ASML Holding
ASML is a Dutch company and the largest supplier in the world of photolithography systems for the semiconductor industry. The company manufactures machines for the production of integrated circuits; the company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. The photolithography machines manufactured by ASML are used in the production of computer chips. In these machines, patterns are optically imaged onto a silicon wafer, covered with a film of light-sensitive material; this procedure is repeated dozens of times on a single wafer. The photoresist is further processed to create the actual electronic circuits on the silicon; the optical imaging that ASML's machines deal with is used in the fabrication of nearly all integrated circuits, as of 2010, ASML has 67 percent of the worldwide sales of lithography machines, with the competition consisting of Ultratech and Nikon. As of 2011, their high-end Twinscan NXT:1950i system is used for producing features down to 32 nanometres at up to 200 wafers per hour, using a water immersion lens and an argon fluoride laser that produces light at a wavelength of 193 nm.
As of 2011, an average lithography machine costs 27 million euros. ASML manufactures extreme ultraviolet lithography machines. A high-energy laser is focused on microscopic droplets of molten tin to produce a plasma, which emits EUV light. In 2009, the IMEC research center in Belgium produced the world’s first functional 22 nm CMOS SRAM memory cells with a prototype EUV lithography machine. Series-produced EUV machines were shipped in 2011. In addition to immersion-based lithography and EUV lithography, ASML has a substantial intellectual property portfolio covering imprint lithography. ASML's corporate headquarters is in Netherlands, it is the location for research, development and assembly. ASML has a worldwide customer base and over sixty service points in sixteen countries; the company is listed on both the AEX and NASDAQ Stock Exchanges, as ASML. The company was founded in 1984 as a joint venture between the Dutch companies Advanced Semiconductor Materials International and Philips. Nowadays it is a public company with only a minority of the shares owned by Philips.
When the company became independent in 1988, it was decided that changing the name was not desirable, the abbreviation ASML became the official company name. In 2000, ASML acquired the Silicon Valley Group, a US lithography equipment manufacturer, in a bid to supply 193 nm scanners to Intel Corp. ASML is subject to cyclical industrial dynamics. For example, at the end of 2008, ASML experienced a large drop in sales, which led management to cut the workforce by about 1000 worldwide—mostly contract workers—and to apply for support from the Dutch national unemployment fund to prevent larger layoffs. Two and a half years ASML expected a record-high revenue. In July 2012, Intel announced a deal to invest $4.1 billion into ASML in exchange for 15% ownership, in order to speed up the transition from 300 mm to 450 mm wafers and further development of EUV lithography. This deal is without exclusive rights to future ASML products and, as of July 2012, ASML is offering another 10% of the shares to other companies.
As part of their EUV strategy, ASML announced the acquisition of DUV and EUV sources manufacturer Cymer in October 2012. In November 2013, ASML paused development of 450-mm lithography equipment, citing uncertain timing of chipmaker demand. In June 2016, ASML announced their plans to acquire Taiwan-based Hermes Microvision Inc. for about $3.1 billion to add technology for creating smaller and more advanced semiconductors. Chinese spies stole trade secrets from Dutch chip machine maker ASML, causing hundreds of millions of euros worth of damage, Financieele Dagblad reports based on its own research; this is the largest known espionage case at a Dutch company, the newspaper writes. Official website
Heineken N.V.
Heineken N. V. is a Dutch brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. As of 2017, Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries, it produces 250 international, regional and speciality beers and ciders and employs 73,000 people. With an annual beer production of 188.3 million hectoliters in 2015, global revenues of EUR 20,511 billions in 2015, Heineken N. V. is one of the largest brewers by volume in the world. Heineken's Dutch breweries are located in Zoeterwoude,'s - Wijlre; the original brewery in Amsterdam, closed in 1988, is preserved as a museum called Heineken Experience. Since the merger between the two largest brewing empires in the world, Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, in October 2016, Heineken has been the second largest brewer in the world; the Heineken company was founded in 1864 when the 22-year-old Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought a brewery known as De Hooiberg in Amsterdam. In 1869 Heineken switched to the use of bottom-fermenting yeast.
