COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF
Ascendis could get buyout offerAscendis Health, a company under strain in recent years from high levels of debt and board shake-ups, said on Wednesday it may receive a buyout offer from a group owned by CEO Carl Neethling.
The company said in a statement it has initiated a process to investigate and progress a potential delisting of Ascendis from the JSE as the next step in its strategy to unlock value and return capital to shareholders. If any offer is made by ACN Capital, it is not expected to be at a significant premium to the current traded price of Ascendis shares of 69c, it said.
Valued at about R436 million on the JSE, Ascendis has only recently got a handle on an unstainable debt pile but still faced high levels of head office costs, which it has been looking to reduce. It previously indicated that delisting would be a natural move.
The group was founded in 2008 and listed in 2013. It came under pressure after a series of offshore acquisitions pushed up its debt, which started spiralling. It sold off its European businesses in 2021.
The group then disposed of further assets, notably its pharma business in late 2022, which netted it R444 million in cash, while it also tapped shareholders for R101.5 million in August 2022.-Fin24
Volkswagen weighs up savings
Volkswagen's factory in the heart of the east German city of Dresden was conceived as a showcase for the auto giant's electric future but on a September afternoon the production line stands still.
Rather than serving as a shining example, the site, where the group's flagship electric model ID.3 is finished, is more of an illustration of the challenges facing Volkswagen's transition away from internal combustion engines.
Production of battery-powered vehicles at the plant is small scale and slower than its foreign rivals, which have left the storied German group for dust.
Chinese and American carmakers, such as BYD and Tesla, are well ahead of Volkswagen on the key components needed to make electric vehicles notably in the area of battery technology.
Volkswagen is pouring tens of billions of euros into its pivot to electric vehicles. But with the economic outlook less than rosy, chief executive Oliver Blume has pledged to "work hard" on cutting costs to boost performance.-Fin24
Life Healthcare may sell UK assets
Icon Infrastructure is nearing a deal to acquire some UK assets being sold by South African hospital operator Life Healthcare people with knowledge of the matter said.
The investment firm is in advanced talks about the terms of a potential deal for its UK diagnostics business known as Alliance Medical Group, and an announcement could be made in the coming days, according to the people. Alliance could be valued at about US$1 billion (R19 billion) in a deal, they said.
Johannesburg-based Life Healthcare has been working with advisers to identify potential suitors for all or part of the UK operations, Bloomberg News reported earlier. The Alliance Medical Group provides imaging services and is also present in European countries including Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, according to its website.
Deliberations are ongoing and could still be delayed or falter, and another buyer may still emerge, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. A representative for Life Healthcare declined to comment, while Icon didn’t provide comment. Life Healthcare said last week that it was still working to determine whether a sale is possible.
Life Healthcare agreed to buy Alliance Medical in 2016 for as much as £800 million (R18.5 billion). South African hospital chains expanded into the UK to take advantage of demand for private health care in a country dominated by the state-run National Health Service.-Fin24
US cracks down on Amazon.com
The US Federal Trade Commission filed a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.com on Tuesday, charging the online retailer with harming consumers with higher prices in the latest US government legal action aimed at breaking Big Tech's dominance of the internet.
The lawsuit had been expected after years of complaints that Amazon.com and other tech giants abused their dominance of search, social media and online retailing to become gatekeepers on the most lucrative aspects of the internet.
The lawsuit, which was joined by 17 state attorneys general, follows a four-year investigation and federal lawsuits filed against Alphabet's Google and Meta Platforms' Facebook.
"The FTC and its state partners say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon," the agency said in a statement.
The FTC said that it was asking the court to issue a permanent injunction ordering Amazon.com to stop its unlawful conduct.-Fin24
JPMorgan settles Epstein sex trafficking lawsuit
JPMorgan Chase reached settlements with the US Virgin Islands (USVI) and former executive Jes Staley to resolve lawsuits over sex trafficking by the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, largely resolving a scandal that has weighed on the largest US bank for months.
The settlements conclude the final pieces of litigation in a saga involving women who said Epstein sexually abused them, and which embroiled some of the world's most powerful figures in finance and business.
JPMorgan said its US$75 million settlement with the USVI includes US$30 million to support charitable organizations, US$25 million to strengthen law enforcement to combat human trafficking, and US$20 million for attorney's fees.
Terms of the bank's settlement with Staley are confidential. In June, JPMorgan agreed to pay US$290 million to resolve claims by dozens of Epstein's accusers.
Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 until 2013, when the bank terminated their relationship.
"While the settlement does not involve admissions of liability, the firm deeply regrets any association with this man, and would never have continued doing business with him if it believed he was using the bank in any way to commit his heinous crimes," JPMorgan said.-Fin24
Lego drops plans to make new blocks
Lego A/S has dropped plans to use recycled plastic bottles to make new building blocks and will instead pursue other materials to cut carbon emissions.
Two years ago, the world’s largest toymaker unveiled a successful prototype block from discarded bottles, saying it appeared to be the best among more than 250 variations of sustainable plastic materials. But now Lego has found that using recycled PET won’t reduce overall CO2 emissions because it requires too much new production equipment.
Lego will instead look for other solutions, it said by email on Monday, adding that PET was just “one of hundreds of different sustainable materials” it’s evaluating.
“We are currently testing and developing Lego bricks made from a range of alternative sustainable materials, including other recycled plastics and plastics made from alternative sources such as e-methanol,” Lego said.
Lego said it expects to spend more than US$1.2 billion on sustainability over the four years to 2025. The story was first reported by the Financial Times.-Fin24