Ofwat said it expects as many as 40 applications from companies for retail supply licences in the coming financial year. The regulator opened the application process for retailers to apply for water supply and sewerage licences (WSSLs). In its 2015/16 annual report, it said it expects about 30-40 applications for WSSLs in the coming year. It insisted the market remains on track to open in April 2017. Twelve companies have so far applied for licences since Ofwat opened the application process. Thames Water Commercial Services is among those to have applied, but has since announced its intention to exit. Its business customers have been bought by Scottish retailer Castle Water, which has effectively nonupled in size as a result of the deal. Castle Water had previously bought the business customer base of Portsmouth Water when the water-only company announced it would exit the market in January, and has subsequently applied for a licence. Fellow Scottish retailers Business Stream, Cobalt Water and Clear Business Water have also submitted applications. Business Stream bought Southern Water’s business customer base when the large water and sewerage company announced its exit last month. Northumbrian Water Business, Pennon Water Services, Severn Trent and United Utilities, Anglian Water Business, Sutton and East Surrey Water Services, Water 2 Business, and Kelda Retail – the business retail arm of Yorkshire Water – have also all applied for licences. Other suppliers, including new entrant Everflow, have told Utility Week they are considering buying into the English market when it opens, and Veolia UK has also said it wants to grow its retail activities in the UK water market. Source link

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Channel 4 are pleased to announce a new TV series featuring the RIBA’s prestigious award for the best new house. Grand Designs: RIBA House of the Year, to be broadcast weekly for four weeks from Wednesday 4 November 2015, will feature the longlist for the UK’s most prestigious new house award and will reveal the shortlisted and winning homes. The name of the prize, the ‘RIBA House of the Year’ award, replaces the previous title ‘RIBA Manser Medal’ with immediate effect, and with the agreement of the Manser family. The RIBA House of the Year award is sponsored by specialist insurer, Hiscox. Speaking today, RIBA President Stephen Hodder: “I am delighted that Channel 4 is supporting the UK’s most prestigious and rigorously-judged prize for a new house. The series along with the prize’s new name will give even greater public understanding and clarity about the prize and its intentions – to reward and raise the bar for well-designed houses. We look forward to announcing the winner of the RIBA House of the Year in November.” The shortlist for the RIBA House of the Year award will be announced during the course of the series, with the winner to be announced on screen on Wednesday 25 November. -ends- 1. For further press information contact Gagandeep Bedi, RIBA Press Office 020 7307 3814 gagandeep.bedi@riba.org 2. The RIBA House of the Year award (formerly the Manser Medal) is awarded every year to the best new house designed by an architect in the UK. It was created in 2001 to celebrate excellence in housing design. Previous winners include Loyn & Co for Stormy Castle (2014), Carl Turner Architects for Slip House (2013) and Acme for Hunsett Mill (2010). The judges for the 2015 RIBA House of the Year award, sponsored by Hiscox, are Jonathan Manser, Chair of the jury; James Standen of Hiscox; award-winning architect, Mary Duggan; Chris Loyn, the recipient of the 2014 award and Tony Chapman, RIBA Head of Awards. 3. Hiscox, the international specialist insurer, is headquartered in Bermuda and listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:HSX). There are three main underwriting divisions in the Group – Hiscox London Market, Hiscox Re and Hiscox Retail (which includes Hiscox UK and Europe, Hiscox Guernsey, Hiscox USA and subsidiary brand, DirectAsia). Hiscox underwrites internationally traded, bigger ticket business and reinsurance through Hiscox Re and Hiscox London Market. Through its retail businesses in the UK, Europe and the US Hiscox offers a range of specialist insurance for professionals and business customers, as well as homeowners. For further information visit www.hiscoxgroup.com 4. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and our members. Visit www.architecture.com and follow us on Twitter. 5. Grand Designs: RIBA House of the Year is produced by Boundless, producers of Grand Designs. Posted on Wednesday 26th August 2015 Source link

Vedanta Resources, the Indian mining group controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, has offered improved terms for a proposed deal to take greater control of its main oil and gas business. Vedanta wants to tighten its grip on Cairn India to get better access to the cash on the oil group’s balance sheet and simplify its convoluted corporate structure but the plans have stalled for more than a year. The deal would merge Vedanta Limited, the Indian-listed subsidiary of Mr Agarwal’s UK-listed group, with Cairn India. Vedanta Limited already owns almost 60 per cent of Cairn India, while Vedanta Limited is in turn 63 per cent owned by Vedanta Resources. Vedanta has suggested the deal as a way for Cairn India shareholders to access a more diversified resources group, but it has only won lukewarm support for the terms offered when the plan was announced more than a year ago. Cairn Energy, the UK-listed group that sold its Indian operations to Vedanta and remains one of Cairn India’s two large minority investors, had particular doubts about the proposed deal. Cairn Energy could not be reached for comment on Friday. Vedanta Limited is now offering one of its own shares and four redeemable preference shares for each share in Cairn India, as opposed to the single share and one preference share that was offered last year. The enhanced terms, including a 7.5 per cent interest bearing coupon on the preference shares, mean the offer is worth a fifth more than the average price at which Cairn India shares have traded over the past month, Vedanta said. The original deal offered a 7 per cent premium on a comparable basis. Tom Albanese, chief executive at Vedanta, said a merger was “highly compelling”. “Diversified resources companies have delivered superior returns for shareholders historically. The transaction consolidates our portfolio … and simplifies the group structure,” he said. Vedanta’s other operations include zinc, aluminium, copper and iron ore mining. The deal would also help Vedanta, which has more than $7bn of net debt, make use of more than $3bn of cash within Cairn India. A majority of independent investors in both Cairn India and Vedanta Limited have to vote in favour of the deal. Like Cairn Energy, India’s state-run Life Insurance Company also owns about 10 per cent of Cairn India. If the deal proceeds then Vedanta Resources would own just over half of an enlarged group. Cairn India shareholders would hold 20 per cent of the shares in Vedanta Limited. Source link

