BNP.PA - BNP Paribas SA
| Previous close | 46.99 |
| Open | 47.21 |
| Bid | 0.00 x 0 |
| Ask | 0.00 x 0 |
| Day's range | 47.04 - 48.29 |
| 52-week range | 38.13 - 49.31 |
| Volume | 4,443,601 |
| Avg. volume | 4,521,427 |
| Market cap | 59.622B |
| Beta (3Y monthly) | 1.47 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 7.89 |
| EPS (TTM) | 6.06 |
| Earnings date | 31 Oct 2019 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 3.02 (6.43%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 2019-05-29 |
| 1y target est | 61.49 |
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-BNP Paribas takes Allfunds platform stake as fund managers cut costs
PARIS/LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - French bank BNP Paribas has obtained a 22.5% stake in wealth management platform Allfunds in the latest sign of asset managers looking to trim costs in the face of rising regulatory expenses and pressure on fees from investors. Under the deal, for which financial terms were not announced, BNP Paribas will entrust Allfunds with managing the distribution of third-party investment fund contracts for several BNP Paribas Group entities.
- Bloomberg
Mark Hurd: Silicon Valley’s Ultimate Salesman
(Bloomberg) -- Mark Hurd was in his element at Indian Wells.The tennis tournament–more formally known as the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California— provided him with the perfect backdrop to flex his passions: tennis and selling stuff. Hurd turned the event, which Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison bought in 2009, into a two-week database and software sales extravaganza. He could be seen strolling the grounds or at nearby hotels constantly schmoozing with customers and using his connections with tennis legends like Chris Evert and Rafael Nadal to win people over and help close a deal. Along the way, Hurd, Oracle’s co-CEO, would sneak in a hit–he had a big serve and liked to flaunt it–or check on the American college players he was mentoring and the young pros he was quietly helping with financial aid. For Hurd, business and pleasure were one and the same and almost always intermixed in his life.This is what I’ll remember most about Hurd, who passed away Friday morning after a protracted illness: he was a relentless hustler and loved the art of doing business more than just about any other executive I’ve ever run across. In a statement issued after Hurd’s death, Ellison pointed to his friend’s business acumen. “Oracle has lost a brilliant and beloved leader who personally touched the lives of so many of us during his decade at Oracle,” Ellison said. “All of us will miss Mark’s keen mind and rare ability to analyze, simplify and solve problems quickly.” Hurd arrived at Oracle in 2010 under tumultuous conditions. He’d resigned as CEO of Hewlett-Packard after being investigated by the company’s board for a relationship Hurd had with a marketing contractor. The board argued that Hurd had tried to cover up the relationship and misused his expense account, and Hurd argued that they were wrong and making much ado about nothing. The squabble was acrimonious enough to end Hurd’s time at HP, even though he had revived the company’s fortunes and turned it into a lean, mean maker of corporate technology products, printers and personal computers.At Oracle, Hurd applied his trademark skills at analyzing balance sheets and streamlining operations to try and improve the software maker’s bottom line. He could recite from memory the financial minutiae of every division and be blunt about what was working and what needed to be fixed. During his years at Oracle, the company’s share price more than doubled, and Hurd was a constant presence at the company’s events, sales meetings and customer sites. In many ways, he became the public face of Oracle, enjoying the limelight while Ellison made the occasional appearance and co-CEO Safra Catz preferred to operate in the background.Though Oracle remains the dominant database company, it still has much work to do to catch up in the booming market for cloud-based software and services. Oracle was late to the game modernizing its products. Hurd tried his best to paper over Oracle’s weaknesses through salesmanship and often succeeded. One of the biggest weaknesses throughout his career, though, was favoring bottom line performance over investing in research and development and revolutionary new products. Hurd often seemed to focus on the here and now, rather than plotting for what lay ahead. Oracle’s dual-CEO structure was unusual and not always to Hurd’s liking, as he reveled in controlling a business and overseeing