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Energy & Utilities | Consumer Products & Retail | Automotive | Banking | Insurance 

Energy & Utilities

 

Storage in 2016: Utility-scale, long-duration markets take the lead

 

15 was a banner year for energy storage. New entrants to the utility storage market like Tesla attracted national attention to the sector, and companies deployed more batteries and other storage technologies than ever before. A recent report from GTM Research estimated that storage installations will hit 192 MW this year, triple the amount of storage put in place in 2014. Some of the largest gains came from the behind-the-meter market, which grew by a factor of 16 in 2015, but in 2016 expect to see front-of-the-meter applications continue to make up the lion's share of new deployments. “The behind-the-meter market will continue to take a back seat until 2020,” Brett Simon, energy storage analyst at GTM Research, said. In the near term, California will continue to dominate the market for energy storage on the strength of AB 2514, the landmark legislation that requires the state’s investor owned utilities to procure 1.3 GW of energy storage by 2020. It is the highest procurement target for energy storage in the world, and it will increase the state’s energy storage capacity sixfold. One of those utilities, Southern California Edison, has signed contracts for a total of 263 MW of storage resources, including a contract for a 100-MW storage facility being installed by AES Corp. in Long Beach. The market is shifting from a frequency regulation market to a market largely dominated by California where the value proposition is built around capacity value or deferral. Hawaii and New York are frequently mentioned by analysts as two of the up and coming markets for energy storage, especially in the next year.

 

Nevada regulators approve new net metering policy, creates separate rate class for solar users

 

The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) unanimously approved a new solar net metering policy that decreases the rate paid to rooftop solar customers for the power they export to the grid from the retail rate of the electricity to the wholesale rate. The change would retroactively apply to all solar customers. The policy creates a seperate rate class for all small commerical and residential net metering customers and a time-of-use pricing option for all. It would also include an increase in fixed charges alongside a decrease in the volumetric commodity charge designed to recoup costs from net metering customers. Nevada's utility regulators unanimously approved new regulations for small commerical and residential net metering customers, which solar advocates say will significantly decrease the resource's deployment in the state. At least two major solar developers have pulled installation operations or threaten to do so if the proposed draft order was approved. Nevada's solar market has grown quickly in recent years, setting off a fierce debate between the state's major utility NV Energy and solar advocates as the rapid expansion of solar installations maxed out the state's 235 MW net metering cap earlier this summer. The new net metering policies are retroactive, which means they apply to all net metering customers regardless of when they installed their PV systems. Solar advocates decried that decision and the move to make it retroactive, saying it ignores the needs of the solar industry.

 

New England Utilities Spending Millions On Storm Preparation

 

rom trimming trees to building new transmission lines and deploying the latest technology, utilities throughout the Northeast say they're working to protect their infrastructure against the growing threat of severe storms and cyberattacks. National Grid said it's investing more than $2.5 billion annually in infrastructure across Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut to ensure reliability during storms. Emera Maine spent about $200 million on two projects in the past decade, building new transmission lines and substations. United Illuminating Co. plans to spend $100 million over eight years trimming and removing trees under its lines in Connecticut. It's studying potentially raising or relocating coastal substations prone to flooding, in response to Tropical Storm Irene, which hit the Northeast in 2011, and Sandy, which struck 14 months later. Most utilities appear to be investing to guard against cyberattacks, but company officials would speak only generally about them. Liberty Utilities in New Hampshire said it improved its remote communications systems, computer systems and physical security. Utilities are raising rates to pay for infrastructure improvements. Central Maine Power Co. said the changes benefit customers, so the costs get passed on.

 

Energy meters: GE Grid Solutions’ Electricity Meters Business acquired

 

Aclara Technologies LLC (“Aclara”), a supplier of smart infrastructure technologies to electric, water and gas utilities globally, announced that the acquisition of the electricity meters business currently operating within GE Energy Management’s Grid Solutions subdivision (“GE Meters”) has been completed. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition includes GE Meters’ global headquarters in Somersworth, New Hampshire, as well as facilities in Chicago, Illinois and Bilbao, Spain. It also includes more than 300 employees in these locations as well as other employees located in North and South America, Asia and United Kingdom. As part of the transaction, Aclara has also acquired a significant intellectual property portfolio of active patents and patent applications, ensuring a seamless transition for GE Meters’ customers. GE Meters serves global customers with a range of residential, commercial and industrial meter technology. Aclara’s goal is to offer electric utilities a comprehensive portfolio of smart infrastructure solutions that provide superior performance and operational efficiencies. Smart infrastructure solutions magnify the benefits of networks that perform automated metering reading by incorporating a range of sensors, communications, and analytic technologies that let utilities monitor their distribution networks, optimize operations, respond to issues quickly, and preempt problems.

Consumer Products & Retail

 

Hain Celestial Announces Accretive Strategic Acquisition

 

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., an organic and natural products company with operations in North America, Europe and India providing consumers with A Healthier Way of Life™, announce the acquisition by Hain Celestial United Kingdom, through one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, of Orchard House Foods Limited ("Orchard House"), a company in prepared fruit, juices, fruit desserts and ingredients with facilities in Corby and Gateshead in the United Kingdom. Orchard House supplies retailers, on-the-go food outlets, food service providers and manufacturers in the United Kingdom.

 

Starbucks Launches E-Commerce Site On Alibaba's Tmall

 

Starbucks has launched an e-commerce site on Alibaba's online retail site Tmall, the coffee giant said Sunday, extending its focus on digital purchases and international sales. The new site sells Starbucks cards, coffee vouchers and "unique and specially designed e-cards," Starbucks said in a statement. "With the rapid development of e-commerce, more and more global renowned brands are partnering with Tmall to bring to their customers a seamless premium experience, anywhere, anytime," Jie Jing, vice president of Alibaba, said in the statement. Starbucks' Tmall store adds to the chain's rewards program and mobile app, which includes its Mobile Order & Pay system, as ways to engage and retain coffee drinkers who increasingly pay for items online or through their phones.

 

Dwell furnishes continuing expansion

 

Dwell’s high street comeback is official. Just two years since being on the brink of collapse, from which it was saved last year when sofa specialist DFS acquired it, Dwell is continuing the second phase of its nationwide expansion. Over the Boxing Day weekend the homewares retailer will open a new 5,500 sq ft concept store in Oxford, part of a strategy that will result in a 40% footprint increase by next year. When DFS bought Dwell out of administration, Chief Exec Ian Filby said at the time that Dwell was a modernist brand and would help bring the “younger, more urban consumers” to DFS, customers that had not previously been targeted.

Automotive

 

VW drops ‘Das Auto’ and motors back to Volkswagen

 

Volkswagen’s response to its emissions crisis has been slow and considered – or just slow, depending on your point of view. It swapped CEOS in an unseemly rush, ousting Martin Winterkorn and replacing him with Matthias Mueller from its Porsche business but then, mostly, kept schtum. Media questions were fielded by a battery of lawyers as well as PR people, allowing all sorts of fanciful estimates of the cost to VW of the crisis to go unquestioned. But news emerged (or seemed to emerge) that the consequences for the company of installing emissions cheating software in many of its cars might not be as bad as first thought; taking an optimistic view of the likely activities of US class action lawyers and prosecutors. Das Auto’ is deemed too arrogant, running, as it did, under the VW logo with nary a mention of ‘Volkswagen,’ which, you may, recall, means ‘people’s car.’ We won’t go into the provenance of that. VW, it’s true, has changed from being the classic challenger brand, famously encapsulated in the DDB campaigns of the 1960s (below), to being one of the two biggest car manufacturers in the world (alongside Toyota which also specialises in recalls these days); taking on German rivals BMW and Mercedes with its top of the range VW models and Audi. It’s also acquired Porsche, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini among others.

 

BMW will go for that 'wow' factor with its 9 Series GT and i6 EV sedan in 2020

 

BMW will continue its new model onslaught according to the latest reports from Automobile Magazine. The first new vehicle in question will be a 9 Series four-door coupe based on the long-wheelbase version of the 7 Series. First previewed by the Vision Luxury Concept that debuted at the Beijing Motor Show, the production 9 Series will be a tether between Rolls Royce and BMW. Distinctly the new flagship, the 9 Series will be dramatically styled and priced somewhere between the 7 Series and Rolls Royce Ghost. Reportedly, the 9 Series will go on sale in early 2020 with a four-seater configuration and engine options ranging from a twin-turbocharged V8 to a six-cylinder hybrid. There are also rumors of a V12-powered version to either wear the 960i badge or full-on M9 moniker. This range-topping variant could deliver as much as 650 horsepower. In related news, Rolls Royce is apparently developing an electric powertrain for its next-generation Phantom. That same mill could slot into the 9 Series further into the 2020’s. As for BMW’s growing i Series range, a rumored electric sedan called the i6 (the i5 name would be reserved for an electric crossover) could debut in mid-2020. Similar in size to the BMW 3 Series, the i6 would be built on a “new ‘flat-floor’ component set” developed exclusively for EVs. The i6 would have a carbon fiber construction similar to the i3 and i8.

 

Mazda names new North American chief

 

Mazda has announced today the appointment of a new president and CEO of its North American operations. Jim O'Sullivan, who has been running the office for 13 years, is now leaving the company. In his place the head office has appointed veteran manager Masahiro Moro, and as you can see, he could not be more thrilled with the appointment. A 55-year-old native of Kyoto, Moro has been with Mazda since 1983. One of the company's managing executive officers, Moro currently heads up its global sales and marketing division. He also previously served as vice president of marketing and of product planning for Mazda Motor Europe, and as director of the company's Australian operations. He'll now be relocating with his wife and family to Southern California to take over the North American division based out of Irvine, effective January 1.

Banking

 

Barclays Sells $744 Million of U.K. Private-Equity Loans to Ares

 

Barclays Plc’s sold 500 million pounds ($744 million) of private-equity-backed U.K. leveraged loans to Ares Management LP, as the British lender speeds up sales of risky assets to boost profitability. Barclays and asset manager Ares also announced a partnership to provide financing to junk-rated U.K. mid-cap companies, according to a statement Monday. The deal relates to the Barclays’s corporate bank and doesn’t affect its securities unit. Barclays Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley, 58, has accelerated disposals of assets, such as leveraged loans that have high capital requirements, as he moves to restore profit growth at the U.K.’s second-largest lender. The deal follows a similar private-equity financing arrangement Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc made earlier this month with AIG Asset Management (Europe) Ltd., Hermes Investment Management and M&G Investments.

 

Standard Chartered Announces Additional Changes to Board

 

Standard Chartered said that it would make additional changes to its board of directors, with another director following several others out the door by the end of January. The Asia-focused bank, which is based in London, announced in February that the longstanding directors Ruth Markland and Paul Skinner would leave at the end of this year, which the bank confirmed on Monday. The bank also said at the time that it would shrink its board to 14 directors and that another director, Oliver Stocken, was leaving. On Monday, the lender said that Lars H. Thunell, who has been a director since 2012, would also depart at the end of next month.The bank said that Mr. Thunell had a number of other commitments and would be focusing more on his role as chairman of African Risk Capacity Insurance.

 

Qatar's QNB acquires National Bank of Greece's stake in Finansbank

 

Qatar National Bank SAQ , the Gulf Arab region’s largest bank, reached an agreement with National Bank of Greece to acquire the latter’s entire 99.81 percent stake in Turkey's Finansbank AS for 2.7 billion euros ($2.95 billion), the two banks said on Tuesday. National Bank planned the sale of its Turkish unit to plug a capital shortfall identified in European Central Bank (ECB) stress tests in October. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is expected to be complete in the first half of 2016, Qatar National Bank said. National Bank said that Qatar National Bank would also pay Finansbank’s $910 million debt to the Greek lender.

Insurance

 

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co buys retail insurance broker The Hawk Agency

 

US-based insurance brokerage and risk management services firm Arthur J. Gallagher & Co (AJG) has acquired Illinois-based The Hawk Agency. Based in Peoria, Hawk is a retail insurance broker that provides commercial property/casualty, employee benefits, risk management consulting and personal lines insurance services to its clients across the Midwest. The broker is also specialized in offering insurance coverages for the moving and storage industry. Under the leadership of Gallagher's Midwest region retail property/casualty brokerage operation head Michael Pesch, Hawk's Thomas Fliege and his associates will continue to operate in their current location. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. chairman, president and CEO J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr. said: "The Hawk team is well known for their depth of experience and outstanding client service. "Their geographic footprint and niche expertise will help expand our central Illinois presence and will be a terrific addition to our Midwest region." Last week, AJG acquired Illinois-based Brown Hobbs & McMurray Insurance (BHM) and Georgia-based Managed Healthcare Solutions (MHS). BHM is a retail insurance broker that offers commercial property/casualty, employee benefits, risk management consulting and personal lines insurance services to its customers in the Midwest.

 

Fairfax to buy majority stake in Eurolife for EUR316m

 

Fairfax Financial Holdings has signed an agreement to acquire 80% stake in Eurolife ERB Insurance Group Holdings from Eurobank Ergasias, for around €316m. Eurolife provides life and non-life insurance products, in addition to brokerage services in Greece and Romania. It is claimed to be the third largest insurer in Greece, and has around €241m gross written premiums by September this year. Eurolife and its subsidiaries will continue to operate under the leadership of current CEO Alexander Sarrigeorgiou, even after closing of the deal. Fairfax chairman and CEO Prem Watsa said: "We are absolutely thrilled to have Eurolife join the Fairfax group. "Eurolife has an excellent long-term track record in the Greek insurance sector, and we look forward to working with the Eurolife team and our partners at Eurobank to further develop the Eurolife business over the long-term." The acquisition allowed Fairfax to leverage its expertise in the US and international insurance and reinsurance markets, as well as in the expansion of its group risk portfolio.

 

AIG Life joins UnderwriteMe service

 

AIG Life have confirmed that they will be joining the UnderwriteMe comparison service in 2016. The UnderwriteMe comparison service allows intermediaries to compare “buy now” and estimated prices and complete applications using one easy process, without ever leaving the UnderwriteMe site – seeing the impact of underwriting from all partner insurers on premiums, on one simple comparison screen in real time. The comparison service pilot started in August with the UK’s largest Protection advice firm, LifeSearch, and independent mortgage brokers, London and Country Mortgages, confirmed last year that they would be using UnderwriteMe in Q1. Cavendish Online will launch the first direct to consumer site powered by UnderwriteMe technology early in 2016. The comparison service is due to be on general release to directly authorised intermediaries in Q1 of 2016, with AIG Life scheduled to be included in Q2.