Argonautica

Professional investors can review published thought leadership and market updates from the Argonaut Investment Team.

22 posts found for 2020

“Dubious Purchase Objections”: An Open Letter to Ron Kalifa, OBE, Chairman of Network International Holdings PLC

Dear Mr Kalifa, We understand from the Network International “Business Update” of December 21st and from a separate Financial Times report of December 20th that Freshfields were appointed in late October to investigate the controversial DPO acquisition which was announced in July (and that this has now been publicly disclosed if not yet completed).

The Whiff at WAF: An Open Letter to the Chairman of the Siltronic AG Supervisory Board

Dear Dr. Ohler, I am writing to you in your capacity as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Siltronic as a concerned institutional investor. Siltronic announced on 29th November that it was in “advanced, near to final discussions on a takeover by GlobalWafers” expecting to lead to “a voluntary tender offer to Siltronic shareholders at an offer price of €125 per share”...

‘Cyclical Rotation and the Pfizer Vaccine’

The size of the style risk move. Monday’s announcement of a “90% efficacious” vaccine from the Pfizer/BioNTech was the catalyst for the biggest 1-day mean reversion in growth vs value since 2009: The growth/value pair trade in Europe delivered (-16%) in a single day (Nov 9th) and another (-7%) the following day (Nov 10th); Monday’s move -16% for the style beta (-22% in the US) was the biggest on record (in 11 years);

‘Dud COVID vaccines are no silver bullet’

Vaccine jabs could be widely available by the New Year as - even though blinded Phase 3 trials are yet to read out - we are told that the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine candidate will file for regulatory approval in November with Moderna to follow in December. Much of the news coverage has focused on the timing of regulatory approval, dose availability, and the side-effect profile of COVID vaccine candidates. Whilst these are important, there is a more fundamental question: is there a mismatch between public expectations and what vaccine developers define as clinical “success”?

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