A LEGAL LIABILITY 

Lou Dobbs: Fox cancels vocal Trump supporter's programme

DEMENTED LIKE GUILIANI

Sat., February 6, 2021, 

Lou Dobbs was named in a defamation lawsuit filled by a voting machine company

US broadcaster Fox has cancelled the TV programme hosted by Lou Dobbs, a vocal Trump supporter who is accused of using his platform to spread baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

The news emerged a day after Dobbs was named in a defamation lawsuit filed by the voting machine maker Smartmatic.

The $2.7bn (£2bn) lawsuit claims Dobbs was part of a "disinformation campaign" against the company.

Fox, which denies the allegations, said the Dobbs decision was not linked.

The veteran financial journalist, 75, has presented Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network since 2011. He was also an occasional commentator on Fox News, the conservative channel that has been home to several staunch supporters of Mr Trump.

Dobbs - who has recently written the book The Trump Century: How Our President Changed the Course of History Forever - said he had no comment.

Despite the cancellation of his programme, 

Dobbs remained under contract but was unlikely to appear on the network again, the Los Angeles Times reports.


The Smartmatic lawsuit names Fox Corporation, which is Fox Business Network's parent company, as well as Fox News, Dobbs and two other Fox hosts - Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. It also cites Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, two lawyers who represented Mr Trump.

The company accused the group of intentionally repeating the false claim that it was "responsible for stealing" the election by "switching and altering votes to rig" the election for Joe Biden.

Smartmatic claims Dobbs was "one of the primary proponents and speakers for the disinformation campaign".

Fox said on Thursday the network was "proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court".

Legal experts say the lawsuit has put enormous pressure on Fox.

Dominion, another voting technology maker, has also threatened to sue the network and other conservative media for defamation over their repeated unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

Following the news of Lou Dobbs Tonight's cancellation, Donald Trump issued a statement, saying: "Lou Dobbs is and was great... He had a large and loyal following that will be watching closely for his next move, and that following includes me."

Hedge Funds Risk Biden-Era End to Money-Laundering Loophole

Neil Weinberg

Fri, February 5, 2021, 

(Bloomberg) -- Private-equity and hedge funds face an increased risk that the U.S. will close a longstanding money-laundering loophole for assets they manage. All it would take is the Biden administration to quickly revive a rule that was developed during Barack Obama’s term but left unused by Donald Trump.

The U.S. has intensified its crackdown on dirty money in recent years, requiring banks, brokerages and mutual funds to monitor clients and report suspicious activity. But investment advisers overseeing trillions of dollars in private equity and hedge funds are exempt from such rules, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation says that’s attracted more cash from Mexican drug lords, countries under U.S. sanctions and companies with suspected Russian mob ties.

Regulators sought to close that loophole in 2015 with a new set of reporting requirements, but the proposal wasn’t enacted before Obama left office and it lay dormant while Trump was president. With Democrats back in control of the White House and bipartisan support for more scrutiny of illicit funds, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network may seek to revive the anti-money-laundering proposal.

“We’re advising clients to expect that during the Biden administration, FinCEN will finalize the AML rule for registered investment advisers,” said Michael Buffardi, a managing director in the financial services practice at FTI Consulting. “We can’t anticipate the timing, but think it’ll be sooner rather than later.”

After the November election, the non-partisan Financial Accountability & Corporate Transparency Coalition called on Joe Biden to enact the 2015 rule in his first 100 days in office to help safeguard the financial system and plug a key U.S. vulnerability to money laundering. “The rule has already undergone the comment process and could be quickly finalized,” the coalition said.

Janet Yellen, who was sworn in as Biden’s Treasury Secretary Jan. 26, said in a staff memo that “fighting illicit finance” would remain part of department’s “usual business” while it confronts the long-term consequences of the global pandemic, climate change, systemic racism and the lingering economic crisis.

