Tag: bid (Page 2 of 2)

Fiat Bets On Electric ‘500’ As It Moves On From Renault

July 11, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: A Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sign is seen at the U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan,

TURIN, Italy (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler plans to invest 700 million euros ($788 million) in an electric makeover of its iconic Fiat 500, a top executive said on Thursday, as the automaker seeks to move on from its failed bid to merge with France’s Renault.

FCA’s chief operating officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Pietro Gorlier, announced the investment – the Italian-American company’s biggest single bet on an electric vehicle – at its Mirafiori plant in Turin, northern Italy.

“The plan is confirmed,” Gorlier told reporters, when asked if FCA’s investment in electric vehicle technology would remain unchanged after its $35 billion plan to merge with Renault, an electric car pioneer, collapsed last month.

He said FCA would invest the 700 million euros to build a new production line at Mirafiori to turn out 80,000 of the new 500 BEV, its first battery electric vehicle to be marketed in Europe after a smaller, initial foray in the United States.

Production will start in the second quarter of 2020, with capacity to be expanded later, Gorlier said.

The 500 compact car is one of the group’s most famous models, launched by then Fiat in the late 1950s and quickly becoming a symbol of Italian urban design.

The 700 million euros investment is part of a plan announced last year to invest 5 billion euros in Italy up to 2021.

In abandoning its merger offer for Renault, FCA blamed French politics for scuttling what would have been a landmark deal to create the world’s third-biggest automaker.

($1 = 0.8878 euros)

(By Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Mark Potter)

SpaceX Sues U.S. Air Force Over Rocket-Building Contracts

May 22, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX accused the U.S. Air Force of breaking contracting rules when it awarded money to three rocket makers but passed on Musk’s rival bid, and said the tender should be reopened, according to a court filing unsealed on Wednesday.

In the complaint, Space Exploration Technologies Corp said contracts were awarded for three “unbuilt, unflown” rocket systems that would not be ready to fly under the government’s timeline, “defeating the very objectives” outlined by the Air Force’s program.

SpaceX asked the court to force the Air Force to reopen the $2.3 billion Launch Service Agreements competition and reconsider the Hawthorne, California-based company’s proposal.

The agreement is part of a Department of Defense initiative to assure constant military access to space and curb reliance on Russian-made RD-180 engines.

In the watershed race for dominance in the space industry, new entrants including SpaceX and billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, compete for lucrative contracts for military launch services. The arena has been long dominated by incumbents like Boeing Co-Lockheed Martin Corp’s United Launch Alliance (ULA).

ULA was granted $967 million under the program for developing its heavy-lift Vulcan rocket, Blue Origin won $500 million for its New Glenn rocket, and Northrop Grumman Corp was awarded $791.6 million for its OmegA rocket development.

In separate court filings this week, all three companies argued they should be parties to the lawsuit because of their direct financial interest in its outcome.

A SpaceX spokesperson said the company sued to “ensure a level playing field for competition.”

Representatives for the Air Force and ULA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Blue Origin declined to comment.

SpaceX’s complaint was filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims last Friday under seal, along with a request for the court to keep the proceedings secret under a protective order, citing proprietary information. A redacted complaint was filed Wednesday.

SpaceX alleged the Air Force broke contracting rules on five different counts and asked the court to halt deliveries of the award to the three companies and force a re-evaluation of the proposals.

The Air Force rejected a formal objection from SpaceX in April regarding the terms of the awards.

SpaceX has sued the government over contracts before, most prominently in 2014 to protest a multibillion-dollar, non-compete contract for 36 rocket launches to United Launch Alliance. It dropped the lawsuit after the Air Force agreed to open up the competition.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Orlando, Florida; Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Richard Chang)

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, U.S. September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

Virgin Atlantic In, IAG Out in Race for Thomas Cook Airlines

May 10, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

LONDON (Reuters) – The chief executive of British Airways owner IAG ruled out bidding for Thomas Cook’s airline unit on Friday, a day after rival Virgin Atlantic was reported to be interested in part of the business.

