No pussyfooting here, bobcats in Calgary are adapting to urban life


CBC
Thu, January 4, 2024 at 11:52 a.m. MST·4 min read

Cathy Brodner was thrilled to capture photos of bobcat kittens in her Douglasdale backyard in the fall of 2023. (Cathy Brodner - image credit)

Bobcats are making Calgary, an urban city, their own — while giving experts pause.

Why? Because these animals aren't known for being bold and strutting city streets. In most other urban settings, bobcats are elusive. In Calgary, they're anything but.

"Sometime between the beginning of 2018 and 2020, bobcat sightings just kind of shot through the roof and they've stayed high ever since," said Vanessa Carney, a landscape analysis supervisor at the City of Calgary.

Sightings doubled from an average of about 1,000 a year to a steady 2,000 — and she said this wasn't just a pandemic effect as sightings have stayed consistently high.

One reason behind the spike? Seeing a wild cat can be thrilling.

Last fall, Cathy Brodner's neighbourhood chat lit up: there were unexpected visitors in her Douglasdale yard. She grabbed her camera and snapped away at a pair of kittens taking a cat nap on her fence.

"My adrenaline was going crazy. I was so excited to see them," Brodner said. "I was keeping an eye out for mom, making sure she wasn't coming around checking on her kittens."

These big felines are cute, photogenic, and increasingly common to see in Calgary.

A bobcat takes a break, and lounges in a Northwest Calgary yard.

A bobcat takes a break and lounges in a northwest Calgary yard. (Submitted by Frances Jablonca)

The city can tap into citizen reports, logged through 311, for long-ranging data that paints a picture of how wildlife is using urban spaces.

From what Carney has seen, these felines are using sidewalks, lounging on fence lines, settling in yards, and even peeking through windows on front porches.

No pussyfooting, walking around like they own the place.

Over the years, bobcats were a common sight in communities surrounding Fish Creek Park, Carney said. Recently, calls have started coming from those living in north Calgary, especially near Nose Hill.

"One of the neat things about bobcats that we're keeping an eye on is that they seem to be changing their range in the city," Carney said.

This is something Sara Jordan-McLachlan, a Miistakis Institute conservation analyst, looked at in 2021. She used the city's 311 data from as early as 2005, alongside wildlife camera data from the Calgary Captured program.

"In my master's work, I referred to them as citizen bobcats because I do think that they're now part of the city," Jordan-McLachlan said, adding that wasn't always the case.

In the United States, bobcats were pushed out of some urban areas due to development but have since begun re-establishing in those old familiar haunts, though slowly.

A bobcat kitten hangs out on a roof in southeast Calgary.

A bobcat kitten hangs out on a roof in southeast Calgary. (Cathy Brodner)

Historically, bobcats were found in southern Alberta and the Rockies — places that Jordan-McLachlan noted weren't very populated. Relative to that, Calgary is a new habitat for the rural cat that seems to have cozied up to city life instead of shying away.

"They're an incredibly adaptive species and they're writing their own story in the urban environment here in Calgary," Jordan-McLachlan said. "It's a great opportunity for us to see how a carnivore adapts to the urban environment where they did not previously inhabit."

It's not clear why bobcat populations have made their way north through the province. They are a territorial animal, Jordan-McLachlan said, so if populations are going up, the animal would naturally seek out new home ranges.

And their bold attitude? Jordan-McLachlan said the cats may have found that people present more benefits than danger. Human-bobcat conflict, she said, is uncommon. And people could offer a sense of protection from other predators like cougars and coyotes.

This bobcat family has been making the rounds in the southwest Calgary neighbourhood of Haysboro.

This bobcat family has been making the rounds in the southwest Calgary neighbourhood of Haysboro. (Submitted by Katherine Reiffenstein)

Then, there's the endless buffet of birds, squirrels and mice people help lure into yards with things like bird feeders.

And yes, Jordan-McLachlan said, pets can become part of a bobcat's diet.

"So taking precautions, making sure that you are aware if there is a bobcat in your neighbourhood to not leave small dogs unattended for long periods, or keeping your cats indoors and obeying those bylaws that keep your cat safe," Jordan-McLachlan said.

A mother bobcat jumps down from a backyard shed. Fish and Wildlife officers say there are many ways to make them move out.

A mother bobcat jumps down from a backyard shed. Fish and wildlife officers say there are many ways to make them move out. (Submitted by Colin Lee)

Despite their urban tendencies, data does show that Calgary's bobcats still enjoy being close to green spaces. Jordan-McLachlan found barriers cutting off connectivity, such as Deerfoot Trail and a lack of green spaces in northeast Calgary.

These are signs the city needs to consider wildlife as it designs and builds the community, Jordan-McLachlan said. This would include creating safe passageways under major roads and exploring better green space connection.

Considering wildlife connectivity, Carney said, is something the city has worked to integrate into planning documents, like the municipal development plan.

