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.

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.