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Our briefing for Wednesday May 19, 2021:
May 19, 2021 3:46:59 PM
- In the United States, the vaccination campaign continues to roll on with the country hitting another milestone. Citing “encouraging national trends” the White House administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted 60% of American adults have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. In addition, more than 3.5 million people aged 12-17 have received their first dose and in the past two weeks, 51% of those vaccinated were people of colour. That’s higher than the 40% of the general population these groups represent. In the United States, Black, Latino and Native American communities were particularly hard-hit by the coronavirus and some of those groups were hesitant about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine because of medical mistreatment in the past.
- In Canada, Quebec is set to release some of the country’s toughest COVID-19 restrictions. According to Premier Francois Legault, 75% of Quebec adults will have received a first dose of the vaccine by June 15th, making it possible to ease the lockdown. A nighttime curfew that has been in place since January will be lifted on May 28th and three days later, restaurants will be able to reopen in most regions, including its largest city, Montreal. It also wouldn’t be Canadian if hockey wasn’t involved in this somehow. Up to 2,500 fans could be permitted to Montreal’s Bell Centre for a potential Toronto Maple Leafs-Montreal Canadians playoff game if the best-of-seven series goes at least six games.
- The United Kingdom has launched the world’s first clinical trial to see whether a booster vaccine dose could protect people against COVID-19 and its variants. Close to 3,000 people aged 30 and older are being recruited at 18 National Health Service sites from London to Glasgow with the first booster shots to be administered in early June. Seven existing vaccines are to be tested in the trial. “We will do everything we can to future-proof this country from pandemics and other threats to our health security, and the data from this world-first clinical trial will help shape the plans for our booster programme later this year,” said Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
- The European Union (EU) will begin to ease travel restrictions within the 27-member bloc, with the EU Council agreeing on measures to allow fully vaccinated foreign visitors in. The new EU rules are expected to be confirmed on Friday with each member nation free to decide its own policy, meaning some will waive restrictions in return for proof of vaccination and some may require additional paper work or tests. Some nations like Portugal and Greece are already moving full speed ahead saying they will welcome UK tourists. The move by the EU has thrown a wrench into the UK’s messaging on travel over the past few days saying Britons shouldn’t be going to countries that are on their “amber list” for vacations. However, it appears people aren’t listening with travel firms saying bookings were up and flight tickets to “amber list” hotspots were on offer for as little as £5.
- Medical authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain are going to offer a booster shot of the Chinese-developed Sinopharm vaccine to residents and citizens who have already had two doses. The UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority tweeted Tuesday evening the following: “An additional supportive dose of Sinopharm is now available to people who have received the vaccine previously and who have now completed more than six months since the second dose.” The announcements come amid Sinopharm’s efficacy and reports of COVID-19 reinfections among people who have received their two doses of the shot.
- After setting daily records for the most coronavirus cases, India has now set the record for highest daily COVID-19 deaths, surpassing the global record held by the United States. The Indian Health Ministry reported 4,529 deaths in the past 24 hours, driving their overall total to 283,248. According to data, the previous record for most daily deaths from the coronavirus was set on January 12th in the United States when 4,475 people died. While large cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi have seen signs of improvements in recent days, there is concern the virus is now spreading through the vast countryside where a majority of the people live and where health care and testing are limited.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
How Private Equity Plans to Cash in on the Covid-19 Recovery
Brief : Private equity is making a comeback from its pandemic lows — and firms have big plans to capitalize on the booming exit environment. In the second quarter of 2020, private equity exit activity dropped to decade lows, according to the 2021 global private equity divestment study from Ernst & Young. Then, it sprung back, as private equity leaders saw opportunities to produce stronger valuations. From March 2020 to March 2021, PE exits jumped nearly 40 percent to $600 billion, higher than it had been since before 2010. Firms hope to ride this wave of increased capital access and maximize deal valuations along the way. In the next 18 to 24 months, about half of surveyed PE executives said they are planning exits to public markets through initial public offerings or special-purpose acquisition companies. “I think there are a few dynamics here,” said Pete Witte, EY’s lead analyst for global private equity. “You’ve still got your traditional trade buyers; you’ve got secondaries where PE firms have all this dry powder that they’re looking to put to work. Those buyers are still out there, and they’re still very active. The IPO markets have clearly rebounded, and now you’ve got SPAC buyers in the mix as well.”
