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Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

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Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#61
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Virtually every rich person in America might have some funds with BlackRock, whether directly or indirectly. The site you linked is doing a favorite exercise of conspiracy therorists; A is related to B which is related to C which is related to D. Therefore, A and D have conspired, despite in reality not having anything to do with each other.

Powell and Blackrock have something to do with each other. It's reasonable to assume a conflict of interest. "Fed Chair Powell Has Upwards of $11.6 Million Invested with BlackRock, the Firm that Will Manage a $750 Billion Corporate Bond Bailout Program for the Fed " [0] [0] https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/05/fed-chair-powell-has-...

Thanks for repeating the same thing, I guess..

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well sure, because they're an investment company. They manage people's money. A lot of people seem to talk about BlackRock as if they're investing their own money, which would be similar to pretending your bank owns all the money that you put in it. They have $10Tn under management, but they have a market cap of $100bn. So the vast majority of what they're doing is just brokering deals for their investors. The fact t…

Agree on all points except the comparison with banks. The banks do technically own the money you put in it - and what you get in return is an IOU. So a bank is a very different sort of thing.

I think that's an overly semantic argument. I can be as certain as I am of anything that the number in my RBC chequing account corresponds exactly to the amount of money I can withdraw or spend, and if that ever stops being the case I'll likely have bigger concerns than money.

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#63
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the advantage of selling a convertible note to an investor compared to just selling them equity directly? Is the idea that if you're profitable before the note expires then you have the ability to buy the note back without losing equity?

If you buy equity in a highly risky company, there's a very large chance that equity ends up worth nothing before you can sell it to someone else. If you do a convertible note, you have liquidation preferences and will get most of your money back in the high probability event that the company fails.

It’s more complex than just that, there’s also tax implications for both investor and company. The liquidation preferences also apply in case of successful exit. If you have 2x preferences on this 1.2B note, if the company is acquired for less than 2.4B, the investor takes everything and the founder gets a gift basket, if the investor has a thoughtful secretary. If the investor has a board seat, they may even be able to force the sale over the founder’s objections.

Don’t ever give your investors board seats. They are not your friends or advisors.

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#64
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree on all points except the comparison with banks. The banks do technically own the money you put in it - and what you get in return is an IOU. So a bank is a very different sort of thing.

I think that's an overly semantic argument. I can be as certain as I am of anything that the number in my RBC chequing account corresponds exactly to the amount of money I can withdraw or spend, and if that ever stops being the case I'll likely have bigger concerns than money.

Might be an American thing, we only have FDIC insurance up to a certain limit and the the difference of what happens in a bankruptcy is mechanically very different between a broker and a bank. Historically this has also been different for the stakeholders too, which is why people were not certain the number would actually result in them being able to withdraw funds from Silicon Valley Bank. Though recently they’ve de-facto increased the FDIC insurance limit by making sure whatever bank bought the distressed bank would accept the liability for the deposits over that.

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#65
post #3

I was recently shopping for an UPS + couple 100Ah Batteries solution and failed to find an easy way to buy something not manufactured in China. Northvolt seems to not be present in retail at all. Are there any good places I should've checked out?

Another Swedish company that does battery tech: https://mattr.se/official-projects/

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#66

> Sweden’s Northvolt, has raised $1.2bn from North America-based investors including BlackRock. Feels like BlackRock have touched almost everything

Well sure, because they're an investment company. They manage people's money. A lot of people seem to talk about BlackRock as if they're investing their own money, which would be similar to pretending your bank owns all the money that you put in it. They have $10Tn under management, but they have a market cap of $100bn. So the vast majority of what they're doing is just brokering deals for their investors. The fact t…

Can you explain this part more? Does blackrock not invest its own money in deals? And are specific deals specific to blackrock customers or do they just take a percent of their overall holdings and invest them in individual deals?

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#67
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blackrock also owns 5-6% of Tesla.

Blackrock doesn't 'own' Tesla, or any company really. They hold and manage stocks for their customers. If you own an iShares ETF or mutual fund, you own the companies, not Blackrock.

Where's the line? Does Berkshire own Apple or is it just Berkshire's shareholders who do? Does Google own YouTube?

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#68
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well sure, because they're an investment company. They manage people's money. A lot of people seem to talk about BlackRock as if they're investing their own money, which would be similar to pretending your bank owns all the money that you put in it. They have $10Tn under management, but they have a market cap of $100bn. So the vast majority of what they're doing is just brokering deals for their investors. The fact t…

Can you explain this part more? Does blackrock not invest its own money in deals? And are specific deals specific to blackrock customers or do they just take a percent of their overall holdings and invest them in individual deals?

Most of the money "invested" in this deal belongs to institutions and individuals who have chosen to invest in BlackRock products. A trivial example is if your pension is with BlackRock, they are investing on your behalf and they get a very minor fee for it (minor in terms of percentage, not value). So while the headline is that BlackRock invested in ABC, the actual exposure to the profits or losses is for the people whose money they have invested. The amount of money BlackRock might invest of their own is usually negligible ( sometimes called coinvesting or balance sheet investing, not common for larger firms like fidelity or BlackRock).

What the exact flow is will depend ultimately on how the fund is structured. For example, Goldman will run a private equity focussed fund that you can put money in as a customer, so if you did put money in it, they would invest in similar deals on your behalf. Other customers of Goldman may or may not choose to invest in that fund, preferring something like a bond fund or equities fund etc.

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#69
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Powell and Blackrock have something to do with each other. It's reasonable to assume a conflict of interest. "Fed Chair Powell Has Upwards of $11.6 Million Invested with BlackRock, the Firm that Will Manage a $750 Billion Corporate Bond Bailout Program for the Fed " [0] [0] https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/05/fed-chair-powell-has-...

Thanks for repeating the same thing, I guess..

You appeared to claim the Blackrock and Powell had nothing to do with each other. I was correcting the error.

Re: Northvolt raises $1.2B convertible note from BlackRock

#70
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Owning a stock is a verb. Allocating capital takes a lot of work, and a lot of courage. Gordon Gecko is a fictional character. Having said that, Blackstone/rock has grown far too much. People need to stop sending their money to their index funds.

>Having said that, Blackstone/rock has grown far too much. People need to stop sending their money to their index funds. Where else do you send it to? Vanguard, with 7.7T AUM? For reference, Blackrock's AUM is 9.4T.

My choice was to pick stocks.

This is hard so I built a stock analysis platform for myself. But there are much better ways to get a diversified basket of solid stocks than blindly sending your money to the same 500 companies everyone else is sending their money to.

There isn’t a simple formulaic answer to the question of how society should most optimally invest it’s excess capital.

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