Strategic Buyers like Docusign Dominate Tech M&A

Strategic buyers are trumping private equity in tech acquisitions in 2024. 

An example is Nasdaq-traded Docusign's (DOCU) acquisition of Lexion, an AI-powered agreement management tool, for $165m.  It is an interesting example of expanding in AI through acquisition. Lexion is essentially an intelligent contracts database, that does all the smart interpretation of contracts. They started focusing on law firms and expanded into corporates. They spent time building their machine learning stack which required upfront investment.

Bain and Hellman & Friedman tried to acquire Docusign in February which fell through following failure to agree on a price shortly after which Docusign announced 400 layoffs. 

Docusign has 1.5 million clients in 180 countries.

Royal Mint Announces Precious Metals Recycling Facility in South Wales

The UK's oldest company with a history of over one thousand years. the Royal Mint, found in 886 AD, has announced a modern facility in South Wales which extracts gold from Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Up to 4,000 tonnes of PCBs (found in TVs, laptops and mobile phones) from E-waste will be processed annually. Sean Millard, Chief Growth Office of the Royal Mint, stated the factory underpinned the company's commitment to sustainable precious metals.

Market intelligence platform AlphaSense acquires Tegus for $930m

Tegus research platform, data and workflow tools are in scope. 

AlphaSense has stated the transaction will add breadth to its private company data. Integrating the data will enable clients to extract proprietary insights easily, such as by using AlphaSense's AI and Search capabilities.

Gold Orbits Around $2400 Mark, 25% up in the year ending July 2024

Gold has gained 25% in one year, shooting from 1925 on 10 July 2023 to 2384 on 8 July 2024. In five years, gold has gained 70% from a level of 1425.

Japanese Yen Falls to Record Low versus USD

USDJPY is trading at 160 yen to the dollar (26 June 2024), down from the 140s in January 2024, and 130s in January 2023.  Relative strength indicators suggest the yen is oversold. When USDJPY hit 160 on April 29th, Japan started buying yen for dollars, according to market participants. Currency traders however remained strategically bearish on yen based on expectations on the interest rate differential - the premise that Japanese rates will remain low in contrast with relatively high US interest rates. Standard Chartered reflected that the April intervention is unlikely to be a "one and done move".

Abu Dhabi backed Redbird IMI selling Telegraph and Spectator

Prospective owners can bid from June 21st.

Walmart Tops the 2024 Fortune 500

Top companies are Walmart, Amazon and Apple. The threshold to make the 2024 list was $7.1 billion in revenue. The Fortune 500 makes up two thirds of US GDP. US GDP was 25 trillion in 2022.