Vol. 9

July 28, 2023

Happy Friday,

Get a snapshot into: Taylornomics, the end of Twitter, and a fairly interesting M&A market in South Africa

It’s Taylor Swift’s Economy, and We’re All Living in It

It’s simple Taylornomics: When Taylor Swift comes to town, Swifties go on a spending spree.
Her fans have been filling hotels, packing restaurants and crowding bars during Swift’s 20-city Eras Tour in the U.S. Cities say the tour has helped them recover from the economic toll of the pandemic by bringing back tourists and their wallets.
The Eras Tour, which started in March and ends in the U.S. on Aug. 9, is on track to become the biggest in concert history, potentially grossing $1 billion. It’s filling football stadiums that hold more than 70,000 people, and Swift is often staying in town for several days, giving local businesses time to soak up the Swiftie money.
Swift isn’t performing in New Zealand, but Air New Zealand said it experienced a “Swift surge”—people rushing to book flights to Australia, where Swift will perform in February. The airline had to add 14 more flights to accommodate 3,000 more people. Some of the flights are getting a special Swiftie flight number: NZ1989, after Swift’s fifth album.

Elon Musk says Twitter's blue bird to be replaced by an X

Twitter Inc owner Elon Musk on Sunday signaled he would do more to take the social media company in a new direction with a rebranding that will replace its well-known blue bird logo with an X after acknowledging advertisers have been slow to return.
The change, which was not evident on the website on Sunday evening, followed Musk's recent admission that advertising revenue remains nearly half of what it once was. And Twitter's cash flow has been negative as a result of that and its heavy debt load

Brevel Closes $18.5M Seed Financing

Brevel, a Shekef, Israel-based microalgae-based alternative protein company, raised $18.5M in Seed funding.
The round was led by NevaTeam Partners, and supported by the European Union’s EIC Fund, as well as other food and climate funds and strategic partners from within the food industry. Said Shai Levy,
Managing Partner at NevaTeam Partners, will be joining Brevel’s board.
The seed included $8.4M, which were converted from grants and convertible loans into shares.

WEX Venture Capital Seeks to Invest up to $100M to Help Advance EV Fleet Transition

WEX, the global commerce platform that simplifies the business of running a business, today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a new investment arm of WEX, WEX Venture Capital, to invest up to $100 million through the end of 2025
Investments are likely be made predominantly in early-stage companies focused on the energy transition, including areas such as fleet electrification, the electric vehicle (EV) charging ecosystem, energy management and optimization, and adjacent technology.
WEX Venture Capital has already started to deploy capital, including minority investments in Chargetrip and ev.energy.

Greyhound owner Flix picks JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas for $4.4 billion IPO

German bus services firm Flix has picked three banks as advisers for a planned initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of 2024, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The banks involved are JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas, the sources said.
Flix, the owner of the Greyhound brand in North America and FlixBus in Europe, could reach a valuation of 4 billion euros ($4.42 billion) in an IPO, they added.

“To be a champion, compete; to be a great champion, compete with the best; but to be the greatest champion, compete with yourself”

Matshona Dhliwayo

Spur buys 60% stake in restaurant group Doppio Zero

The Spur Corporation is hoping to strengthen its position in the daytime speciality dining and coffee markets with a 60% acquisition of the Doppio Zero restaurant group.
The Spur Corporation already owns Spur restaurants, The Hussar Grill, Nikos, Panarotti's and RocoMamas.
It will now look to grow Doppio Zero brand across South Africa, which includes 37 franchised and company-owned restaurants, including Doppio Zero, Pizza e Vino and Modern Tailors.
Spur did not disclose the value of the transaction to investors when it made the announcement on Thursday.

Standard Bank to acquire remainder of Liberty Two Degrees

Standard Bank, Africa's largest lender by assets, will take full control of property company Liberty Two Degrees, its subsidiary said on Thursday, betting on a recovery in South Africa's depressed property prices.
The lender currently owns 58.52% of L2D and its insurance arm Liberty Group will acquire the remaining shares from minority shareholders at 5.55 rand, a more than 40% premium to Wednesday's closing price, the companies said in a statement.

Gulf telecom firms Ooredoo, Zain, TASC in talks to combine tower assets

Qatari telecoms company Ooredoo, Kuwait's Zain Group and Dubai-based TASC Towers Holding have entered into exclusive talks to create the Middle East and North Africa's largest tower company, they said in a joint statement on Monday.
The negotiations are "to combine their approximately 30,000 telecommunication tower assets in Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq and Jordan into a jointly owned independent tower company in a cash and share deal," the statement said, adding they aimed to sign definitive agreements this quarter.

Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Hlumelo Lujiva💙