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☆ Alternative asset specialist Beneficient set to complete $3.3 billion SPAC merger
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Last year, Beneficient announced plans to go public via a merger with Avalon Acquisition Company (AVAC.O). Avalon stockholders approved the deal on Tuesday, said the source who was not permitted to discuss the confidential matter. Beneficient provides liquidity and services to qualified individuals and smaller institutions invested in private equity, venture capital and other alternative assets. The company is expected to begin trading this week on Nasdaq under the ticker BENF and the combined company will be called Beneficient, the person said. Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are publicly listed companies that were raised with the intention of merging with a private company, which then goes public through the merger.

Persons: Beneficient, Brad Heppner, Donald Putnam, Craig Cognetti, Svea Herbst, Bayliss, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: YORK, Avalon Acquisition, Avalon, Nasdaq, Beneficient, Crossroads Group, Grail Partners, Putnam Lovell Securities, Svea, Thomson Locations: Avalon

☆ BuzzFeed is at risk of getting kicked off the Nasdaq because its stock has been performing so badly
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Nathan Mcalone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

BuzzFeed could get kicked off the Nasdaq because its stock price is so low. The digital media company has until November 27 to raise its price or face delisting. BuzzFeed has struggled as a public company and is now trying to pivot to AI and creators. BuzzFeed, once the darling of digital media, is now at risk of getting kicked off the Nasdaq because its stock is doing so badly. BuzzFeed has until November 27 to raise its stock price or it could get booted off the exchange.

Persons: BuzzFeed, J, Clara Chan, We've, Jonah Peretti, it's, Peretti Organizations: Nasdaq, Morning, Securities and Exchange Commission, Hollywood, Facebook

☆ WE Soda to sell shares in rare London IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 31 (Reuters) - WE Soda, the world's largest producer of natural soda ash, said on Wednesday it planned to list shares on the London stock exchange, in a boost for Britain's flagging initial public offering (IPO) market. The UK-based company, which produces soda ash for a variety of uses including glass manufacturing, is considering applying for admission to trade on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Though proceeds raised in London IPOs fell 90% last year, according to research by consultancy EY, the British capital has seen some activity in recent months. Earlier in May, Admiral Acquisition (ADMR.L), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) founded by veteran dealmaker Martin E. Franklin, raised $550 million in a London flotation. In April, Melrose Industries (MRON.L) listed the former automotive division of British engineer GKN under the name Dowlais (DWL.L) on the LSE.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, London IPOs, EY, dealmaker Martin E, Franklin, GKN, Pablo Mayo, Jason Neely, Mark Potter Organizations: London Stock Exchange, LSE, Ciner, Press, JPMorgan, BNP, Deutsche Bank, Liberum, European Union, Melrose Industries, Thomson Locations: London, Cambridge

[1/2] The word Stock is seen on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidFRANKFURT, May 31 (Reuters) - Germany's Schmid Group said on Wednesday it plans to list in New York via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a deal estimated to give the technology firm a valuation of $640 million. The fifth generation family-owned business, which specialises in electronics, would become a publicly-listed company on the New York Stock Exchange in the fourth quarter of this year. The transaction will be through blank-check company Pegasus Digital Mobility Acquisition Corp (PGSS.N) led by automotive veteran Ralf Speth, it said in a statement. "We have been considering this step for some time and see the NYSE and the U.S. capital markets as much more suitable for a technology company," CEO Christian Schmid told Reuters, regarding the location of the transaction.

Persons: Brendan McDermid FRANKFURT, Germany's Schmid, Ralf Speth, Christian Schmid, Schmid, StratCap, Speth, Emma, Victoria Farr, Madeline Chambers, Emelia Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Pegasus Digital Mobility, Corp, NYSE, Reuters, Pegasus, BMW, Jaguar, Rover, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, New York, Freudenstadt, Germany's Black

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☆ EV startups conserve cash as make-or-break moment approaches. Here's where everyone stands
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( John Rosevear | In Jrosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

As legacy automakers increasingly ramp production of all-electric vehicles, cushioned by the profits of gas-powered models, a handful of EV startups are scrambling to conserve cash and stay in the mix. It also means the amount of cash Fisker had left as of the end of March, $652.5 million, isn't yet cause for alarm. Still, Fisker cut its production guidance for 2023 to between 32,000 vehicles and 36,000 vehicles, from 42,400 in its original plan. Or as Evercore ISI analyst Doug Dutton wrote before Fisker's earnings report, "Fisker is beginning to turn into a story of binary and 'show me' outcomes." It had $108.1 million remaining as of the end of March, but it lost $171.1 million in the first quarter .

