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Ant Group’s IPO won’t happen for at least six months after regulatory hurdles, China ETF issuer says Lizzy Gurdus Ant’s in the hole. The suspension of Ant Group’s much-anticipated initial public offering — rumored to be the biggest of all time — came as a surprise to global investors earlier this month, but there’s more to the story than meets the eye, Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer of KraneShares, told CNBC”s “ETF Edge” on Monday. Ant Group’s original $300-billion-plus valuation is now expected to be cut in half after Chinese officials said the company did not meet certain regulatory and disclosure requirements for its IPO just five days before the scheduled listing. “You have all this retail money, predominantly individual investor money, in the IPO, and the regulator wasn’t going to do something to hurt the company knowing that you’d only be hurting all these mom-and-pop investors,” Ahern said. “I think, actually, the regulator took a pretty pragmatic view and for both parties, in the long run, it’s probably a better outcome,” he said. Ahern, whose company is majority-owned by a Chinese investment firm, said another attempt at a listing was “very unlikely to happen until about at least a minimum of six months.” While U.S.-based institutional investors “would’ve called the company’s bluff” had it decided to list on a domestic exchange, China has only just begun to ratchet up its regulations and officials there will likely need time to parse Ant Group’s financials, he said. “The company really portrayed itself as a technology company, got that very high valuation, but it was going to increasingly fall under being regulated like a bank,” Ahern said. “I think the regulator said all of the revenue, profitability, in the IPO prospectus is backward looking, and under this new regulatory regime, the company is still a great, great company, but certainly, the level of profitability is going to come down.” “As much as this is a disappointment, I think the regulator is saying to investors, ‘You need more insight into how the regulation is going to affect this company going forward,’” he added. Nick Colas, the co-founder of DataTrek Research, said regulators likely made the right decision even if their timing was less than ideal. “If you look at the Chinese online payment system, it’s dominated by two players,” Colas said in the same “ETF Edge” interview. Those players are Ant, of which Alibaba owns one-third, and Tencent’s WeChat Pay. The two have accrued some 80% market share in China’s online payment industry, which has “astounded” central bank officials around the world, the market analyst said. “Federal Reserve officials like Loretta Mester have talked about how odd it is that two companies dominate that,” Colas said. “I think the Chinese government has looked at it and said, ‘Yeah, that really is actually a problem and we do need to work on figuring out how to structurally make it more sound,’ because it is probably the biggest structural risk to the Chinese banking system.” “Unfortunately, they came to that realization a bit late for this IPO,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll happen at some point in a year or two.” Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares have fallen about 17% since Ant Group’s IPO was shelved.

Too little, too late? Britain introduces rules to protect tech firms from overseas takeovers Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson giving a statement in Downing Street in central London on April 27, 2020 after returning to work following more than three weeks off after being hospitalized with the Covid-19 illness. DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS LONDON – The U.K. government introduced new rules this week that are designed to protect Britain's best and brightest companies from being gobbled up by other, potentially hostile, nations. But some are asking if the rules, which have been in the works for several years and apply from this Wednesday this week, are too little and too late given two of Britain's most innovative companies have already been sold overseas. Cambridge-based chipmaker Arm was sold to Japanese tech giant SoftBank in 2016 and London-based artificial intelligence lab DeepMind was sold to Google in 2014. Matt Clifford, the chief executive of start-up factory Entrepreneur First, told CNBC that the government should have "probably" intervened in these deals. "Tech is a big and growing national security issue," he said, adding that "technological sovereignty is very important." While Arm sold for £24 billion ($31.6 billion), DeepMind only sold for a reported £400 million. Given DeepMind is widely perceived as one of the world leaders in AI today, the Google deal is viewed by experts as a bit of a bargain. Ian Hogarth, an entrepreneur turned tech investor, believes that DeepMind should have been nationalized by the U.K government so that it didn't have to sell itself to an overseas tech giant. "I find it hard to believe that the U.K. would not be better off were DeepMind still an independent company," he wrote in an essay in June 2018. "How much would Google sell DeepMind for today? $5 billion? $10 billion? $50 billion? It's hard to imagine Google selling DeepMind to Amazon, or Tencent or Facebook at almost any price." Hogarth added: "With hindsight, would it have been better for the U.K. government to block this acquisition and help keep it independent? Even now, is there a case to be made for the U.K. to reverse this acquisition and buy DeepMind out of Google and reinstate it as independent entity?" While DeepMind is a leader in AI, Arm is a leader in semiconductors, or chips. Its energy-efficient chip architectures are used in 95% of the world's smartphones and it is widely regarded as the jewel in the crown of the British tech industry. "In Arm's case, I can't see why some investors here didn't outbid the foreign folks," said Jon Crowcroft, a computer science professor at the University of Cambridge. "Arm are a massive success and long term super viable too." SoftBank is now in the process of trying to sell Arm to U.S. chipmaker Nvidia for $40 billion but there are a number of hurdles to overcome before the deal goes through, including regulators in China. Even though DeepMind and Arm are no longer British in some people's eyes, there are a number of other fast-growing tech companies that very much are — and could be worth protecting. Security firm Darktrace and AI chipmaker Graphcore, for example. Beyond AI and chips, Crowcroft said that Britain has aerospace and biotech companies that are worth protecting, such as BAE Systems. Some have pointed out that the new rules could potentially make it harder for founders and their investors to sell companies.  But Chris Smith, a venture capitalist at Playfair Capital in London, told CNBC he doesn't think it will have a material impact. "The scope is likely to be fairly limited, both in terms of the number of countries on the 'no deal' list and the number that would meet the strategic test," he said. "In reality, it reflects what we already know, that we have two tech universes — one in the West and one in the East. https://expertmanda.wixsite.com/home #expertinfo #acquisitions #mergers #mergersandacquisitions #mergerexpertise #businessforsale #expertmanda #duediligence #news