American Iron & Metal gets another month to comply with national fire code at 3 N.B. sites


CBC
Thu, January 4, 2024 

The American Iron and Metal scrapyard in Moncton, pictured here on Nov. 14, as well as the Fredericton and east Saint John sites, must meet National Fire Code limits on size and distance between scrap piles by Feb. 7 under the agreement. (Roger Cosman/CBC - image credit)

American Iron & Metal has been given an extra month to comply with national fire code requirements at three of its New Brunswick facilities and will stop accepting scrap material at those sites as of Friday, until they do, according to a new agreement with the province.

Under the consent order, AIM must bring the scrap piles at its Moncton, Fredericton and east Saint John sites to within National Fire Code limits on size and distance by Feb. 7 and "shall maintain these requirements thereafter."

The agreement, signed and filed with the Moncton Court of King's Bench late Wednesday, comes just as AIM was scheduled to challenge the fire marshal's orders that set mid-January as the bumped-back deadline for its sites to be in compliance.

AIM was originally given until late-December, based on inspections, following the massive fire at the west Saint John port site on Sept. 14 that burned for roughly 40 hours and prompted a city-wide shelter in place order because of hazardous smoke.

The company planned to argue Friday that it could not meet the Jan. 11 and Jan. 13 deadlines because its Saint John port location is out of service and it has limited capacity to transport the material out of the province by truck or rail. But the Moncton hearing has been cancelled as AIM has withdrawn its appeals.

AIM must also meet and maintain the national code requirements regarding access for fire department vehicles by Feb. 7, according to the court document.

It's unclear what will happen if the company doesn't meet the new deadline.

The Department of Justice and Public Safety did not provide an interview or respond to questions from CBC Thursday.

In a news release issued later in the day, it said 10 salvage facilities were originally given until Dec. 21 to comply, "however several needed more time and extensions were given on a case-by-case basis."

Minister confident salvage dealers will comply

"We have been working with salvage dealers across New Brunswick to ensure they are operating within the parameters of the National Fire Code to reduce the risk of fires and ensure the safety of all New Brunswickers," said Public Safety Minister Kris Austin.

"I am confident all 10 will be in compliance."

AIM will not accept any further shipments of scrap from licensed dealers in New Brunswick until the three facilities in question have the capacity to receive new scrap without exceeding the National Fire Code limits.

In addition, AIM shall not accept shipments of scrap from outside New Brunswick "indefinitely," according to the department's news release, although the court order itself does not stipulate a timeframe.

Does not affect west Saint John port site

The "negotiated settlement" does not involve AIM's west Saint John port facility, the department noted. Austin revoked the company's licence for that site last week, saying that its response to a scathing task force report on the fire "does not substantively address the numerous community health, safety and environmental risks and impacts arising from AIM's operations at this location."

Department spokesperson Allan Dearing did not say whether that decision could be reversed or under what circumstances it could be.

The department previously said the minister's decision is final and cannot be appealed, but the company has 90 days to apply for a judicial review.

Crews are focusing on making sure the fire in one pile of scrap doesn't spread to other piles.

The task force that reviewed the Sept. 14 fire at AIM's west Saint John port site found the scrap piles were two to 2½ times what the national fire code prescribes. (Submitted by Ed Moyer)

Fredericton lawyer Romain Viel, who is representing AIM, declined to comment Thursday on behalf of the company.

Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon is satisfied with the agreement.

"AIM always has that opportunity to take its case to court. So you want to make sure that you are dealing fairly with them and that, you know, you're moving forward through a process, but that, you know, [AIM owner and CEO Herb Black] does at the end of the day … have to comply. There's no other way around it," she said.

"Hopefully that will be the last change in the dates so that by February the 7th we know that he's on track or else he's not going to be on track. I think that's fair ball to give him a little bit of time. But you know at the end of the day I still want to make sure that [it's] following the regulations."

The other seven salvage dealer sites subject to fire marshal orders include:

Arm & Sons Tire – 1620 Rte. 11, Alnwick (Barryville district).


Brown's Auto Salvage – 6041 Rte. 10, Grand Lake (Upper Salmon Creek district).


Gallant Enterprises – 200 Rossignol Rd., Edmundston.


Greer's Mountain Salvage – 32 Timothy Ave., Hanwell.


Flower's Salvage – 1554 Rte. 10, Capital Region rural district (Noonan district).


Neighborhood Recycling – 1635 Berry Mills Rd., Moncton.


Simpson Truck & Tractor Parts – 120 Paddy's Hill Dr., Saint John.

Mary Ann Shadd, abolitionist and first Black female newspaper publisher, included in 2024 Canada Post stamps


CBC
Thu, January 4, 2024 

Mary Ann Shadd was an American-Canadian abolitionist, journalist and lawyer who was the first Black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher in Canada. Shadd will be among those highlighted in a Canada Post stamp this year.

 (National Archives of Canada - image credit)

Mary Ann Shadd, North America's first Black female newspaper publisher who lived in Windsor, Ont., will be featured on a stamp in 2024.

Canada Post said the stamp will be issued ahead of Black History Month as part of its 2024 lineup.

Irene Moore Davis is a historian and distant relative of Shadd. She said that Shadd's recognition as a significant Canadian figure was long overdue.

"It's about time," Davis said. "As someone who cares deeply about Black history in Canada, in the U.S., and especially in the Underground Railroad era, I just feel that she is one of the most important historical figures ever to have lived in this country. Not to mention this community where we are, Windsor-Essex."

