Category: 3. Business

The owner of Wegovy and Ozempic has suffered a significant setback, as its highly anticipated new weight-loss treatment was labelled “obsolete” after disappointing clinical trials.

Novo Nordisk’s shares fell sharply on Monday after the results from testing the Danish company’s CagriSema drug fell short of investors’ expectations.

The weekly injection combines cagrilintide, which mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin, and semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic that mimics the gut hormone GLP-1, suppressing appetite and making users feel full more quickly. This means CagriSema leads to greater weight loss than Wegovy.

The study was designed to show that CagriSema was at least as good as the Novo rival Eli Lilly’s leading anti-obesity drug Zepbound, which contains tirzepatide.

Against initial expectations of 25% weight loss, CagriSema disappointed in a late-state study involving 809 people. It led to average weight loss of 23% after 84 weeks, compared with 25.5% for tirzepatide.

The new Novo treatment “did not achieve its primary endpoint of demonstrating non-inferiority on weight loss for CagriSema compared to tirzepatide after 84 weeks”, the company said on Monday.

Søren Løntoft Hansen, a senior analyst at Denmark’s AL Sydbank, said: “This is something of a swing and a miss.” He added: “It is difficult to assess whether this data will influence Novo Nordisk’s decision to launch CagriSema on the market.”

Novo’s share price plunged 16.5% in Copenhagen to the lowest level since June 2021, when Wegovy was launched, taking its losses over the past year to almost 60%, while Lilly’s stock rose 4.3% on Wall Street.

Novo, which had recorded booming sales of weight-loss and diabetes medications, turning it into Europe’s most valuable company in recent years, has slashed its profit and sales estimates several times, as it lost ground to Lilly. Novo had been betting on CagriSema – as well as its new Wegovy pill, launched in the US – to revive sales.

Analysts at UBS had already, in January, lowered their peak sales forecast for Novo’s GLP-1 drugs from $80bn (£59bn) to $75bn in 2032, after previous disappointing CagriSema trial results.

They said of the latest results: “Significant negative. An inferior result to tirzepatide was very unexpected.”

Emmanuel Papadakis at Deutsche Bank told Novo management on an investor call: “Commiserations on the results. CagriSema looks somewhat obsolete now as a competitive upgrade of semaglutide … or as a competitive alternative to tirzepatide.”

The Novo chief executive, Mike Doustdar, rejected the comments, saying: “It’s quite belittling; it’s a fantastic drug in all honesty. When CagriSema will make it to the market early next year as the first amylin-based product, it will have the best weight-loss label [of] any marketed product.”

Novo hopes another study of a higher CagriSema dose will show better results. It has already submitted the medication to the US drug regulator for approval based on earlier trial evidence, and hopes for the green light later this year.

Honoring existing, enhanced, and newly launched technology solutions that protect organizations, strengthen resilience, and build digital trust across industries

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Globee^® Awards for Technology, part of the Globee Awards’ portfolio of merit-based and data-driven business recognition programs, announce a global call for entries to recognize outstanding cybersecurity, safety, and digital trust products and services from organizations worldwide.

Learn more and submit your achievements: https://globeeawards.com/technology/

In today’s interconnected and AI-driven landscape, cybersecurity and digital trust technologies serve as foundational pillars of business continuity, operational resilience, and public confidence. The Globee^® Awards for Technology honor existing, upgraded, and newly introduced products and services that demonstrate measurable impact in protecting digital infrastructure, safeguarding data, managing risk, strengthening compliance, and enabling secure digital transformation.

The program welcomes entries from startups, mid-sized firms, multinational enterprises, government agencies, and public sector institutions from every country.

Winners are determined solely by the average scores provided by qualified industry professionals and business leaders serving on the judging panel, ensuring a structured, transparent, and objective peer-driven evaluation process.

About the Globee^® Awards
The Globee^® Awards organize 100% merit-based, data-driven business recognition programs with worldwide acceptance and industry-wide participation. Across ten award programs, achievements by individuals, teams, products and services, companies, brands, and government organizations are evaluated through independent peer review conducted by qualified industry professionals and business leaders worldwide.

Follow: @globeeawards

Hashtags: #GlobeeAwards #TechnologyAwards #Cybersecurity #DigitalTrust #SafetyTechnology #TechInnovation #MeritBasedAwards #GlobalRecognition #EnterpriseSecurity

All trademarks belong to their respective owners.

