Lux gov issues first sustainable bonds
The grand duchy raised €1.5bn in the first sale of sustainable bonds by a European government. Half of the funds will be used for environmental projects and half for projects with social objectives. The 12 year bonds pay a negative interest rate of -0.123%. The sale was 8 times oversubscribed (meaning investors were ready to buy €12.5bn in bonds). BCEE, BIL, BGL BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Deutsche Bank were joint lead managers. Sources: Reuters, Paperjam and finance ministry press release.
Construction companies caught out
Luxembourg’s labour inspectorate, ITM, shut down 55 building sites for safety violations during checks made during the construction industry’s annual collective holiday. ITM fined one boss €25,000 for employing 10 third country nationals without proper authorisation and (separately) sent home two underage workers. ITM said it conducted 283 inspections of 197 companies at 174 building sites between 31 July and 23 August. Sources: Delano, Paperjam and ITM press release.
Brewer seeks new boss
AB Inbev, the global beer giant that locally owns the Diekirch and Mousel breweries, reportedly began a search to replace Carlos Brito, its CEO for the past 16 years. First reported by: Financial Times. Additional source: Reuters.
Trump moots scaling back ties with China
Donald Trump said he was considering “decoupling” the US economy from China’s. American firms which outsource manufacturing to China could, for example, not receive any federal government contracts. Sources: Financial Times, Reuters, Seeking Alpha and South China Morning Post.
Primark reports strong post-lockdown numbers
The budget fashion brand Primark said sales following the lifting of covid-19 restrictions were better than expected and that full-year net profit would be “at least at the top end” of earlier forecasts. Sources: Financial Times, The Guardian, RTE and the Telegraph.
German gov puts gas pipeline pressure on Kremlin
Berlin said it could be ‘forced’ to reconsider Nord Stream 2, a planned Baltic sea gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, if Moscow did not cooperate with an investigation into the poising of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition politician. Sources: CNBC, Deutsche Welle, Financial Times and Reuters.
Navalny’s condition improving
Doctors in Berlin treating Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition activist, said he is out of a medically-induced coma and “is responding to verbal stimuli.” Sources: BBC, Deutsche Welle, The Guardian and NPR.
Belarus activist abducted
The Belarussian opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova has been missing since Monday morning, when she was seen being bundled into a van in Minsk. Sources: BBC, Deutsche Welle, Financial Times and NPR.
California hit by more wildfires
More than 8,000 square kilometres have burned in several wildfires as California experiences a record heatwave. Sources: BBC, Deutsche Welle and NPR. Fire map: San Francisco Chronicle. More coverage: Los Angeles Times.
Netflix boss not a fan of telecommuting
Reed Hastings, co-founder and co-CEO of Netflix, stated that “I don’t see any positives” in staff working from home. The lack of face-to-face meetings is “a pure negative”, he said during an interview about his new book. First reported by: Wall Street Journal. Additional source: BBC. Book excerpt: CBS News.
Latest covid-19 cases
Ten Luxembourg residents tested positive out of 1,141 PCR tests conducted in the 24 hours to Monday afternoon. Fifteen people were hospitalised due to the coronavirus, none in intensive care. Sources: Paperjam and health ministry website.
Agenda
Wednesday 9 September, 12noon-1pm: Delano Live Chat on how data scientists in Luxembourg are combatting the covid-19 outbreak. Thursday 10 September, 2:30pm-3:30pm: Luxembourg for Finance webcast on digital payments. Monday 14 September-Friday 18 September: Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry’s weeklong online conference on asset management and fund distribution trends. Tuesday 15 September, 10am-5pm: Forum on sustainability in the workplace. Tuesday 15 September, 1:30pm-2:30pm: Paperjam Club webcast on breaking into private equity careers. Thursday 17 September, 7pm-9pm: British Ladies Club’s monthly cocktail mixer, in Bridel.
Seeing the facilities
A park in Tokyo has installed public toilets featuring transparent glass, per this South China Morning Post video.
Air quality
One of San Francisco’s public transport operators has officially said it takes an average of 70 seconds for a fart (or other airborne elements) to be circulated out of its subway cars, per Jalopnik.
Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald