offer to swap shares from the
old company to a new one in
order to escape from a debt
burden.
Bosses at the company
were so alarmed by the small
shareholders’ lack of
enthusiasm for the deal, that
they asked that the acceptance
level for a yes vote be
dropped from the already low
60% to 50%.
The shareholders have
been pummelled with
advertisements urging them to
accept the swap, with doomladen
speeches warning of the
consequences if they do not.
Many small shareholders, the
overwhelming majority of
whom are French, complained
that they could not get advice
about what to do from their
banks. Banks in France carry
out many of the functions
performed by stockbrokers in
the UK. Given the performance
of Eurotunnel shares, many of
the bank advisors probably
thought it wise to say as little
as possible about the deal,
in case it comes back to
haunt them.
If the deal is accepted,
Eurotunnel might be looking
at a rosy future. Its debt would
be around €4.2 billion
(compared with €9 billion
now), its sales figures around
€830 million and its operating
margins, after all the
restructuring, similar to those of
a luxury goods group.
On the other hand, if it did
not persuade 50% of its
shareholders, it will be going
into uncharted waters.
In theory, it should be put
up for sale, but the largest debt
holders from the late 1980s
have agreements which might
let them take over the running
of the tunnel until 2052.
During the presidential
campaign Nicolas Sarkozy
promised shareholders that
“the state would be at their
side”. It is unlikely that he
would be willing to break the
terms of the Treaty of
Canterbury, signed in 1981
between the then president
François Mitterrand and the
then British PM Margaret
Thatcher, which ruled out any
state financing of the tunnel.
The result of the deal
should be known by June 4, but
could be delayed because
of the complicated crosschecks
which should be carried out.
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
Électricité de France said it would
back Areva, the state-owned nuclear
power and recycling firm, in a bid to
build nuclear power stations in the UK.
EDF owns large parts of the British
electrical system and so its backing might
carry some weight.
The last attempt to build a nuclear
power station in Britain, at Hickley Point
in Somerset, failed in 1989 when it became
clear at a public enquiry that electricity
produced, including the cost of
decommissioning but excluding the cost of
long-term storage of nuclear waste, would
be three and a half times more expensive
than fossil-fuel generated electricity. No
private company would fund the building
and environmental groups also promised
fierce opposition.
Britain has not built its own
nuclear power stations since the last
Advanced Gas Cooled models in the
1970s. The last nuclear power station
built in the UK was an US-pressurised
water design and Areva will be facing
stiff US competition in any tender for bids.
Areva is currently building an
advanced ‘fourth generation’ PWR
power station in Finland but has fallen
two years behind in the building
programme after a series of problems,
including pouring concrete not able to
resist Finnish winters.
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
It’s been a year of ups and downs, expected and unexpected, in
all a real eye-opener. I studied and practised business and have
been involved with finance for many years but nothing had
prepared me for running a property management business in
France.
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Read more...
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
At 27, Olivia Ruiz is currently the hottest property in French music. Her latest
chart-topping album is a generous serving of pure nostalgia. Nick Rowswell met
her during the last Printemps de Bourges festival, to chat about
music and motherhood, fame and family
You can’t drink any more,
you can’t smoke
anywhere, can’t eat
what you want – the guardians
of public health and political
correctness are killing off the
old carefree, tolerant France
we all knew and loved. And
what institution symbolised the
old world better than the local
café?
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Read more...
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
“The ‘omics’ revolution – genomics,
proteomics, even metabolomics –
promises to revolutionise drug
development. But as Nobel prizewinner
Sydney Brenner once noted, the only
omics that really counts in biotechnology
is economics. The truth of this is
becoming ever more apparent to Europe’s
biotech industry as it battles to bring new
products to market.”*
If you feel similarly and you’re going
to be in London on June 16, you could call
in at Imperial College to the Alternative
Economics Conference. Under the title
‘It’s broke – let’s fix it!’on the premise that
the global economy is not up to the
challenges of climate change or world
poverty, the day’s discussion will be
headed by four speakers, chaired by Ann
Pettifor, director of Advocacy International
and campaigns director of Operation Noah.
The themes are The Global Economy and
the Financial System, and The
Environment and the Developing World.
The conference is organised by Friends
of Le Monde Diplomatique, an affiliate of
the French group set up more than 50 years
ago by Hubert Beuve-Mery, founder and
director of ‘Le Monde’, as a paper, review
and early internet voice looking at issues
raised by globalisation, and the particular
concerns of developing nations. The paper
has a circulation of 200,000 plus and its
atlas has sold nearly half a million copies.
Imperial College, Mechanical Engineering
Building, Concourse Level 2, Exhibition Rd,
London SW7 2AZ. 11am-5pm. Registration
from 10.30am. Admission £5. Tickets on sale at
the door or booked in advance by sending your
cheque and SAE to Friends of Le Monde Diplo,
63 Cloudesley Road, London N1 0EL. For more
information see www.mondediplofriends.org.uk
or email
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