SOURCE Globee Awards

The erroneously published price assessments on Monday February 16 have been invalidated.

Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated to reflect this change.

The assessment was last published on February 2, and the next publication date will be March 2.

The assessment follows the Chinese holiday calendar.

The following assessments were affected:
MB-FEN-0003 Ferro-nickel premium/discount, 26-32% Ni contained, cif China, $/tonne
MB-FEN-0006 Ferro-nickel, 20-25% nickel contained, outright price, cif China, $/tonne 
MB-FEN-0007 Ferro-nickel 20-25% nickel contained, premium/discount, cif China, $/tonne

These prices are part of the Fastmarkets base metals price package.

For more information or to provide feedback on this correction notice, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these prices, please contact pricing@fastmarkets.com and basemetals@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “re: Chinese ferro-nickel prices.”

Please indicate if comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.

To see all Fastmarkets pricing methodology and specification documents, go to the Fastmarkets methodology page.

BBVA launched a senior non-preferred debt issuance in US dollars on Monday, divided into three tranches: two three-year tranches (one with a fixed interest rate and the other with a variable rate) and a third 10-year tranche with a fixed interest rate. The placement agents were BBVA, BNP Paribas, Citi, RBC Capital Markets, Standard Chartered and Wells Fargo Bank.

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised Westpac Banking Corporation, Bank of China Limited, Sydney Branch, China Construction Bank Corporation, Sydney Branch, DBS Bank Ltd., Australia Branch, Deutsche Bank AG, Sydney Branch, ING Bank (Australia) Limited and Mizuho Bank, Ltd. on the portfolio financing of Lightsource bp’s 1GW of Australian renewable energy assets and their sale to Aula Energy.

“The successful portfolio financing and subsequent sale, backed by a diverse group of domestic and international lenders, highlights the sophistication of the sponsor and the quality of its operational assets,” said White & Case partner Cameron Watson. “It also demonstrates a continued appetite for renewable asset portfolios in the Australian renewable energy market from both a debt and equity perspective.”

The portfolio comprises the West Wyalong, Woolooga, Wellington, Wellington North and Wunghnu solar projects located across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. White & Case advised the financiers on the original project financings for each of the projects.

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was led by led partner Cameron Watson (Sydney) and included partner Candice Ota (Melbourne) and associates Kevin Chen, Siqi Chen, Shane Dunleavy, Olivia Tomiyama (all Sydney), Andrew Evans and Meryl Liew (both Melbourne).

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• BNP Paribas Asset Management has issued a tokenised share class of French‑domiciled money market fund, recorded on public blockchain infrastructure.
• The initiative relies on a permissioned access model on Ethereum, restricting holding and transfers to authorised participants within a regulated framework.
• Conducted as an intra‑group experiment, the project leverages the joint expertise of BNP Paribas Asset Management, CIB AssetFoundry^TM and BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business to test new end‑to‑end fund processes. 

BNP Paribas Asset Management has issued a tokenised share class of an existing French-domiciled money market fund, marking a new step in its exploration of fund tokenisation using public blockchain infrastructure.

The project involved the issuance of a tokenised share class of the BNP Paribas Asset Management money market fund on the public Ethereum network via BNP Paribas’ AssetFoundry^TM platform. The tokenised shares are issued under a permissioned access model, whereby holdings and transfers are restricted to eligible and authorised participants, in line with applicable regulatory requirements.

This initiative follows BNP Paribas Asset Management’s earlier tokenised money market fund issuance in Luxembourg on a private blockchain. This second tokenised money market fund project was implemented using a different technological and operational setup through a public blockchain. Together, these initiatives reflect BNP Paribas’ approach to exploring multiple tokenisation and distribution models to better serve the fund managers and their investors.

Leveraging BNP Paribas’ cutting edge capabilities across the Group’s integrated model

Within this project, BNP Paribas Asset Management acted as the fund issuer. BNP Paribas Securities Services business acted as transfer agent and fund dealing services provider, while BNP Paribas CIB’s AssetFoundry^TM platform provided the tokenisation and connectivity layer to the public blockchain network.

Moreover, BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business operated the wallet setup and held the private key within the scope of this controlled intra‑group pilot.

The initiative was conducted as a one‑off, limited intra‑group experiment, enabling BNP Paribas to test new end‑to‑end processes, from issuance and transfer agency to tokenisation and public‑blockchain connectivity, within a controlled and regulated framework.