all of its operations. He took on sales, marketing and press and investor relations, and Catz handled finances and legal. Last month Oracle said that Hurd was taking a leave of absence for an unspecified illness and that Ellison and Catz would assume his responsibilities. Ellison has said that Catz will stay in place and that he would like to keep the two-CEO structure. He cited Don Johnson, head of Oracle’s cloud infrastructure division, and Steve Miranda, head of Oracle’s applications unit, as possible partners to Catz in the future.What’s clear is that Hurd will not be easy to replace. On a personal note, he shared a tight bond with Ellison around tennis. The two men have been pumping money into American tournaments and players for years, hoping to spark a revival of U.S. male pros. And, when Hurd was at his lowest moment after the HP fiasco, it was Ellison who came to the rescue, championing Hurd in the press and offering him a high-profile gig at Oracle. These actions–along with massive annual pay packages-made Hurd very loyal to Ellison and left Hurd as eager as ever to prove Ellison right and his critics wrong.Not short on ego, Hurd saw business as a battlefield and perceived himself as a master general. On his worst days, he was short of temper and combative. But, on his best days–of which there seemed to be many–he was a numbers and strategy savant with a rare ability to inspire those under him to work incredibly hard. Hurd himself was a workaholic and considered Oracle’s performance as a reflection on his character. Very few people are as committed to their work or as passionate in their pursuit of it.Vance covered Hurd for 15 years in his roles as CEO of NCR, HP and Oracle and even played tennis with him once. To contact the author of this story: Ashlee Vance in Palo Alto at avance3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Molly Schuetz at mschuetz9@bloomberg.net, Robin AjelloFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
BNP Paribas appoints new head of wealth management in Italy
BNP Paribas , France's biggest bank, on Friday named Elena Goitini as its head of private banking and wealth management in Italy, and added it was launching a new growth strategy for the unit. Banks are looking for ways to diversify their business and sell more fee-based products in order to protect their profits from the impact of a negative interest rate environment. BNP Paribas hired Goitini from Unicredit Group where she held key roles in Italy and in Central Eastern Europe.
- Reuters - UK Focus
BNP frontrunner to take over Deutsche Bank derivatives unit - report
BNP Paribas is the frontrunner to take over Deutsche Bank's business that sells certificates and warrants to retail investors, a German newspaper reported on Friday. Boersen-Zeitung, which cited no sources, said analysts had estimated the unit's value at 400-500 million euros ($445-$556 million). BNP declined to comment.
- Reuters - UK Focus
HSBC taps Lazard to sell French retail business - source
HSBC Holdings has hired U.S. investment bank Lazard Ltd to sell its French retail business, a source close to the matter told Reuters, as part of a plan by new interim chief executive Noel Quinn to reduce costs across the banking group. HSBC, Europe's biggest bank by assets, has carried out a strategic review of the French retail business, which has around 270 branches and employs up to 3,000 staff out of 8,000 in France overall. Lazard declined to comment.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-Brexit deal hops fuel gains, but earnings test key
- Simply Wall St.
Is BNP Paribas SA (EPA:BNP) An Attractive Dividend Stock?
Dividend paying stocks like BNP Paribas SA (EPA:BNP) tend to be popular with investors, and for good reason - some...
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-Europe ends another positive quarter on a high
* European end higher after choppy, low-volumes session * STOXX 600 +3.6% in Sept, marks 3rd positive quarter in a row * JPM raises euro-zone stocks to "overweight" * ECB's Draghi emphasises need for fiscal push - FT * Wall Street opens higher Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Josephine Mason. Reach her on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: rm://josephine.mason.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net EUROPE ENDS ANOTHER POSITIVE QUARTER ON A HIGH (1559 GMT) The last day of September and Q3 saw choppy trading and low volumes but a JPMorgan upgrade of euro-zone stocks to overweight on ECB stimulus expectations gave another boost to sentiment, helping offset concerns over the slowing economy and an earnings recession.
