Germany looking into Rosneft Germany expropriation
Cracking the Vault: Your daily roundup on all things finance
Cracking the Vault is your daily news roundup with a focus on Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
Let’s jump in!
Continental considering mass layoffs; Siemens investors ask for further divestments; Germany looking into Rosneft Germany expropriation; criminal charges filed against Signa’s Rene Benko; Zurich to run a pilot project teaching climate-neutral behavior; and Lugano city issued another digital bond.
Headline recap
Supplier Continental stepping up cost-cutting measures considering mass layoffs (FM)
Siemens investors call for further unbundling of the group by cutting investments at Siemens Energy and Siemens Healthineers (REU)
German government examining expropriation of Rosneft Germany (FM)
German patent court rules against Intel over some of its chips (FT)
Authorities filing criminal charges against Signa’s Rene Benko (NZZ)
Commercial real estate woes hit German banks (WSJ)
Ford and IG Metall agreed to cut 3,500 jobs in a socially responsible manner by 2025 (HB)
Verdi threatening with longer strikes at Lufthansa (FM)
Germany’s industrial production falls for seventh-straight month (WSJ)
Zurich city to test how population can be educated to behave in a climate-neutral way (NZZ)
City of Lugano issues another CHF100m blockchain-based bond (FN)
Earnings
Deutsche Börse Q4 profit up 13%, in line with expectations (REU)
Siemens Energy swung to profit in first fiscal quarter on the back of surging orders and one-off gain from selling stake in Indian affiliate (CNBC)
Voestalpine shares drop 5.3% after results signal weakened underlying earnings (MW)
Industrial supplier Dätwyler's sales stagnate and profits fall (FuW)
Meat processor Bell impressing with consistency in difficult consumer environment (FuW)
TeamViewer delivers double-digit topline growth, strong margin, and 81% basic EPS increase (EQS)
Glarner Kantonalbank revenues growing 8.7% driven by trading business up 80% (FN)
Upcoming:
Today: Siemens, Swisscom
Friday: EMS-Chemie
Transaction update
M&A
Amundi acquiring Zurich-based private markets specialist Alpha Associates for €350m (FT)
Warburg Pincus-backed Duetto snaps up Micerate, a German provider of dynamic pricing and online booking tools for meetings and event spaces (PEH)
Permira picked three banks to sell Best Secret, a German fashion retail club that could be valued at more than €4bn (BBG)
Bruker acquiring Spectral Instruments Imaging, the preclinical in-vivo optical imaging systems provider (BRK)
Holcim acquired ZinCo, a green roofing systems manufacturer based in Germany (HLC)
Ufenau-backed Kanalservice Group acquiring Defluo (UK) and Maxicleaning (Belgium) (UCP)
IPO
Triton successful with second IPO attempt of Renk at a valuation of €1.8bn - stocks jump 12% on trading debut (FM)
Fundraising & VC
Wheely, founded by Russian-Swiss entrepreneur, launches in Dubai to take on Uber-owned Careem (CNBC)
Dude Chem, a Berlin-based startup specializing in green chemistry, received €6.5m in seed financing (SB)
Podcast picks
The Day the Music Died on TikTok (WSJ - The Journal)
Libya’s $5 Billion Fuel-Smuggling Trade Has a Russia Problem (Bloomberg - Big Take)