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Accenture Completes Acquisition of Avenai Business and Technology Consultancy Acquisition enhances Accenture’s ability to help public-sector clients with technology transformations OTTAWA, Ontario--Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has completed the acquisition of Avenai, an Ottawa-based provider of consulting and technology services. Avenai’s experienced consulting team will be bolstered by Accenture's global reach in helping clients meet their broad ambitions. The deal enhances Accenture’s capacity to drive the digital modernization taking place across the public sector in Canada as many departments and agencies embrace change, rapidly move to the cloud, and improve services for Canadians. Founded in 2012, Avenai has a strong reputation among government and commercial clients in Ottawa and Toronto. The firm supports key aspects of business change including strategy development, process improvement, IT-enabled business transformation, and organizational culture transformation. Terms of the transaction, which Accenture announced on October 7, were not disclosed.

Galaxy Digital Expands into Crypto Trading with Two Acquisitions Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. has acquired two leading cryptocurrency trading firms: DrawBridge Lending, a provider of digital asset lending, borrowing, and structured products, and Blue Fire Capital. The latter is a trading firm that focuses on liquidity for digital assets. The acquisitions come at a time where there is an uptick in interest from institutional investors seeking exposure to cryptocurrency-related financial products and services. "Institutional investors and corporates are becoming more knowledgeable and comfortable with digital assets and they are increasingly grasping the purpose and importance of cryptocurrency in their investment strategies," says Galaxy CEO Michael Novogratz.

The once mighty oil and gas industry is flailing, desperately trying to survive a pandemic that has sharply reduced demand for its products. Most companies have cut back drilling, laid off workers and written off assets. Now some are seeking out merger and acquisition targets to reduce costs. ConocoPhillips announced on Monday that it was acquiring Concho Resources for $9.7 billion, the biggest deal in the industry since oil prices collapsed in March. The acquisition, days after the completion of Chevron’s takeover of Noble Energy, would create one of the country’s biggest shale drillers and signals an accelerating industry consolidation as oil prices languish around $40 a barrel, just above the levels many businesses need to break even. Just last month Devon Energy said it would buy WPX Energy for $2.6 billion. But many investors are not sure such deal making will be enough to protect the industry from a sharp decline. The share prices of ConocoPhillips and Concho closed down by about 3 percent on Monday. The big problem is that the fortunes of oil companies are fundamentally tied to oil and natural gas prices, which remain stubbornly low. Few experts expect a full recovery of oil demand before 2022, and some analysts have gone so far as to declare that oil demand might have peaked in 2019 and could slide in the years to come as the popularity of electric cars grows. “There’s a lot more red ink than there is black gold,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, who periodically advises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. “Companies are trying to hunker down and weather the storm. Most people don’t think the oil price will recover for a couple of years.” More than 50 North American oil and gas companies with debts totaling more than $50 billion have sought bankruptcy protection this year. Among the casualties was Chesapeake Energy, a shale pioneer based in Oklahoma City. More failures could come in the next two years as companies are required to repay tens of billions of dollars in debt. Oil companies are facing daunting uncertainties, particularly as concerns over climate change mount and governments impose tougher regulationsto reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Small companies fear a crackdown on methane leaks and tightening regulations, especially if former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. becomes president and Democrats take control of the Senate. European oil companies have already begun pivoting away from oil and gas, plotting investments in renewable energy like wind and solar to attract new investors. While those companies have had limited success so far, American companies have for the most part stuck with their traditional businesses. They have adapted to low oil and gas prices by slashing investments by 30 percent or more. The oil and gas rig count has dropped by 569 since last fall, to only 282 operating across the country. Oil companies are hoarding cash and renegotiating contracts with service companies that drill and complete wells. Rig rental rates are down roughly 10 percent, pressuring the companies that do the field work. More than 100,000 American oil workers have lost their jobs in recent months. ConocoPhillips, the largest American independent oil company, has been something of an outlier, recently raising its dividend and buying back shares. Nevertheless, ConocoPhillips’s stock price has dropped by roughly half so far this year. The company is a major producer in the Bakken shale field of North Dakota and the Eagle Ford shale field in South Texas. By acquiring Concho, it will become a major player in the world’s most lucrative shale field, the Permian Basin, which straddles West Texas and New Mexico. With Concho’s 550,000 acres in the Permian, ConocoPhillips will more than triple its 170,000-acre position in the basin, which became the world’s most productive oil field last year. Concho is little known outside Texas but became a major oil producer after it bought RSP Permian for $9.5 billion in 2018. Concho produced more than 300,000 barrels in the second quarter. “Together ConocoPhillips and Concho will have unmatched scale and quality,” said Ryan M. Lance, ConocoPhillips’s chairman and chief executive, referring to their joint balance sheet, resource reserves and personnel. The deal would help make ConocoPhillips one of the largest players in the Permian, putting it in the same league as companies that are much bigger than it over all. “The combination is remarkable,” said Robert Clarke, a vice president and oil analyst at Wood Mackenzie, a research and consulting firm. “Just in regards to scale, ConocoPhillips is adding enough Permian production to nip at the heels of ExxonMobil’s massive program.” As the shale industry grew over the last decade or so, many smaller companies poured billions of dollars into the Permian and other parts of the country. Now, the process appears to be headed in the opposite direction as the industry retrenches and becomes smaller. #expertinfo #acquisitions #mergers #mergersandacquisitions #mergerexpertise #businessforsale #expertmanda #duediligence #news