"This is someone who really has been slept on, she's not been taught as adequately as she should be, she's not been as much a part of the conversation as she should be and it's about time."

Shadd was an influential abolitionist who lived in Windsor and published The Provincial Freeman, the third anti-slavery newspaper published in Canada. She was born in 1823 and in 1851, her family moved to Ontario, preparing to welcome Black people to Canada through the Underground Railroad.

She opened a school for Black and white students in Windsor on the grounds of what is now Windsor city hall.

Shadd died in June 1893 in Washington, D.C., according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

A new statue of Mary Ann Shadd, an American-Canadian abolitionist, journalist and lawyer, who was the first Black woman publisher in North America, was unveiled in Windsor, Ont. this week. Pictured are descendants of Shadd who attended the unveiling.
(Jacob Barker/CBC)

The Canada Post stamp has been created in consultation with Shadd's living relatives for historical accuracy, as well as artwork approval.

Moore Davis was part of that process, and so was Adrienne Shadd, who is also researcher and historian.

"I was absolutely delighted about it," Shadd said. "She was such a formidable voice in the 19th century, against slavery and for trying to promote Canada as a place where Black people could settle and live in freedom, and equality."

"She was one of the dynamic forces at the time and, as a woman, that was no small feat."

A sculpture of Shadd was unveiled on the University of Windsor's downtown campus in May 2022.

A Canada Post spokesperson said an unveiling event for Shadd's stamp will be held in Chatham later this month.

Canada Post's offerings this year will also include:

The first stamp featuring a solar eclipse ahead of the eclipse on April 8.


A series of stamps featuring graphic novelists.


A wildflower stamp series in March.


Yet-to-be-announced stamps "honouring Great Canadians and popular culture icons."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

(CBC)

India’s new cadres of equality

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
the Monitor's Editorial Board
Thu, January 4, 2024 

In a year of consequential elections in many of the world’s major democracies, one of the most consequential may also be the least climactic. India appears poised to reelect Prime Minister Narendra Modi this spring.

That prospect fuels broad concern for the welfare of global democracy. Already in power for a decade, Mr. Modi has eroded many of India’s constitutional norms such as judicial independence, freedom of the press, and secularism. Along the way, however, he has also been nurturing – perhaps inadvertently – a new democratizing force in Indian politics: women.

Female voters are on course to outnumber their male counterparts within a few years, yet their growing political influence is more than demographic. It reflects a deepening claim by women to their dignity and equality, irrespective of social rank or entrenched patriarchal norms.

Casting a ballot is “the only occasion that a woman voter feels herself to be an equal citizen and takes pride in that,” Annie Raja, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, told Frontline, an Indian magazine. “She literally sees that equality with both men and women standing in lines.”

Two factors show how women are building political influence and independence. One is Mr. Modi’s promotion of initiatives based on a concept of service called seva. By equating politics to service, notes Anirvan Chowdhury, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, the prime minister has given political activism a more feminine hue. The local women’s wings of the Bharatiya Janata Party organize health care clinics, tree-planting projects, and cultural celebrations.

“The BJP has seemingly shed its traditional image embodying a muscular and masculine form of Hindu nationalism to gain a significant edge among women voters,” Mr. Chowdhury wrote Wednesday in The Indian Express. “The seva narrative aligns with traditional expectations of women as selfless and self-sacrificing, downplaying the potentially disruptive aspects of increased political agency.” Men, he noted, have been more apt to accept female political participation when it is framed as service.

The other factor relates to political quotas. Last September, India’s Parliament passed a law requiring that a third of all seats in the lower house be reserved for women. It mandates the same level of representation at the state level.

The new quotas must still be passed by the 29 state legislatures and won’t come into effect until at least 2029. A 1993 law that required that women lead local councils in a third of all villages nationwide, meanwhile, has had only a slow upward trickle effect. Women still hold just 14% of seats in Parliament and accounted for only 12% of the candidates in the five state races last month.

But quotas have helped cultivate a sense among women of their right to participate in politics by creating networks of activism that cross India’s social classes. Parties see an advantage to female political activism because women are able to talk more freely than men in more intimate social settings such as homes. That activism is changing perceptions.

“Women politicians need not change deeply entrenched beliefs to mobilize women into politics,” Tanushree Goyal, a political professor at Princeton University, wrote in a paper last fall. Their political activism, she noted, is shifting focus “on what women do when they are in politics, not only what women symbolize.”

Chrysler-parent Stellantis will not advertise in 2024 Super Bowl

Fri, January 5, 2024 

 The New York International Auto Show, in Manhattan, New York City


By David Shepardson

(Reuters) - Chrysler-parent Stellantis said on Friday it will not advertise in next month's NFL Super Bowl, citing the challenging U.S. automotive market.

In November, General Motors said it would not advertise during the heavily watched National Football League championship game as it cuts marketing costs. Stellantis said earlier this week it had opted not to take part in upcoming auto shows in Chicago and Washington.

"With a continued focus on preserving business fundamentals to mitigate the impact of a challenging U.S. automotive market, we are evaluating our business needs and will take the appropriate decisions to protect our North America operations," a Stellantis spokesperson said.

