Foley Trasimene To Combine With Paysafe

Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II (BFT), a special purpose acquisition company, and Paysafe Group Holdings Limited have announced a plan of merger. Paysafe will become a publicly traded entity under the name, Paysafe Limited and symbol PSFE. The deal reflects an implied pro-forma enterprise value at closing of approximately $9 billion.

William P. Foley, II, Founder and Chairman of Foley Trasimene, stated: “Upon the formation and initial listing of Foley Trasimene, our team initiated a diligent and thorough search process to source an appropriate partner, with the goal to announce a partnership prior to year end. We have reached this milestone with Paysafe as our ideal partner.”

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Q3 adjusted earnings of $0.10 per share

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SVA) announced a profit for its third quarter that increased from last year.

The company’s earnings came in at $9.65 million, or $0.10 per share. This compares with $6.28 million, or $0.06 per share, in last year’s third quarter.

Excluding items, Sinovac Biotech Ltd. reported adjusted earnings of $11.30 million or $0.10 per share for the period.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 79.4% to $115.45 million from $64.34 million last year.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. earnings at a glance:

-Earnings (Q3): $11.30 Mln. vs. $6.83 Mln. last year.
-EPS (Q3): $0.10 vs. $0.07 last year.
-Revenue (Q3): $115.45 Mln vs. $64.34 Mln last year.

Pfizer, Sangamo Report Encouraging Findings From Phase 1/2 Study Of Giroctocogene Fitelparvovec

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. (SGMO) announced updated follow-up data from the phase 1/2 Alta study of giroctocogene fitelparvovec, an investigational gene therapy for patients with severe hemophilia A. All five patients in the high dose 3 x 1013 vg/kg cohort have had at least one year of follow-up and showed sustained factor VIII (FVIII) activity levels. Steady-state FVIII activity was achieved for all patients in the 3 x 1013 vg/kg cohort within 9 weeks of treatment. Giroctocogene fitelparvovec was generally well tolerated.

Seng Cheng, Chief Scientific Officer of Pfizer’s Rare Disease Research Unit, stated: “With the first patient dosed in the Phase 3 AFFINE study in October 2020, we are on track for a readout from this pivotal Phase 3 trial in 2022, which will allow us to better assess the potential of our gene therapy across a larger sample size.”

The companies plan to present further follow-up data from the Alta study when all five patients in the 3 x 1013 vg/kg dose cohort have been followed for at least two years.

Mercury Systems To Buy Physical Optics Corp. – Quick Facts

Mercury Systems, Inc. (MRCY) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Torrance, California-based Physical Optics Corp. for an all-cash purchase price of $310 million, subject to net working capital and net debt adjustments. Mercury Systems expects this acquisition to be immediately accretive to adjusted earnings per share.

Physical Optics, founded in 1985, is a designer, developer, and integrator of advanced technologies primarily focused on avionics & mission subsystems for defense applications. Physical Optics employs approximately 350 people, including more than 160 highly skilled engineers, and holds over 160 patents worldwide, covering 60 technologies.

Mercury expects this transaction to close during fiscal 2021 second quarter ending January 1, 2021 and to fund this acquisition and associated transaction expenses through a combination of cash on hand and existing revolving credit facility.

Physical Optics is currently expected to generate revenue of over $120 million for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. The acquisition represents a multiple of approximately 13x next twelve months EBITDA.

Stock Alert: GSX Techedu Trades 6% Higher

Shares of Chinese online K-12 large-class after-school tutoring service provider GSX Techedu Inc. (GSX) are rising more than 12% Monday morning after the company said that certain investors have agreed to buy $870 million of shares of the company.

The investors have agreed to purchase through a private placement a total of $ 870 million of newly issued Class A ordinary shares of the Company, representing approximately 6.2% of its total outstanding shares, the company said.

The private placement is expected to be closed in December 2020.

GSX, currently at $64.58, has been trading in the range of $19.04- $141.78 in the past 52 weeks.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Appears To Admit That Biden Won

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany became the latest member of President Donald Trump’s circle who appeared to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the presidential election, despite Trump’s false claims of victory. 

In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, McEnany noted that if “we” lose the two Georgia Senate seats in a January runoff election to Democrats, it will be Kamala Harris “casting the deciding vote in this country.” Harris would only cast a deciding Senate vote as vice president.

McEnany used the scenario in a last-ditch argument to convince Georgia’s state legislature to overturn Biden’s election win in the state and manipulate an electoral vote for Trump. 

Trump hasn’t conceded the race to Biden. Though most Republican members of Congress have been silent on who won, a growing number recognize Biden as the president-elect.

Former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said last week in an interview that it “looks like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail.” She added: “I assume the electors will certify that and it will be official. We, as a nation, will move forward, because we always do.”

Avid Trump supporter Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) last month referred to Biden as the “president-elect.” But her staff said later that she misspoke.