- Bloomberg
BNP Paribas Prop-Trading Arm Lost $30 Million Before Closing
(Bloomberg) -- A BNP Paribas SA division created to make speculative bets for the bank’s own account lost tens of millions of dollars last year as trading revenue slumped amid volatile markets, leading executives to shutter the business.Opera Trading Capital, which ceased trading in January, posted a loss of 26 million euros ($30 million) for 2018, filings show. Net banking income before operating expenses slumped 91% to less than 3 million euros, the worst result since Opera began trading in 2015, in a year that started with a sudden spike in volatility, moved on to repercussions from Turkish economic turmoil and was capped by a plunge in U.S. stocks.Opera’s disappointing performance was part of a wider trading slump at BNP that prompted Chief Executive Officer Jean-Laurent Bonnafe to overhaul the Paris-based bank’s markets division in January and push through a fresh round of cost cuts. The closure -- and the almost simultaneous wind-down of a similar unit run by Societe Generale SA -- also marked the end of French banks’ ambitions for proprietary trading; prop desks were banned for deposit-taking lenders in the U.S. after the financial crisis, but only restricted in Europe.BNP executives have completed the wind-down of Opera, according to Alexandra Umpleby, a spokeswoman for the lender in London. She declined to comment further.Rate DerivativesThe accounts also show how Opera increased in size last year, by contrast with SocGen’s prop desk, called Descartes Trading, which was being pared back by the bank’s executives. Descartes lost about 18 million euros last year, Bloomberg reported in July.Assets at the BNP unit climbed 4% to 2.6 billion euros as traders piled into “unlisted” bonds and other fixed-income securities, filings show. The division’s portfolio of interest-rate derivatives -- complex products that investors can use to profit from changes in the direction of interest rates -- swelled 14% to a notional value of 393 billion euros.Most of Opera’s traders have since departed BNP for roles at hedge funds. Stephane Liot, who had overseen the business, joined Brevan Howard Asset Management as chief operating officer for trading in June.(Updates with chart.)To contact the reporter on this story: Donal Griffin in London at dgriffin10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell, Marion DakersFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
Victims of Sudan violence file complaint against BNP Paribas
Nine people who say they are victims of rights abuses by the former government of Sudan filed a legal complaint against BNP Paribas in a French court alleging the lender was complicit because it financed Khartoum. BNP Paribas said in a statement provided to Reuters it was not aware of the complaint having been opened and that it did not comment on judicial proceedings. The French complaint said that the U.S. Department of Justice had described BNP Paribas as Sudan's de facto central bank because it gave the Sudanese government access to international money markets, and allowed it to pay staff, the military and security forces.
- Reuters - UK Focus
Bahrain raises $2 billion with first dollar bond issue since bailout
Bahrain raised $2 billion with its first issue of U.S. dollar bonds since it obtained a $10 billion bailout from its Gulf allies last year to avert a credit crunch. BNP Paribas, Citi, Gulf International Bank, JPMorgan, National Bank of Bahrain and Standard Chartered were hired to arrange the issue. Since the bailout, its existing bonds have jumped back, as investors know Bahrain can count on support from its wealthier allies while it seeks to repair its debt-ridden finances, even though it has a junk credit rating.
- Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank Shifts Prime Brokerage to BNP With 1,000 Jobs
(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.Deutsche Bank AG finalized a deal transferring its business with hedge fund clients to BNP Paribas SA as part of the German lender’s historic retreat from investment banking.About 1,000 Deutsche Bank employees will move to the French rival through 2021, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Ashley Wilson, one of two executives at the German bank overseeing the disposal of unwanted assets, will head the business during this period and may eventually leave to run the combined unit at BNP, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.The volume of assets BNP will ultimately add remains uncertain because Deutsche Bank’s client balances slumped by about half to $80 billion since it announced its intention to transfer the business. The lenders expect clients to come back now that there’s more certainty, the people said. But analysts at Citigroup Inc. led by Andrew Coombs questioned whether there will be anything left to transfer by the time the deal is closed.The two firms had agreed on the move in principle in early July, as Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing retreats from equities trading -- which houses the prime business-- in the bank’s biggest restructuring in decades. But finalizing the accord has been complicated by the client defections. For Sewing’s counterpart at BNP, Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, the deal could bring the scale needed to compete with the bigger players.Top ContenderShares of both lenders fell Monday along with the broader market. Deutsche Bank declined 3.5% at 12:52 p.m. in Frankfurt, curbing gains this year to 1.3%. BNP lost 2.8% in Paris and is up 11% in 2019.The agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval, could vault BNP into the global top 4 of prime brokerages over the next 12 months, reaching $250 billion to $300 billion in client balances eventually, according to the people. Deutsche Bank will continue to manage the platform until clients can be passed over, the two banks said on Monday.