Commercial Awareness Discussion Thread

[cryingoverTCs]

Hi all! I just wanted to check if I understood something correctly
With SPACs, what is the reason why firms are going to the US stock markets for these? Is it because of the current UK regulations that mean when the SPAC has identified a target, they can no longer trade? If so, how is it known when a SPAC has identified a target? Do they announce it?

Thank you!

 

[Matt_96]

Does anyone know anything about non-fungible tokens and how they might become more relevant to business in future more generally? https://decrypt.co/resources/non-fungible-tokens-nfts-explained-guide-learn-blockchain

 

[Matthew Harvey]

Does anyone know or have any resources regarding recent trends in the private equity sector?

 

[gee565]

Hey everyone! I'm learning about Spacs atm and I read that part of the reason they are suddenly so popular is that there is so much money awash in the public markets. Would someone please explain to me what this means / why this is??

 

[Kubed]

Hi all, I'm finding it difficult to structure my thoughts on the implications of the Brexit trade agreement (in preparation for an interview). I think it's just because it's so vast (the agreement is 1200 pages!!), I really don't know where to start with understanding and analysing the impact on the economy and on law firms.

 

[Jacob Miller]

Hi all, I'm finding it difficult to structure my thoughts on the implications of the Brexit trade agreement (in preparation for an interview). I think it's just because it's so vast (the agreement is 1200 pages!!), I really don't know where to start with understanding and analysing the impact on the economy and on law firms.

This is definitely a challenge when trying to approach something as wide-ranging as Brexit - the amount of information and breadth of legislative and regulatory change/ impact can be extraordinary and completely impractical (impossible!) to cover in an interview.

If I were in your position, I would identify 3 key areas based on prominent practice areas of the firm you're interviewing at and build your thoughts from there. For example, if your firm is a well-known litigation powerhouse, you might want to consider things like the applicability of judgements in international disputes as this was a massive bone of contention in European law, but is also governed by various global treaties etc - how will the new legal landscape in this light affect the firm's clients? Similarly, if you're looking at M&A, you might want to focus on the fact that the issue of parallel competition investigations in multinational transactions are likely to be an increasingly prominent challenge.

Don't try and take everything on - it's just impossible in the context - but instead use the opportunity to show that you've a) got a solid understanding of the firm and b) can prioritise and identify key parts even in the midst of a bit of a storm as well as, obviously, discussing a commercial/ legal issue

 

[Jacob Miller]

Does anyone know or have any resources regarding recent trends in the private equity sector?

I follow "Private Equity Insights" on LinkedIn, and it's great for this sort of thing!

 

[Jacob Miller]

Hey everyone! I'm learning about Spacs atm and I read that part of the reason they are suddenly so popular is that there is so much money awash in the public markets. Would someone please explain to me what this means / why this is??

This isn't a particular reason I've heard given in re their sudden jump in popularity - or maybe I've just not heard it expressed in those terms. I would tend to take form it, though, that they're a very simple/ straightforward way of pooling liquidity - being "awash with money" just means that there's a lot of money/ liquidity there to be tapped into and SPACs are a great way of doing this.

Edit to add: this article may be an interesting read for you: https://www.excelsiorgp.com/resourc...raditional IPOs that,of money for the company.

 

[Jacob Miller]

Does anyone know anything about non-fungible tokens and how they might become more relevant to business in future more generally? https://decrypt.co/resources/non-fungible-tokens-nfts-explained-guide-learn-blockchain

I was actually reading earlier on about Jack Dorsey selling his first ever tweet as an NFT - sold for $2.5m!

We had a really interesting chat about the place of crypto/ blockchain assets in the current and future market last week too, you can check that out here.

 

[Jacob Miller]

Hi all! I just wanted to check if I understood something correctly
With SPACs, what is the reason why firms are going to the US stock markets for these? Is it because of the current UK regulations that mean when the SPAC has identified a target, they can no longer trade? If so, how is it known when a SPAC has identified a target? Do they announce it?

Thank you!

Hey! You might find this article quite interesting - explains the issue very well!

 

[Anon08]

Does anyone know anything about non-fungible tokens and how they might become more relevant to business in future more generally? https://decrypt.co/resources/non-fungible-tokens-nfts-explained-guide-learn-blockchain

Okay, I'll try and take a stab at this - however, I am by no means an expert.

NFTs have exploded recently as a result of, frankly, social media and memes. Could you think of a more hilarious/headline-grabbing story than someone paying thousands of dollars for a 10-second video of a cartoon? Probably. But nonetheless, this area has gone viral.

NFTs, crucially, are tokens and are not quite like your standard cryptocurrencies.

'Standard' crypto tokens sit on their own blockchain and represent an asset: for example, 15,000,000 voucher points. These tokens are tradable and fungible (they can be replaced and interchanged).

NFTs are, guess what, non-fungible. They cannot be replaced, and are wholly unique. The asset that is represented by the NFT is essentially locked and fixed. The idea is that this can be used for special purposes - namely, art. Consider a rare painting, of which only one exists in the world. If I buy it, I own it, and it is non-fungible. However, an online video is not quite the same. I can rip that video, duplicate it as many times as I want, etc. NFTs are meant to turn these digital videos into more like paintings. (I am glossing over a huge amount of detail here for the sake of brevity and for everyone's sanity).