In 1873 the brewery's name changed to Heineken's Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij, opened a second brewery in Rotterdam in 1874. In 1886 Dr. H. Elion, a pupil of the French chemist Louis Pasteur, developed the "Heineken A-yeast" in the Heineken laboratory; this yeast is still the key ingredient of Heineken beer. The founder's son, Henry Pierre Heineken, managed the company from 1917 to 1940, continued involvement with the company until 1951. During his tenure, Heineken developed techniques to maintain consistent beer quality during large-scale production. After World War I, the company focused more on exports. Three days after Prohibition ended in the United States, the first Heineken shipment landed in New York. From that day on, Heineken has remained one of the most successful imported beer brands in the United States. Henry Pierre's son, Alfred Henry "Freddy" Heineken, started working at the company in 1940, in 1971 was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board, he was a powerful force behind Heineken's continued global expansion, while he retired from the Executive Board in 1989, he maintained involvement with the company until his death in 2002.
During this period, Heineken tried to increase its stock price by purchasing competing breweries and closing them down. After World War II, many small breweries were closed. In 1968 Heineken merged with its biggest competitor, in 1975 opened a new brewery in Zoeterwoude; the Amstel brewery was closed in 1980, its production moved to Zoeterwoude and Den Bosch. With the part acquisition of Scottish and Newcastle in 2007/2008 Heineken became the third largest brewer based on revenues, behind the Belgian-Brazilian AB InBev and the British-South African SABMiller. Since the merger between Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller in October 2016, Heineken has been the second largest brewer in the world. On 12 January 2010, Heineken International bought the brewery division of Mexican giant FEMSA, merged with the company, expanding its reach throughout Latin America; the company will sell its products there through FEMSA, the largest bottler and brewery in all of Latin America, maker of such brands as Dos Equis XX, Bohemia and Sol.
FEMSA now owns 20% of Heineken N. V. after the early 2010 all-stock deal, becoming its largest single shareholder after the Dutch families who owns 25.83% and public shareholders owning 54.17%. The FEMSA acquisition is expected to keep Heineken in its strong position by growing its market share in the Latin American markets. FEMSA has a massive distribution network and owns Mexico's largest convenience store chain OXXO, which has thousands of locations throughout the country. In September 2014, it was announced that Heineken would sell its Mexican packaging business Empaque to Crown for around $1.23 billion. During that month, Heineken revealed it was in talks to sell its Czech operations to Molson Coors. On 10 September 2015, Heineken International announced it would acquire a 50% stake in Lagunitas Brewing Company of Petaluma, California as part of an effort to allow Lagunitas to expand its operations globally; as part of the deal Lagunitas will no longer be considered a craft brewer as the Heineken stake is greater than 25%.
In January 2017, Heineken announced it was in negotiations to buy the Kirin Company's 12 breweries in Brazil. The following month, Heineken bought Brasil Kirin for US$700 million. After acquiring 50% of Lagunitas Brewing Company, Heineken announced, on 4 May 2017, it would be purchasing the remaining 50%—making it the sole owner of Lagunitas. In June 2018, Heineken named Maggie Timoney as the CEO of Heineken USA, making her the first woman to become a CEO of a major United States beer supplier. Heineken organises the company into five territories which are divided into regional operations; the regions are: Western Europe and Eastern Europe, The Americas and the Middle East, Asia Pacific. These territories contain 115 brewing plants in more than 65 countries, brewing local brands in addition to the Heineken brand; the executive of the company consists of the following people: Jean-François van Boxmeer, Chairman Executive Board/CEO Laurence Debroux, Member Executive Board/CFO Marc Busain, President Americas Frans Eusman, President Asia Pacific Chris Van Steenbergen, Chief Human Resources Officer Marc Gross, Chief Supply Chain Officer Jan Derck van Karnebeek, Chief Commercial Officer Roland Pirmez, President Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe Sean O’Neill, Chief Corporate Relations Officer Stefan Orlowski, President Europe Heineken's brewing plants have been designed and engine
Brazil
Brazil the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 208 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the fifth most populous. Its capital is Brasília, its most populated city is São Paulo; the federation is composed of the union of the 26 states, the Federal District, the 5,570 municipalities. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers, it borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47.3% of the continent's land area. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats; this unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, is the subject of significant global interest and debate regarding deforestation and environmental protection.
Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. In 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system; the ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, now called the National Congress. The country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup d'état. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, after which civilian governance resumed. Brazil's current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. Due to its rich culture and history, the country ranks thirteenth in the world by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Brazil is considered an advanced emerging economy. It has the ninth largest GDP in the world by nominal, eight and PPP measures, it is one of the world's major breadbaskets, being the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years. It is classified as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country, with the largest share of global wealth in Latin America. Brazil is a regional power and sometimes considered a great or a middle power in international affairs. On account of its international recognition and influence, the country is subsequently classified as an emerging power and a potential superpower by several analysts. Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Union of South American Nations, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, it is that the word "Brazil" comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast.
In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil given the etymology "red like an ember", formed from brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a deep red dye, it was valued by the European textile industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. Throughout the 16th century, massive amounts of brazilwood were harvested by indigenous peoples along the Brazilian coast, who sold the timber to European traders in return for assorted European consumer goods; the official Portuguese name of the land, in original Portuguese records, was the "Land of the Holy Cross", but European sailors and merchants called it the "Land of Brazil" because of the brazilwood trade. The popular appellation eclipsed and supplanted the official Portuguese name; some early sailors called it the "Land of Parrots". In the Guarani language, an official language of Paraguay, Brazil is called "Pindorama"; this was the name the indigenous population gave to the region, meaning "land of the palm trees".
Some of the earliest human remains found in the Americas, Luzia Woman, were found in the area of Pedro Leopoldo, Minas Gerais and provide evidence of human habitation going back at least 11,000 years. The earliest pottery found in the Western Hemisphere was excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil and radiocarbon dated to 8,000 years ago; the pottery was found near Santarém and provides evidence that the tropical forest region supported a complex prehistoric culture. The Marajoara culture flourished on Marajó in the Amazon delta from 800 CE to 1400 CE, developing sophisticated pottery, social stratification, large populations, mound building, complex social formations such as chiefdoms. Around the time of the Portuguese arrival, the territory of current day Brazil had an estimated indigenous population of 7 million people semi-nomadic who subsisted on hunting, fishing and migrant agriculture; the indigenous population of Brazil comprised several large indigenous ethnic groups. The Tupí people were subdivided into the Tupiniquins and Tupinambás, there were many subdivisions of the other gro
Aegon N.V.
Aegon N. V. is a multinational life insurance and asset management company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. As of December 31, 2017, Aegon companies employed 28,318 people worldwide, serving millions of customers. Aegon is a constituent of the AEX index. Aegon was founded in 1983 from the merger of AGO Holding N. V. and Ennia N. V.. Aegon acquired Scottish Equitable in 1994. In 1998 it formed Stonebridge International Insurance Ltd to create and market a range of personal insurance products, providing accident and unemployment cover to its own customers and via business partners. In 1999 it acquired the life assurance business of Guardian Royal Exchange; that year it bought Transamerica Corporation. On August 13, 2007, Aegon and Merrill Lynch announced a strategic business partnership in the areas of life insurance and investment products; as part of the relationship, Aegon acquired two of Merrill Lynch's life insurance companies for US$1.3 billion. On April 23, 2008, Alex Wynaendts succeeded the retiring Donald J. Shepard as chairman of the executive board and CEO of Aegon N.
V. following the group's annual general meeting of shareholders: Donald Shepard announced his retirement in November 2007, after six years as chairman. On October 28, 2008, the Dutch government and De Nederlandsche Bank agreed to give Aegon a €3 billion capital injection to create a capital buffer in exchange for convertible bonds to ease the group through the financial crisis. On June 15, 2011, Aegon fulfilled its key objective of repurchasing all of the €3 billion core capital securities issued to the Dutch State; the total amount Aegon has paid to the Dutch State amounts to €4.1 billion. Of this amount, €3 billion covered the original issue of core capital securities, while an additional €1.1 billion was paid in premium and interest. On August 3, 2011, Aegon USA announced that all its various businesses will be grouped under a single brand name: Transamerica. Transamerica’s key businesses are life insurance and retirement; the group includes companies whose history goes back over 100 years and whose products and services have become well known throughout the US, including founding companies Life Investors Insurance Company of America and Monumental Life Insurance Company.
Aegon's businesses focus on life insurance and pensions and asset management products. The group is active in accident and supplemental health insurance and general insurance, has limited banking activities. Aegon has major operations in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In addition, the group is present in a number of other countries including Canada, Mexico, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Spain, Japan, North America and India. Aegon's world headquarters are in The Hague, Netherlands Aegon USA, LLC Transamerica Corporation Transamerica Advisors Life Insurance Company Transamerica Advisors Life Insurance Company of New York Transamerica Agency Network Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company Stonebridge Life Insurance Company Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Company Transamerica Premier Life Insurance Company World Financial Group of Canada Inc. World Financial Group US Inc. Aegon Levensverzekering Aegon Schadeverzekering Aegon Bank OPTAS Pensioenen Aegon Spaarkas Unirobe Meeus Groep TKP Pensioen Aegon Hypotheken Scottish Equitable plc Origen Financial Services Positive Solutions Cofunds Blackrock UK Nationwide Aegon España S.
A. Aegon Magyarország Általános Biztositó Zrt. Aegon TU na Życie S. A. / Aegon Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S. A. Aegon-CNOOC Life Insurance Company Aegon Sony Life Insurance Cy Caja Badajoz Vida y Pensiones Banca Civica joint venture partners: CAN Vida y Pensiones S. A. de Seguros, Caja Burgos Vida, CAN Seguros de Salud Cantabris Vida Y Pensiones Liberbank Vida y Pensiones Unnim Vida Aegon Industrial Fund Management Co. AMVEST Vastgoed B. V. N. V. Levensverzekeringsmaatschappij "De Hoop" Tenet Group Limited Seguros Argos Aegon Life Insurance Company Ltd Mongeral Aegon AEGON operates a direct bank under the brand name "Knab" in the Netherlands. Soon after it was founded in 2012 the bank came under criticism for having the highest cost for any transaction account compared to other Dutch banks. Knab responded by saying. In 2008, Aegon became the official sponsor of the Dutch football team AFC Ajax, in a deal which lasted for seven years. Ajax's uniform featured the Aegon logo across the chest.
Aegon became the third sponsor of Ajax. As of late 2008, Aegon sponsor the Lawn Tennis Association. A sponsorship package was agreed with the LTA and Aegon's name will appear on all four pillars of British Tennis, including many professional tournaments, one of, the AEGON Championships, an ATP grasscourt professional tennis tournament in June in London, taking over from Stella Artois, who had sponsored the event since 1979. Since 2004, Transamerica has been the primary s
Chairman
The chairman is the highest officer of an organized group such as a board, a committee, or a deliberative assembly. The person holding the office is elected or appointed by the members of the group, the chairman presides over meetings of the assembled group and conducts its business in an orderly fashion. In some organizations, the chairman position is called president, in others, where a board appoints a president, the two different terms are used for distinctly different positions. Other terms sometimes used for the office and its holder include chair, chairwoman, presiding officer, moderator and convenor; the chairman of a parliamentary chamber is called the speaker. The term chair is sometimes used in lieu of chairman, in response to criticisms that using chairman is sexist, it is used today, has been used as a substitute for chairman since the middle of the 17th century, with its earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary dated 1658–1659, only four years after the first citation for chairman.
