Global business moves: deals, divestments and new builds

Maas Group Holdings has agreed to sell its construction materials division to Heidelberg Materials Australia for up to A$1.7bn. The price includes a contingent A$120m payment tied to post‑completion operational and commercial milestones. Around 1,140 employees are expected to transfer to Heidelberg Materials, with both parties working to maintain continuity through the transition.

The divestment is central to Maas Group’s strategy to redeploy capital into next‑generation infrastructure, including digital infrastructure, electrification and AI‑enabled assets. Proceeds are earmarked for expanding electrical infrastructure capabilities, growing fund management and considering capital management actions such as share buybacks.

Regulatory approvals from Australia’s ACCC and FIRB, as well as Maas shareholder approval, are still required, with completion targeted for the second half of 2026. In parallel with the sale, Maas has invested A$100m for a 1.7% stake in Firmus Grid, an AI infrastructure developer, and its JLE division has a A$200m contract to support Firmus’s Project Southgate, part of Australia’s sovereign AI roadmap.

ExxonMobil Guyana has completed the $2.32bn purchase of the FPSO ONE GUYANA from SBM Offshore, ahead of the original lease expiry in 2027. SBM has used the proceeds to fully repay $1.74bn of project financing, cutting its net debt, and will continue to operate and maintain the vessel under an integrated model until 2035.

ONE GUYANA, built under SBM’s Fast4Ward programme, is deployed on the Yellowtail field in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana. It is designed to produce about 250,000 barrels of oil per day, treat 450 million cubic feet of gas per day, inject 300,000 barrels of water per day and store up to 2 million barrels of crude. It is the fourth and largest FPSO managed by SBM in Guyana, alongside Destiny, Unity and Prosperity.

In Canada, Suncor Energy reported record Q4 2025 upstream production of 909,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 875,000 a year earlier, despite unusually wet conditions in Alberta that affected peers. Fort Hills output rose to 178,200 barrels per day, and Suncor’s refineries operated at 108% of nameplate capacity following efficiency gains.

Solar equipment supplier Sungrow will invest €230m in its first European manufacturing plant in Wałbrzych, Poland. The 65,400 m² facility is due online within 12 months, with planned annual capacity of up to 20 GW of inverters and 12.5 GWh of energy storage systems. About 400 jobs are expected, with the plant intended to strengthen European supply‑chain resilience and logistics for clean‑energy hardware.

In the US, Zelestra and Meta have signed a new power purchase agreement for the 176MWdc Skull Creek Solar Plant in Texas. The PPA is part of a broader collaboration covering around 1.2GWdc of solar capacity across seven US projects, all expected to be operational by 2028. Two projects entered construction in late 2025, with the remainder to be built this year.

The Skull Creek project contributes to Meta’s goal of sourcing 100% renewable energy for its operations. Zelestra recently commissioned the 81MWdc Jasper County Solar Project in Indiana, the first of the joint US initiatives to reach full operations. The developer is working on a 15GW global pipeline of clean‑energy projects.

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has banned Amazon from imposing price caps on third‑party retailers on its German marketplace and is seeking €59m in what it says are anti‑competitive gains. The authority argued that Amazon competes directly with marketplace sellers and that influencing their pricing through caps is only permissible in exceptional cases, such as tackling price gouging.

The decision is based on new powers granted to the regulator under 2023 reforms and requires Amazon to stop its current pricing practices. The company has one month to appeal. Amazon’s German country manager described the ruling as an “unprecedented regulatory decision” and said the firm would appeal while continuing to operate as usual.

The cartel office is already investigating whether Chinese e‑commerce platform Temu influences third‑party merchant pricing. The Amazon case illustrates how enhanced competition rules are being applied to large technology platforms in major European markets.