Legal and General Goes Long Science Investment

Legal and General are developing a science and innovation district as part of a £4bn partnership with the University of Oxford. Begbroke Science Park will be extended over an adjacent site of 14 hectares. Laura Mason, CEO of Legal and General (and an Oxford Engineering alumnus) announced the expansion as a boon to the life sciences and health sectors.

Massive £8bn Valuation as Wise Hits the London Stock Market, Win for Valar and a16z, and Post Brexit London

Wise, formerly known as Transferwise, founded in 2010, did a direct listing on the London Stock Exchange, in a move mimicking the approach used by Spotify in 2018. 

Nevertheless, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Morgan Stanley were hired to advise on the listing. 

Estonian co-founders Kristo Kaarmann and Taveet Hinrikus have become paper billionaires. CNBC has described it as a "big win for post Brexit London".

Other winners include early investors like Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures (originally spun out of Thiel Capital) and Andreessen Horowitz (founded in 2009, a year before Wise, by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, both of Netscape fame).

Dark Pool Limits Lifted in the UK Post Brexit

In February 2021, more than 16% of trades in UK blue chips were done in dark pools with a higher proportion of FTSE 250 stock flow occurring in dark pools vs. FTSE 100.  

For comparison, around 10% of DAX trades have been flowing through dark pools, according to data from Rosenblatt Securities.

The UK has broadly stood by dark pools as a boon to the market; whereas the EU, wary of their opacity, instituted rules back in 2013 that limited trades that could go through dark pools, both in terms of stock names as well as venues. Post-Brexit, these caps will no longer apply in the UK.

High spreads on UK exchanges has been one of the driver of dark pool liquidity in the UK.

Research from the FCA suggests dark trading damages liquidity when volumes exceed 15% of total volume traded.

Brent Premium is $2 over WTI

 Brent rises to around $74 and WTI is around $72.

Amazon Swallows MGM for $8.45bn

MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), the 97-year old Hollywood studio founded in 1924, and based in Beverly Hills, responsible for "Singin' in the Rain", and "Ben Hur" and owners of the James Bond and Rocky franchise, has been bought by Amazon, in its second-biggest acquisition to date.

Amazon's historically largest acquisition thus far has been the purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7bn in 2017. 

Kevin Ulrich, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MGM, and also CEO of New York based hedge fund Anchorage Capital, and former head of Goldman's distressed bank debt desk, stated it was "an inspiring combination".

Korea Takes on Taiwan in Semi Conductor Surge Investment

President Moon Jae-In of the South Korean government has announced that 510 trillion South Korean won ($452bn) will be invested in semiconductors by 2030.  1 USD is roughly 1100+ Korean won.

South Korea is currently world #2 behind Taiwan in manufacturing capacity. 

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are leading the investment. 

On the European side, as part of its Digital Compass plan, the EU declared in March its intent to increase its share of world manufacturing from 10% (2010) to 20% by 2030. 

On the US front, Intel has committed to build two new factories in Chandler, Arizona for $20bn. Hsinchu-headquartered Taiwan's TSMC is already building out manufacturing capacity in Phoenix, Arizona, as part of a $12bn build out.

Bitcoin Blow as Tesla States Non Acceptance

The environmental impact of bitcoin mining has been cited as the reason for Tesla going up against the cryptocurrency. Elon remains committed to crypto, though.