Public blockchain with permissioned access

The tokenised fund shares were issued on the public Ethereum network with permissioned tokens ensuring that only eligible participants can hold and transfer the tokens, while benefiting from the strength and broad adoption of public blockchain infrastructure.

This approach allows BNP Paribas and BNP Paribas Asset Management to assess, how public blockchains can be integrated into regulated fund structures, while maintaining the highest standards of governance, investor protection, and operational robustness.

Tokenisation is an innovative technology that is being explored across the financial industry for its potential to enhance how investment funds are issued and distributed over time. For money market funds in particular, which play a central role in liquidity management for corporate and institutional investors, tokenisation could be used as an alternative to traditional batch‑based fund processing, including more regular and flexible processing of fund related operations, while preserving the regulated nature of these funds.

“BNP Paribas Asset Management is committed to driving innovation that will ultimately benefits our clients. This second issuance of tokenised money market funds, this time using public blockchain infrastructure, supports our ongoing efforts to explore how tokenisation can contribute to greater operational efficiency and security within a regulated framework.” Edouard Legrand, Chief Digital and Data Officer at BNP Paribas Asset Management

“BNP Paribas’ AssetFoundry^TM platform delivers key digital-assets capabilities, from tokenisation to network connectivity and wallet-related functionalities within a controlled setup. This initiative allows us to better understand the operational and governance implications of tokenisation for money market funds.” Julien Clausse, Head of AssetFoundry^TM (Digital Assets & Tokenisation) at BNP Paribas CIB

“BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business transforms innovation into tangible value for our clients. By acting as transfer agent and leveraging the Group’s tokenisation infrastructure, we deliver a streamlined and secure operational setup that supports fund processes enabled by public blockchain infrastructure, within a regulated and permissioned context.” Paul Daly, Head of Distribution Product Solutions at BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business

Source: BNP Paribas

An enforceable federal-level ethanol mandate — based on an improved version of Queensland’s current scheme — is key to supporting domestic ethanol production, according to the industry body Australian Sugar Manufacturers (ASM).

Ethanol is a feedstock for producing sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel, but the absence of a federal mandate — combined with “exemptions and loopholes” in Queensland’s state-based policy — has reduced incentives to produce ethanol, said the ASM’s chief executive Ash Salardini in a statement released last week.

Queensland’s bio-based gasoline mandate requires 4pc of the total volume of regular unleaded gasoline sales and ethanol-blended fuel sales by liable fuel retailers to be ethanol. Retailers are only subject to the ethanol mandate if they operate 10 or more sites or sell more than 500,000 litres of all grades of petrol across any site in a calendar quarter.

But the mandate’s effectiveness has been limited. Exemptions are routinely granted for reasons including the cost to upgrade infrastructure, the unavailability of compatible infrastructure and ethanol supply issues. This has eroded compliance and depressed domestic demand, said Salardini. The Queensland government has previously said that in any given quarter since the introduction of the mandate in January 2017, around half of liable fuel retailers have held an exemption, and this is currently still the case, according to market participants.

A “strong, enforceable” mandate and state and federal investment is required to provide the certainty needed by the sugar manufacturing and ethanol industries to expand production, Salardini said. Several existing sugar mills could be converted to produce ethanol, but without clear government policy to create demand, there is no commercial incentive to proceed, he added.

New South Wales (NSW) has a higher 6pc ethanol mandate, but like in Queensland, the mandate has never been reached. Fuel retailers may claim exemptions from blending ethanol when the price exceeds the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s (IPART’s) “reasonable wholesale price” of ethanol. This price is based on a nine-month average of weekly price estimates from the lowest-cost origin for ethanol from either the US or Brazil plus freight, the current rate of fuel excise, customs duty and port costs. IPART’s determinations set a ceiling price for domestic ethanol prices, as selling above that threshold allows retailers to avoid blending requirements.

Exports rise on slow domestic demand

Ethanol has increasingly been exported from Australia, primarily to markets with stronger ethanol blending requirements, such as the Philippines, which has a 10pc ethanol mandate.

Australia exported 112.2mn l of denatured and undenatured ethanol last year, with 71pc of those volumes heading to the Philippines, according to Global Trade Tracker (GTT) data. Most of those exports were from the port of Sydney in NSW, as producer Manildra has been able to capture a premium compared to selling domestically for gasoline blending. Australia imported 1.4mn l of imported denatured and undenatured ethanol in 2025, according to GTT data.