It’s still early days for Biden’s team at the department, which hasn’t spelled out any new money-laundering measures or indicated whether it would revive the 86-page Obama-era proposal for SEC-registered investment advisers who oversee private equity and hedge funds. A spokeswoman said Treasury officials were unable to provide a timetable for the anti-money laundering regulation.

And even if the department does move ahead, the change wouldn’t likely occur right away. The White House issued an inauguration-day memo that pauses most new regulations, withdraws rules released but not yet formally published, and asks agencies to consider a 60-day delay for rules that have been published in the Federal Register.

Groups representing private equity and hedge funds don’t want for any such rule to move forward. They say their money is already tracked by regulated financial institutions and doesn’t need additional oversight, despite the FBI report suggesting the problem requires urgent attention.

In a May 2020 Intelligence Bulletin, the FBI said financial criminals are tapping hedge funds and private equity firms “to launder money, circumventing traditional anti-money laundering programs.” Without stricter oversight, the funds provide “ever-increasing opportunities for threat actors to co-opt investment funds without being overly scrutinized,” the agency said. The FBI didn’t respond to a request for comment.

‘Real’ Risks

“The risks highlighted in the FBI assessment are quite real,” said Ali Burney, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson whose practice focuses on cases of financial crime. “Investment vehicles always offer an attractive target, not only to launder funds but also as conduits for bribery and other schemes.”

Concern about the risks has already gotten the attention of regulators and lawmakers.

Just last year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission -- which would have been the chief monitor of compliance under the 2015 proposal -- cited anti-money laundering as one of its top priorities for oversight activities designed to identify risks to investors and the integrity of U.S. markets.

In 2018, FinCEN enacted its Customer Due Diligence Rule requiring banks, brokerages, mutual funds and futures commission merchants to verify the identity of individual account holders and the beneficial owners behind corporate customers.

And in January, Congress passed a law requiring owners of certain types of anonymous shell companies -- a popular tool for laundering money -- to disclose their names, addresses and other identifying information. The resulting government database will be accessible by intelligence agencies, law enforcement, regulators and financial institutions.

Opponents of anti-money laundering requirements for managers of private funds have argued that they don’t take physical custody of client assets. Instead, those assets are held by banks, brokerages or other “qualified custodians,” which are already required to monitor for signs of money laundering and report suspicious activity.

“Hedge funds present relatively limited money-laundering risks,” with the vast majority of investment advisers already using internal measures to track dirty money, the Managed Funds Association, which represents hedge funds, said in its 2015 written response to the FinCEN proposal.

‘Poor Vehicles’

Private-equity managers’ practice of requiring investors to tie up capital for long periods make their funds “poor vehicles for money laundering and terrorist financing,” and should be excluded from FinCEN’s proposed rule, American Investment Council, which represents the industry, said in its 2015 written response.

Jason Mulvihill, the council’s chief operating officer and general counsel, said that SEC-registered private fund advisers already provide detailed information about their activities, so adding anti-money laundering requirements is unnecessary. “The new legislation is not going after investment advisers and funds that are regulated,” he said. “It’s focus is on things that are less transparent.”

The FBI expressed a different view in its report last year. “The proliferation of private investment funds has made the industry less rigid as to the structure of the investment in an effort to attract more capital,” it wrote. “Furthermore, the profit motive does not incentivize the private investment fund manager to scrutinize the source of funds or the underlying beneficial owner.”

Self-policing by private equity and hedge funds is “not as robust as it would be if the 2015 proposal was adopted,” said Mederic Daigneault, a senior director with National Regulatory Services, a compliance consulting firm. That means the industry’s defenses could be strengthened through mandatory requirements for monitoring and reporting money laundering red flags, Daigneault said.

(Updates with comment from Ali Burney.)

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

BofA Divided as Bankers Cry Foul Over Special Bonus Treatment

Erik Schatzker and Sridhar Natarajan
Sat, February 6, 2021, 

(Bloomberg) -- Anger is building in the senior ranks at Bank of America Corp. after the company waived an unpopular new bonus policy for top traders and dealmakers while keeping the plan in place for other employees.

