Wall Street Breakfast

BlackRock to acquire Prequin for $3.2B

BlackRock (BLK) to buy data provider Preqin in $3.2B deal. (00:24) Boeing (BA) agrees to Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) takeover for $37.25 a share. (01:05) EU to charge Meta over ‘pay or consent’ model - report. (02:04)

Episode transcripts seekingalpha.com/wsb.

Show links:
Biggest stock movers today: SPR and LI
Surveillance network: FedEx, retailers said to be sharing AI camera feeds with cops
Rising drug costs force a third of Americans to leave prescriptions unfilled: report
A second Trump administration may be more lenient towards antitrust enforcement - JPMorgan

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Duration:: 5m
Broadcast on:: 01 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Good morning! Today is Monday, July 1st. I'm Julie Morgan. BlackRock, prequen, Boeing, and Spirit Arrow systems are making Monday merger news today. And the EU will reportedly charge meta for breaking the rules. BlackRock said on Sunday night it has agreed to acquire UK private markets data provider prequen for $3.2 billion in cash. BlackRock says this will add a highly complimentary data business to its investment technology. In 2024, prequen is expected to generate $240 million of highly recurring revenue and has grown 20% annually in the last three years. The deal is BlackRock's second major acquisition this year to expand into the fast-growing world of private markets investing. In January, BlackRock said it would buy global infrastructure partners for $12.5 billion. In other merger Monday news and also an update to last Tuesday's top story here on Wall Street Breakfast, Boeing has agreed to acquire Spirit Arrow systems for $37.25 a share in an all-stock deal. The two companies share the news shortly after midnight and separate news releases. The deal values Spirit at more than $4.7 billion, Boeing said, including debt the total transaction value is $8.3 billion. Spirit said it entered into a binding term sheet with Airbus that calls for the companies to enter into agreements for Airbus to acquire some Spirit assets that support Airbus programs, along with the closing of its acquisition by Boeing. The acquisition would effectively reverse Boeing's spin-off of Spirit in 2005 as a separate publicly traded company. At that time, Boeing had sought to cut costs by outsourcing the assembly of fuselages and other parts. The EU is set to charge meta-platforms with violating the Digital Markets Act. In March, the European Commission launched a non-compliance investigation against Apple, Alphabet's Google, and meta-platforms for potential violations under the DMA. The Financial Times is reporting citing three people with direct knowledge of the matter that in preliminary findings to be issued this week, regulators will say that they are worried about meta's pay or consent model. Meta introduced a no-add subscription service for Facebook and Instagram in Europe late last year to comply with the evolving European regulations, enabling users to opt out of the company's data tracking for advertising purposes. Meanwhile, users who consent to be tracked to get a free service. According to the FT report, the regulators are expected to say that the choice presented by Meta's model is risky because it gives consumers a false alternative, with the financial barrier potentially forcing them to consent to their personal data being tracked for advertising purposes. The report concluded that it found in breach of the DMA meta-faces hefty penalties of up to 10 percent of its global turnover and up to 20 percent for any repeat offense. The report comes after EU antitrust regulators last week pressed a similar case against Apple. The European Commission said that Apple's App Store rules breached the DMA as they prevent app developers from steering consumers to alternative channels for offers and content. I have a few other articles I'd like to tell you about on Seeking Alpha, a surveillance network, FedEx and retailers are said to be sharing AI camera feeds with cops. According to a report, rising drug costs force a third of Americans to leave prescriptions unfilled. And JP Morgan says a second Trump administration may be more lenient towards antitrust enforcement. On our catalyst, watch for the day. The FTC will hold a closed-door meeting today. There is some chatter that the topic could be the planned temporary Sealy mattress firm merger. And core group will begin trading on a split adjusted basis following the company's one for five reverse stock split. Now for a look at the markets today, as of 6 a.m., Dow, S&P and NASDAQ futures are in mixed territory. Crude Oil is up 0.4% at $81 a barrel. Bitcoin is up 2.3% at $62,000. In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.2% and the same is true for the DAX. And the markets in Hong Kong were closed today for a holiday. Li Auto is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market. Li is up more than 3% after announcing the delivery of 47,774 vehicles in June. A 46.7% increase year-over-year and 36.4% month-over-month. On today's economic calendar, at 10 a.m. construction spending. That's it for today's Wall Street breakfast. Thanks for listening! To take full advantage of Seeking Alpha with coverage on significant stocks and ETFs, become a premium subscriber. Check out SeekingAlpha.com/subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day! [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]