Earlier this week, Stellantis said U.S. sales fell 1% last year to 1.53 million vehicles.

The parent company of Jeep, Chrysler and Ram has often used the Super Bowl for major advertising including spots featuring Clint Eastwood, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen and Bill Murray. A 30-second ad in the 2023 Super Bowl went for about $7 million.

In November, Stellantis offered 6,400 U.S. salaried employees voluntary buyouts as it works to cut costs amid the transition to electric vehicles, and agreeing to a new United Auto Workers (UAW) contract.

Workers who elected buyouts had to depart by last week. The company declined to say how many had left.

In April, Stellantis said it was offering voluntary exit packages to 33,500 U.S. employees. That offer covered 31,000 U.S. hourly workers and about 2,500 salaried workers. It also offered some employees in Canada voluntary buyouts.

Under the UAW contract, the company agreed to offer $50,000 buyouts for veteran production and skilled trade members. It will also offer buyouts in 2024 and 2026.

Stellantis said on Oct. 31 it would seek to offset a significant financial hit from strikes in North America that led to big pay increases and added it was looking at cost cuts.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

UK

NatWest Chair Sparks Anger for Saying It’s Not Hard to Buy a Home


William Shaw
Fri, January 5, 2024 



(Bloomberg) -- NatWest Group Plc Chairman Howard Davies is facing backlash after saying he believed it wasn’t “that difficult” for UK consumers to obtain a mortgage.

The fact that consumers have to save more before purchasing a home is due, in part, to changes introduced to better protect consumers in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Davies said in an interview with a BBC radio program. Back then, he argued, it was dangerous for consumers to have “very, very easy access to mortgage credit.”

“I don’t think it’s that difficult at this moment,” to get on the property ladder, he said. “There are people who are finding it very difficult to start the process. They will have to save more but I think that is inherent in the change in the financial system as a result of the mistakes that were made in the last global financial crisis and we have to accept we are still living with that.”

In a subsequent statement, Davies said he didn’t intend to “underplay the serious challenges” that consumers face when buying a home and that he recognizes it “is tough for first-time buyers” to save up for a house.

Davies was previously chairman of the UK Financial Services Authority and deputy governor of the Bank of England.

The earlier comments to the BBC drew a barrage of opposition.

“Many, many people will find those remarks quite out of touch with the situation that they and their family face,” UK shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said in an interview with GBNews. “There are many people who are struggling to get on the housing ladder because of higher interest rates.”

Nigel Farage, the broadcaster and political pundit whose account with NatWest unit Coutts was closed last year, tweeted that Davies has “no idea about NatWest’s customers or the real world.” Richard Murphy, a professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University Management School, and Prem Sikka, an emeritus professor at the University of Essex and a lawmaker in UK Parliament, also criticized the comments.

“It really is that difficult to buy a house at the moment,” Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief executive at Generation Rent, which advocates for private renters, said in a post. “Prices haven’t come down far enough to reflect higher interest rates, which mean you still need a high income to clear affordability criteria, and still need a large deposit.”

UK home prices have continued to soar as a shortage of available properties offsets painfully high mortgage rates. Last year, one measure of home affordability reached its worst level since the Victorian era as average house prices were nine times average income in the UK.

“Given recent rate movements by lenders, there are some early green shoots in mortgage pricing,” Davies said in the statement. “While funding remains strong, my comment was meant to reflect that, in this context, access to mortgages is less difficult than it has been. I fully realize it did not come across in that way for listeners.”

--With assistance from Aisha S Gani.

Bloomberg Businessweek

Troubled China Shadow Bank Zhongzhi Files for Bankruptcy

CAPITALI$M

WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS

Bloomberg News
Fri, January 5, 2024 

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese shadow banking giant Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Co. filed for bankruptcy, cementing the rapid downfall of a firm that oversaw more than $140 billion at its peak before succumbing to the property crisis that has wreaked havoc on the world’s second-largest economy.

Zhongzhi said it “obviously” lacked the ability to repay its debts, according to a statement Friday from Beijing’s First Intermediate People’s Court, which accepted the case. An audit found Zhongzhi’s debts were as much as 460 billion yuan ($64.3 billion), compared with assets of 200 billion yuan, according to a letter to investors in November.

The downfall marks one of China’s biggest-ever bankruptcies, putting more stress on already fragile consumer and investor sentiment. The property slump, weak domestic demand and sluggish trade are all weighing on the economy, while its benchmark stock index has plunged three years in a row.

The Zhongzhi filing came just months after the lending giant first triggered concerns in the financial markets when one of its trust-company affiliates failed to repay customers on high-yield investment products, sparking protests in Beijing.

Chinese authorities in November said they opened criminal investigations into the money management business days after the firm revealed a shortfall of $36.4 billion, telling investors it was “severely insolvent.” The company didn’t respond to an email request seeking comment outside of business hours Friday.

While the firm’s creditors are mostly wealthy individuals rather than financial institutions — limiting the direct impact on the financial system — the collapse exposes potential cracks in the $2.9 trillion trust sector. The failure also highlights the risks of the rapidly growing global private credit market, where the lack of public disclosure on debts raised outside the banking system is one of its defining traits.

