TechCrunch ; Bored Apes NFT startup Yuga Labs raises seed round at monster $4B v

Bored Apes NFT startup Yuga Labs raises seed round at monster $4B valuation


Yuga Labs, maker of the multimillion dollar monkey JPEGs that plenty of NFT skeptics love to hate, just raised a $450 million round from Andreessen Horowitz at a $4 billion valuation, the company announced Tuesday.
The Miami-based NFT firm behind Bored Apes Yacht Club has not previously raised funding, though the startup has long been courting attention from VCs eager to back a major player in the NFT craze. Other investors in the round include Animoca Brands, LionTree, Sound Ventures, Thrive Capital, FTX and MoonPay.
Yuga Labs is increasingly doubling down on its position. Earlier this month, the startup announced it had acquired the assets of popular NFT projects CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs. The startup is also fresh off the launch of ApeCoin, which the startup’s founders and executives have a substantial stake in. The token gathered a multibillion dollar market cap on its first day of trading. The startup is soon looking to build this momentum into its own version of the metaverse called “Otherside,” which will also integrate avatars from a number of other NFT projects.

Business Of Fashion : At Ralph Lauren, ‘the Brand Elevation Never Stops’

At Ralph Lauren, ‘the Brand Elevation Never Stops’
The brand’s first in-person show since 2019 hammered home the company’s big idea: that you don’t have to sacrifice prestige, even when you’re selling to the masses.

To show his latest collection, Ralph Lauren transformed a gallery at the Museum of Modern Art into a cocktail party in his living room, with guests seated around coffee tables and models occasionally pausing as if they intended to join the conversation. Though the evening was meant to evoke an exclusive New York gathering, the sort where Jessica Chastain and Mayor Eric Adams might rub elbows, the whole world was invited.

As more than one Ralph Lauren executive noted Tuesday, the brand no longer simply puts on fashion shows, it gives its customers an “experience.” Though the guest list was kept small, the show was streamed on the brand’s website and social media.

The goal, as always, is to cement in customers’ minds that Ralph Lauren is the purest expression of American luxury, even if that customer encounters the polo logo primarily while perusing racks of marked down collared shirts at a factory outlet.

That storytelling has real stakes. In 2018, with sales declining and Ralph Lauren’s cultural legacy rapidly fading into memory, the company laid out a detailed turnaround plan. There was much talk of higher-quality fabrics, rethinking wholesale and cutting headcount at corporate headquarters. But the strategy could be summed up simply: convince a new generation of consumers that Ralph Lauren clothes were relevant and worth paying full price for.

Four years in, the now not-so-new approach is starting to pay off: a growing contingent of younger customers are more likely to walk in the door of a flagship than an outlet (and share their trip to Ralph’s Coffee on TikTok). Sales are climbing, and the margins are fatter than they’ve been in nearly a decade. Still, the company isn’t ready to declare the mission accomplished.

“The brand elevation never stops,” chief executive Patrice Louvet told BoF. “In 20 years, we’ll still be talking about brand elevation.”

Fashion shows have played a big part in cementing that idea — fitting for a brand that created the American template for storytelling through fashion over decades of Western and prep-inspired world building. The 50th anniversary bash in September 2018, a gala held in Central Park that included Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton among its guests, was arguably one of the few recent New York Fashion Week shows to achieve legendary status among insiders. Subsequent collections debuted against the backdrop of a bistro or nightclub, with production values and a guest list rarely seen outside Paris or Milan.

Tuesday’s show had many of the same hallmarks. Black-and-white furniture was arranged in neat lines throughout the small gallery. Tables were decorated with vases of red roses, a giant bowl of M&Ms and models of classic cars, perhaps a nod to the Fall 2017 show set at Mr. Lauren’s upstate New York garage. The clothes adopted a similar motif, with the occasional red coat or bow breaking up the parade of black and white dresses and tuxedos.

Certain looks amid the eveningwear and riding jackets shown Tuesday were clearly intended as catnip for Ralph Lauren’s hypebeast contingent, including a black New York Yankees jacket and the occasional appearance of the Polo Bear.