At issue is a grant of company stock that high earners -- generally those making $1 million or more -- received for the first time as part of their 2020 compensation. Instead of vesting in equal parts over a set period, as such awards typically do, these bonuses have a “cliff vest” provision making the shares eligible for sale only at the end of four years.

People familiar with the situation described an internal drama unfolding over the past couple of weeks.

Initially, the bank planned to apply the new pay structure broadly. But veterans in investment banking and trading revolted upon hearing they’d have to stay through 2024 to reap bonuses for 2020, and management agreed to exempt them.

Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan acknowledged the blowback in a Jan. 27 interview on Bloomberg Television, saying the change in policy “didn’t work the way some people wanted it to, so we fixed it.”

Yet senior colleagues in corporate and commercial banking, a less powerful cohort, soon learned that their awards are still subject to the vesting restrictions. That’s when the grousing began, the people said. In recent days, employees have been gathering on calls to vent frustrations and discuss options.

The decision touched a raw nerve. Bank of America is torn by long-simmering jealousies and divisions among its staff of more than 200,000, many dating back to the shotgun marriage with Merrill Lynch in the 2008 financial crisis. An uneven approach to compensation risks exacerbating those strains at a time when most of the company is working from home and collaboration is at a premium.

While compensation on Wall Street is always a balancing act, the circumstances were unusually tricky for Moynihan. Many traders and bankers had a great year, thriving as markets swung, and they expected to be rewarded. But Bank of America tripled its provisions for credit losses to more than $11 billion, anticipating that borrowers battered by the pandemic may default. Net income for the year plunged 35%.

“You’ve got to pay for performance, and the shareholder has to benefit, too,” Moynihan said in the interview.

Wall Street has been mostly conservative with 2020 remuneration. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. held compensation per employee in check, and Citigroup Inc. cut bonuses for dozens of top executives after the bank was reprimanded by regulators.

Throughout, Bank of America reduced cash payouts and lengthened the vesting periods for normal stock awards. Without the new bonuses, many executives would have faced pay cuts, according to the people.

In the interview, Moynihan said the company would be divvying up a total of $10 billion to $11 billion of incentive compensation for 2020. Investment bankers and traders typically get a greater share of their pay in equity than employees elsewhere in the company.

“Our bonus pools are down year-over-year, yet some teammates made more money and some made less money,” Moynihan said.

The cliff-vest provision is especially problematic for long-serving executives in corporate and commercial banking who expected to qualify for what’s known internally as the “rule of 60.” Previously, Bank of America let staff retire with all deferred pay so long as their age plus a minimum of 10 years served at the company equaled 60. That treasured perquisite now excludes the new bonuses.

Exacerbating those frustrations, the people said, is the decision to exempt investment bankers from the vesting restrictions, seen as a golden handcuff, but enforce them for corporate bankers. Both groups are part of the same division -- global corporate and investment banking -- run by Matthew Koder.

Such resentments have divided big banks for years. Throughout the industry, rainmakers who land multibillion-dollar merger mandates or big-ticket corporate financings are lionized and can pull down eight-figure pay packages. Meantime, traditional bankers responsible for lower-margin activities such as lending or cash management earn less and feel like second-class citizens.

Bank of America’s powerful chief operating officer, Tom Montag, who joined with the Merrill acquisition, is widely seen as loyal to traders and investment bankers. Some veterans in commercial banking feel they’re being punished unfairly for the pandemic, a calamity beyond their control, the people familiar with the situation said.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Analysis: Out in the cold - how Japan's electricity grid came close to blackouts

Electric power transmission lines leading to Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kohoku Substation are seen in Yokohama

By Aaron Sheldrick and Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's worst electricity crunch since the aftermath of the Fukushima crisis has exposed vulnerabilities in the country's recently liberalised power market, although some of the problems appear self-inflicted.

Power prices in Japan hit record highs last month as a cold snap across northeast Asia prompted a scramble for supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), a major fuel for the country's power plants. Power companies urged customers to ration electricity to prevent blackouts, although no outages occurred.

