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Land-Lease worth $33 billion and confiscations: how the US will help Ukraine win

On Thursday, April 28, US legislators have adopted a law which allows the Joe Biden administration to launch a giant Land-Lease program for military and economic aid to Ukraine. The United States will provide funding for it from its budget, as well as from the accounts of russian oligarchs. To do this, Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion and proposed a law on the seizure of frozen assets of russia. Mind has learned what exactly is this money supposed to be spent on.

Earlier in March, the United States approved a $13.6 billion aid package for Ukraine, which included $3.5 billion to replenish US arms supplies to Ukraine. The White House's new $33 billion request includes $20 billion for weapons, ammunition and other military needs, $8.5 billion for direct economic aid to the government of Ukraine and $3 billion for humanitarian aid and food supplies. Ukraine should have enough of ...

Kinross sells Chirano gold mine in Ghana to Asante in $225m deal

Kinross Gold Corp. entered into an agreement with Asante Gold Corp. to sell its 90% interest in the Chirano mine in Ghana for a total consideration of $225 million in cash and shares. The Ghanaian government has a 10% carried interest in Chirano. Upon closing of the transaction, Kinross will receive $115 million in cash.

Kinross will also receive a number of Asante common shares, provided that the issuance of Asante common shares will not result in Kinross exceeding a 9.9% ownership in Asante. Kinross will also receive a total deferred payment of $60 million in cash, with 50% payable on the first anniversary of closing and the other 50% payable on the second anniversary of closing. If the 9.9% share ownership limit is reached, the remainder of the $50 million will be paid by increasing the deferred cash payments in equal portions. The company agreed to hold its Asante common ...

German agency takes charge of subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom

Germany on Monday put a government agency in charge of a longtime German subsidiary of Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom after an opaque move last week by the parent company to cut ties with the unit.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Germany’s network regulator has been appointed as Gazprom Germania’s trustee until Sept. 30, with the right to dismiss and appoint managers. He said it is meant as a temporary measure to bring “order to the conditions” at the company.

“The German government is doing what is necessary to ensure security of supplies in Germany, and that includes not exposing energy infrastructure in Germany to arbitrary decisions by the Kremlin,” Habeck said.

He said Gazprom announced it was withdrawing from Gazprom Germania but didn’t give details on the new owners, which violates German rules on reporting acquisitions.

He said the unit is “of paramount significance” to natural gas trade, transport and storage in Germany ...

The Anaplan corporate software developer is being sold for $10.7 billion

Enterprise planning software maker Anaplan is being acquired by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.7 billion.

Founded in the UK and now based in San-Francisco, Anaplan offers cloud-based finance and planning software-as-a-service and counts almost 2,000 customers worldwide, including Coca-Cola, Shell, Thomas Cook and VMware. The company went public in 2018, two years after rival SaaS firm Workday considered an acquisition attempt.

Under the terms of the deal, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Anaplan shareholders will receive $66 a share in cash, while the company’s current chief executive Frank Calderoni will continue to lead the company.

The deal represents the latest in a string of high-profile leveraged buyouts of software companies in the last 18 months.

The software sector experienced rapid growth during the Covid-19 pandemic, attracting interest from private equity firms looking to capitalize on this growing trend. In November 2021, Advent International and Permira announced the ...

China mulls stakes in Russian energy, commodity companies

China is considering buying or increasing stakes in Russian energy and commodities companies, such as gas giant Gazprom and aluminum producer United Co. Rusal International, according to people familiar with the matter.

Beijing is in talks with its state-owned firms, including China National Petroleum, China Petrochemical, Aluminum Corporation of China and China Minmetals Corporation, on any opportunities for potential investments in Russian companies or assets, the people said.

Any deal would be to bolster China’s imports as it intensifies its focus on energy and food security — not as a show of support for Russia’s invasion in Ukraine — the people said.

The discussions are at an early stage and won’t necessarily lead to a deal, the people said, requesting anonymity as the discussions aren’t public. Some talks between Chinese and Russian energy companies have started to take place, according to separate sources. CNPC and China Petrochemical —known as Sinopec Group — declined ...

