COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Easyjet looking at financing options

EasyJet is considering options to bolster its finances, and is not against state support to help the airline get through the coronavirus pandemic, chief executive Johan Lundgren said.

“We have a number of options of financing. We are reviewing that all the time,” Lundgren told Reuters in an interview ahead of the opening of a new airport in the German capital.

“I am not against state aid,” he said. “It is very clear that the crisis has been to that extent that you can’t expect the industry and its players to cope with it all by themselves.”

With travel across Europe at very low levels, most airlines are bleeding cash, but easyJet’s finances have come under particular scrutiny amid media reports that it has signalled to the UK government it may need more financial support.

The airline has warned it will make an annual loss of as much as 845 million pounds (US$1.09 billion) for the 12 months that ended in September.

To survive the impact of the pandemic, it has raised more than 900 million pounds from the sale and leaseback of aircraft, taken a 600-million-pound loan from the government, cut 4 500 jobs and tapped shareholders for 419 million pounds. - Nampa/Reuters

Laobaixing,Yixintang to create biggest pharmacy

China's Laobaixing and Yixintang Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd are in advanced talks to create the country's biggest drugstore chain via a share swap, three people familiar with the matter said.

Laobaixing's founders, Xie Zilong and Chen Xiulan, who hold 33% of their company, are expected to have a bigger stake in the merged firm than Yixintang's founder Ruan Hongxian who owns 31% of his company, said two of the people.

Shanghai-listed Laobaixing, formally known as LBX Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company, had a market value of US$4.4 billion as of Friday while Shenzhen-listed Yixintang was valued at US$3.5 billion.

The talks have been ongoing for more than three months, the two people said. The firms are aiming to finalise and announce the deal in the coming days, one person said.

The sources declined to be identified as the talks were not public. Laobaixing, Yixintang did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Together they exceeded the 8.6 billion yuan in first-half revenue for current industry leader, state-backed Sinopharm Holding Guoda Drugstores. - Nampa/Reuters

Exxon presses Australia to release aid

Exxon Mobil Corp is urging the Australian government to start releasing aid to the country's oil refineries by January after a decision last week by BP plc to shut the nation's biggest refinery.

Exxon owns Australia's oldest refinery at Altona near Melbourne, which can process 90 000 barrels per day of oil, the smallest of the nation's four refineries. The site supplies about half of the fuel for the state of Victoria, which has been subject to one of the world's longest and tightest coronavirus lockdowns.

Exxon said the prolonged lockdown "has placed unprecedented pressure" on Altona, causing the plant to run at a loss.

Victoria's government only last week eased restrictions limiting people to a 5 km zone around their homes and allowed shops and restaurants to reopen for the first time since Aug 2.

The Australian government is in talks with the refining industry on an offer of A$2.3 billion (US$1.6 billion) in incentives over 10 years to keep refineries open to bolster of national fuel security.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said the government should take over BP's plant at Kwinana, Western Australia, the only refinery on the west coast, to prevent fuel supply disruptions. - Nampa/Reuters

JPMorgan takes 71% in securities business

JPMorgan will own 71% of its Chinese securities joint venture after completing the transaction to buy a 20% stake from one of its local partners.

The deal, which was first flagged in September, will see the Wall Street bank edge closer to full ownership of the securities business in China as geopolitical relations between the United States and China remain fragile.

It will also position JPMorgan as the foreign bank with the highest ownership stake in a mainland Chinese securities joint venture.

JPMorgan's purchase was finalised just ahead of the Nov. 3 election in which the future of China's relationship with the United States has been a centrepiece of the campaign.

JPMorgan was the only candidate that could raise its ownership with priority rights in the securities joint venture, the filing showed, as the remaining four shareholders had given up their rights to purchase the 20% stake. - Nampa/Reuters

Netherlands puts KLM bailout on hold

The Dutch government put on hold its plan to bail out KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France, after pilots rejected a wage-freeze until 2025, finance minister Wopke Hoekstra said.

KLM had been due to receive a 3.4 billion-euro (US$4.0 billion) package, including 1 billion euros in direct loans. from the government to help it cope with the damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

“I find it very disappointing, but this way we cannot move forward with the loan now,” Hoekstra told journalists.

The pilots’ union argued that it had already agreed to a freeze until March 2022, and could not now change that agreement at the last minute.

Ahead of the government announcement, KLM CEO Pieter Elbers had said that “without this loan, KLM will not make it through these challenging times”.

In a statement, he said KLM would not immediately go bankrupt but that its reserves “cannot last more than a few months”. – Nampa/Reuters