Commentariat

FT European Comment

The process of transforming EADS into a normal company has been slow, arduous and politically fraught. It took a vicious internal power struggle to persuade the core French and German shareholders – Daimler and Lagadère – with their governments to agree a couple of years ago to streamline the company’s cumbersome dual-headed top management and governance structure

Pressures on European carmakers mounting on several fronts

Pressures on European carmakers mounting on several fronts

Sticking to your knitting and doing things better clearly brings far less risk in the present uncertain climate than playing into unknown territories to satisfy illusions of grandeur. After all, boring is beautiful in business these days

Sticking to your knitting and doing things better clearly brings far less risk in the present uncertain climate than playing into unknown territories to satisfy illusions of grandeur. After all, boring is beautiful in business these days

The German government seems to be having considerable difficulties in getting its €80bn ($105bn) bank recapitalisation scheme off the ground. On the other side of the Rhine, the French administration has faced no such problems in persuading the country’s six largest banks to access its €40bn recapitalisation fund

The German government seems to be having considerable difficulties in getting its €80bn ($105bn) bank recapitalisation scheme off the ground. On the other side of the Rhine, the French administration has faced no such problems in persuading the country’s six largest banks to access its €40bn recapitalisation fund

The heads rolling at Caisse d’Epargne seem to be as much about politics – both big and small – as about lax financial controls

The heads rolling at Caisse d’Epargne seem to be as much about politics – both big and small – as about lax financial controls

Not a single day has gone by this week without some large European company announcing a significant scaling down of earlier investment plans, the shelving of an important acquisition or all sorts of other cost-cutting and restructuring measures

It is hard not to feel sympathy for the thousands of Fortis small shareholders all joining forces to file multiple lawsuits against the management and directors of the banking and insurance group, and against the Belgian and Dutch governments. They have seen the value of their Fortis holdings collapse to practically nothing following the emergency carve-up of the company

There seems to be a mood of schadenfreude prevailing in corporate Germany these days. Many hedge funds, “locusts” and all those other tiresome activist investors that have been giving German conglomerates such a hard time in recent years have had their wings clipped by the financial crisis

Two of Europe’s biggest casualties of the financial crisis felt there was no good reason to cancel extravagant bashes in one of the Mediterranean’s flashiest belle époque watering holes

The big car manufacturers continue to be optimistic over the long-term prospects of the Bric countries. Yet, some of the more vulnerable groups may not be able to afford the luxury of waiting for the momentum to pick up again

Unlike the aborted efforts to merge BNP and SocGen, FRanxce’s biggest two mutual banking groups finally agreed to open formal merger negotiations – global financial crisis oblige

The longer-term rewards of investing in Russia can be great, especially in a key sector such as railways, which in post-Soviet Russia are in urgent need of renovation. This in large part explains why Alstom and its main western competitors have been falling over themselves to become Russia’s leading rail partner

Many BNP rivals would grudgingly have to agree the Belgian deal clinched by BNP’s chairman Michel Pébéreau and its chief executive Baudouin Prot seems pretty smart

While former enemies are declaring truces in the face of the financial turmoil, there is no let up in rumours regarding the future of Unicredit

Sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East and other emerging countries have been taking huge bets by buying large stakes in western financial institutions and industrial groups. Some may already be regretting them

The rescue packages for stricken financial groups that have been scrambled together recently show that European policymakers can quickly work in unison. The US should take note

Roberto Colaninno’s chances of rescuing Alitalia have improved as the beleaguered airline’s recalcitrant unions begin to fall into line with his salvage plan

Is Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) sailing into heavy financial seas with confirmation that it has submitted a binding bid for Hapag-Lloyd?

While Alstom was busily being restructured and revived – in part helped by strong global demand for new power plants and high-speed trains – Alcatel’s fortunes have been steadily declining

It is not surprising that the future of VW’s tripartite truck alliance has gone into limbo following its plans, barely six months ago, to create Europe’s largest truck group

French newspapers were cheering on their country’s electricity champion, proclaiming in their headlines that EDF was now taking on Warren Buffett in the US