Read more: Zhongzhi Crisis Exposes the Perils of Private Credit: Shuli Ren

In recent years, even as rival trusts pared risks, Zhongzhi and its affiliates, especially Zhongrong International Trust Co., extended financing to troubled developers and snapped up assets from companies including China Evergrande Group. China’s housing market continues to flounder despite a slew of incentives from Beijing to revive sales, which have have now dropped in 20 of the last 24 months.

“The persistent decline in the real estate market, coupled with stringent policies and increased financial anti-corruption measures, has hindered timely asset collection,” said Zhao Jian, head of the Atlantis Financial Research Institute in Beijing, who estimates more than half of the group’s assets are linked to real estate. “Redeeming these assets has become exceedingly challenging.”

The filing also underscores Beijing’s unwillingness to bail out struggling financial firms. China Evergrande is among several high-profile developers that have defaulted in recent years amid the real estate crisis, with little direct support from the Communist Party government.

As recently as August, China had asked two of the nation’s biggest financial firms to examine the books of Zhongrong International, potentially paving the way for a state-led rescue of the troubled shadow lender, people familiar with the matter said at the time.

A twice-a-decade financial policy meeting attended by President Xi Jinping at the end of October stressed the need to effectively prevent financial risks and crack down on any illegal financial activities. In a following study session, the banking regulator, which also oversees trust firms, vowed to use “strong medicine” to tackle major risks.

Zhongzhi’s filing is unusual in that China’s highest-profile debt failures in recent years have tended to go through debt restructurings first, avoiding formal bankruptcy. HNA Group Co., the conglomerate that collapsed with billions of dollars of debt, completed its restructuring work in 2022. China Evergrande, whose default in 2021 accelerated the country’s property crisis and which has some $327 billion of liabilities, is still struggling to avoid liquidation and hasn’t filed for bankruptcy.

“Authorities have accumulated quite some experience from handling earlier cases such as HNA Group and Anbang Insurance, so they’re well prepared for risk events like Zhongzhi and more confident they can keep it under control and avoid wider fallout,” said Shen Meng, director of Beijing-based investment bank Chanson & Co.

Shadow banks like Zhongzhi are loosely regulated firms that pool household savings to offer loans and invest in real estate, stocks, bonds and commodities. China’s trust industry is a key alternative funding source for weaker borrowers unable to get regular bank loans such as developers and local government financing vehicles. China has been cracking down on shadow banking since late 2017.

Founded in 1995, Beijing-based Zhongzhi expanded into a sprawling empire that had more than 1 trillion yuan in assets at its peak. The group holds shares in six licensed financial institutions including Zhongrong International, five asset managers as well as four wealth management firms, according to its website. It also has controlling stakes in a string of listed firms across sectors from semiconductors to health and consumption.

The firm said in November that the death of its founder Xie Zhikun in 2021 and the subsequent departure of senior executives had led to a failure of internal management. Previous efforts at a “self-rescue” didn’t live up to expectations, Zhongzhi said in the letter. At the time, lawyers and analysts estimated more than three quarters of investor cash would be lost, with just 100 billion yuan recovered from debt of as much as 460 billion yuan.

--With assistance from Zheng Li and Amanda Wang.

Bloomberg Businessweek





Chinese wealth manager Zhongzhi files for bankruptcy liquidation


Reuters
Fri, January 5, 2024 at 3:39 AM MST·2 min read

BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese wealth manager Zhongzhi Enterprise Group has filed for bankruptcy liquidation after failing to repay debt, as the firm grapples with a deepening property market downturn.

Zhongzhi applied for bankruptcy on the grounds it could not pay its due debts and its assets were insufficient to pay all its debts, a court in China's capital Beijing said in a statement on Friday.

The court said it accepted Zhongzhi's bankruptcy liquidation application in accordance with China's enterprise bankruptcy law.

The worsening woes at Zhongzhi, a major player in China's $3 trillion shadow banking sector - roughly the size of the French economy - add to worries that the country's property debt crisis is spilling over into the broader financial sector.

The company, which has sizable exposure to China's real estate sector, apologised to its investors in a letter in November that said it was heavily insolvent with up to $64 billion in liabilities.

Police in Beijing, where the firm is based, later launched an investigation into suspected crimes committed by Zhongzhi and said it was looking into "many" suspects involved with the company.

Zhongzhi did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

China's highly indebted property sector has been reeling from a liquidity crunch since 2020. Defaults by developers since late 2021 have impeded economic growth and rattled global markets.

Shadow banking-linked wealth managers in China typically operate outside many of the rules governing commercial banks and mainly channel the proceeds of wealth products sold to retail investors to real estate developers and other sectors.

Signs of Zhongzhi's problems emerged in July when Zhongrong International Trust Co, a leading trust company controlled by Zhongzhi, missed payments on dozens of investment products.

In August, Zhongzhi told investors it faced a liquidity crisis and would conduct a debt restructuring. The management said the plan is for "self-rescue" through restructuring, with a focus on debt collection and asset liquidation, but bankruptcy is also an option.