©AFP In a corner of southern Peru the land is so barren that Nasa uses it as a stand-in for Mars to see if potatoes can be grown on that lifeless planet. But the desert of red dirt gives way to the green Tambo river valley, where farmers live off an abundance of onions, rice and sugar cane. Some locals are taking up arms to protect this oasis. Last year, three were killed and hundreds wounded in violent clashes over the $1.4bn Tía María copper and gold mine, owned by Southern Copper, which is perched by the valley. Black-clad anti-riot police are now stationed there. More On this topic IN Mining “Whoever is the next president will have to deal with mining conflicts because neither companies nor governments respect communities,” says Jesús Cornejo, head of the water users’ association in the nearby town of Cocachacra, which is peppered with green flags reading: “Yes to farming, no to the mine.” Mining is the backbone of Peru’s economy. With the commodities downturn, that will represent a dilemma for Keiko Fujimori or Pedro Pablo Kuczynski after June 5, when they face each other in a runoff after failing to secure a presidential majority this month. Work on the planned Tía María mine was first halted in April 2011 after protests. It is one of 208 hotspots for social conflict in the country, mainly land and water resource disputes over mining, according to data from Peru’s ombudsman office. Industry insiders estimate that more than $30bn of mining investment is stalled because of conflicts or economic constraints on companies due to lower mineral prices. The $5bn gold and copper Minas Conga in Cajamarca, spearheaded by US miner Newmont, has been on hold since December 2011 over a water use conflict, in which several people have been killed. Between July 2011, when Ollanta Humala took the president’s office, and September last year, 51 people have been killed during protests, says Human Rights Watch. As a candidate Mr Humala pledged to support the poor in the country’s many simmering mining disputes, vowing to put water before gold. But activists accuse him of turning his back on them. “You cannot impose mining activity with blood and fire. While the existing problems aren’t solved, more mining means playing with more fire,” says Marco Arana, running mate of leftist candidate Verónika Mendoza, who lost the second round place to Mr Kuczynski, but still secured almost 19 per cent of the vote. Mr Arana was at the forefront of protests against Minas Conga. As was Gregorio Santos, the jailed anti-mining former regional governor of the mineral-rich Cajamarca, who bagged 4 per cent of the vote. Both candidates demonstrate a well of support in Peru for the anti-mining movement. You cannot impose mining activity with blood and fire. While the existing problems aren’t solved, more mining means playing with more fire – Marco Arana, the running mate of leftist candidate Verónika Mendoza “Part of the conflict stems from a state that over almost two decades has slanted interests . . . in favour of investors, rather than the populations where the investments were going to sit,” Mr Arana adds. “This has delegitimised investments and the state’s authority.” José de Echave of CooperAcción, a non-governmental organisation, says: “Mining unrest rocketed along with high mineral prices, and has been very much present in recent years. With Keiko that may worsen, with Kuczynski it may remain about the same.” Ms Fujimori says she wants a system to prevent and monitor social conflicts, and mechanisms for communities to become shareholders in mining projects. Mr Kuczynski proposes guaranteeing communities advance benefits from mining projects. “Tensions come before the money arrives,” Mr Kuczynski says. “[So] the money has to be put in beforehand.” The money could be used to improve environmental outcomes and improve community relations. Oscar González Rocha, Southern Copper’s executive president, hopes whoever wins the election “will devise new strategies to resume the investments that will drive the country’s growth”. In an area of roughly 30,000 people, the company says it will create 3,000 jobs during construction and 650 permanent ones once Tía María is completed. But Cocachacra is divided. “I fear the conflict will come back if they try to restart it,” says Helar Valencia, mayor of Cocachacra. “There is rejection of national authorities and mistrust towards the company.” Mr Kuczynski, an Oxford-educated former prime minister and former mining minister, says he picked Martín Vizcarra, a former regional president, as vice-president because he helped solve a dispute over Anglo-American’s Quellaveco mine by building a dam to benefit the communities. But he warns: “Without a doubt, we are going to have social agitation.” That sentiment is echoed in the valley of the river Tambo. “Problems like the one here with Tía María are flames waiting to burn,” Mr Cornejo says. Additional reporting by Lucien Chauvin in Lima Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link