The crisis highlighted how many providers were unprepared for such high demand. Experts say LNG stocks were not topped up ahead of winter and snow disabled solar power farms.

The hundreds of small power companies that sprang up after the market was opened in 2016 have struggled the most, saying the government does not disclose the market data they need to operate. The companies do not have their own generators, instead buying electricity on the wholesale market.

Prices on the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX) hit a record high of 251 yen ($2.39) per kilowatt hour in January, equating to $2,390 per megawatt hour of electricity, the highest on record anywhere in the world. One megawatt hour is roughly what an average home in the U.S. would consume over 35 days.

But the vast majority of the new, smaller companies are locked into low, fixed rates they set to lure customers from bigger players, crushing them financially during a price spike like the one in January.

More than 50 small power providers wrote on Jan. 18 to Japan's industry minister, Hiroshi Kajiyama, who oversees the power sector, asking for more accessible data on supply and demand, reserve capacity and fuel inventories.

"By organising and disclosing this information, retail electricity providers will be able to bid at more appropriate prices," said the companies, led by Looop Co.

They also called on Kajiyama to require transmission and distribution companies to pass on some of the unexpected profits from price spikes to smaller operators.

The industry ministry said it had started releasing more timely market data, and is reviewing the cause of the crunch and considering changes.

RETHINK

Japan reworked its power markets after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, liberalizing the sector in 2016 while pushing for more renewables.

But Japan is still heavily reliant on LNG and coal, and only four of 33 nuclear reactors are operating. The power crisis has led to growing calls to restart more reactors.

Kazuno Power, a small retail provider controlled by a municipality of the same name in northern Japan, where abundant renewable energy is locally produced, buys electricity from hydropower stations and JEPX.

During the crunch, the company had to pay nearly 10 times the usual price, Kazuno Power president Takao Takeda said in an interview. Like most other new providers, it could not pass on the costs, lost money, and folded. The local utility has taken over its customers.

"There is a contradiction in the current system," Takeda said. "We are encouraged to locally produce power for local consumption as well as use more renewable energy, but prices for these power supplies are linked to wholesale prices, which depend on the overall power supply."

The big utilities, which receive most of their LNG on long-term contracts, blamed the power shortfall on a tight spot market and glitches at generation units.

"We were not able to buy as much supply as we wanted from the spot market because of higher demand from South Korea and China," Kazuhiro Ikebe, the head of the country's electricity federation, said recently.

Ikebe is also president of Kyushu Electric Power, which supplies the southern island of Kyushu.

Utilities took extreme measures - from burning polluting fuel oil in coal plants to scavenging the dregs from empty LNG tankers - to keep the grid from breaking down.

"There is too much dependence on JEPX for procurement," said Bob Takai, the local head of European Energy Exchange, which started offering Japan power futures last year. He added that new entrants were not hedging against sharp price moves.

Three people, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, were more blunt. One called the utilities arrogant in assuming they could find LNG cargoes in a pinch. Prices were already rising as China snapped up supplies, the sources noted.

FALLOUT

"You had volatility caused by people saying 'Oh, well, demand is going to be weak because of COVID' and then saying 'we can rely more on solar than in the past,' but solar got snowed out," said a senior executive from one generator. "We have a problem of who is charge of energy security in Japan."

Inventories of LNG, generally about two weeks worth of supplies, were also not topped up enough to prepare for winter, a market analyst said.

The fallout from the crunch has become more apparent in recent days, with new power companies like Rakuten Inc suspending new sales and Tokyo Gas, along with traditional electricity utilities, issuing profit downgrades or withdrawing their forecasts.

Although prices have fallen sharply as temperatures warmed up slightly and more generation units have come back online, the power generator executive said, "we are not out of the woods yet."

($1 = 105.1700 yen)

(Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick and Yuka Obayashi. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

NATGAS = HYDROCARBONS

Alaska seeks to build natgas pipe from North Slope to Fairbanks

 Fri, February 5, 2021

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Alaska wants to start on the first phase of the state's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant and pipeline project by working with a private firm seeking to build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Fairbanks.