Major dictionaries state that the word derives from a person. A 1994 Canadian study found the Toronto Star newspaper referring to most presiding men as "chairman", to most presiding women as "chairperson" or as "chairwoman"; the Chronicle of Higher Education uses "chairman" for men and "chairperson" for women. An analysis of the British National Corpus found chairman used 1,142 times, chairperson 130 times and chairwoman 68 times; the National Association of Parliamentarians adopted a resolution in 1975 discouraging the use of “chairperson” and rescinded it in 2017. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and United Press International all use "chairwoman" or "chairman" when referring to women, forbid use of "chair" or of "chairperson" except in direct quotations. In World Schools Style debating, male chairs are called "Mr. Chairman" and female chairs are called "Madame Chair"; the FranklinCovey Style Guide for Business and Technical Communication, as well as the American Psychological Association style guide, advocate using "chair" or "chairperson", rather than "chairman".
The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style suggests that the gender-neutral forms are gaining ground. It advocates using "chair" to refer both to women; the Telegraph style guide bans the use of both "Chair" and "Chairperson" on the basis that "Chairman" is correct English. The word chair can refer to the place from which the holder of the office presides, whether on a chair, at a lectern, or elsewhere. During meetings, the person presiding is said to be "in the chair" and is referred to as "the chair". Parliamentary procedure requires that members address the "chair" as "Mr. Chairman" rather than using a name – one of many customs intended to maintain the presiding officer's impartiality and to ensure an objective and impersonal approach. In the United States, the presiding officer of the lower house of a legislative body, such as the House of Representatives, is titled the Speaker, while the upper house, such as the Senate, is chaired by a President. In his 1992 State of the Union address, then-U.
S. President George H. W. Bush used "chairman" for men and "chair" for women. In the British music hall tradition, the Chairman was the master of ceremonies who announced the performances and was responsible for controlling any rowdy elements in the audience; the role was popularised on British TV in the 1960s and 1970s by Leonard Sachs, the Chairman on the variety show The Good Old Days."Chairman" as a quasi-title gained particular resonance when socialist states from 1917 onward shunned more traditional leadership labels and stressed the collective control of soviets by beginning to refer to executive figureheads as "Chairman of the X Committee". Vladimir Lenin, for example functioned as the head of Soviet Russia not as tsar or as president but in roles such as "Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR". Note in particular the popular standard method for referring to Mao Zedong: "Chairman Mao". In addition to the administrative or executive duties in organizations, the chairman has the duties of presiding over meetings.
Such duties at meetings include: Calling the meeting to order Determining if a quorum is present Announcing the items on the order of business or agenda as they come up Recognition of members to have the floor Enforcing the rules of the group Putting questions to a vote Adjourning the meetingWhile presiding, the chairman should remain impartial and not interrupt a speaker if the speaker has the floor and is following the rules of the group. In committees or small boards, the chairman votes along with the other members. However, in assemblies or larger boards, the chairman should vote only when it can affect the result. At a meeting, the chairman only has one vote; the powers of the chairman vary across organizations. In some organizations the chairman has the authority to hire staff and make financial decisions, while in others the chairman only makes recommendations to a board of directors, still others the chairman has no executive powers and is a spokesman for the organization; the amount of power given to the chairman depends on the type of organization, its structure, the rules it has created for itself.
If the chairman exceeds the given authority, engages in misconduct, or fails to perform t
ArcelorMittal
ArcelorMittal S. A. is a multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the world's largest steel producer, with an annual crude steel production of 92.5 million metric tonnes as of 2018. It is ranked 123 in the 2017 Fortune Global 500 ranking of the world's biggest corporations. ArcelorMittal was created by the takeover of Western European steel maker Arcelor by Indian-owned multinational steel maker Mittal Steel in 2006, at a cost of €40.37 per share $33 billion total. Mittal Steel launched a hostile takeover bid which replaced a previous planned merger between Arcelor and Severstal, which had lacked sufficient shareholder approval; the resulting merged business was headquartered in Luxembourg City. The resulting firm produced 10% of the world's steel, was by far the world's largest steel company. Total revenues in 2007 were $105 billion; the company earned revenues f $105 billion in 2007.
