Goldman's Acquires Hague Based Investment Manager for 355 billion dollar European AuS Boost (With Caveats)

Goldman Sachs has agreed to acquire Hague-based NN Investment Partners for 1.6 billion Euros from NN Group NV.  The deal is expected to close end Q1 2022. The acquisition fits into GS' strategy to scale its European business. Assets under supervision will increase by approximately 355 billion dollars (some caveats over some mortgage assets which will continue to be managed by NN Group). GS has 2.3 trillion dollars in Assets under supervision globally.

UK Unveils Hydrogen Investment Plan (#2 in TP Plan)

The UK government has unveiled its plan for hydrogen investment to 2030. Further details in the policy papers. Low carbon hydrogen is a key part of the UK's strategy to go net-zero by 2050. It forms part of the government's Ten Point Plan for a "green industrial revolution" announced in November 2020 aimed at creating 250,000 jobs. Hydrogen sits at priority number two with an aim to generate 5GW from low carbon hydrogen by 2030 just below offshore wind, where the aim is to quadruple the UK's current production to 40GW by 2030. Number 3 is nuclear - advancing nuclear as a clean energy source.

Valuations in Softbank's Vision Fund Portfolio Hammered by China Regulatory Action

Ride-hailing app Didi Global listed in New York (NYSE:DIDI) but valuations were impacted by China regulatory action (investigation from the Cyberspace Administration of China), aimed at policing the huge datasets that Didi has access to, given its dominant market position in China. This has led to speculation of of a possible delisting.

Vision Fund CFO Navneet Govil (MBA, MEng from Cornell) has asserted the China thesis remains strong. Navneet former roles include SVP of Finance and Strategic Pricing at CA Technologies (which was acquired by Broadcom in July 2018).

Porfolio managers, such as Joshua Crabb of Robeco (part of ORIX Europe), have commented we are now in an age of unprecedented regulatory scrutiny over Tech not limited to China.

Crypto Exchange Wins "In-Principle Approval" from Singapore Regulator

The MAS, or Monetary Authority of Singapore, has granted an "in-principle approval" to Independent Reserve, for digital payment token services. Independent Reserve was started in Australia in 2013.