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Corporate Financier’s Notes by Aivars Jurcans
Done! And Done
ConsenSys, a Brooklyn-based tech startup, has acquired Quorum, the JPMorgan Chase’s blockchain platform. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Source: Reuters
Shanghai International Trust has agreed to sell its 49% stake in China International Fund Management, a mutual fund business, to its counterpart JPMorgan Chase for USD 1 billion. The price is a 51% premium over the appraised value of the stake.
Source: Bloomberg
Afterpay, Australia’s buy-now-pay-later company, has agreed to buy Pagantis, its Spanish peer, from NBG Corporate SLU for a minimum consideration of EUR 50 million.
Source: Reuters
Administrators of Wirecard, the collapsed German payments company, have agreed to sell the remnants of its UK business to Railsbank, a UK startup backed by Visa. The deal would involve Wirecard’s UK payment card technology, clients and some staff. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Source: FT
Waterdrop, a Chinese online insurance technology platform (founded in 2016), has raised USD 230 million in a new funding round led by Swiss Re, a reinsurer. It is said that Waterdrop was valued at nearly USD 2 billion in the funding round and that Swiss Re itself had invested USD 100 million.
Source: Reuters
Deals On The Table
MetLife, a US insurer, and AMMB Holdings, a Kuala Lumpur-listed company, are said to be “exploring options” for AmMetLife Insurance, their Malaysian life insurance business. Potential transaction is expected to fetch as much as USD 600 million.
Source: Bloomberg
Ant Group is expected to trade at a 25x to 30x times earnings multiple and is aiming at a valuation of USD 200 billion to USD 300 billion in its dual-listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Source: FT
South Street Securities, a firm that specialises in borrowing and lending via repurchase agreements, is said to be exploring strategic options including a possible sale. The company, which has projected 2020 revenue of about USD 104 million, is expected to fetch more than USD 300 million.
Source: Bloomberg
RBL Bank, an Indian lender, is said to be planning to raise USD 209 million by issuing shares to 5 investors.
Source: Bloomberg
The Money Trail
Goldman Sachs is said to be considering raising a venture and growth fund of around USD 2 billion in 2021.
Source: Bloomberg
Exciting Numbers
According to UBS research, the European Central Bank is currently buying between EUR 9 billion and EUR 10 billion of investment-grade corporate bonds a month as part of its bond-buying program.
Source: WSJ
Financial Lingo
Reversal rate – a rate below which it becomes more attractive to hold physical cash than to deposit money in a bank and at which point lending is subdued and starts to fall.
Source: FT
A Thought Worth Noting
“Absent a forceful policy response, the current pandemic is likely to put substantial pressure on [European] banks’ profitability due to rising loan-loss provisions and defaults, at a time when euro area banks’ profitability is already depressed, mostly due to structural reasons.”
Isabel Schnabel, board member, European Central Bank
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Aivars Jurcans has more than 20 years of corporate finance and investment banking experience. His services are currently available through MURINUS ADVISERS.
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