Author: Graham Foster

German chemist Otto Bayer didn’t know what to do with polyurethane foam when he invented it in 1937. Today the chemical is omnipresent in family home equipment and vehicles, and is on the coronary heart of Abu Dhabi state oil group Adnoc’s effort to seal Europe’s greatest takeover deal this 12 months. The goal firm, Covestro, is a jewel of German trade. Spun out of pharmaceuticals-to-chemicals conglomerate Bayer in 2015, its Leverkusen headquarters sit in the economic heartland of North Rhine-Westphalia — a state brimming with potential clients for its merchandise.But instances are not so good as they as soon as…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest totally freeAnglo American has launched the first stage in its platinum divestment, making ready to promote 5 per cent of Anglo American Platinum, forward of a full demerger of the unit. The London-listed mining group is present process a radical restructuring after defending itself from BHP’s £39bn takeover try earlier this 12 months, and can promote or spin out its coal enterprise, diamond mines, nickel belongings and platinum as half of that plan. Anglo is underneath stress to show its technique can ship worth for shareholders, after it rejected BHP’s all-share supply in May. The sale,…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest totally freeGlencore’s billionaire ex-head of oil and 5 different former executives appeared in a London court for the primary time to face corruption charges over the UK-listed commodity dealer’s enterprise in Africa.Alex Beard, 57, who turned a billionaire when Glencore listed in 2011, was in the dock at Westminster magistrates’ court on Tuesday alongside former colleagues Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga, Martin Wakefield and David Perez after the UK Serious Fraud Office introduced the charges final month.The listening to was the primary time charges in opposition to Perez, 53, have been made public. The UK’s…

It is an enormous day in the US, the place Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will face off in a presidential debate that would set the tone for the ultimate eight weeks of the marketing campaign. Energy and local weather insurance policies are unlikely to get high billing, regardless of Trump’s makes an attempt to paint Harris as a coverage “flip-flopper” due to her U-turn over a fracking ban, in accordance to my Financial Times colleagues, who’ve written this useful information. But energy executives the world over are certain to tune in to see if they will get any extra…

As Anglo American prepares to obtain the primary spherical of bids for its coal property this week, the miner shall be braced for the presents to be affected by the devastating fire at one of many flagship mines.The coal sale shall be a vital take a look at of Anglo’s means to ship on its formidable disposal programme launched after it spurned BHP’s £39bn unsolicited takeover try earlier this yr.The sale, which incorporates 5 coking coal mines in Queensland, Australia, was extensively anticipated to fetch between $4bn and $5bn. However a fire in June at Grosvenor, its largest mine, has…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest without costNorthvolt will cut a lot of jobs and sell or search companions for its energy storage and supplies companies as Europe’s main battery hope goals to survive by refocusing on its struggling first gigafactory in northern Sweden.The Swedish producer, which has raised extra capital at $15bn than every other unlisted European start-up, has been closely delayed by issues at its manufacturing facility just under the Arctic Circle in addition to affected by European carmakers slowing their plans to transfer to electrical autos.Northvolt mentioned on Monday that it will pause its cathode lively materials manufacturing, promoting…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest without spending a dimeRead the professors’ enterprise school-style case research earlier than contemplating the points raised in the field at the finish. At the finish of final yr, Dan Marokane grew to become the twelfth chief government of Eskom in the previous decade alone. He returned to the embattled South African state-owned utility monopoly, which he had left in 2015, to deal with the tensions between fixing the firm to make sure energy safety in South Africa and assembly its “just energy transition” commitments to decrease emissions.At COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, in…

A Shanghai start-up is in search of to lift $500mn to develop cheaper next-generation nuclear fusion expertise, as China races with the west to crack the downside of commercialising the groundbreaking clear energy.Nuclear fusion — the place hydrogen isotopes fuse after being heated to excessive temperatures, releasing energy — has for a long time held the potential to supply bountiful emissions-free electrical energy with no long-lived radioactive nuclear waste.Energy Singularity, based in 2021, has been creating a small-scale tokamak, a machine anticipated to be at the coronary heart of fusion energy crops. The Chinese start-up is one of at least…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest at no costHarbour Energy’s boss has hit out at the UK’s transfer to boost windfall taxes on oil and gas producers, warning it had dealt an extra blow to the nation’s attractiveness to buyers in a sector she stated would stay important to the economic system for many years to come back.Linda Cook, a critic of the UK’s energy earnings levy when it was launched by then chancellor Rishi Sunak in 2022, has largely averted speaking in regards to the problem in current months, whilst trade friends attacked the Labour authorities for elevating it and in…

The 50-metre-high metal boiler partitions within the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station are accustomed to temperatures of 1,000 levels centigrade as pulverised coal is pumped in from 36 burners. “It’s a fireball in here when it’s running,” mentioned plant supervisor Peter O’Grady, standing contained in the 30-metre-long cavern of the plant within the East Midlands. But at present the partitions are chilly. The plant is previous its heyday, working much less of the time as it’s squeezed out by gas-fired power stations, and wind and photo voltaic panels because the UK pushes to cut back its carbon dioxide emissions. At the end of…