🔒 Flash Briefing: Venezuela’s end game; Absa’s Ramos to retire; Saudis dump Tesla

By Alec Hogg

In today’s global headlines:
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• The Trump Administration’s unconventional approach to global diplomacy is highlighted again this morning, days before it resumes talks with China aimed at ending the trade war. Last night, US prosecutors filed a raft of charges against China’s tech equipment giant and national champion Huawei. The company has been accused of serial violations of US laws and more specifically, ignoring US sanctions on Iran and stealing trade secrets from a US business partner. This follows last month’s arrest at Vancouver airport of Huawei’s chief financial officer pending extradition to the US.
• The end game is fast approaching for Venezuela’s embattled leader Nicolás Maduro, after the US and a dozen other countries declared his presidential regime to be illegitimate. US president Donald Trump got the ball rolling when formally recognising the newly elected president of the National Assembly as the country’s leader. Maduro has decreed the National Assembly dissolved and retains power through the support of Venezuela’s military. Last night the US substantially upped the ante by imposing sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, cutting off the primary source of Maduro’s income. In the past week the Bank of England rejected a request by the Maduro regime to release $1.2bn worth of Venezuelan-owned bullion held in its vaults, citing compliance related reasons.
• Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, once tipped by Tesla founder Elon Musk as the investor supporting his bid to take the company private at a price of $420 a share, is distancing itself from the electric car company. The Financial Times of London reports this morning that two weeks ago the Saudi fund used derivatives to effectively sterilise its 4.9% shareholding in Tesla. The FT quotes four people with direct knowledge of the deal who say caps and collars arranged on January 17 by bankers JP Morgan Chase have frozen the stake at a value of $2.9bn. Such deals are usually a precursor to the sale of shares in the open market. The Saudi fund is one of Tesla’s top five shareholders. Its deal was struck at $347 a share. Tesla stock currently trades 14% lower, at below $300.
• In South African related news, fresh from conquering the promenade in Davos, Absa chief executive Maria Ramos this morning announced she will retire next month. Ramos turns 60 on February 22^nd, making her eligible to leave the bank she has run for almost a decade. In Davos last week Ramos hosted a top-level investment seminar at the newly acquired Absa store on the high street, expressing her encouragement that under president Cyril Ramaphosa the country is back on track. Before joining Absa in 2009 she served in the public sector. Given the task that awaits and Ramos’s apparent good health, a return to national service looks likely.