| | | | | | | Presented By Blackstone | | | | Axios Pro Rata | | By Dan Primack ·Feb 28, 2022 | | | | | | Top of the Morning |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | Divestment is the financial buzzword on Russia, but everything after its last syllable is murky. Driving the news: BP yesterday said it would exit its 19.75% stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft. Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said it would divest its $25 billion of Russian assets. Companies like Daimler Truck and Equinor said they intend to abandon Russian joint ventures. - Expect this list to grow so long as the war persists. It also could impact the VC/PE markets, where Russian oligarch money has flowed into funds and deals.
Between the lines: Announcing plans to divest is very different than actually divesting. Particularly when Russia's central bank is severely limiting the sale of Russian equities by nonresidents, and the U.S. is blocking that bank from engaging in dollar-denominated transactions. - BP, for example, tells Axios that it "can't yet say" how it plans to make good on its Rosneft pledge.
- Norway disclosed that it's begun selling its positions, without revealing strategies, but that was before the Russian and U.S. bank blockades.
There also could be reverse divestiture complications. - Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich on Saturday turned over "stewardship and care" of Chelsea FC, the Premier League team he's owned since 2003, to Chelsea FC's charitable foundation.
- Lots of buyers are now circling the soccer club, valued at over $2 billion, but U.K. sanctions could prevent Abramovich from selling.
What to watch: If divestitures do occur, there's a second-order question as to who'll catch the falling knives. Sure, a group like Saudi Aramco might have interest in a specific company like Rosneft, but the bigger picture could be China consolidating Russian assets. |     | | | | | | The BFD |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | Biomason, a Durham, N.C.-based startup that's using microorganisms to "grow" cement, raised $65 million in Series C funding led by 2150. - Why it's the BFD: Cement manufacturing is estimated to be responsible for around 8% of global carbon emissions.
- Other investors include Celesta Capital and insiders Novo Holdings and Martin Marietta Materials.
- The bottom line: "Biomason makes small quantities of up to 20,000 square feet of the tile for commercial clients at its facility in North Carolina. But it's also scaling up larger production with IBF, the largest concrete producer in Denmark, which will increase its capacity by 2023. Other concrete producers will also license the technology. The process is designed to fit in seamlessly at concrete plants." — Adele Peters, FastCompany
| | | | | | | | Venture Capital Deals | | • Weee, as Fremont, Calif.-based online grocer focused on the Asian and Hispanic markets, raised $425m in Series E funding at a $4.1b valuation. SoftBank led, and was joined by Greyhound Capital. Existing backers include DST Global, Blackstone, Arena Holdings and Tiger Global. http://axios.link/wVvL 🌎 Palmetto, a Charleston, S.C.-based clean energy marketplace, raised $375m in Series C funding. Social Capital led, and was joined by ArcTern Ventures, Gaingels, Lerer Hippeau and MacKinnon, Bennett & Co. http://axios.link/cviG • FPL Technologies, an Indian credit card startup doing business as OneCard, is in talks to raise over $100m led by Temasek at a $1.5b valuation, per TechCrunch. Existing backers include Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India and Hummingbird Ventures. http://axios.link/0lVt 🚑 Qventus, a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of hospital management software, raised $50m led by Thomas H. Lee Partners, per Axios. http://axios.link/vwhu • Flashfood, a Toronto-based mobile grocery marketplace for expiring food, raised US$12.3m in Series A funding led by S2G Ventures. http://axios.link/ZroF • HearHere, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based road-trip storytelling app, raised $3.2m in seed funding led by Camping World. http://axios.link/6Mm9 • KYX World, an LA-based sneaker subscription startup, raised $3m led by SeventySix Capital. http://axios.link/5dqh | | | | | | | | A message from Blackstone | | Blackstone empowers entrepreneurs to grow their businesses | | |  | | | | Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of one of the highest-profile startups of the past decade, had no shortage of firms interested in investing in Bumble — but she chose Blackstone. The reason: The firm put its trust in Whitney's vision and provided the resources to bring it to life. Learn more. | | | | | | Private Equity Deals | | • Brookfield Asset Management agreed to buy 60% of First Abu Dhabi Bank's payments business at a $1.15b valuation. http://axios.link/jbCp • Cinven is in advanced talks to buy Bayer's pest control business, which could be valued at around €2b, per Bloomberg, http://axios.link/6Kv4 • Infinedi Partners invested in LaSalle Network, a Chicago-based staffing and recruiting firm. www.thelasallenetwork.com • KPS Capital Partners agreed to buy Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, a Dallas-based architectural materials provider, for $3.45b from Ireland's CRH (LSE: CRH). http://axios.link/E6yc 🚑 The Rise Fund acquired Blue Cloud, a Glen Rock, Pa.