Lufthansa and private equity fund Indigo Partners are seen among the front-runners for Thomas Cook’s airlines after the firm put it up for sale in February, to raise cash after a string of profit warnings in 2018.

IAG had previously been linked with the business, but on Friday, Chief Executive Willie Walsh said that his firm had not made a bid.

“In relation to Thomas Cook… we’re not putting in any bid,” Walsh told reporters.

He added in an analyst call later in the day that the firm was not actively pursuing M&A at the moment but was in a strong position to do so if something attractive came up.

Virgin Atlantic has put in a preliminary offer for the tour operator’s UK long-haul business, Sky News reported on Thursday. Thomas Cook and Virgin Atlantic both declined to comment on the report.

Lufthansa is a bidder for Thomas Cook’s German airline Condor with an option to acquire the remaining airlines of the British travel group, Lufthansa’s CEO said on Tuesday.

Indigo Partners is also a likely suitor for Thomas Cook’s airline business, sources said last week, adding that the deadline for initial bids was on Tuesday earlier this week.

An unexpectedly warm summer in northern Europe last year deterred holiday makers from booking lucrative last minute getaways, resulting in two major profit warnings for the world’s oldest travel company.

Worries about the firm’s ability to pay its debts pushed the yield on its euro-denominated bonds that mature in 2022 to a record high last Friday, and Thomas Cook said later in the day that it was in talks with its lenders about bolstering its finances.

Thomas Cook’s half-year earnings release for the six months to March 31 is due next Thursday.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Keith Weir)

Italy’s Government Extends Alitalia Bid Deadline to June 15

May 3, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio extended a deadline to submit bids for the ailing carrier Alitalia to June 15, a government statement said on Friday.

The decision followed a request from Italy’s state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato, which is one of the companies who have said they are willing to contribute to the rescue plan.

The current deadline had expired at the end of April.

The government is arranging a rescue of the ailing company to avoid mass layoffs and has lined up Ferrovie dello Stato and U.S. carrier Delta as potential investors. But it still needs another investor to contribute to a bid that is estimated to be worth around 1 billion euros (850.3 million pounds).

Flagship carrier Alitalia has been run by administrators since 2017 after workers rejected a previous rescue plan.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; editing by Francesco Guarascio)

IAG Says New Norwegian Bid Unlikely, but ‘Never Say Never’

March 6, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British Airways owner IAG is unlikely to renew its interest in Norwegian Air after ruling out a new bid for the Scandinavian carrier earlier in the year, but “never say never”, IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh said on Wednesday.

“I’d never say never, but I think it’s unlikely,” Walsh told reporters on the sidelines of the Airlines for Europe summit in Brussels.

IAG sold its stake in Norwegian when it ended its interest in the airline, which competes with IAG’s low-cost long-haul Level brand, earlier this year.

“If there was a case that we might have done that (renewed our interest), we probably would have retained the shares in Norwegian,” he added.

Norwegian Air Shuttle; 737MAX-8; Air to Air; K66675

Asked if Level could expand into Scandinavia, Walsh said: “It could, ultimately.”

“There are several significant markets that are underserved from a long-haul point of view and can be best served by a low-cost model,” he said.

He also said that, although he was still not interested in buying A380s, those who wanted to approach him with offers after Airbus said it was scrapping production of the superjumbo should do so.

“I’m not looking to buy A380s. If there are people looking to sell them, they should probably approach us, because we would be one of the few people who might be interested. But I’m not looking to buy,” he said. “Let’s see what happens.”

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)

United Bids for 6 New Slots at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport

February 21, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

CHICAGO (Reuters) – United Continental Holdings is applying for six of 12 new slots open to U.S. carriers at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport in a push to increase daily nonstop flights to the Japanese capital ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games and beyond.

