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Photo Reuters

COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Tesla delivers record vehicles in Q1

Tesla Inc on Saturday reported record electric vehicle deliveries for the first quarter, largely meeting analysts' estimates, but production fell from the previous quarter as supply chain disruptions and a China plant suspension weighed.

"This was an exceptionally difficult quarter due to supply chain interruptions & China zero Covid policy," Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted. "Outstanding work by Tesla team & key suppliers saved the day."

Tesla delivered 310 048 vehicles in the quarter, a slight increase from the previous quarter, and up 68% from a year earlier. Wall Street had expected deliveries of 308 836 cars, according to Refinitiv data.

Tesla produced 305 407 vehicles from January to March, down from 305 840 the previous quarter.

Tesla, the world's most valuable automaker, has navigated the pandemic and supply chain disruptions better than rivals and its new Shanghai factory has been driving growth. -Reuters

Citigroup names M&A specialists

Citigroup Inc on Monday named Tony Osmond as chair of its Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory (BCMA) unit in Australia and New Zealand, and Alex Cartel to be the unit's head, as the US bank focuses on strengthening its institutional business.

The appointments also come as Citi looks to execute a global overhaul and exit some overseas businesses.

Osmond has led the BCMA business since 2012 and helmed teams that advised on multi-billion-dollar deals, including PE firm Blackstone's buyout of Crown Resorts and Woolworths' demerger of Endeavour Group.

Cartel, a Deutsche Bank veteran who joined Citi in 2020, had advised iron ore behemoth BHP on the unification of dual listing, and Santos' merger with Oil Search.

"These appointments are reflective of our continuous investment in our institutional business... and will ensure we have the capacity to meet the increasing activity," said Marc Luet, chief executive officer of Citi Australia and New Zealand. -Reuters

Amazon's union demands contract talks

The union that Amazon.com workers recently voted to represent them has demanded the company start bargaining in early May and cease any changes to employment terms at their warehouse in the interim, according to a letter the group issued Saturday on Twitter. This report produced by Chris Dignam.

Just a day after forming it sent a letter to the e-commerce giant demanding it begin contract negotiations next month.

In the meantime, it said Amazon must "cease and desist any changes to work policies" at their New York City warehouse.

That's according to a press release posted on Twitter late Saturday night, saying "workers denounce any attempt by Amazon to delay our hard won right to bargain collectively."

The union also asserted that Amazon must respect each worker's legal right to union representation during disciplinary meetings. Amazon did not immediately comment. -Reuters

TIM, CDP start network talks

Telecom Italia (TIM) has signed a non-disclosure agreement with Italian state lender CDP to start formal talks on potentially combining the phone group's network with that of smaller broadband rival Open Fiber.

The move comes as TIM boss Pietro Labriola presses ahead with a plan to revamp Italy's biggest phone company centred around a split of its wholesale network operations from its service business.

The start of talks, announced by the company on Saturday, is yet another sign that TIM plans to chart a different course to a non-binding approach for all of its business made by US fund KKR in November.

TIM kept KKR waiting for four months before agreeing in March to engage in talks, while pressing ahead with its standalone reorganisation to unlock what the group calls its "untapped value".

A source familiar with the matter said KKR will say in a letter on Monday that it will not pursue a formal bid unless TIM grants it the due diligence the fund has been requesting for months, which has become more crucial as the market situation changes due to the Ukraine conflict. -Reuters

Construction resumes at Evergrande projects

A unit of troubled property developer China Evergrande Group said construction work has resumed at 95% of Evergrande's projects across the country as of late March.

Evergrande has resumed work at 734 developments in all of China as of March 27, including 424 projects recovering to normal construction levels, according to a post on Saturday on the official WeChat of the developer's Pearl River Delta business unit. The post did not give a figure for Evergrande's total number of developments.

Evergrande is the world's most indebted property developer, with over US$300 billion in liabilities. It is struggling to repay bondholders, banks, suppliers, and deliver homes to buyers, epitomising a bloated industry suffering from the Chinese government's deleveraging campaign.

Evergrande will "continue to maintain the normal construction of the projects in order to deliver the buildings to the owners with guaranteed quality and quantity at all costs," according to the post.

Company Chairman Hui Ka Yan has pledged multiple times since 2021 that the company would resume construction work at full steam to ensure home deliveries. -Reuters

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