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This week, Intercontinental Exchange’s $5.7 billion agreement to acquire MarketAxess led a busy week for M&A. In other news, the PayPal takeover saga continues. The company is leaving the door open to a higher offer after last week’s reported bid from Stripe and Advent.
Bitcoin miner and data-center operator Ionic Digital began trading through a direct listing with a $53 reference price, implying a $2.4 billion valuation, and River City Bank set terms for a $136 million IPO.
Other deals included Allianz’s move to acquire HSBC’s Singapore insurance business, Bloomberg striking a deal for Canoe Intelligence and Kraken parent Payward agreeing to buy Magic Labs’ wallet infrastructure business.
Meanwhile, in Washington, hopes of passing the Clarity Act before the August recess are fading as disagreements over crypto ethics provisions consume lawmakers’ attention.
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Reads of the Week
IPOs & SPACs - Fintech
Bitcoin miner and data-center operator Ionic Digital began trading on Nasdaq through a direct listing with a $53 reference price and an implied market value of $2.4 billion.
California-based River City Bank set terms for a $136 million Nasdaq IPO that would value the commercial lender at approximately $703 million.
Dune Acquisition III reduced its proposed SPAC IPO by one-third to $100 million as it searches for targets across digital assets, SaaS, AI, sports and entertainment.
East West Ave Acquisition Corp. priced a $100 million Nasdaq IPO for a SPAC targeting fintech, compute infrastructure and energy solutions.
Digital Asset Acquisition Corp. postponed the shareholder vote on its proposed merger with Old Glory Bank until Aug. 14.
Pakistani earned wage access and business financing fintech Abhi plans to list its microfinance-bank subsidiary.
M&A - Fintech
Intercontinental Exchange agreed to acquire electronic bond-trading platform MarketAxess for $5.7 billion.
Allianz agreed to acquire HSBC’s Singapore life and health insurance business as part of agreements valued at €2 billion, or about $2.3 billion.
Bloomberg agreed to acquire AI-powered private-markets data platform Canoe Intelligence.
Payward, Kraken’s parent company, agreed to acquire Magic Labs’ wallet-as-a-service business.
Cover Genius acquired German insurtech Friendsurance to expand its embedded insurance business.
Zedcrest Group acquired cross-border payments fintech Leatherback.
FinWise Bancorp acquired Tallied Technologies’ credit-card issuance and processing platform.
New Silver acquired real-estate investment lender Mayflower Venture Partners.
M&A - Banks and Financial Institutions
HSBC agreed to sell its A$36 billion, or $25.3 billion, Australian home and personal loan portfolio to Blackstone.
Allianz agreed to acquire HSBC’s Singapore life and health insurance business as part of agreements valued at €2 billion, or about $2.3 billion.
Bank of America agreed to acquire UK cybersecurity consultancy MDSec.
Increase founder Darragh Buckley acquired Washington state’s Twin City Bank and rebranded it as Increase Bank.
An activist investor urged Washington state’s $2.3 billion-asset Cashmere Valley Bank to pursue a sale.
Register for Stablecon
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