News In Brief... John Deere expands
The first major expansion in 30 years at the John Deere Horicon Works factory in Horicon, Wisconsin, USA has resulted in a new 388,000ft2
facility for
manufacturing the company's popular Gator utility vehicles. The expansion has added about eighty new jobs - around seventy in the assembly area and ten new salary positions - bringing the total workforce to 1100 employees during the peak season.
Government ‘remains unconvinced’
The UK government has poured cold water on the possibility of allowing safe standing areas within Premier League football grounds, claiming that it “remains unconvinced” of its safety credentials.
In the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) first Sporting Future annual report, it was claimed that, despite “growing speculation” that safe standing could be introduced, government was unlikely to change policy on this in the near future.
“Since a rail seating section was installed at Celtic Park, there has been growing speculation that such accommodation could be introduced into Premier League and Championship football grounds,” said the report.
“Government remains unconvinced by the case put forward for re-introducing standing accommodation at football grounds covered by the all-seater requirement.”
However, the report stipulated that the DCMS would “continue to monitor how it is working at Celtic”.
Qatar reveals £399m per week spending for 2022 World Cup
The government of Qatar is spending as much as £399m a week on infrastructure ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to the emirate’s finance minister.
Ali Sharif El-Emadi said that the weekly investment “will carry on for the next three to four years to achieve our goal and objective of really getting the country ready for 2022.”
8 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017
Monsanto and Bayer deal may be in doubt
European regulatory authorities blamed for stalling three major mergers
In December, Missouri-based agrochemical company Monsanto Company agreed to be acquired by German chemical company Bayer for $66 billion, but the deal still needs regulatory approval in the US.
Whilst experts are hopeful that US regulators will approve the deal, European regulatory authorities are expected to block the deal. The regulatory authorities in the EU are strict and protectionist. Take for instance the $140 billion merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont, which is still in the doldrums amid investigations by EU competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager. Brussels has threatened to block the deal because it thinks it would limit innovation in the market.
In December, the European authorities published a 700-page statement of objections on the Dow Chemical and DuPont deal, asking the companies to either
amend their deal or respond with counter-arguments. A verdict about the deal is expected in April of this year. Analysts think that the Monsanto - Bayer deal is fated to be cut down by the EU authorities, and Monsanto’s stock will slide as a result.
Similarly, European Union antitrust regulators are extremely hostile towards ChemChina’s proposed acquisition of Swiss pesticides and seeds company Syngenta.
In October, state-owned ChemChina entered a deal to acquire Syngenta for $43 billion. In August, The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US approved the ChemChina-Syngenta deal. But there is no positive news from the EU. Margrethe Vestager said, in October, that she had no plans to meet with the executives of the companies.
Last month, the European Commission extended the
Sweet Chestnuts under threat?
Be on the lookout: Serious disease of sweet chestnut trees hits Devon
Chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) is a fungus that infects and kills chestnut trees (Castanea species). It was responsible for killing most of North America’s sweet chestnut trees (Castanea dentata) in the 19th and 20th centuries when it was accidentally introduced from Asia.
It has also now become widespread across the European mainland since its introduction in the 1930s. In Europe, it mostly attacks sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa).
In the UK, this disease was reported twice in 2011 and once in 2016 on imported sweet chestnut trees. Action was taken in these instances to remove and burn the infected plants and no further infections were found. Unfortunately, it has recently been discovered once again, this time at two sites near Exeter in Devon.
The infected trees were destroyed and a survey for further signs of the disease within 1km of the site was conducted. Further targeted surveys of sweet chestnut trees within 5km of the infection are now underway. Inspections of other plants supplied by the same nursery are also being conducted.
A ban on the import of sweet chestnut trees to the UK has been in place since 2013 due to our status as a protected zone for this disease.
Unfortunately it appears that, despite this ban, a small number of nurseries in the Netherlands have supplied UK nurseries with sweet chestnut trees. Although this has not been linked in any way to this latest outbreak, an investigation is underway by Plant Health authorities in both the UK and the Netherlands to prevent future breaches of the ban.
In addition to this disease, a new pest was introduced in 2015 that also attacks sweet chestnut, the oriental chestnut gall wasp (Dryocosmus kuriphilus). This pest was first discovered in Kent and has since spread to several places in London and South-East England. The combination of this pest and disease on sweet chestnut trees has the potential to be devastating in areas of the UK where sweet chestnut is cultivated for nut production, timber and coppice.
The Plant Health authorities are asking everyone to be vigilant and check any sweet chestnut trees in their local area. Symptoms of the disease can be found on the Observatree website.
If you are concerned about any trees, you should report it via the Forestry Commission’s Tree Alert webpage -
www.forestry.gov.uk/treealert
expected decision date regarding the merger by ten days, saying that ChemChina and Syngenta had not addressed the commission’s concerns over the deal yet.
All of this points to a murky future for the Monsanto and Bayer merger. The European Commission is set to give three important verdicts this year, and analysts think there is little chance authorities will be flexible. It’s important to note that five of the largest agricultural technology companies in the world are asking to merge into three companies, which will have a combined market value of $300 billion.
If Monsanto’s acquisition gets blocked, its stock price may drop below $100. Analysts think Monsanto’s market cap of over $47 billion isn’t justified, unless selling prices recover within the industry and product platforms prove their value.
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