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SoftBank revealed that it sold its Uber holdings sometime between April and July, at an average price of $41.47 per share. According to SoftBank, the average cost per share was $34.50, meaning the bank sold the Uber stake at a profit.

SoftBank’s move comes as its technology investment vehicle, Vision Fund, reported a 2.93 trillion Japanese yen loss for the June quarter. 

SoftBank invested in Uber in 2018 and then again the following year, becoming the ride-hailing giant’s largest shareholder at one point. However, in 2021, the bank sold around a third of its stake in Uber and the remaining this year.

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The sale was priced at 815p per share, representing a 4% discount on Thursday’s closing price. Hinrikus sold around 10 million Class A shares in the company, which debuted on the London Stock Exchange in July

Wise has said that it understands Hinrikus intends to use the proceeds from the sale and loan to invest in European tech startups. However, Hinrikus’ private investment firm will maintain a hold of its 54 million class B shares in the company.

Earlier in the week, Wise revealed a growth in second-quarter revenue driven by higher customer numbers, partly attracted by lower prices. Wise said that nearly 4 million customers transferred approximately £18 billion over the period. This is an impressive 36% increase from 2020.

While Wise expects its take rate for the second half to be somewhat lower than in the first half, it nonetheless anticipates revenue growth for the year to March 2022 to be in the low to mid 20% range over the previous year.

Evergrande, which currently stands $305 in debt, has been struggling to raise funds as Wednesday’s deadline for a $47.5 million bond interest payment approaches. The property giant also owes payments to banks and suppliers. 

Evergrande has said that it has entered into an agreement to sell the 1.75 billion shares it owns in Shengjing Bank to state-owned firm Shenyang Shengjing Finance Investment Group. 

In a statement, the property developer said that its liquidity issues have already “adversely affected” Shengjing Bank “in a material way.” Evegrande says it hopes that introducing Shenyang Shengjing Finance Investment Group will stabilise the bank’s operations. 

Evergrande has also said it is making an ongoing effort to sell stakes in other assets to ease its liquidity problems. It has already sold property units to suppliers and contractors to begin offsetting some of its debts. According to the company’s latest financial statement, its outstanding payments amounted to approximately $3.8 billion as of August 27. 

On Wednesday morning, Evergrande’s shares in Hong Kong were up almost 10% in early trading. 

Precious metals miner Sibanye-Stillwater has entered into an agreement with Regulus Resources, and its subsidiary Aldebaran Resources, to acquire a stake in the Altar copper/gold project, in San Juan, Argentina. Peregrine owns the Altar project.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sibanye’s wholly-owned subsidiary Stillwater Canada and Aldebaran, will enter into a joint venture agreement with an opportunity to earn up to 80% interest.

Mining Weekly reported that Sibanye states that the arrangement creates a “new, well-capitalised, Argentinean-focused exploration company”.

“This transaction is consistent with our strategy of maintaining our focus and investment on our core mining operations. We believe Aldebaran possesses the vision, skills and experience to unlock the considerable upside potential of the Altar project, in which we will continue to hold a meaningful interest,” commented Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman.

 

INTERVIEW WITH SANTIAGO SARAVIA FRÍAS AT SARAVIA FRÍAS & CORNEJO ABOGADOS

Please tell me about your involvement in the deal?

I was involved as the local lawyer of Regulus Resources Inc in Argentina. Our work basically consists in advising our client on the implementation of the Joint Venture from an Argentinean law perspective and performing a due diligence on Minera Peregrine S.A. (Sibanye/Stilwater`s Argentinean Subsidiary) and its mining titles in the Altar Project.

Being the mining rights the main assets of Minera Peregrine S.A., the most important aspect of our due diligence was focus on reviewing them to determine its good standing, whether there were encumbrances, private royalties, landowners claims/agreements, overlapping with third parties, agreements with San Juan Province, third parties claims, and the extend of the permits related to exploration activities like the scope of the environmental impact assessments approved, water rights, right of way to access to the project etc.

Why is this a good deal for all involved?

This is a good deal for all involved since with Aldebaran Resources – the operator of the mining projects -, the parties will benefit with all Regulus Resources’ successful past experience and technical knowledge. This will allow to further develop the Altar Project and hopefully carry it out to the exploitation stage. On the other hand, both parties will have interest not only in the Altar project in San Juan Province but also in others exploration projects like “Rio Grande” and “Aguas Calientes” located in Salta and Jujuy Province respectively, which also have the potential to add value to the new company.

What challenges arose? How did you navigate them?

The main challenge was to have the due diligence finished on time. Our client wanted to have a preliminary opinion on the main contingencies and on the good standing of the mining rights in few days, in order to decide whether to enter or not in formal negotiations. To accomplish this, I personally travelled to Mendoza Province where Sibanye-Stilwater’s subsidiary is registered to review the documents at their office and interview the local lawyers and officers. Then I went to San Juan Province and review in situ, most of the documents and files related to the mining rights and permits. Eventually we were able to give this preliminary opinion on time.

 

Uber is close to securing an investment deal with Softbank, which if succesful, could amount to £10bn according to reports.

TechCrunch were given the following statement: “We’ve entered into an agreement with a consortium led by SoftBank and Dragoneer on a potential investment. We believe this agreement is a strong vote of confidence in Uber’s long-term potential… strengthening our corporate governance.”

Uber have said the money is going to aid them in their international expansion and technological advancements. The aim of the expansion is partly due to the competition they are currently experiencing.

As well as an initial $1bn investment, Softbank will attempt to buy up £6.8bn ($9bn) worth of shares, resulting in a total stake of 14% in Uber. However, this is reliant on the agreement of a fairly complex tender offer.

The tender offer is set to take place on November 28th and could go on for 20 business days, making it possibly the biggest secondary transaction ever.

Given that any deal would be reliant on existing Uber shareholders selling their stakes, the process will require more work before it can be finalised. To help spread the word about their tender offer to existing shareholders including venture capitalists and ex-employees, Uber plan on putting adverts into newspapers.

According to TechCrunch, the following statement was given to reporters via Softbank on behalf of Rajeev Misra, CEO of SoftBank Investment Advisors: “After a long and arduous process of several months it looks like Uber and its shareholders have agreed to commence with a tender process and engage with SoftBank. By no means is our investment decided. We are interested in Uber but the final deal will depend on the tender price and a minimum percentage shareholding for SoftBank.”

The statement made by Softbank reveals that the deal has not been confirmed and will depend on the agreement of the tender price and percentage shareholding for Softbank.

This investment is seen by many as potentially crucial for Uber. Up until now, employees were unable to sell shares of the company and this investment will aid them in turning paper riches into cash.

It’s been a difficult year for Uber so far with legal battles involving Alphabets self-driving car division, the loss of their licence to operate in London and attacks on their company culture. The CEO Travis Kalanick was also forced to step down in June this year amid several scandals and legal wrangling with investors.

The investment made by Softbank might not only provide a welcome boost at a difficult time, it could very well be vital for Ubers future.

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