It’s a high-low mix that’s played a key part in Ralph Lauren’s turnaround (Mayor Adams, for one, cited the New York-themed apparel and a one-shoulder white dress sliced with a black panel as two of his favourites). The brand still sells plenty of polos, but it says it’s finding success in high-margin products that were not traditionally in the brand’s wheelhouse. In a February call with analysts, executives repeatedly flagged strong performance in outerwear, noting sales in the category had risen by 50 percent since 2018.

On its website, Ralph Lauren sells puffers and water-repellant jackets that slot easily into the gorpcore trend, handbags priced anywhere from $100 to nearly $30,000 and sneakers that range from chunky multi-coloured high-tops to minimalist white tennis shoes. An upcoming collection features fashion inspired by early 20th century style at historically Black Morehouse College and Spelman College, an effort to include some of those left out of the brand’s original vision of Americana.

“Ralph Lauren as a company appreciated that gone were the days of simply dictating what fashion was for America,” said Simeon Siegel, retail analyst at BMO. “As soon as the company started listening … that was what it took.”

The jury is still out on whether the young customers who have embraced the new Ralph Lauren will spend enough to replace the outlet mall bargain hunters, or if the elevated Ralph Lauren on display Tuesday has a ceiling. In 2018, the company predicted its refresh would boost sales by $1 billion. That is unlikely; fiscal 2022 revenue is projected to come in around $6.2 billion, better than expected but below pre-pandemic levels and a far cry from the $7 billion-plus of the mid-2010s.

Lower revenue partly reflects a partial pullback from department stores and outlet malls. The company opened four full-price stores in America in its third quarter, the most in six years. Another dozen are planned across North America over the next couple years. Sales in Europe are surging, thanks in part to new, luxury-oriented stores like a five-story flagship opened on Milan’s fashionable Via Spiga, which includes a restaurant serving “cuisine inspired by Ralph Lauren’s personal favourites,” including mini lobster rolls. The brand hopes concept stores in Shanghai and Beijing will herald similar returns in China.

All that means that while Ralph Lauren is selling fewer clothes, each sale is more profitable: aside from a brief plunge early in the pandemic, margins have risen steadily since 2018. Ralph Lauren has been able to raise prices, even before the recent bout of inflation: in its third quarter, the average price in the brand’s direct channels was up 18 percent from a year earlier, following a 19 percent increase the year before.

“Revenues are down meaningfully from their peak, they’re selling fewer units, and that’s a good thing,” Siegel said.

Still, the temptation to juice off-price channels must be strong. It may also be inevitable, if supply chain problems ease and the US market is suddenly flooded with all the clothing sitting in container ships off the Port of Los Angeles for the last year. Rising inflation means consumers will be more sensitive to the cost of clothing; they likely won’t care that Ralph Lauren was hiking prices for its own reasons well before it became an economy-wide trend.

To succeed in the long run then, Ralph Lauren needs to sell consumers on a compelling story that makes them forget about the price on the tag — because everyone, from the bargain hunters to the high rollers, is invited to the party these days.

WWD : Lanvin Group to Become Public Company in SPAC Deal

Lanvin Group to Become Public Company in SPAC Deal
The luxury company is getting ready to take the plunge into the public markets.

Lanvin Group is taking the SPAC route to Wall Street.

The luxury company, home to Lanvin, Sergio Rossi, Wolford, St. John and Caruso, agreed to a merger with Primavera Capital Acquisition Corp. that will see the fashion house trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LANV.”

The deal will give Lanvin Group a “pro forma enterprise value of $1.5 billion, with a combined pro forma equity value of up to $1.9 billion,” the companies said.

Joann Cheng, chairman and chief executive officer of Lanvin Group, said: “Today’s announcement marks another milestone in Lanvin Group’s growth journey. We are excited to partner with Primavera for our next chapter of growth across Europe, North America and Asia. In recent years, we have not only invested in prestigious heritage brands, but have also created a strategic alliance of industry-leading companies as partners and coinvestors in Lanvin Group. Each of these partners is uniquely qualified to help drive growth, enhance the performance of our brands and unlock the full potential of new markets. We plan to accelerate the growth of our portfolio via both organic development and disciplined acquisitions, building a global portfolio of iconic luxury fashion brands that appeal to a broad customer base. Lanvin Group will not only enable these brands to flourish in their home countries, but also in Asia and North America, the largest luxury markets in the world.”

