Another Luxottica exec leaves following dispute
Luxottica Group lost its second chief executive in little more than a month following a dispute about appointments to the board, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Enrico Cavatorta will leave the world’s largest eyewear company after a debate over the appointment of a person close to Luxottica’s founding family to the board, said the person, who declined to be identified as the matter is confidential.
The shares fell as much as 10 percent in Milan. Cavatorta’s departure follows last month’s resignation of Andrea Guerra, who led Luxottica for a decade.
U.S. GAS PRICES HIT LOWEST POINT IN 11 MONTHS
The average price of regular gasoline at U.S. pumps slid to the lowest level in more than 10 months, dropping 11.64 cents in the last three weeks, to $3.2577 a gallon, according to Lundberg Survey.
Prices are 12.52 cents lower than a year ago, according to the survey, which is based on information obtained at about 2,500 filling stations by the Camarillo, Calif.-based company.
The average is the lowest since Nov. 22, and pump prices may fall by a 10 cents or more in the next few days if crude oil prices remain near current lows, according to Trilby Lundberg, the president of Lundberg Survey.
GAS NATURAL OF SPAIN BIDS FOR CHILEAN UTILITY
Gas Natural of Spain said it will offer $3.3 billion to acquire Compania General de Electricidad, Chile’s largest electricity distributor, to expand its position in Latin America.
The company said in a regulatory filing that it was offering $7.93 a share. As part of the offer, it said that shareholders that control 54.19 percent of the company had already agreed to sell their holdings at that price.
Including debt, Gas Natural, which is based in Barcelona, said the value of the deal would be about ¤6 billion, making the transaction its biggest foreign acquisition and the largest purchase of a utility in Latin America.
Compania General de Electricidad has more than 21/ million customers and distributes electricity to 40 percent of Chile, Gas Natural said in a statement. With the acquisition, the company said, it would be in the energy business in seven of the nine largest cities in Latin America, including Bogota; Buenos Aires; Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile.
PRICIEST LONDON PROPERTIES LOSE VALUE
Britain’s most expensive homes got cheaper this year as more central London mansions and super-prime apartments sported “for sale” signs.
The average value of homes sold for at least £10 million ($16 million) in London’s most expensive neighborhoods was £2,757 a square foot in the first eight months, according to broker Huntly Hooper Ltd.
That was 7.4 percent lower than the record of £2,978 set in 2013. Prices for other homes in the area known as prime central London increased.
PERSHING SQUARE FALLS 10% IN FIRST DAY OF IPO
Pershing Square Holdings, one of the funds managed by activist investor Bill Ackman, fell as much as 10.8 percent in its trading debut on Euronext Amsterdam.
The shares declined to as low as $22.30 after being priced at $25 in an initial public offering. Pershing Square Capital Management, with about $14 billion under management, is following hedge funds including Brevan Howard Asset Management and Third Point in selling shares of individual funds.
Ackman, 48, who has called the offering “a seminal event in the history of the firm,” has sought to raise permanent, public capital since at least 2011 to shield his firm against future financial crises, after investors withdrew about 27 percent of his New York-based firm’s funds during the last global turmoil.
NM Rothschild & Sons, the world’s largest familyowned financial advisory firm, is seeking partners in Africa’s largest economies to help it seize opportunities as growth accelerates.
Rothschild does not intend to have African offices outside of Johannesburg, “so we either have to work from a distance and fly in and out or have partners — we plan to do both,” Martin Kingston, its deputy executive chairman in South Africa, said.
“There is a huge amount of money being mobilized for Africa and there’s going to be significant opportunities to provide support and advice,” Kingston said. The industries Rothschild is focusing on include financial services — both banks and insurers — infrastructure, telecommunications, consumer and retail, plus natural resources.
ALSTOM TO DEVELOP NEW WIND-TURBINE TECH Alstom,
DCNS
ROTHSCHILD ENLISTS PARTNERS IN AFRICA
a French power-plant maker, and engineering company agreed to work together to develop and bring to market floating wind-turbine technology.
The companies plan to produce an initial 6-megawatt floating turbine by 2017 prior to installing pilot and then commercial facilities, they said Monday in a joint statement.
The French Agency for Environment and Energy Management, known as Ademe, will support the project with ¤6 million ($8 million), it said.