By February 2008, the company had 320,000 employees in 60 countries. In October 2008, the market capitalisation of ArcelorMittal was over $30 billion, after peaking at $32.5 billion in September 2008. At the end of 2008, the company reported operating income of around $12 billion. In December 2008, ArcelorMittal announced several plant closings, including the Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, New York, LTV Steel in Hennepin, Illinois. After purchase of Kryvorizhstal, Ukraine's largest steel producer, employment was scaled back from 57,000 employees to 30,000. In 2010, the company's operating income had fallen to $4.9 billion, with sales down 10 percent from the year earlier, income down 50 percent as steel prices slumped. In 2011, the company began curtailing its European production to match the reduced demand for steel, it sold Skyline Steel and Astralloy to a rival, for $605 million. On 26 January 2011, the stainless steel division split off as Aperam; as of 2012, due to overcapacity and reduced demand in Europe it had idled 9 of 25 blast furnaces.
On 31 October 2012, the company reported a third-quarter loss of $709 million as compared to a $659 million profit for the same period a year ago, citing the slow down in China's economy. In 2012 ArcelorMittal had $22 billion of debt. In January 2013, ArcelorMittal bid $1.5 billion to acquire ThyssenKrupp AG's rolling mill in Calvert, United States. On 26 February 2014, ThyssenKrupp sold their Calvert carbon steel facility to ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel for $1.55 billion, as a new joint venture. The facility was renamed AM/NS Calvert through the 50/50 joint partnership with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp; the firm entered into a $2.2 billion contract to develop an iron ore deposit in Senegal. This included construction of a 750 km railway line. After stalling on the contract and failing to build according to schedule the Government of Senegal sued. In September 2013, the government of Senegal won a court case before an international tribunal to rescind a $2.2 billion deal with ArcelorMittal after the company suspended work on an iron ore mine in the country.
In June 2014, the International Chamber of Commerce's arbitration court in Paris awarded Senegal $150 million. Dealing with price and demand fluctuations in the steel market, from 2012 to 2014 ArcelorMittal restructured its European division by reducing employee numbers and closing plants. In May, 2014, ArcelorMittal, citing economic self-interest, declared its opposition to sanctions on Russia; as of June 2014, ArcelorMittal accounted for 7 percent of world steel production. After being shut out of the Chinese steel industry in 2005 along with other foreign companies, in 2014 the company announced it was planning new plants in China. In 2014, the company had an annual crude steel production of 98.1 million tons. Following an investigation first launched in 2008, in August 2016 the South African Competition Commission found the company guilty of price fixing. ArcelorMittal was fined US$110.9 million, as part of the settlement agreed to invest R4.64 billion in capital over five years. According to the findings, the firm had been part of a 17 steel member groups nicknamed "Club Zürich" that became known as "Club Europe."
Between January 1984 and September 2002, the companies fixed the market and exchanged confidential corporate information. In 2015, the company had a net loss of $7.9 billion. Between February 2015 and February 2016, share value dropped 60%, making the company the "worst performer" in the FTSEurofirst300 index; the CEO said the company had performed poorly in 2015 due to "Chinese exports depressing prices." Early in 2016, the company announced it had raised $3 billion in new investment capital to help reduce debt to $11.7 billion of debt. In early 2016 the company announced a program to boost core profit by $3 billion by 2020 "through a mixture of cost-cutting, increased production and a focus on higher-value forms of steel." Chairman Lakshmi Mittal announced doubled earnings the following year in May 2017. Along with the increase in capital, the company sold its 35% stake in Gestamp Automacion for $979 million, with the goal of reducing ArcelorMittal's debt to less than $12 billion. By February 2016, the company made about 6% of the world's steel.
