"Airbus of the batteries". Total and Peugeot are creating a 50-50 joint venture, Automotive Cells Company, to produce automotive batteries from 2023, with support from the German and French authorities for €1.3 billion. Renault is expected to join the alliance at a later date, under conditions yet to be determined. A positive initiative for European industrial sovereignty.

Are you going or not? EssilorLuxottica is going to appeal against the judgment that rejected its request for access to information from GrandVision. The Franco-Italian group is blowing hot and cold over the future of the transaction, stating on the one hand that GrandVision's attitude is worrying in that access to certain information remains blocked, but on the other hand that the examination process by the competent antitrust authorities is still ongoing.

In hope of a matrimonio. In Spain, Bankia and CaixaBank confirm that they are discussing a merger, but that talks are at the preliminary stage. Bankia (€3.2 billion capitalization), in which the Spanish State holds a stake of more than 60%, said it has been in contact with its counterpart in order to analyze a possible opportunity. CaixaBank (€10.9 billion capitalization) explained that it had not yet reached an agreement beyond an exchange of information. A source from the Spanish Ministry of Economy said that the Spanish State and the public shareholder fund are analyzing the project.

The DOJ wants to accelerate against Alphabet. The U.S. Department of Justice could file an antitrust lawsuit against Google (Alphabet) in the coming weeks, according to the New York Times. The DOJ would have asked the lawyers who participated in the antitrust investigation to deliver their conclusions at the end of September, even though they would have suggested that the deadline is a bit short.

Altice USA insists. Altice USA maintains its proposal to buy Cogeco despite its rejection by the Board of Directors, and says it is ready to discuss. "We are convinced that we have made a very attractive offer - which would reward all Cogeco shareholders with a significant premium - and we stand by it," said Altice USA and its ally Rogers.

Win-win? General Motors and Honda sign a strategic alliance in North America to share vehicle platforms and development costs. The partnership covers gasoline and electric automobiles, with engineering work starting in 2021. The two manufacturers are quite complementary, since the Japanese group is strong in small vehicles, while GM dominates it in pickups and SUVs.

In other news. Apple postpones to 2021 the mandatory authorization on ad tracking, which had raised fears on the Facebook side. Malaysia dropped the lawsuit against Goldman Sachs in the 1MDB case after the financial agreement negotiated between the parties. Ryanair launches a capital increase of 400 M€. Broadcom said that the scale-up of its production will be later this year than usual, suggesting to specialists that the release of new iPhones from Apple, its major customer, will take place later in 2020. Ciena sinks to Wall Street after disappointing forecasts. Kimberly-Clark offers Softex Indonesia for $1.2 billion. Vonovia launches a capital increase through a private placement at EUR 59, for an amount of €1bn. Kudelski to certify the security of Amazon.com connected devices.