Persons: Tesla, Rivian, Claire McDonough, Rivian's, It's, McDonough, Deutsche Bank's Emmanuel Rosner, Rosner, Sherry House, Peter Rawlinson, Bank of America's John Murphy, Murphy, Aston Martin, Henrik Fisker, Fisker, Doug Dutton, Dutton, Nikola Nikola, Trevor Milton, Nikola, Voltera, TD Cowen, Jeffrey Osborne, Osborne, Polestar Polestar, it's, Johan Malmqvist isn't, aren't, Deutsche Bank's Rosner, Lordstown, Foxconn, Foxconn doesn't Organizations: EV, Amazon, Deutsche, Lucid's, Bank of America's, BMW, Global, Magna International, Nikola, Iveco, Volvo Cars, Geely, Lordstown, Nasdaq, General Motors Locations: Georgia, Magna, Austria, U.S, Europe, North America, Nikola's, Swedish, China, Ohio, Lordstown

☆ Panera Bread parent announces CEO transition as it prepares for 'eventual IPO'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Customers patronize an open Panera Bread location in the Walt Whitman Mall on March 26, 2020 in Huntington Station, New York. JAB Holding, the investment arm of the Reimann family, bought Panera Bread in 2017 for $7.5 billion, taking it private. In the press release, Panera Brands said the leadership changes are "in preparation for its eventual IPO." Panera Bread, the largest chain in the portfolio, has long been known as a technology leader in the restaurant industry. Panera Bread has also been testing A.I.

☆ Vietnam EV maker Vinfast expects to break even by end-2024 - founder
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HANOI, May 17 (Reuters) - Vietnam's electric automaker VinFast expects to break even by the end of 2024, its founder said on Wednesday. Vinfast will also launch an EV-pickup truck and a city or "mini car" as future models, Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of conglomerate Vingroup (VIC.HM) and founder of its auto unit VinFast, told investors at the company's annual general meeting. VinFast said earlier this month that it would list in the United States via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Black Spade Acquisition Co (BSAQ.N). VinFast, which is looking to break into the U.S. and European markets for electric cars, had earlier received funding pleges of $2.5 billion from Vingroup, Vietnam's largest conglomerate, and its founder, Vuong, Vietnam's first billionaire. Reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi and Kevin Krolicki in Singapore; Editing by Martin PettyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The dollar will remain dominant because most countries 'don't want to own their own currency,' Chamath Palihapitiya says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Most countries "don't want to own their own currencies," Chamath Palihapitiya said. For this reason, even if the dollar would weaken, it would still remain the dominant currency. Again, you have to remember a lot of these foreign governments — 187 or whatever the number is — countries outside the United States, rely on the US dollar," Palihapitiya said. At the same time, some countries have raised the idea of using local currencies over the dollar, such as Indonesia and India. Meanwhile, a weaker dollar could manifest sooner if the ongoing debt ceiling crisis failed to resolve before the US defaulted, which could happen as soon as June 1.

☆ Vietnam EV maker VinFast sees sales boom, path to breakeven
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Phuong Nguyen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Vuong projected sales of between 40,000 and 50,000 cars this year, up from EV sales of about 7,400 in 2022 when the company's only market was Vietnam. In addition, Vuong said VinFast planned to add two other models to its lineup: an electric pickup truck and a battery-powered city or "mini car." VinFast, which began operations in 2019, has a plant in Vietnam and plans for a second plant to open in North Carolina in 2025. An electric pickup truck would face competition from Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O), Ford Motor Co's (F.N) F-150 Lightning and other models. The entry-level, small EV would face competition from Chinese-made electric vehicles, including from BYD.

☆ Nomura hires two bankers for transport technology deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Isla Binnie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - Japanese investment bank Nomura (8604.T) has hired two investment bankers to lead its coverage of mobility and automotive clients in Europe and the United States through its sustainability-focused division Greentech. "You saw in the "de-SPAC" furore a lot of standalone young electric vehicle companies raise capital. The reality is the path to success and scale, to build a standalone company, is dramatically complex," Duncan Williams, global co-head of Nomura Greentech, told Reuters. Investment banks in Europe and the United States raked in more than $700 million in fees for deals in technologically-advanced mobility and transportation in 2021, Williams said, adding he expected the area to remain lucrative. Reporting by Isla Binnie in New York Editing by Greg RoumeliotisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

May 16 (Reuters) - Hippocratic Health, a startup building artificial intelligence models for the healthcare industry, has raised $50 million in a larger-than-usual seed funding round, signaling strong investor interest in betting on AI models for specific industries. Large language models are AI systems that mine vast amounts of data to summarize information and generate content. Also known as foundation models, large language models can perform tasks from writing essays to generating codes. Our focus is to build the safest language model for healthcare," said Shah, who previously founded insurance startup Health IQ. A16z said it is one of the largest seed checks it has written in the healthcare industry.

