COMPANY NEWS IN BREIF
J&J to pay R162 billionJohnson & Johnson said it agreed to pay US$8.9 billion (R162 billion) to resolve all cancer lawsuits tied to its talc-based powders and will make a fresh attempt to contain the liability within a bankruptcy filing by one of its units.The world’s largest maker of health-care products hopes to settle complaints from about 60 000 claimants and fund a trust set up in US bankruptcy court in Trenton, New Jersey, to cover future claims, the company said Tuesday in a securities filing. J&J has already withdrawn its talc-based baby powder and others, including Shower to Shower, from the market.
J&J’s LTL Management unit filed a new Chapter 11 case to provide a basis for the trust, which outlines terms for settling the decade-long litigation. An earlier filing, which didn’t include a settlement, was rejected in January after an appeals court found J&J erred in using bankruptcy to block juries from hearing lawsuits and handing out damage awards. J&J wants a reorganization plan for LTL that caps all the talc liability.
“Resolving this matter through the proposed reorganization plan is both more equitable and more efficient, allows claimants to be compensated in a timely manner,” Erik Haas, J&J’s world-wide head of litigation, said in a release. Monies in the settlement will be paid out over 25 years.
If enough victims agree to join the accord, J&J will be freed from defending against cancer claims tied to baby powder and others products tainted by asbestos. Juries ruled against the company in nearly a dozen such suits over the years — including one appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court — before J&J was forced to pay US$2.5 billion to a group of 20 women whose case went to trial in 2018.-Fin24
TotalEnergies, Iraq agree on delayed projectFrench energy firm TotalEnergies announced an agreement with Iraq on a long-delayed US$10 billion project to improve the country’s rundown electricity grid after resolving disputes over the terms of the deal.
The contract, which includes investments in oil, gas and solar production was signed in September 2021 but a new government took office in Iraq last year and its demands did not please TotalEnergies.
Baghdad sought a 40-percent stake in the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), but Iraqi officials said in February that TotalEnergies wanted Iraq to have a smaller stake.
Iraq’s cabinet said in a statement that it had accepted to reduce its demands to 30 percent “due to the importance of resolving the issue”.
TotalEnergies confirmed it would oversee a majority 45-percent stake in the project with Iraq’s Basra Oil Company receiving 30 percent. Qatar’s state-owned QatarEnergy, having been invited to join the consortium by TotalEnergies, will manage the remaining 25-percent share.
“TotalEnergies welcomes the continuity of the voice of the State of Iraq on this Development & Production Contract, which is a strong and positive signal for foreign investment in the country,” the company said.
Assem Jihad, the Iraqi oil ministry spokesman, called it a “very important contract”, and told AFP that working with the French firm would “bring a lot of experience, technology and investments”.-Fin24
Northam pulls the plug on RBPlats offerNortham Platinum has terminated its offer to buy out Royal Bafokeng platinum shareholders, citing “material adverse changes” in metal prices.
“The rhodium closing price has fallen and remained below $9 000.00 per ounce, for 12 consecutive trading days; and the closing 4E [Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium and Gold] Rand basket price has fallen and remained below R33 000 per ounce for 10 consecutive trading days.”
In a release to the market late, Northam said these qualify as material adverse changes, and the company has resultantly terminated its offer to RBPlat shareholders “with immediate effect”.
The announcement brings to an end a bitter tussle between Northam and Impala Platinum for control of RBPlat.
Implats holds almost 41% of RBPlats shares, and Northam has nearly 35%. Both companies had extended an offer to buy out all remaining RBPlat shareholders, although Northam was yet to post its offer circular.
Implats is close to closing out its offer, but the process has been frustrated by regulatory delays preventing it from obtaining a closure certificate from the Takeover Regulation Panel.
The miner has warned that if the deal cannot reach a conclusion soon, it will be forced to walk away.
Implats has also been waiting to hear from the Public Investment Corporation – the last RBPlats shareholder of significance – as to whether it will sell its near-10% stake.-Fin24
Tesla ordered to pay US$3.2 millionA federal jury in San Francisco ordered Tesla Inc to pay about US$3.2 million to a Black former employee after he won a racial harassment lawsuit against the electric-vehicle maker, far less than the US$15 million he rejected last year in opting for a new trial.
The verdict came after a week-long retrial in the 2017 lawsuit by plaintiff Owen Diaz, who in 2021 was awarded US$137 million by a different jury. A judge agreed with that jury that Tesla was liable but said the award was excessive. He ordered a new trial on damages after Diaz declined the reduced US$15 million award.
Diaz had accused Tesla of failing to act when he repeatedly complained to managers that employees at the Fremont, California, factory frequently used racist slurs and scrawled swastikas, racist caricatures and epithets on walls and work areas.
The jury awarded Diaz, who worked as an elevator operator, US$175 000 in damages for emotional distress and US$3 million in punitive damages designed to punish unlawful conduct and deter it in the future.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a tweet said “the verdict would’ve been zero” if the judge had allowed the company to introduce new evidence in the retrial.-Fin24
Anglo partners with Sweden’s H2 Green SteelGlobal mining giant Anglo American said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Swedish hydrogen and steel producer H2 Green Steel in order to work together on the advancement of low carbon steelmaking processes.
The agreement includes studying and trialling the use of premium-quality iron ore products from Anglo American’s Kumba mines in SA and Minas-Rio mine in Brazil as feedstock for H2 Green Steel’s direct reduced iron (DRI) production process at its Boden plant in Sweden, the company said in a statement.
Steel production by DRI is a technically proven production method estimated to be significantly less carbon intensive than the traditional blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace integrated steelmaking process. When using green hydrogen as a reducing agent, the process can be made largely CO2-free.
“Collaboration with industry leaders who share a vision for decarbonised steelmaking is central to our commitment to reduce emissions in our value chains,” said CEO of Anglo American’s marketing business Peter Whitcutt in a statement.
“Our work with H2 Green Steel will focus on exploring ways for premium, responsibly produced iron ore from our operations to be used as feedstock in the Boden plant’s low carbon production process, paving the way to a cleaner, greener way to produce steel – one of the backbone materials for the roll-out of energy transition infrastructure and for ongoing global socio-economic development.”-Fin24