-based operator of pediatric dental ambulatory surgery centers. www.bluecloudpsc.com • Riskonnect, an Atlanta-based portfolio company of TA Associates, bought Sword GRC, a British provider of project and enterprise risk management solutions. www.riskonnect.com | | | | | | | | Public Offerings | | No companies expect to price U.S. IPOs this week. | | | | | | | | SPAC Stuff | | 🌎 Activate Permanent Capital, a sustainability SPAC led by former EnerNOC CEO Tim Healy, withdrew registration for a $250m IPO. http://axios.link/nr3p • Anthropos Capital, a SPAC led by John Megrue (ex-Bridgewater Associates) and Fred Crawford (ex-CEO of AlixPartners), withdrew registration for a $250m IPO. http://axios.link/DkqN • Fifth Wall Acquisition II, a property tech SPAC, withdrew registration for a $150m IPO. http://axios.link/5uRL • Heroic Empire Acquisition, a SPAC led by former Nikko Securities M&A exec William Ip, filed for a $75m IPO. http://axios.link/oW4R | | | | | | | | Liquidity Events | | 🚑 Battery Ventures is seeking a buyer for SPT Labtech, a British life sciences sample prep company, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/X3e5 • LinkedIn, a unit of Microsoft, agreed to buy Israeli marketing analytics firm Oribi, which had raised over $25m from firms like TLV Partners, Sequoia Capital Israel, S Capital VC and MoreTech Ventures. http://axios.link/3oPy | | | | | | | | More M&A | | • AIA Group (HK: 1299) agreed to sell its Australian savings and investments unit to Resolution Life Australasia. http://axios.link/hi6m 🌎 Chevron (NYSE: CVX) agreed to buy biofuels firm Renewable Energy Group (Nasdaq: REGI) for around $3.15b in cash. http://axios.link/fRWy 🚑 Maravai LifeSciences (Nasdaq: MRVI), a San Diego-based maker of capping reagents for COVID-19 vaccines, quietly rejected an $11b all-cash takeover offer from German lab supplies vendor Sartorius (ETR: SRT), per Reuters. http://axios.link/eZ6t • McColl's Retail Group (LSE: MCLS), one of the largest British convenience store chains, is seeking a buyer or new funding to prevent imminent insolvency, per Sky News. http://axios.link/U2xS 🚑 Viatris (Nasdaq: VTRS) agreed to sell its biosimilars unit to Biocon Biologics, the U.S. unit of Indian drugmaker Biocon, for $3.34b. http://axios.link/Pm7V 🚑 Wallaby Medical, a Chinese maker of stroke treatment devices, is in talks to buy German neurovascular medical device firm Phenox for around €500m, per Bloomberg. Wallaby backers include Hillhouse Capital and Citic Capital. http://axios.link/Z8YK • Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN) terminated its takeover of SurveyMonkey parent Momentive (Nasdaq: MNTV), after failing to secure shareholder approval. http://axios.link/SSav | | | | | | | | Fundraising | | • Blueprint Equity, a San Diego-based growth equity firm, raised $175m for its second fund, per an SEC filing. www.onblueprint.com • Charge VC of New York is raising $30m for its third fund, per an SEC filing. www.charge.vc • Hack VC launched as a $200m crypto seed fund, led by organized of the hack.summit(). http://axios.link/BGRt • Qiming Venture Partners, a Chinese VC firm, is raising $1.4b for its eighth fund, per an SEC filing. www.qimingvcusa.com | | | | | | | | It's Personnel | | • Ben Love joined Churchill Asset Management as a principal and head of fund finance. He previously was with Wells Fargo as a director of corporate debt finance. www.churchillam.com 🌎 Sanjiv Sanghavi, co-founder of ClassPass, joined Day One Ventures as a climate tech-focused partner. http://axios.link/hAiq • Katherine Wu is leaving Coinbase Ventures, less than a year after joining, to become a venture partner at crypto VC firm Archetype. http://axios.link/8swx | | | | | | | | Final Numbers: Russian VC deals | Source: PitchBook. Data through Feb. 25, 2022. | | | | | | | | A message from Blackstone | | Blackstone helped Bumble build majority-women leadership team | | |  | | | | Blackstone helped build Bumble's majority-women board of directors and executive team by tapping into its global network of technology and media experts. Why it's important: The firm supported Whitney Wolfe Herd's vision for creating a platform by women, for women. Learn more. | | | | ✅ Thanks for reading Axios Pro Rata! Please ask your friends, colleagues and central bankers to sign up. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201 | | | You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios.
Change your preferences or unsubscribe here. | | | Was this email forwarded to you?
Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox. | | | | Follow Axios on social media:    | | | | | |