The latest development would help the group to speed up asset liquidation, said Ying Yue, a lawyer at Leaqual Law Firm.

Yet the court process is expected to be slow, and investors will likely incur hefty discount in the repayment plan and may only be able to recover 30% of their money, based on precedent cases, said Ying.

Last month, Hywin Holdings Ltd., a smaller wealth manager whose products are primarily invested into real estate, said that it has been unable to promptly fulfil client redemption requests.

($1 = 7.1562 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ziyi Tang, Ryan Woo and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Barbara Lewis and Ros Russell)

A supermarket chain has gone beyond shaming PepsiCo for ‘shrinkflation’—now it’s pulling Cheetos and Doritos off the shelves across Europe

Steve Mollman
Thu, January 4, 2024 

Thomas Samson—AFP/Getty Images

Carrefour is taking its spat with PepsiCo up a notch. No longer content to, as it did in the fall, label PepsiCo’s examples of “shrinkflation,” a nasty variant of inflation where the bag gets emptier while the price remains the same, or even increases, now the French grocery giant is doubling down. Starting Thursday with in-store signs that cite “unacceptable price increases,” the supermarket chain is telling shoppers in four countries that it will no longer carry PepsiCo products.

The changes start this week in France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium, meaning Cheetos, Doritos, and Quaker cereals will suddenly be harder to find there.

But this is just the latest clash between the two behemoths. In September, Carrefour started labeling egregious examples of shrinkflation on its shelves, with PepsiCo a prominent target. The labels read: “This product has seen its volume or weight fall and the effective price from the supplier rise.”

James Walton, chief economist at the Institute of Grocery Distribution, calls delisting a “last resort,” telling Reuters that “nobody wins if the goods that people want are not available on the shelves.”

But Carrefour has on its side European governments, which have been pressuring big companies to lower prices in the battle against inflation.

Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard argued last year that consumer goods companies were not cooperating with efforts to cut prices, despite the cost of raw materials falling. French finance minister Bruno Le Maire agreed, pointing a finger at PepsiCo, Unilever, and Nestlé, in particular.

“I don’t see why when prices go up companies pass on the increase immediately, but when the price of wheat falls, the price of pasta takes three months to fall. It’s unacceptable,” Le Maire said last April, warning, “I will use all the powers at my disposal to ensure that the big industrial companies pass on the decrease.”

France’s government has asked retailers and suppliers to finish their yearly price negotiations in January, a few months sooner than usual, Reuters reported. France is unusual in that it protects its farmers by forcing supermarkets to negotiate prices only once a year, and last year prices got locked in amid high inflation.

The shrinkflation campaign aimed to make suppliers rethink their pricing policies, but, judging by Carrefour’s move this week, it fell short with PepsiCo. And Carrefour isn’t the only supermarket chain taking a stand in Europe. Its Belgian rival Colruyt said that price disputes spurred it to stop supplies from Mondelez—the maker of Oreos and Philadelphia cream cheese. As Reuters reported, the grocer noted that with energy and raw material prices falling, rate hikes were no longer justifiable.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

France's Leclerc backs Carrefour in pressuring food producers

Reuters
Fri, January 5, 2024 

FILE PHOTO: Michel-Edouard Leclerc, CEO and Executive Chairman of French retailer E. Leclerc SA, attends the third annual tech conference "Inno Generation" in Paris

LONDON (Reuters) - The chairman of France's biggest supermarket chain E. Leclerc called on all big consumer goods firms to lower their prices as he weighed in on competitor Carrefour's decision to drop Pepsico products amid fraught price negotiations.

Grocery retailers in several countries including Germany and Belgium have stopped orders of some products over the last year, a tactic in negotiations that inflation has made more combative.

In a post on LinkedIn, Michel-Edouard Leclerc said: "We must in the coming month convince all these big suppliers who made the mistake of overly increasing their prices, to lower them now, or moderate them."

France has been gripped by a debate over the price of staples, with retailers claiming producers' price increases are unjustified. The government has demanded retailers and suppliers finish annual price negotiations in January, two months earlier than usual, as it seeks to lower inflation.

Carrefour said its stores in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Poland would no longer stock products including Pepsi, Lay's Crisps, Cheetos, and 7up because of "unacceptable price hikes".

Carrefour has more than 10,000 stores across the five countries according to its 2022 annual report, accounting for more than two-thirds of its global footprint.

In a statement, PepsiCo said: "We've been in discussion with Carrefour for many months and we will continue to engage in good faith in order to try to ensure that our products are available."

The French market as a whole accounted for just 1% of revenues for PepsiCo in 2022 according to Nielsen figures analysed by Barclays.

E. Leclerc did not immediately reply to a request for comment and questions about whether it would also withdraw Pepsico or any other products.

(Reporting by Helen Reid, additional reporting by Richa Naidu and Piotr Lipinski; editing by Barbara Lewis and Elaine Hardcastle)

PepsiCo products are being pulled from some Carrefour grocery stores in Europe over price hikes


Fri, January 5, 2024

PARIS (AP) — Global supermarket chain Carrefour will stop selling PepsiCo products in its stores in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy over price increases for popular items like Lay's potato chips, Quaker Oats, Lipton Iced Tea and its namesake soda.