“Now that the deal has signed, we believe we have the basis to regain and expand on the business,” Deutsche Bank Chief Operating Officer Frank Kuhnke said in a telephone interview. The deal “provides tangible real benefits for our customers and gives our staff a way forward.”The agreement comes just a few days after Deutsche Bank sold its first portfolio of equity derivatives, another key step to exit equities trading and get the associated assets off its balance sheet. The bank has said it will provide more details when it publishes third-quarter results on Oct. 30.Representatives of BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.When the two firms first discussed the deal, Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage business was set to move about 150 billion euros ($165 billion) of balances, people familiar with the matter have said. Yet clients put off by the uncertainty of the deal headed for the exit, pulling about $1 billion of funds per day, the people said at the time.Prime-brokerage divisions cater specifically to hedge funds, lending them cash and securities and executing their trades, and the relationships can be vital for investment banks. The prime business generated about $18.3 billion in fees across the industry in 2018, about the same as revenue from trading corporate debt and currencies combined, data from Coalition Development Ltd. show.The deal will give BNP the technology it needs to improve trading with asset managers and hedge funds specializing in quantitative strategies, Olivier Osty, global head of markets at the Paris-based bank, said in an interview. Executives at the French lender had been planning to develop a platform themselves but had estimated it would take three to four years, he said.Quant Muscle“The electronic platform is dedicated to managing all the big quant funds that we’re missing in our franchise,” Osty said. “So this is the opportunity to bring to BNP Paribas a product that was missing and that could allow us to grow.”Quantitative hedge funds, such as Winton Capital Management and AQR Capital Management, use computer algorithms to evaluate risk, pricing and timing in financial markets. Investors, fed up with years of lackluster returns by other kinds of managers, have flocked to the industry. Assets under management at so-called quants have surged 88% since 2010 to $951 billion, compared with a 53% gain for other funds, according to data from Hedge Fund Research Inc.Deutsche Bank, which became a force on Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis, has struggled to keep hedge-fund clients in recent years as it lurched from one problem to another. U.S. rivals JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are the top three firms in the business, while Deutsche Bank wasn’t among the top seven prime brokers in 2018, Coalition data show.Little LeftBNP has sought to profit from crisis before. The lender bought Bank of America Corp.’s prime-brokerage business in June 2008 as the credit crunch raged, acquiring more than 500 clients and 300 employees. Still, the firm has one of the smallest prime units among global banks, according to Coalition.Deutsche Bank’s hedge fund balances have been declining throughout the year as speculation swirled around Sewing’s intentions for the prime brokerage unit. One major client -- Renaissance Technologies -- has been pulling money from the firm, people familiar said earlier.“The majority of prime finance mandates appear to have been put out for tender,” Citigroup’s Coombs wrote in a note to clients. “By the time the transaction finally closes, there may therefore be little by way of outstanding prime balances to transfer across.”(Updates with shares in fifth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Nishant Kumar and Jan-Henrik Förster.To contact the reporters on this story: Donal Griffin in London at dgriffin10@bloomberg.net;Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Christian BaumgaertelFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
BNP Paribas Asset Management to launch voluntary redundancy plan in Paris
BNP Paribas , France's biggest listed bank, said on Monday it would launch a voluntary redundancy plan affecting about 10% of employees in its asset management unit in Paris. "BNPP AM continues its adaptation and confirms the launch of an adaptation plan to streamline the product offering, the regional organisation and entities in order to keep its competitive position," the bank said in a statement, without giving figures on its workforce in Paris. BNP Paribas Asset Management has over 2,400 employees globally.
- Reuters - UK Focus
Huawei CFO's arrest at airport to be focus of Vancouver hearing
Lawyers for Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou will be in a Canadian courtroom on Monday to press for details surrounding her arrest at Vancouver's airport nearly 10 months ago. Meng, 47, was detained on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, where she is charged with bank fraud and accused of misleading HSBC Holdings Plc about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's business in Iran. Meng, who is expected in court, has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition.