The proposed $5.9 billion gas pipe would run roughly 500 miles (805 kilometers) from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks and could start delivering gas into central Alaska in 2025, according to a report Frank Richards, president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), presented to the board on Thursday.

The report, which was supported by the board, said the companies would seek federal stimulus or infrastructure funding to help cover the cost of the first phase and attract outside investment.

Richards told local media the company would look for about 75% of the cost of the first phase to come from federal funds, according to an article in the Canadian Press.

The total $38.7 billion project includes an 807-mile (1,300-km) pipeline with the capacity to transport about 3.3 billion cubic feet per day from the North Slope to a liquefaction plant in Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula.

The LNG export plant and pipeline project have been talked about for a long time. Alaska signed an agreement with major oil and gas companies to build the project in 2014, but the state ended up taking over the project in 2016 after the North Slope oil companies backed out.

Since then, AGDC received federal authorization to build the project in May 2020 and signed agreements with BP PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp to help advance its development.

BP and Exxon produce massive amounts of oil in Alaska and have discovered huge gas resources that are stranded in the North Slope. Alaska LNG would allow that gas to access markets around the world.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

#STATEHOOD  OR #INDEPENDENCE

As Trump prosecutor, delegate gets her say on impeachment

“Virgin Islanders are always looking for space to be a part of this America and try to make it better, even without a vote, I’m going to make sure that their voice and the voice of people from territories representing four million Americans — Puerto Rico and other places — are actually heard.”


Trump Impeachment PlaskettFILE - In this Aug. 24, 2020, file photo, Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., speaks during a hearing on the Postal Service on Capitol Hill in Washington. Plaskett couldn’t cast a vote last month when the House impeached former President Donald Trump. But she can help prosecute him. The non-voting delegate from the Virgin Islands is among the impeachment managers selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to argue the case that Trump incited a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File)


PADMANANDA RAMA and MARY CLARE JALONICK
Fri., February 5, 2021


WASHINGTON (AP) — Stacey Plaskett couldn't cast a vote last month when the House impeached former President Donald Trump. But she can help prosecute him.

The non-voting delegate from the Virgin Islands is among the impeachment managers selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to argue the case that Trump incited a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It's an extraordinary moment that places Plaskett in the center of just the fourth impeachment trial of an American president.

But there will also be a familiar dynamic when Plaskett walks into the Senate chamber, one that she's experienced from elementary school through her legal career: being one of the only Black women in the room. Now that Kamala Harris has left the Senate to become vice president, there are only three Black senators left, and they're all men. The chamber remains overwhelmingly white despite growing diversity in the House.

Like most of the impeachment managers, Plaskett brings considerable legal experience to the case, including a stint in the Bronx District Attorney’s office and as a senior counsel at the Justice Department. She said being asked to join the team was an invigorating way to deal with the catastrophic events of Jan. 6, when she and her staff barricaded themselves in her office as the rioters descended on the Capitol.

“My method of handling things like this is to work,” Plaskett said, adding that receiving the unexpected call from Pelosi “really gave me a charge and something to do.”

As an impeachment manager, it falls to Plaskett and the other Democrats to break through partisan divisions and persuade skeptical Republicans in the Senate — 45 of whom have already voted for an effort to dismiss the case — that they should take the unprecedented step of convicting Trump and barring him from office.

To do so, they’ll have to retell the harrowing events of Jan. 6, when hundreds of people, some bearing racist and anti-Semitic symbols on their clothing, terrorized the Capitol and forced lawmakers into hiding. They intend to link it all to Trump, the man they say is “singularly responsible” for the riot by telling his supporters to “fight like hell” against the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.

Trump’s rhetoric, Plaskett said, was “an attempt to destroy what I believe America is.”