The French grocery chain said it pulled PepsiCo products from shelves in France on Thursday and added small signs in stores that say, “We no longer sell this brand due to unacceptable price increases.”

It comes as a new French law meant to fight the rising cost of living has supermarkets facing millions in fines if they don't reach a deal with suppliers on prices by the end of the month.

The ban also will extend to Belgium, Spain and Italy, but Carrefour, which has 12,225 stores in more than 30 countries, didn't say when it would take effect in those countries.

PepsiCo products were still on shelves Friday in Rome and Barcelona. Carrefour Italia’s press office said information will be posted for customers in their stores in Italy in the next days.

PepsiCo said in a statement that it has “been in discussion with Carrefour for many months and we will continue to engage in good faith in order to try to ensure that our products are available.”

The company behind Cheetos, Mountain Dew and Rice-A-Roni has raised prices by double-digit percentages for seven straight quarters, most recently hiking by 11% in the July-to-September period.

Its profits are up, though higher prices have dragged down sales as people trade down to cheaper brands. PepsiCo also has said it's been shrinking package sizes to meet consumer demand for convenience and portion control.

“I do think that we see the consumer right now being more selective,” PepsiCo Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston told investors in October.

The Purchase, New York-based company said price increases should ease and largely align with inflation, which has fallen considerably worldwide since crunched supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic and then Russia's war in Ukraine sent prices surging.

However, the 20 European Union countries that use the euro currency saw consumer prices rise to 2.9% in December from a year earlier, rebounding after seven straight monthly declines, according to numbers released Friday.

Prices for food and non-alcoholic drinks have eased from a painful 17.5% in the 20-country euro area in March but were still up by 6.9% in November from a year earlier.

The government of French President Emmanuel Macron has fought back on the rising cost of living for households, passing a November law to implement “emergency measures” to fight high prices.

The law moved up annual negotiations between supermarkets and their suppliers on setting prices and more to Jan. 31 from March 1. Fines have been increased to 5 million euros ($5.5 million) for grocery companies that fail to meet the new deadline for setting prices.

Burt Flickinger III, managing director of grocery consultancy Strategic Resource Group, said he thinks PepsiCo was targeted because the company has been one of the most aggressive in raising prices. He thinks other big brand names could be next and that other European retailers could follow Carrefour's lead.

Pulling products off shelves over prices is rare, but it happens. Flickinger noted that Kraft Heinz stopped supplying British retailer Tesco with some of its items in 2022 for a week over a pricing spat.

Rob Dongoski, agribusiness and food lead in the consumer practice of management consultancy Kearney, said the showdown between the two big brands represents the ultimate test of customer loyalty.

“Are you loyal to your store or loyal to your brand?” he said.

In the U.S., several grocery sellers including Walmart have expressed displeasure at consumer product companies' moves to keep pushing up prices even as overall inflation has come down. Particular problem areas had been packaged foods and household goods.

Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon said in May that, “We all need those prices to come down."

Stew Leonard Jr., president and CEO of Stew Leonard’s, a supermarket chain with stores in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, said in July that he warned the big consumer product companies that he wouldn’t accept any more price increases because he believed customers had reached a tipping point. But he noted on Friday that price increases have eased for many items, except for meat.

“It's hard to justify price increase when overall costs are coming down,” Leonard said.

For its part, PepsiCo has pointed to higher costs for grain and cooking oil for its rising prices. Costs for those food commodities surged following Russia’s invasion in Ukraine but fell considerably on global markets last year from record highs in 2022.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday that its food price index was 13.7% lower in 2023 than the year before, but its measures of sugar and rice prices grew in that time. That overall relief still is not being felt by families at supermarkets.

___

Durbin reported from Detroit. Associated Press reporter Frances D’Emilio in Rome and AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.

Sylvie Corbet And Dee-ann Durbin, The Associated Press

Brazil’s Export Boom Rekindles Memories of Past Commodity Bonanza

Felipe Saturnino, Barbara Nascimento and Maria Eloisa Capurro
Fri, January 5, 2024 

 

 

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s exports proved so strong in 2023 that they are rekindling memories of the commodities bonanza that briefly catapulted Latin America’s largest economy to unusually fast growth rates in the early 2000s.

The nation’s trade surplus hit $9.4 billion in December, more than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists that had a median forecast of $7.7 billion. For 2023 as a whole, Brazil posted a trade surplus of $98.8 billion, well above the $61.5 billion recorded in 2022 and the widest in more than 30 years.

Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, who also heads the trade ministry, said the surplus was “significant” and added the government expects exports to increase even more in 2024, to $348 billion. Last year’s result “helps the country’s international reserves and our economy,” he told reporters Friday after the figures were published.

The news couldn’t come at a better time for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The leftist leader is facing the prospect of a slowing economy and falling tax revenue in 2024, when he will need money to support his ambitious investment plans without jeopardizing the country’s fiscal targets.

Brazil’s economic success during Lula’s first two terms as president — from 2003 to 2010 — resulted in part from a commodities boom coupled with wealth distribution policies his government implemented. Now, even with commodities prices below those levels, the country’s overall export volume has surged, with oil, soybeans and other agricultural products leading the way.