Europe’s Banks Fund $55 Billion for Oil and Gas Expansion

European banks are providing billions of dollars of funding to expand oil and gas production, a report on Feb. 14 showed, despite International Energy Agency (IEA) guidance against new facilities in order to slow global warming.

Last year, 25 of the region’s leading banks collectively provided $55 billion to energy companies planning to expand oil and gas production, responsible investment non-profit ShareAction said in the report.

Although that marked a fall from the $106 billion lent in 2020 and $83 billion in 2019, it was above the $49 billion and $50 billion amounts in 2018 and 2017, respectively.

An IEA report in May said there should be no investment in new oil and gas fields in order to have a 50% chance of capping global warming at 1.5 C above the pre-industrial average.

The financing comes despite 24 of the banks themselves pledging to decarbonize their loan portfolios, the report said, adding that HSBC, ...

Web3 developer platform Alchemy raises $200M at $10.2B valuation

Alchemy Insights Inc., a platform that empowers developers to build web3 apps, said it has raised $200 million in a new funding round that values the company at $10.2 billion.

Web3 refers to what is known as the decentralized web, which is built on blockchain technology that underlies popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum. Alchemy says its position is providing a platform that would do for blockchain and web3 what Amazon Web Services does for the web.

The new investment was led by Lightspeed and Silver Lake and is an extension of the previous Series C closed by Alchemy in October for $250 million that valued the company at $3.5 billion. All previous major investors participated in this round, including a61z, Coatue, Addition, Pantera and DFJ.

Since October, Alchemy reported that it has seen a threefold increase in developer teams building on its platform. The company has also seen $105 billion in annualized ...

EuroChem makes binding offer for Borealis' nitrogen business

Borealis operates fertilizer production plants at the heart of important crop-producing regions in Austria and France. With more than 50 distribution points across Europe and around 4 million t of products (including c.0.8 million t of technical nitrogen solutions and c.0.15 million t of melamine) supplied annually in Western, Central and South East Europe via the Borealis L.A.T distribution network, Borealis is one of Europe’s leading fertilizer producers.

Borealis is also a market leader in melamine, with its operations in Austria and Germany serving the essential raw material primarily to the woodworking industry. Melamine and technical nitrogen solutions represent important new business lines for EuroChem to expand its nitrogen-based product portfolio in Europe.

Feeding the Borealis distribution network in France and Central and Eastern Europe, mainly along the Danube River, are a total of five production facilities: three in France, and another in each of Germany and Austria. In 2020, the business ...

The creator of Cruise drones has raised $1.35 billion and is launching a driverless taxi in the US

The attracted investments will be spent on expanding the team and scaling the business.

The company announced the launch of driverless taxi testing in San Francisco. To participate, you need to leave a request on the website. So far, self-driving cars drive only in some areas of the city: Haight-Ashbury, Richmond, Chinatown and Pacific Heights. The company focuses on night trips — electric cars without a driver will carry passengers from 11 pm to 5 am local time.

In January 2020, Cruise showed its first production car for joint trips. In October 2021, she announced plans to launch a taxi in the United States, and by 2023 — in Dubai.

/Source: E-News/

RPM tech provider Athelas hits unicorn status with $132M raised for chronic care management

Remote patient monitoring startup Athelas hit unicorn status after raising $132 million in two consecutive funding rounds that boosted the company's valuation to $1.5 billion.

Athelas creates technologies for chronic care management in the home, partnering with hospitals and health systems so providers can give their patients remote monitoring tools without incurring upfront costs.

General Catalyst led one of the two funding rounds, while Tribe Capital led the other. Sequoia Capital, YCombinator, Greenoaks, Human Capital and Initialized Capital also contributed funding.

Athelas now serves more than 40,000 patients with chronic conditions like hypertension, cardiac disorders and immunosuppression, making it the largest provider of remote patient monitoring services in the U.S., according to the company.

While many chronic care management platforms partner with employers or health plans to deliver remote monitoring services, Athelas works directly with providers, which founder and CEO Tanay Tandon sees as the company’s market advantage.

Tandon and Bodapati designed Athelas One for ...