As a woman of color, Plaskett says she’ll be speaking at the trial for individuals who were “particularly traumatized by what happened on January 6th. You know, as an African-American, as a woman seeing individuals storming our most sacred place of democracy, wearing anti-Semitic, racist, neo-Nazi, white supremacy logos on their bodies and wreaking the most vile and hateful things.”

The trial also gives Plaskett a chance to work alongside Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the lead impeachment manager who was one of her law school professors at American University’s Washington College of Law. She called him an “incredible man” and said his ability to “be inclusive, and to tease out and to encourage people to share” has brought her back to those days.

In turn, Raskin said Plaskett was “truly dazzling” as a law school student.

“Other students used to take notes when she spoke and that was amazing to me,” Raskin says. “She struck me quickly in class as a potentially brilliant prosecutor and I encouraged her to take that path. I could not be prouder of her career, and adore her even though she has more seniority than me and teases me about that constantly.”

Plaskett was born in the Bronx to parents who moved to New York from the Virgin Islands. At 13, she started at an exclusive Connecticut boarding school were she says she “continually had to raise my hand and try and speak to non-minority people about actions and events to let them see through a lens that what has happened is, in fact, racist or demonstrates their privilege.”

Pelosi’s impeachment team is diverse — including Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse, who is also Black — but Plaskett will be the first manager of a presidential impeachment from a U.S. territory.

Plaskett says people in the Virgin Islands — once home to a young Alexander Hamilton — may live in a small place, but don’t think of themselves as small people. "We’re big shots in everything we do,” she said.

“Virgin Islanders are always looking for space to be a part of this America and try to make it better, even without a vote,” she said.

“I’m going to make sure that their voice and the voice of people from territories representing four million Americans — Puerto Rico and other places — are actually heard.”

CORPORATE WELFARE BUMS

Samsung eyes Texas for $17 bln chip plant

Fri., February 5, 2021, 3:32 a.m.

Samsung Electronics is eyeing Austin, Texas as the possible site for a new 17 billion dollar chip plant.

That's according to documents filed with Texas state officials.

The South Korean giant says the deal could create around 1,800 jobs.

But it may hang on what kind of incentives are on offer.

Samsung is seeking combined tax abatements of more than 800 million dollars over 20 years from Austin and Travis County.

If the Texas site is selected, Samsung says it will break ground in the second quarter, and have the plant operational by late 2023.

The firm says it's also looking at alternative sites in Arizona and New York states, as well as at home in South Korea.

It's potentially a big win for U.S. chipmaking.

While Intel does make some semiconductors there, most of the contract manufacturers that make chips for other companies - including Samsung - are based in Asia.

Last year Samsung rival TSMC disclosed plans for 12 billion dollar chip plant in Arizona, due to come online in 2024.

NOT YET GREEN CAPITALI$M

BP Extends Ties With Palantir Heading Towards Zero-Emission, Clean Energy Company

 Anusuya Lahiri

Fri, February 5, 2021

• Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) and BP plc (NYSE: BP) extended their partnership to help BP become a zero-emission and clean energy company by 2050.

• The move is especially relevant to President Biden’s heightened focus on zero-emission and clean energy.

• Palantir will provide BP with its software for global deployment across the organization under a multi-million dollar deal spanning several years.

• Palantir and BP’s partnership dates back to 2014, with Palantir’s software being a vital catalyst in BP’s digital transformation.

• BP will use Palantir’s Foundry software for five more years in newer zones towards its digitization objectives and energy transition goals.

• BP’s digital twin applications, powered by Palantir, have led to a significant boost to the hydrocarbon-based workflows.

• Further opportunities remain for BP’s new ambition, wind farm optimization, electric charging networks, solar generation, including its zero-emission aims.

• The collaboration has produced tangible results in operations management, asset allocation, strategic planning, and procurement.

• Palantir platform and associated applications will continue to be used to drive value in production, operations, simulation, and modeling.

• Price action: PLTR shares are trading higher by 0.78% at $32.23, and BP shares are up 0.02% at $20.99 on the last check Friday.