Tiffany Deal Is a Signature Move by the king of Luxury Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and the richest man in Europe, is no stranger to public battles. The soap opera also known as the largest deal in luxury, the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-Tiffany acquisition, finally has a happy ending. The two companies originally announced their synergistic engagement last November only to engage in months of public mudslinging after the pandemic hit the luxury market and LVMH’s commitment turned wobbly. But on Thursday they said they had agreed to new terms. LVMH will acquire Tiffany for $131.50 a share, $3.50 less than the original price but $1.50 more than Tiffany’s reported bottom line. That will save Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH, and his shareholders the relatively low amount of $420 million off the original $16.2 billion price, and it will keep Tiffany from being left to fend for itself in an uncertain luxury environment. It has been a drama-filled relationship, however, beginning in September when LVMH went public with the news that the French government — the government! — had asked it to wait on closing the deal. Tiffany charged delaying tactics. LVMH accused Tiffany of being a “mismanaged business that over the first half of 2020 hemorrhaged cash.” Tiffany shot back that “LVMH’s specious arguments are yet another blatant attempt to evade its contractual obligation to pay the agreed-upon price for Tiffany.” Tiffany filed suit in a Delaware court for breach of obligations. LVMH countersued, saying the damage to Tiffany in 2020 meant it was no longer the same company it had agreed to acquire.

KYOCERA to Acquire 100% Ownership of California-Based SLD Laser Kyocera’s fine ceramics to create synergies with new expertise in gallium nitride KYOTO, Japan--Kyocera Corporation (President: Hideo Tanimoto, hereafter “Kyocera”) today announced that it has concluded an agreement with California, U.S.-based SLD Laser (formally named Soraa Laser Diode, Inc.) to acquire 100% ownership of SLD Laser. Under the agreement, SLD Laser plans to begin operating as a Kyocera group company upon approval of regulatory authorities. SLD Laser is a world leader in the commercialization of gallium nitride (GaN) based laser light sources and was established in 2013 as a technology startup. SLD Laser has won commercial success by developing, manufacturing and marketing innovative laser-based products with high efficiency and luminance for mobility, specialty lighting, consumer, and industrial applications. It has obtained safety certifications from ANSI/UL*2and IEC*3 for its high-brightness laser light sources, and is dedicated to the safe and successful application of laser-based innovations. SLD Laser was recently ranked 7th in Fortune magazine’s “2020 Best Workplaces in Manufacturing & ProductionTM,” *4 having promoted an employee-centric corporate culture since its founding. Kyocera is committed to expanding and developing its business as well as contributing to the growth of various industries through creating new products and cultivating new markets, aiming to attain great synergies by integrating SLD Laser’s advanced GaN expertise with its own production technologies and R&D capabilities in fine ceramic-related businesses.