☆ Vietnam’s Tesla debuts with wrong kind of power
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Anshuman Daga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Vietnam’s richest man is taking his electric-vehicle company, VinFast, public at a punchy valuation through a merger with casino mogul Lawrence Ho’s special-purpose acquisition company. The tie-up with Black Spade Acquisition Co (BSAQ.N) means VinFast doesn’t have to wait for the market for initial public offerings to improve to make its debut. The SPAC deal values VinFast at 42 times its sales in 2022, a stunning seven times Tesla’s (TSLA.O) multiple and more than twice the multiple of Lucid (LCID.O). But despite the big eye-catching U.S. debut, existing investors will own 99% of the company after the deal. The merger values the Tesla challenger’s equity at $23 billion, not including the $169 million of Black Spade’s cash, and its enterprise including debt at about $27 billion.

☆ Vietnam EV maker VinFast to list in U.S. via a SPAC
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Vietnamese electric automaker VinFast said on Friday it will list in the United States via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Black Spade Acquisition Co . The company has said it has almost 55,000 orders globally and is able to churn out 300,000 EVs per year. Black Spade Acquisition is a Hong Kong-based SPAC which listed on the NYSE in July 2021 with a plan to merge, within two years, with a company ideally in the entertainment business, according to its website. It was founded by Black Spade Capital Limited, the private investment arm of Lawrence Ho, the head of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, which operates casinos in Macau and the Philippines, according to the company's website and Refinitiv. "The partnership with Black Spade and listing of VinFast in the U.S. represents the perfect capital raising avenue for our future global ambitions," Thuy Le, VinFast's global chief executive, said.

☆ Bowlero, the public company that reimagined bowling, faces dozens of discrimination claims that the feds want to settle for $60 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +19 min

The 73 EEOC claims brought by individual former employees against the company sparked the larger pattern or practice investigation into age discrimination. Only a fraction of EEOC age discrimination complaints — 2.8% in fiscal 2021 — resulted in reasonable cause determinations, EEOC data show. It went from running six bowling alleys to 272 overnight after it acquired AMF, which was then the largest bowling company in the world and was in bankruptcy. The following year, Shannon's company acquired the Brunswick Corporation, the second-largest bowling company in the world, and changed his company's name to Bowlero. Dowe said negotiations fell apart when Bowlero countered the EEOC's $60 million settlement proposal with a proposal of $500,000.

☆ Crypto Companies Test the Public Markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Vicky Ge Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Unlike other collapses, crypto’s crash has largely avoided rippling into other markets. Illustration: Mallory BranganThe 2023 market rebound is enabling some crypto companies to explore an option that appeared off the table just six months ago: trying to go public. Bitcoin-mining company Bitdeer Technologies listed on the Nasdaq last month after merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a blank-check company so called for its use in helping businesses access public markets with fewer strings attached. Blockchain company Chia Network recently took another step toward going public, while cloud-mining company BitFuFu and crypto cash-machine company Bitcoin Depot are working on plans to go public via SPAC mergers.

☆ Bowery: 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Founded in 2015 in New York City, Bowery is among several urban plant factories that are changing food supplies, and attracting substantial funding. The need to grow produce more efficiently, and closer to end markets, is represented in Bowery and the concept of vertical agriculture. Early last year, Bowery secured a $150 million credit investment from KKR & Co. Overall, Bowery increased its retail distribution 40% in 2022, with supermarket chains Albertsons, Giant Food, Walmart and Whole Foods on board. Almost a decade on from its founding, the idea behind Bowery remains novel, but skeptics say vertical farming remains closer to a DIY niche than a grown up, globally scalable agtech industry.