- Reuters
BNP's prime brokerage deal with Deutsche may transfer up to 1,000 staff
PARIS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A deal to transfer Deutsche Bank's prime brokerage business to BNP Paribas could see up to 1,000 staff move from the German lender to the French bank, BNP said on Monday. The deal is a pillar of Deutsche's restructuring. Under the agreement, Deutsche would continue to operate the platform for global prime finance and electronic equities clients until the customers can be migrated to BNP, the banks said.
- Bloomberg
Aramco Adds Barclays, BNP, Deutsche, UBS as Bookrunners
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Aramco has added banks including Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG as bookrunners on its planned initial public offering as it pushes ahead with plans for the blockbuster deal, people with knowledge of the matter said.The energy giant also picked Credit Agricole SA, Gulf International Bank BSC and Societe Generale SA, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Aramco is planning to select about 15 bookrunners in total, including two Chinese firms, one of the people said.Aramco is moving fast to add banks in junior roles on the deal after choosing the top underwriters last week. Bankers from the newly-appointed underwriters are flying to the Middle East for meetings with Aramco starting Monday, according to the people.The oil producer, officially known as Saudi Arabian Oil Co., is still planning to add more local firms in junior roles on the offering, the people said. Representatives for BNP, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale and UBS declined to comment. Aramco, Barclays, Credit Agricole and GIB didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.Aramco held kickoff meetings with the top banks in Dubai earlier this month. Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley were chosen earlier for senior roles on the deal, Bloomberg News has reported.Aramco aims to stick to its schedule for planned analyst presentations and hasn’t told banks of any plans to delay the IPO, even after devastating attacks on its biggest facilities slashed oil output, Bloomberg News reported last week.The company was considering holding analyst presentations the week of Sept. 22 and listing on the Saudi bourse as soon as November, people with knowledge of the matter have said.\--With assistance from Archana Narayanan, Carol Zhong and Vinicy Chan.To contact the reporters on this story: Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net;Myriam Balezou in London at mbalezou@bloomberg.net;Matthew Martin in Dubai at mmartin128@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Michael HythaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-Saudi Aramco hires UBS, Deutsche as bookrunners for its IPO-sources
LONDON/DUBAI, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Saudi state oil company Aramco has hired UBS Group and Deutsche as bookrunners for its initial public offering, two sources familiar with the matter said, in a sign that the deal is moving ahead despite a recent attack on Saudi oil facilities. Aramco has started informing banks about the bookrunners' roles, one of the sources said.
- Bloomberg
Every U.S. Grid Is Getting a Lot Greener, Except the One That Matters
(Bloomberg) -- Every major U.S. electricity grid is getting significantly greener.Except for the massive one serving 65 million Americans.That’s just as problematic as it sounds for the policymakers, power providers and climate activists looking to wean Americans off fossil fuels. While members of other systems move quickly to add solar and wind to their mixes and slash carbon emissions, the network that keeps the lights on from Chicago to Washington has effectively doubled down on natural gas.In the past two years, it has boosted the amount of power generated with gas by 11,131 megawatts. And developers are planning 34,507 megawatts more. Meanwhile, solar and wind account for 1% of the grid’s installed capacity. “How do you manage the gas build-out with more states boosting renewables targets?” asked Toby Shea, a New York-based analyst at Moody’s Investors Service. “There’s already an overbuild of gas.”It’s not that there’s no interest in the renewable trend in the 13 states connected to what’s called the PJM Interconnection. In fact, it has been inundated with applications from renewable developers — 67,000 megawatts of wind and solar in total, from 684 projects.But there’s also this economic reality: PJM crisscrosses a section of the U.S. that’s home to some of the world’s most abundant natural gas reserves. As fast as the cost of wind and solar energy has been dropping, gas in some of these parts is cheaper.The hundreds of cities, counties, states and utilities linked to PJM have different and often competing goals and interests. Some are keen on getting greener, and the continued gas build-out threatens those ambitions.But the rush to make electricity without carbon emissions could put the gas plants in a bind. The potent brew of falling costs for emissions-free renewables could jeopardize facilities that are built to last for decades. They could end up as expensive