Since mid-2024, Argus price data (see graph) shows ethanol delivered to the Philippines maintained a strong premium compared to gasoline delivered to Australian east coast ports. Ethanol generally needs to be cheaper than gasoline to be commercially viable in fuel blending in the absence of a strong mandate, due to ethanol’s lower energy content. Because of this, Australia’s ethanol producers have been price takers, with the gasoline import price effectively setting the ceiling price. Premiums can be achieved for food-grade ethanol and ethanol’s use in chemical manufacturing for items such as hand sanitiser.

Production has also been below capacity in recent years. Australia currently has two ethanol-producing plants — Wilmar’s 60mn l/yr sugarcane-based plant in Sarina, Queensland, and Manildra’s 300mn l/yr wheat-starch plant in Nowra, NSW. Both operated well below capacity in 2022, producing about 175mn litres combined, according to a 2025 Bioenergy Australia report. The plants are currently still operating below capacity, according to market participants.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) updated excise taxes on 2 February this year, setting the excise on ethanol at A$0.172/l ($0.12/l) compared to A$0.526/l for gasoline. The ATO considers blends of ethanol and gasoline with 10pc or less ethanol (E10) to be 100pc petrol and the excise is A$0.526/l.

There is no mandate for ethanol blending in other Australian states like Victoria, South Australia or Western Australia.

The Queensland government is conducting an inquiry into sugarcane bioenergy opportunities, with a report due on 31 March.

By Tom Woodlock and Grace Dudley

Schroders Capital has announced the appointment of Sabrina Meng as Head of Business Development, Asia. In this role, she will drive fundraising in the region for the firm’s Private Debt and Credit Alternatives (PDCA) business, which will include insurance-linked securities (ILS).

Based in Hong Kong, Meng who will join the firm on March 2, 2026, will report to Ingo Heinen, Global Head of Schroders Capital Business Development.

As well as this, she will also join the Schroders Capital Asia Client Group Executive Committee.

As Head of Business Development, Asia, Meng will lead business development and sales efforts across the region, which will include leading and continuing the build-out of Schroders Capital’s specialist sales team in the region.

She will also be expected to help deepen and expand client relationships to help further establish Schroders Capital’s presence as a trusted, specialist private markets partner for both institutional investors and intermediary partners in Asia.

As mentioned, a key part of Meng’s new role will involve driving Asia fundraising for Schroders Capital’s PDCA business, which has $41.6 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2025, focusing on specialisms including securitised and asset-based finance, real estate debt, infrastructure debt and insurance-linked securities (ILS).

This means that Meng will work in collaboration with the ILS team that sits within Schroders Capital, which is the private assets unit of Schroders, and one of the longest-standing and largest insurance-linked securities investment managers that exist within the space.

The Schroders Capital ILS team manages over $6.5 billion in ILS assets for its third-party investor clients, operating one of the largest catastrophe bond fund strategies in the world, as well as private ILS strategies which are focused more on collateralized reinsurance investments.

Overall, Meng brings 17 years of experience in consulting, investment and fundraising across private markets towards her new role, along with deep expertise in private and structured credit, private equity and real assets.

Meng joins Schroders Capital following eight years of service at Oaktree Capital, where she played a crucial role in building the firm’s Asia franchise, which includes overseeing fundraising across Greater China and Southeast Asia, as well as driving growth and scaling the firm’s intermediary business.

Previously Meng also worked at Monument Group, Emerald Hill Capital Partners, and Bain & Company.

Schroders Capital noted that Meng’s appointment marks the latest in a series of strategic hires that the firm has made across various regions and asset classes, as the organisation continues to build out its team of private markets sales specialists globally.

Ingo Heinen, Global Head of Business Development at Schroders Capital, commented: “This is an exciting hire that brings proven expertise and fundraising success to Schroders Capital, adding to the depth and breadth across our specialist business development team.”

Heinen continued: “Asia is an important, strategic region and Sabrina’s experience, combined with our deep bench of client relationship experience across Schroders Group and the specialist capabilities within Schroders Capital, will help us continue to unlock opportunities to drive accelerated growth.”

Gopi Mirchandani, Head of Client Group, Asia, said: “Sabrina’s experience in private debt and credit alternatives complements our focus in Asia as we continue to respond to growing client demand for enhanced income opportunities across the full credit spectrum.”