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Corporate Financier’s Notes by Aivars Jurcans
Done! And Done
Sea Ltd, a Singapore tech startup, has acquired PT Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi, an Indonesian lender. The details of the deal were not disclosed. Sea raised almost USD 3 billion in a stock offering in December 2020 to be spent on business expansion.
Source: Bloomberg
Deals On The Table
SoFi, an online lender, is said to go public in a USD 8.7 billion deal with Social Capital Hedosophia V, the 5th special purpose acquisition company set up by Chamath Palihapitiya and Ian Osborn. SoFi projects about USD 1 billion of adjusted net revenue in 2021.
Source: FT, WSJ
NCR Corp is said to have offered to buy Cardtronics, a manager of a network of 285,000 ATMs across 10 countries, for more than USD 1.7 billion in an all-cash deal.
Source: Bloomberg
Thanks, But No Deal
Visa has called off its deal to buy Plaid, a fintech startup, for USD 5.3 billion after the US Department of Justice sued to block the transaction on antitrust grounds.
Source: FT
Up-and-Comers
Walmart, a US discount retailer, is said to be partnering with Ribbit Capital, a venture capital firm which backs Robinhood (a stock trading platform), and Credit Karma, a personal finance startup, to create a new fintech firm.
Source: FT
Bakkt Holdings, a cryptocurrency platform majority-owned by Intercontinental Exchange, is said to have plans to go public through a merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings (a blank-cheque firm). The deal values Bakkt at approximately USD 2.1 billion.
Source: Bloomberg
Exciting Numbers
Large US banks’ excess capital stands on average, at 18% of their market capitalisation, suggesting they could buy back a meaningful proportion of their own shares.
Source: FT
A Thought Worth Noting
“A 3% cost of funds and a 6% return on a mortgage? Those days aren’t coming back. How do you grow customers? Not on price – the cost of capital is already zero. Not on service – you can’t compete with Apple or Google.”
Dave Ellison, portfolio manager, Hennessey Funds
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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.
Design by Artis Briedis, Photo by Joe Taylor on Unsplash
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