bit players, filling in only during extreme weather or when the wind or sun aren’t cooperating.By 2035, it will be more expensive to run 90% of the gas plants being proposed in the U.S. than it will be to build new wind and solar farms equipped with storage systems, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit supporter of cleaner energy. It will happen so quickly, the institute says, that plants will become uneconomical before their owners finish paying for them.More than half of U.S. states — including New Jersey, which is in PJM — have required renewables in their electrical blends. This group includes California, which aims to get all of its electricity from emission-free sources by 2045. Even oil-mad Texas is favoring clean power, because wind and solar are so cheap in the Lone Star State. There’s little debate, though, that natural gas is still needed. A Texas heat wave that drove its grid to the brink of blackouts last month was a reminder of how essential the fuel remains. Even in California, gas continues to provide round-the-clock power.“We just can’t turn that gas off today,” said Joseph Fiordaliso, president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. “The infrastructure was built years ago. We have to build the infrastructure for wind.”As a grid, PJM is most focused on providing reliability at the lowest cost, said Stu Bresler, its senior vice president of markets and planning. In other words, just because projects are in the queue — gas-fired, wind or solar — doesn’t mean they’ll come to fruition.There is, however, a $70 billion offshore wind market forming off the Atlantic coast. And while renewable energy is still a fraction of PJM’s grid today, Bresler said, ``It’s still growing, and we're going to continue to see penetrations of solar and wind’’ as some states work to meet their renewable energy goals. He also pointed out that renewable energy makes up a larger share of the actual power generated in PJM -- as much as 5%. It makes sense, considering solar and wind farms have essentially zero fuel costs and can produce cheaper than other resources. The gas-fired bet once seemed pragmatic. Appalachia needed new electricity to replace gigawatts of retiring coal-fired power and nuclear reactors. The cheap shale reserves were right there. Meanwhile, the region isn’t endowed with the sunshine of California or the constant breezes of Texas. ``PJM doesn’t have the advantage geographically when it comes to wind and solar,’’ Bresler said.Private equity responded by pouring in tens of billions of dollars to build a new gas-fired fleet.Several of the nuclear plants are now being subsidized to stay online. As for gas, the threats posed by renewables prompted Devin McDermott, a commodities strategist at Morgan Stanley, to write a recent research note that he titled, “Could natural gas be a bridge to nowhere?”His question takes the premise that has underpinned the boom and flips it on its head: What if grids need new gas plants for only half of their lives? The economics do seem to be changing. In Texas, a gas plant built in this decade went bankrupt in 2017, in part because it struggled to compete with the state’s cheapest power sources: renewables.Among the half-dozen competitive power markets in the U.S., PJM is a big draw for investors, thanks to its size, capacity payments granted through an annual auction and the proximity to shale formations, said Mark Florian, head of the global energy and power infrastructure team at BlackRock Inc.Ravina Advani, head of energy, natural resources and renewables at BNP Paribas SA, estimated that there will be $6 billion of debt financings supporting new gas-fired plants in PJM by mid-2020.Last year’s auction was a boon for developers. More than $8 billion in supplier payments were granted for the year starting in June 2021. But the next auction, originally scheduled for May and then for August, won’t be held until a federal agency decides how to balance the competing interests of states and power generators in PJM’s territory.Backers of gas-fired units are “taking a lot of risk going into this type of market, when it’s already oversupplied and with renewables coming,” said Moody’s Shea. “It’s just a matter of time.” (Updates with comments from senior vice president at PJM starting in 13th paragraph)\--With assistance from Dave Merrill, Christopher Cannon, Hannah Recht and David R Baker.To contact the authors of this story: Brian Eckhouse in New York at beckhouse@bloomberg.netNaureen Malik in New York at nmalik28@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Simon CaseyReg GaleAnne ReifenbergFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
London broker wins sexual discrimination lawsuit against BNP Paribas
A female BNP Paribas broker, whose boss repeatedly brushed aside her questions by saying "not now, Stacey," has won a sexual discrimination and victimisation lawsuit in a London employment tribunal. Stacey Macken, who is suing the London branch of the bank for 4.0 million pounds ($4.9 million) from the London branch of the bank, alleged she was paid less than male peers and subjected to sexist behaviour that included colleagues leaving a witch's hat on her desk.