☆ Wheels Up founder abruptly steps down as losses mount, potential bankruptcy looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Robert Frank | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Private jet company Wheels Up announced Tuesday that its founder and CEO, Kenny Dichter, is stepping down from his post immediately as the company faces mounting losses and the potential for bankruptcy. Board member Ravi Thakran will become executive chairman, while Chief Financial Officer Todd Smith will serve as interim CEO, the company said in a statement. Dichter's departure caps a dramatic fall for one of the private jet industry's most high-profile startups. Wheels Up once promised to become the Uber or Airbnb of private jets. Dichter, who founded Marquis Jets in 2001 and later sold it to NetJets, launched Wheels Up in 2013 aiming to "democratize" private jets and make them more affordable and easier to book.

☆ Elon Musk once praised a rocket CEO who didn't go to college for beating Jeff Bezos to orbit, new book reveals: 'Bezos has spent a shitload of money, and he hasn't made it'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A new book reveals Elon Musk once praised a rival New Zealand rocket CEO in a 2018 phone call. Musk said it was "impressive" that Rocket Lab launched a rocket into orbit before Blue Origin, per the book. Like SpaceX, Rocket Lab has been able to launch rockets into orbit — something Bezos' Blue Origin company has not yet achieved. In March, Rocket Lab launched its 35th Electron rocket just a week after launching its 34th Electron rocket. Neither Rocket Lab, Blue Origin, nor Musk responded to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Impactive takes a stake in Clarivate and sets the tone for activism in the post-SPAC world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Business: Clarivate is a global information, analytics and workflow solutions company. Activist Commentary: Impactive Capital is an activist hedge fund founded in 2018 by Lauren Taylor Wolfe and Christian Alejandro Asmar. Impactive Capital is an active ESG (AESG) investor that launched with a $250 million investment from CalSTRS and now has over $2.5 billion. Impactive focuses on positive systemic change to help build more competitive, sustainable businesses for the long run. As with many SPAC companies, there were valuation, corporate governance and compensation incentive concerns at Clarivate.

☆ Microsoft M12 boss departs tech giant's VC arm to help turn London-based investor Systemiq Capital into the Sequoia of climate tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A founding partner at Microsoft's VC arm M12 has left to take up a GP role at a climate tech investor. Goldstein has joined Systemiq Capital and plans to turn it into the Sequoia of climate tech. One of the founding partners of Microsoft's venture arm M12 has left the company to join London-based investor Systemiq Capital, which he wants to help turn into the Sequoia of climate tech. Systemiq Capital, meanwhile, was spun out of advisory firm Systemiq in 2022 to allow it to thrive on its own, Goldstein said. The climate tech investor expects to reach final close on its second fund, worth $200 million, towards the end of 2023.

☆ Carl's Jr. and Hardee's to roll out Presto's A.I. drive-thru ordering nationwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Carl's Jr. and Hardee's locations will roll out automated drive-thru ordering nationwide using Presto's artificial intelligence software. Together, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's have about 2,800 restaurants across 44 U.S. states. Hardee's locations are mostly in the Midwest and South, while Carl's Jr. restaurants are found in the West. CKE tested the software last year at a handful of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's locations. CKE operates about 250 of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurants, while franchisees run the rest.

☆ Shipping Giant Maersk Drops Deep Sea Mining Investment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk is selling its stake in deep-sea mining firm The Metals Company, even as the legal process to allow seabed mining approaches its final stages. The shipping company held more than 9% of TMC in 2021, according to data from FactSet and has been an investor in the company since 2017. TMC is one of the biggest proponents of deep-sea mining and is the most active company within the space, being the first to complete pilot testing. TMC and other deep-sea mining firms have come under fire over worries that the practice will harm the seabed environment.

☆ Why cities continue to have a love-hate affair with e-scooters
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Liam Mays | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Ride-share e-scooters are parked on the sidewalks of major cities across the world. And 158 U.S. cities already have ride-share e-scooter systems in place. But some cities, like New Orleans and Las Vegas, have strict ride-share e-scooter bans. "We operate in around 400 cities and they had the highest fine rate of any city in the world that we operate in. Other cities like Washington, D.C., see the e-scooter ride-share option as a valuable addition to their transportation infrastructure.

☆ Shares of this Swedish EV maker could nearly double, Cantor Fitzgerald says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Investors should consider buying Polestar Automotive as electric vehicle demand ramps up, according to Cantor Fitzgerald. PSNY 1D mountain Polestar Automotive shares 1-day Polestar is based in Sweden and started as a joint venture between the country's Volvo and China's Geely in 2017. Polestar shares dropped 54% in 2022, and are down about 35% this year. Polestar shares are up more than 2% during Thursday trading. "The company reported annual revenue of ~$2.5B in 2022, after delivering 51,491 vehicles (above company guidance of 50,000)," Sheppard wrote.

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