Haneda is located closer to downtown Tokyo than the capital’s other international airport Narita, and flies to more destinations throughout Japan, making it attractive for both business travelers and tourists.

Thursday is the deadline for applications to the U.S. Department of Transportation for the 12 extra Haneda slots that Japan has agreed to allot to U.S. airlines.

The extra slots for U.S. airlines were unlocked after Japan reached an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to open up new flight paths around a nearby U.S. air base, a move needed to boost Haneda movements in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Completion of an aviation agreement between the U.S. and Japanese governments is expected later this year, United said. Flights are expected to begin service by the summer of 2020, once the U.S. Department of Transportation awards the slots.

U.S. carriers American Airlines Group, Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines are also expected to bid.

United wants to fly to Haneda from its hubs at Newark Liberty, Chicago O’Hare, Washington Dulles, Los Angeles International, Houston George Bush and Guam. The flights from Newark, Los Angeles and Guam would be new routes operated by Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft, while the flights from the other three hubs would be shifted from Narita.

Under the proposal, United said it would connect to 37 destinations in Japan from Haneda with its joint venture partner All Nippon Airways (ANA).

Industry analysts say a recent sale of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to ANA may have weighed in the decision to grant more flying rights for U.S. airlines into Haneda, which airlines compete for aggressively due to the airport’s proximity to the Japanese capital, a major center for global commerce.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

A United Airlines plane with the Continental Airlines logo on its tail, sits at a gate at O’Hare International airport in Chicago October 1, 2010. REUTERS/Frank Polich/File Photo

Canada Bids for Mothballed German Prototype Drone

February 20, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German Defence Ministry is evaluating a bid from Canada to buy a high-altitude surveillance drone prototype that has been parked at a German air base for years after the cancellation of the Euro Hawk programme in 2013.

A formal bid for the prototype aircraft, which was demilitarised by the United States in 2017, was received from Canada, a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday without providing further details. The Canadian embassy in Berlin had no immediate comment.

NATO was also considering a bid for the drone, but had not yet submitted it, according to sources familiar with the process.

A sale of the drone would end an embarrassing chapter that raised concerns about the German military’s procurement process and triggered the transfer of former Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere to another cabinet post.

The German government told lawmakers last year that it had spent about 700 million euros ($793.5 million) on the Euro Hawk prototype built by U.S. arms maker Northrop Grumman and the ISIS surveillance system built by Airbus.

Berlin initiated plans in 2000 to buy five Euro Hawk drones based on Northrop’s Global Hawk unmanned system at a cost of about 1.2 billion euros but later cancelled the programme because of cost overruns and problems obtaining certification for use in civilian airspace in Germany.

It had only received the one prototype aircraft that is now being sold.

Berlin is now negotiating with Northrop to buy several MQ-4C Triton drones for delivery after 2025. Northrop last year said the process could take years to complete.

German opposition lawmaker Andrej Hunko, a member of the radical Left party, said the German government had declared the aircraft incapable of flight after the U.S. Air Force removed key systems.

“The airplane has salvage value at best,” he told Reuters.

“Any proceeds from the sale would be a drop in the bucket, compared with the huge amounts spent on the programme.”

For NATO, the drone could provide additional support to the fleet of five high-altitude unmanned Global Hawk planes it agreed to buy from Northrop in 2012 for $1.7 billion, along with transportable ground stations.

Industry officials said the Euro Hawk saga highlighted problems in German military procurement, noting that NATO’s sister aircraft regularly traverse German air space to conduct surveillance missions over the North Sea. They also have no blanket approval for use in German civilian airspace but use case-by-case permissions from air traffic authorities.

It was not immediately clear what steps would be needed to return the German Euro Hawk prototype to flight.