Green Energy Firms to Help Power Spanish IPO Revival in 2021

Macarena Munoz, Myriam Balezou and Rodrigo Orihuela
Thu, February 4, 2021


(Bloomberg) -- Spain’s national stock market, home to a solitary listing in 2020, is gearing up to host a flurry of green energy providers in the coming months.

At least four companies including Repsol SA are working on possible initial public offerings of renewable assets in Madrid, according to people familiar with the matter. Driving the trend is an increasingly environmentally-conscious investor base and a national government intent on generating power from sustainable sources.

“The public market is paying more than the private sector for these types of assets now. This is in stark contrast to 18 months ago,” said Inigo Gaytan de Ayala, global head of equity capital markets at Banco Santander SA. “Time is of the essence and first-mover advantage is critical. Companies want to move swiftly and make the most of this favorable window.”

Companies that produce renewable energy have raised $336 million via IPOs on European exchanges over the last 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By far the largest listing came from Soltec Power Holdings SA, a green power generator and manufacturer of certain devices for solar panels.

Soltec’s was the only IPO on a Spanish exchange in 2020, when the coronavirus crisis kept many companies and investors away from public markets. The deal pipeline is looking decidedly healthier this year, with Capital Energy, Opdenergy SA and Ecoener Emisiones all weighing plans to list in the country in the spring, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Two other privately-owned renewables firms are also considering IPOs, one of the people said.

Representatives for Capital Energy and Ecoener said the companies were analyzing possible IPOs, though no final decisions have been taken. Spokespeople for Opdenergy and Repsol declined to comment.

Political Push

“The strong level of activity Spain is currently enjoying in the renewable segment is probably a combination of different factors,” said Angel Arevalo, global head of advisory at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA. Among these, he said, are the country’s large renewable resources, falling generation costs and “strong local political commitment to alternative energy.”

Spain’s government has been working to boost renewable power in its generation mix from around 50% today to 70% by 2030, and 100% before 2050. Last month, Spain held its first power auction in four years and awarded 3 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity. The country is set to become a recipient of European rescue funds to help rebuild its economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and a large allocation of these could go to clean energy projects.

“Spain is structurally a great base for renewable companies, particularly for firms that focus on solar energy given climate,” said Jerome Renard, head of European equity capital markets at Bank of America Corp. “The country saw investments in that industry very early on, and therefore benefits from a whole ecosystem of expertise.”

So far in Spain, stock performance from the sector has been stellar.

Shares in Soltec have risen 137% since it went public. Grenergy Renovables has also more than doubled from when the Spanish power producer moved from the country’s alternative market to main exchange in late 2019. BBVA’s Arevalo said renewables in Spain were offering “better returns for investors compared to other geographies.”

Mainstream Asset

Investment banks are also preparing to pick up more mandates tied to sustainable energy initiatives. Gonzalo Garcia, co-head of investment banking at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said in a January interview that the shift toward renewables would be one of the key market themes for banks this year.

Capital Energy is working with Goldman Sachs and UBS Group AG to gauge investor interest ahead of its potential share sale, a person familiar with the matter said. Repsol is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on its renewables IPO plan, people said.

Representatives for Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and UBS declined to comment.

“In the past, renewables used to attract specialist investors with a focus on the energy sector,” said Renard at Bank of America. “It has now become completely mainstream, reaching a much wider base of investors.”


©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

After Trump disgrace, Biden reopens door to refugees and Americans who want to help them

Building a more enduring resettlement program depends on the approval and engagement of Americans. 

Making deeply personal connections is the key.

Sasha Chanoff and Vilas Dhar

President Joe Biden just threw a lifeline to victims of one of the modern world’s greatest tragedies: He announced his administration's intention to raise the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program's annual cap to 125,000 people.

That's up from the 15,000 set by the Trump administration, and it restores America's commitment to welcoming the world's most vulnerable for resettlement.

U.S. policy on this issue under former President Donald Trump limited resettlement to an all-time low of 11,814 people in the year that ended last Sept. 30, and gutted a 40-year bipartisan tradition.