It ranked 108th in the 2016 Fortune Global 500 ranking of the world's biggest corporations. In February 2017 ArcelorMittal announced its first annual profits in five years. In February 2017, ArcelorMittal and Votorantim announced plans to combine their long steel operations in Brazil. Under th
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE is a European commercial real estate company headquartered in Paris, France. Its history originates with the formation of two separate shopping centre operators and Rodamco Europe, which merged in 2007 and became a societas Europaea in 2009; the company merged with the Australian shopping centre operator Westfield Corporation, created by the split of Westfield Group, in 2018. As of 2018, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is the largest commercial real estate company in Europe, is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, its portfolio consists of retail property, office buildings, convention centers within Europe and North America. Many of its shopping centres use the Westfield brand launched by Westfield Group in 1960 and shared with Scentre Group for properties in Australia and New Zealand since 2014. Retail properties owned by Unibail-Rodamco. Unibail was founded in 1968 as a finance-leasing unit by a company called Worms & Cie. In 1991, Unibail started focusing on the property investment sector, phased out involvement in lease financing.
It built a property portfolio of close to 30 shopping centres across France – including the Forum des Halles and the arcade within CNIT – and substantial office properties in Paris and La Défense – including the Tour Ariane and the Paris Expo group of convention centres. Rodamco Europe formed in 1999 when Rodamco, a property investment fund set up by the Dutch asset management group Robeco in 1979, broke up into various independent listed companies covering different parts of the world. Rodamco Europe subsequently collected a portfolio consisting of shopping centres and other retail spaces across 14 European countries, along with some office property in France and the Netherlands, acquiring smaller European rivals in the process. On April 10, 2007, Rodamco Europe announced an agreement to conduct a merger of equals with Unibail to create the largest publicly traded property company in Europe; the merger was confirmed on June 21, 2007, after Unibail announced the acquisition of 80% of Rodamco's shares, making its offer for the remainder unconditional.
The merged entity took effect as a société anonyme under the new name Unibail-Rodamco on June 25, 2007. On June 1, 2011, Unibail-Rodamco hired former FNAC CEO Christophe Cuvillier as the new COO. In collaboration with CEO and Chairman of the Board Guillaume Poitrinal, he led the company to five years of growth in spite of tough economic conditions. In May 2015, Unibail revealed it had signed an agreement with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to sell its 46.1% stake in German shopping mall operator MFI AG for €394 million. In December 2017, Unibail took over Westfield Corporation, which operates 35 shopping centres in the US and the UK, for a reported price of US$24.8 billion. The Australian shopping centres branded as Westfield and held by Scentre were not acquired by Unibail; the deal was completed in June 2018, the shopping centres owned by Unibail-Rodamco before the merger had their names modified to have the Westfield brand. Christophe Cuvillier – Group Chief Executive Officer Jaap L. Tonckens – Group Chief Financial Officer Astrid Panoysan – Group Chief Resources Officer Olivier Bossard – Group Chief Development Officer Jean-Marie Tritant – President Michel Dessolain – Chief Operating Officer Peter Miller – Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Mouchel – Chief Financial Officer Gerard Sieben – Chief Financial Officer Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has a 100% free float.
The following represents the shareholder structure as of October 31, 2012: APG Asset Management – 9.9% Amundi AM – 4.2% Northern Cross – 3.6% BlackRock – 3.2% State Street Global Advisors – 3.09% Other – 76.2% Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is listed in several indexes, including: FTSE4Good Dow Jones Sustainability Index Advanced Sustainability Performance Eurozone Index Ethibel Sustainability Index ECPI Index STOXX® Global ESG Leaders Index Standard Ethics French Index Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is rated A by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. In 2015, Standard Ethics Aei has given a rating to Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in order to include it in its Standard Ethics French Index. To conceive and design its buildings, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield works with high-end architectural firms like Thomas Mayne of Morphosis firm, Herzog & de Meuron, RIADH group, the firm Architecture Farshid Moussavi, Cuno & Jean Brullmann Crochon-Luc, Jean-Paul Viguier, Epstein & Glaiman / Recevki Architecture, Araldo Cossutta & Ponte, Arte-Charpentier.
Unbail-Rodamco-Westfield corporate website Westfield commercial website