($1 = 0.8821 euros)

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Editing by Riham Alkousaa and David Goodman, William Maclean)

Norwegian Air Owners Approve Discount Share Sale

February 19, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air’s shareholders overwhelmingly endorsed on Tuesday the lossmaking airline’s plan for a deeply discounted cash call to help bolster its finances, Chairman Bjoern Kise said.

Norwegian Air said on Jan. 29 it would raise 3 billion Norwegian crowns ($348 million) in a rights issue, just days after British Airways owner IAG ruled out a bid for the budget carrier.

Norwegian is trying to replicate on transatlantic flights the low-cost model that dominates the short-haul market, exemplified by the likes of Ryanair and easyJet, but is struggling to make the business profitable.

The European airline sector faces overcapacity and high fuel costs, with several operators going out of business, the latest being British-based Flybmi which filed for bankruptcy on Sunday.

In the rights issue, Norwegian’s owners will get the right to buy two new shares at 33 crowns each for every share they own, compared with Monday’s closing price of 93 crowns.

Holders of more than 99 percent of Norwegian’s equity backed the proposal at a meeting on Tuesday, company officials said.

By selling new shares far below the market price, Norwegian will boost the value of each of the purchasing rights, which can be bought and sold.

This in turn allows Norwegian Air Chief Executive Bjoern Kjos and his business partner, the group’s chairman, to sell some of their subscription rights and reinvest the proceeds in new shares, thus limiting the dilution of their joint stake which stands at 24.66 percent.

Norwegian said last month that billionaire investor John Fredriksen was among those who had agreed to take part in the issue.

($1 = 8.6295 Norwegian crowns)

(By Terje Solsvik, Editing by Nerijus Adomaitis and David Holmes)

IAG Rules Out New Bid for Norwegian Air

January 24, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) – British Airways owner IAG (ICAG.L) said on Thursday it would not make a new bid for Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) and would sell its remaining stake in the budget airline, sending Norwegian’s shares sharply lower.

Shares in Norwegian, which has been under pressure over the past 18 months to control costs and shore up its balance sheet, dropped as much as 26 percent after IAG’s statement to hit their lowest since November 2012.

“International Airlines Group (IAG) confirms that it does not intend to make an offer for Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA and that, in due course, it will be selling its 3.93 percent shareholding in Norwegian,” IAG said in a statement.

IAG’s shares turned positive after its statement, and were up 1.5 percent at 1305 GMT.

Norwegian, which has shaken up long-haul rivals by offering cut-price transatlantic fares, said in May it had received two conditional proposals for a full takeover from IAG, but had rejected them because they undervalued the company.

IAG CEO Willie Walsh last year ruled out launching a hostile takeover approach for Norwegian, and also said he wouldn’t get drawn into a bidding war. In addition to British Airways, IAG also owns Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus.

A spokeswoman for IAG declined to give further details on the decision not to pursue Norwegian further, but said “we wish Norwegian every success in the future”.

NO MARGIN OF ERROR

“Norwegian’s plans and strategy remain unchanged. The company’s goal is to continue building a sustainable business to the benefit of its customers, employees and shareholders,” Chairman Bjoern Kise said in a statement.

Norwegian has quickly built its long-haul route network, and in October overtook IAG’s British Airways as the biggest non-U.S. airline on transatlantic routes to and from the New York area.

But the Nordic carrier has had to take action to improve its financial position in recent months. In December, it announced a $230 million cost savings programme and refinanced one Boeing (BA.N) 787 Dreamliner as part of a series of steps it said would generate more than $30 million in liquidity.

“Norwegian’s finances are already under pressure, and a share sale (by IAG) will put pressure on the stock, making it hard for them to raise money,” analyst Per Hansen of brokerage Nordnet said in a note to clients.

“They no longer have any margin of error. If they were to need cash, and no alternative buyers emerge, the stock price could end up looking like a jetliner running out of fuel.”

(Reporting by Alistair Smout in London and Terje Solsvik in Oslo, additional reporting by Helen Reid in London and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen, Editing by Paul Sandle and Mark Potter)

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