Asset Managers to Hire Data Chiefs After Tech Re-Think
Brief: Many fund managers are to recruit chief data officers after the Covid-19 pandemic caused firms to focus on fixing data problems, research suggests. According to a study by Alpha FMC, a consultancy, 19% of firms surveyed will make the chief data appointments and the research also found that just over half will adopt enterprise data models. Alpha’s report, ‘2021 Data Strategy & Operating Models’, found that the majority of firms are focused on implementing firm-wide data initiatives in recognition of a lack of enterprise-wide data management in many firms. As many as 68% of respondents said that data governance remained siloed by function within their companies. But the focus on firm-wide data projects is likely to come as the expense of experimenting with alternative data. The study found that alternative data usage had fallen since last year with social media and the web being the only sources still commonly used. The survey also revealed some familiar frustrations among asset managers about data capture from third-party sources. The rising cost of market data was one, and the lack of consistency among ESG data providers was cited by 80% of respondents.
Skyscrapers Rising Next to Vacant Towers Mark New City of London
Brief: When the Gherkin tower opened 17 years ago, its skyline-defining silhouette heralded a new era in the low-rise City of London. Now, a spate of new planned skyscrapers threaten to erase it from view and from relevance. As one of the Gherkin’s main residents weighs a move, even iconic buildings risk struggling to keep or replace tenants in London’s premier financial district. While the pandemic is emptying City offices at the fastest pace in more than a decade, it hasn’t slowed the coming wave of towers. That carries a warning for landlords: if there is a return to the office, it won’t be to drab buildings that only feature endless rows of desks. It all augurs another period of change for the City, a geographical area of just over one square mile with a 2,000-year track record of reinvention. For property firms that have seen the district as a cash cow for decades, the challenge is daunting: how to refill, revamp or sell hundreds of aging offices vulnerable to the twin blows of Brexit and the pandemic. In a financial hub that draws more international capital than any other, the fate of the older buildings could hit the fortunes of some of the world’s biggest real-estate investors, from China Investment Corp. to Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and Malaysia’s biggest pension fund.
Mizuho Requires Staff Returning to Its U.S. Offices Have Vaccine
Brief: Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is requiring that staff who choose to return to its U.S. offices are vaccinated, according to a spokesman for the Japanese lender. Employees can return to the office through August on a voluntary basis and those who do must have had shots, subject to some limited exceptions, spokesman Jim Gorman said in an emailed statement. Protocols after August are still under evaluation, according to Gorman. Wall Street is seeking to bring staff back as vaccines help the U.S. recover from a pandemic that forced most employees to work from home. JPMorgan Chase & Co., which mandated a return to office for its entire U.S. workforce by early July on a rotational schedule, said in April that it wouldn’t require returning staff be vaccinated, though it strongly encouraged employees to get the shots. Blackstone Group Inc. earlier this month asked U.S. investment professionals to return to the office full-time on June 7 provided they are fully vaccinated. Mizuho’s U.S. offices include locations in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta, according to its website.
Aviva Investors Throws in the Towel and Closes Frozen UK Property Fund
Brief: Aviva Investors has decided to shut down its UK Property fund after a near 15-month suspension period. The £367m fund was forced to close its doors last March along with all the major UK property funds after the Covid crisis made it impossible to determine the value of their underlying holdings. Following the re-opening of the M&G Property Portfolio earlier this month, Aviva Investors UK Property and Aegon Property Income were the last funds in the sector to remain shuttered. Aviva Investors explained since the fund’s suspension it had become “increasingly challenging to generate positive returns while also providing the necessary liquidity to re-open the fund” and had made the decision to close the fund and two feeder funds. In its second assessment of value report published in January the fund board recommended the three funds be placed under review to “ensure investors’ long-term interests could continue to be served”. But after taking the review and projected levels of redemptions upon re-opening into account, the asset manager concluded UK Property’s “ability to fully benefit from the economies of scale and diversification of investments that collective investment schemes normally bring would soon be limited”.
Workers in Canada Want to get Back to the Office, KPMG says
Brief: Most workers in Canada want to return to the office, but about three quarters prefer a “hybrid” model that allows some flexibility to work remotely, according to a survey of about 2,000 people done for KPMG. Half of respondents said they’re more productive and effective in a virtual work environment. That was a drop from 59 per cent in a similar survey a year ago, suggesting that 14 months of work-from-home arrangements are taking a toll on some employees. Canadian office workers in finance, government and other sectors haven’t returned to their places of work as quickly as their U.S. counterparts, in part because the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign got off to a slow start. Less than 4 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. But Canada’s vaccine supply is improving and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged that all Canadians who want a vaccine will be able to get two shots by September, providing companies with an impetus to solidify their back-to-the-office plans. Some firms including Manulife Financial Corp. have already committed to retaining some form of flexible work policy when the pandemic is over.