But the actions that abruptly shut America’s doors triggered an outpouring of support. Individual citizens inundated resettlement agencies with offers of assistance. Groups of friends, organizations and businesses hosted dinners for refugees to hear their stories, connect and help. “In response to Trump’s harmful policies, there was an unprecedented surge of support for refugees,” said Danielle Grigsby, Director of Policy and Practice at Refugee Council USA, a coalition supporting refugees and asylum seekers. 

Rolling the dice with harm and death

Protecting lives in present danger is the heart of America’s resettlement program. There are, for example, thousands of interpreters who served U.S. military forces abroad and are consequently under constant threat; unaccompanied children kidnapped by traffickers facing torture and death or enslavement; parents in the United States frantic to reunite with children in dangerous circumstances. For those waiting, each day means rolling the dice with harm and death. Immediate action in such cases is urgent. Doing nothing is a stain on our national conscience.

Under President Biden’s leadership, we have a unique opportunity to reimagine the resettlement system and realign federal policy with grassroots will. The Biden administration should fully support The Grace Act, a bill that sets a minimum of 95,000 refugee arrivals a year — the average since the program’s inception in 1980.  

Ultimately, building a more enduring resettlement program depends on the approval and engagement of the American people. Making deeply personal connections is the most powerful way to do this.

Take Barbara and Ed Shapiro. They've embraced the Hayani and Aljelou families, from Syria, upon their arrival at Boston’s Logan International Airport and have helped them with housing, jobs and school for the children. The Shapiros say these newfound friendships are the rarest privilege of their lives. They, along with members of their synagogue who also helped, are now staunch advocates for resettlement.

A cruel cap:Give me your tired, your poor ... but not too many of them

Canada has pioneered this kind of grassroots engagement with its 42-year-old Private Sponsorship of Refugees program, which puts Canadians in the driver’s seat in helping refugees enter and integrate in Canada. Nearly 2 million people volunteered to help Syrian arrivals in 2015 and 2016, an effort that has built a fiercely loyal nationwide grassroots support network.

Biden’s executive order prioritizes this kind of pivotal community sponsorship, which is already practiced in a number of the 200 resettlement agencies across the USA.

Chris George, executive director of the Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), a Connecticut-based agency, says that if the United States had a program like Canada’s, “we would enjoy so much public support for refugees that no elected official would dare dismantle the resettlement program.”

Refugees help America

IRIS is pioneering a co-sponsorship model, in which professional staff train community volunteers who then take the lead in helping refugees to integrate. This effort intimately links Americans with newcomers’ hopes, dreams and challenges, and increases the speed at which they secure their first jobs and feel a sense of home.

Once refugees arrive, they are often stuck in low-paying jobs. Federal policies should align with best practices to help refugees and immigrants become self-reliant. Newcomers get better paying jobs with workplace-focused English language instruction, according to a results-based new program in Massachusetts.

More broadly, educating employers to create more inclusive hiring practices, and educating newcomers to adapt their skills and experience to the U.S. workforce, as the organization Upwardly Global does, opens up higher-paying professional jobs.

America ultimately benefits. A recent study showed that refugees contribute $63 billion more to the economy over the past decade than they take in services. Today, former refugees are standing shoulder to shoulder as front-line COVID-19 responders, even as others revitalize depressed towns and cities with their entrepreneurship.

As the number of people forcibly displaced worldwide surpasses 80 million, roughly 1% of humanity, American leadership is needed. We must save lives under imminent threat and, as Biden says, rebuild "a more inclusive and welcoming America." Citizens have already displayed a commitment to lead. This is the moment to reimagine our program, and ensure that refugee resettlement again becomes one of our proudest and most enduring traditions.

Sasha Chanoff (@SashaChanoff), a Charles Bronfman Prize Laureate, is the founder of RefugePoint and co-author of "From Crisis to Calling: Finding Your Moral Center in the Toughest Decisions." Vilas Dhar (@vilasdhar) is president of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation.