Reuters (June 24)
“A scramble for lithium” is creating “new risks for electric-car makers. Breathtaking prices are prompting the industry to find new ways to secure the crucial battery ingredient,” often through “direct contracts with miners and refiners” with “options to buy 100% or more of a project’s planned production capacity.” Although “vertical integration is tempting when times are tough,” it can leave buyers overstretched and “dealmaking under duress makes miscalculations more likely.”
Tags: Battery, Breathtaking, Buyers, Capacity, Dealmaking, Duress, EVs, Lithium, Miners, Overstretched, Prices, Production, Refiners, Risks, Scramble, Vertical integration
The Economist (September 29)
“A scramble to replace LIBOR is under way” before it is phased out permanently in 2021. Though scandals have revealed LIBOR’s numerous inadequacies, “a staggering $260trn-worth of financial products, from interest-rate swaps to retail mortgages,” are estimated to be priced using LIBOR and many of the contracts lack fallback clauses. “Creating and then switching to truly market-based alternatives is an almighty task.”
Tags: Contracts, Fallback clauses, Financial products, Inadequacies, Interest-rate swaps, LIBOR, Market-based alternatives, Retail mortgages, Scandals, Scramble, Staggering