“Are we going through a second period of external bonanza?” economists at Bradesco bank asked in a note to clients. “Besides oil, exports of agricultural products have increased nearly 30% in volume in 12 months through October.”

SPX Capital, a Brazilian investment firm with $12.5 billion under management, called it a structural change that will ensure robust trade surpluses for years to come.

Other hedge funds have a similar analysis.

Verde Asset Management last month started betting the real will strengthen against the dollar, saying that yearly trade surpluses of $100 billion or above will likely become Brazil’s “new normal.” The Sao Paulo-based firm justified its call by citing growing volumes of oil and soy exports — products that account for the largest value of Brazil’s foreign sales.

XP Inc. also expects the real to strengthen going forward. Just this week the investment firm revised its end-2024 estimate for the Brazilian currency to 4.70 reais per dollar, from 4.85 — based on prospects of Brazil’s strong trade performance coupled with expectations of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

“There has been a change of level in Brazil’s trade balance,” and surpluses are likely to remain above the nearly $62 billion recorded in 2022, said Rodolfo Margato, XP’s vice president of economic research. He forecasts a $86 billion surplus in 2024.

Oil and Agriculture

Brazil is reaping the benefits of recent investments made in oil production, together with productivity gains in agribusiness. Although some cyclical factors contributed to the performance of Brazil’s trade balance in 2023, “there are permanent and structural elements favoring the production of oil, soybeans and corn,” Margato said.

Soy exports rose 14.4% in value between January and December, according to government statistics. Soy sales represented 15.7% of total export revenue in 2023, up from 13.9% for 2022.

Oil exports have jumped by nearly 50% in volume over the past five years, despite Lula’s ambitions to turn Brazil into a global leader in green energy. In November, the country was invited to join the OPEC+ alliance in a sign of its growing relevance as an oil supplier.

As exports soar, Brazil’s external accounts have also improved. Its current account deficit has held roughly steady at $1.5 billion in November compared with a year ago, thanks to a trade surplus that was the widest ever for the month.

--With assistance from Giovanna Serafim, Vinícius Andrade, Matthew Malinowski and Beatriz Reis.

POSTMODERN STATE CAPITALI$M

India's sovereign fund NIIFL appoints Sanjiv Aggarwal as CEO


Reuters
Fri, January 5, 2024 

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's quasi-sovereign wealth fund, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIFL), named Sanjiv Aggarwal as its CEO and Managing Director (MD) on Friday.

Aggarwal brings "significant experience" in the infrastructure and energy sectors and takes over from Rajiv Dhar, who has been serving as the interim CEO and MD since May 2023, the statement said.

Former CEO and MD, Sujoy Bose, resigned from the company in May 2023.

Aggarwal previously worked at UK-based investment firm Actis, where he oversaw the company's energy investments in Asia, including the sale of Actis' Indian renewable energy platform Sprng Energy to energy major Shell Plc in April 2022 for $1.55 billion.

His appointment comes at a time when the NIIFL, which was founded in 2015 and manages more than $4.9 billion in equity capital commitments, has stepped up its investments in the infrastructure and growth equity segments.

Last month, it invested about 6.75 billion rupees ($81.16 million) in the new greenfield airport project in Andhra Pradesh, to be developed by airport operator GMR Airports.

In October 2023, it partnered with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to introduce a $600 million fund aimed at funding sustainability projects.

The fund is also an investor in local private equity and mid-market private equity funds such as Multiples Alternate Asset Management and Lighthouse India Fund IV. ($1 = 83.1650 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

“Oil Five” Sovereign Wealth Funds Pass $4 Trillion Mark

By Charles Kennedy - Jan 03, 2024

The sovereign wealth funds of the Gulf Cooperation Council members topped $4 trillion last year, which was an all-time high.

Called the “Oil Five”, the group of top sovereign wealth funds includes three entities from the United Arab Emirates, one from Saudi Arabia, and the Qatar Investment Authority. The five invested a total $75.6 billion last year, which was a decline on 2022 investments, the Khaleej Times reported, citing data from a report by Global SWF.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund and the Qatar Investment Authority were the most active investors, accounting for the bulk of the five’s total, at some $68 billion. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund was also the biggest investor globally last year, deploying $31.6 billion across 49 deals.

The amount was a 33% increase on 2022 and a record for any sovereign wealth fund. The total spend of sovereign wealth funds last year reached $123.8 billion. The five oil funds from the Gulf were the most active investors during the year.

The increase in investments for the Gulf oil kingdoms’ sovereign wealth funds comes amid lower oil prices and also lower production for Saudi Arabia. Based on their assets under management, however, it appears the effect of the oil price rout last year will manifest with a delay.

The UAE, meanwhile, launched a new investment fund at the COP28 climate conference in December. The entity will have a size of $30 billion and will be a partnership between the Emirates, BlackRock, TPG, and Brookfield, the Financial Times reported in late November, citing sources in the know.

A day later Reuters confirmed the news citing the official announcement of the UAE’s President, who said the fund, dubbed ALTERRA, will seek to raise up to $250 billion by the end of the decade, to invest in in climate-related initiatives.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com