The use for this right now simply stands at memes, artwork, adjusting tax burdens, and personal investment - I suppose we aren't too far from the fine art world already!

However, NFT can have some real impact in the world of IP. It may become a way of buying and selling goods and services in a more secure way, such that one's IP, in the digital age, is better protected. Consider Patreon - certain people pay a fee, and receive, say, exclusive videos from the creator they have paid. As of present, those who have paid for the video could simply distribute that video to all those who have not paid for such a video. NFTs may pave the way to halting such behaviour, or at the very least, providing evidence that could be demonstrated in court in favour of those who have had their copyright infringed. Again, I am massively oversimplifying but I wholly recommend watching this video to get an explanation/the perspective of a creator:

EDIT: Also - if you are interested in crypto as a whole, please look into 'decentralised finance' (DeFi), and 'Bancor' - this, in my opinion, will be far more relevant for the wider commercial world (specifically the finance/banking industry...).

 

[Kubed]

This is definitely a challenge when trying to approach something as wide-ranging as Brexit - the amount of information and breadth of legislative and regulatory change/ impact can be extraordinary and completely impractical (impossible!) to cover in an interview.

If I were in your position, I would identify 3 key areas based on prominent practice areas of the firm you're interviewing at and build your thoughts from there. For example, if your firm is a well-known litigation powerhouse, you might want to consider things like the applicability of judgements in international disputes as this was a massive bone of contention in European law, but is also governed by various global treaties etc - how will the new legal landscape in this light affect the firm's clients? Similarly, if you're looking at M&A, you might want to focus on the fact that the issue of parallel competition investigations in multinational transactions are likely to be an increasingly prominent challenge.

Don't try and take everything on - it's just impossible in the context - but instead use the opportunity to show that you've a) got a solid understanding of the firm and b) can prioritise and identify key parts even in the midst of a bit of a storm as well as, obviously, discussing a commercial/ legal issue

Thanks Jacob, really helpful

 

[Jaysen]

This isn't a particular reason I've heard given in re their sudden jump in popularity - or maybe I've just not heard it expressed in those terms. I would tend to take form it, though, that they're a very simple/ straightforward way of pooling liquidity - being "awash with money" just means that there's a lot of money/ liquidity there to be tapped into and SPACs are a great way of doing this.

Edit to add: this article may be an interesting read for you: https://www.excelsiorgp.com/resources/what-is-a-spac-and-why-are-they-suddenly-so-popular/#:~:text=Liquidity: SPACs offer security in,cash raised in the IPO.&text=Cost: Unlike traditional IPOs that,of money for the company.

A very interesting trend! I'd add that it's also a result of the people involved. Once some very popular and vocal investors got involved, it became trendy, and many others jumped in for fear of missing out on the chance to make a lot of money.

I think the interplay between the markets and social media (Twitter in particular) is fascinating right now. Much of the craze around bitcoin/Tesla/SPACs/NFTs seem to have been fuelled by the ability to have a wide public discussion, post success stories, hear from the minds of leading investors etc.

 

[Jaysen]

I was actually reading earlier on about Jack Dorsey selling his first ever tweet as an NFT - sold for $2.5m!

We had a really interesting chat about the place of crypto/ blockchain assets in the current and future market last week too, you can check that out here.

Some other recent interesting purchases:

$590k for a flying space cat
$3.6m for a custom song by 3LAU

 

[Jacob Miller]

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share this new write-up from Travers, in light of recent discussion around SPACs etc here. I also think this article raises a lot of excellent talking points for those who are keen to discuss Brexit-related issues, as it is a more general discussions of the recent Hill Review into maintaining London as a popular venue for listing post-Brexit.

 

[Daniel Boden]

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share this new write-up from Travers, in light of recent discussion around SPACs etc here. I also think this article raises a lot of excellent talking points for those who are keen to discuss Brexit-related issues, as it is a more general discussions of the recent Hill Review into maintaining London as a popular venue for listing post-Brexit.

Alright @Jacob Miller we get it you're a future trainee at Travers and they're great blah blah blah

In all seriousness thanks for sharing, that's an interesting development! Will be interesting to see how much of it is implemented, particularly the 'Retail Investors' recommendations

 

[TiredPG]

This on NFTs is absolutely astounding: Beeple collage smashes digital art record with $69.3m sale.

I'm actually a collector but cannot understand the appeal at all when it comes to NFT digital art, especially when the sums are that big.

 

[Matthew Harvey]

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share this new write-up from Travers, in light of recent discussion around SPACs etc here. I also think this article raises a lot of excellent talking points for those who are keen to discuss Brexit-related issues, as it is a more general discussions of the recent Hill Review into maintaining London as a popular venue for listing post-Brexit.

Thanks so much for sharing this article this has really helped my understanding! I was just wondering does anyone know why Brexit has impacted London's ability to attract investors? I read that trading in stocks has flowed out of London after the Brexit transition period.

 

[123Law1234]

Hi, I just wanted to check whether equity capital markets included private equity as well?

 

[Daniel Boden]

Hi, I just wanted to check whether equity capital markets included private equity as well?

Hiya, yeah ECMs do include private equity. PE is part of the private placement market which itself is a part of the primary equity market.

Investopedia has a good explanation here for you

Equity Capital Market (ECM) Definition, How It Works, Types

The equity capital market, where financial institutions help companies raise equity capital, comprises the primary market and secondary market.

www.investopedia.com