As part of the deal, Lanvin Group shareholders will roll their shares in Lanvin Group into the combined venture, giving them a roughly 65 percent stake altogether. Lanvin Group will receive proceeds of up to $544 million and plans to use the money “for potential future acquisitions that complement its luxury fashion ecosystem.”

That puts an aggressive player front and center in fashion’s dealmaking world.

Max Chen, chairman, CEO and chief financial officer of PCAC and a partner at its backer Primavera Capital Group, said: “We have been looking to support an emerging leader in the consumer sector with enduring global appeal and significant growth prospects in Asia. In Lanvin Group, we see a unique global business with a rich heritage, an entrepreneurial management team, and a differentiated strategy to build a luxury powerhouse for a new generation of consumers, especially benefiting from surging luxury consumption in Asia. Lanvin Group and Primavera share the same vision of nurturing and reinvigorating world-class luxury brands. We look forward to working together to further develop Lanvin Group’s global platform and drive growth across its brand portfolio.”

Lanvin Group operates in more than 80 countries with 1,200 points of sale, 3,600 employees, and more than 300 retail stores. And it plans to open another 200 doors by 2025.

Previously known as Fosun Fashion Group, the firm changed its name in October, when it scored a valuation of better than $1 billion with investments from Japan’s Itochu Corp., Chinese footwear maker Stella International and private equity player Xizhi Capital.

>>> LES REVERS DU PROJET INTERNATIONAL DE RÉACTEUR ITER

LES REVERS DU PROJET INTERNATIONAL DE RÉACTEUR ITER - https://bit.ly/3L5H7Xw
Le futur réacteur à fusion expérimental est épinglé par l’Autorité de sûreté nucléaire pour des questions techniques, tandis que la gestion humaine de ce projet pharaonique est critiquée.
Sur le chantier pharaonique du prototype de réacteur nucléaire à fusion ITER du site de Cadarache (Bouches-du-Rhône), il n’y a pas que les ouvriers qui s’activent. Les ingénieurs ont dû changer leurs priorités pour répondre rapidement à la longue liste de demandes de l’Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN), afin que l’assemblage de cette machine unique au monde se poursuive dans le calendrier prévu.
Les requêtes de l’ASN, sous forme d’un courrier adressé par son président au directeur général de l’organisation internationale ITER, ont été révélées le 21 février par le site d’information New Energy Times, très critique sur l’énergie de fusion. La missive n’est pas une bonne nouvelle. Elle indique qu’en l’état l’assemblage du réacteur ne peut commencer, notamment l’étape-clé et irréversible du soudage des deux premiers éléments entre eux, sur neuf, constituant la chambre à vide de 19,4 mètres de diamètre et 11,4 mètres de haut, dans laquelle les réactions de fusion doivent avoir lieu.
Contrairement à la fission nucléaire qui casse des noyaux d’uranium pour libérer de l’énergie, ici, comme dans les étoiles, des noyaux d’hydrogène léger sont forcés à se marier. Pour que cette fusion ait lieu, il est nécessaire de rapprocher et de chauffer à 150 millions de degrés les noyaux suffisamment longtemps pour produire plus d’énergie que celle nécessaire à l’amorce de la réaction. Cette technique, dite « tokamak », utilise des champs magnétiques intenses pour confiner la matière.
Le projet ITER, décidé en 2006 et qui réunit six pays et l’Union européenne, doit faire la démonstration de la viabilité de cette solution à grande échelle à partir de 2025, pour un coût de construction d’environ 20 milliards d’euros. En 2012, lors de l’accord de l’ASN pour commencer le chantier, trois étapes dites « point d’arrêt » avaient été prévues comme autant de rendez-vous à honorer pour la poursuite des opérations. En 2014, pour le coulage de la chape de béton (le radier), et en 2016, pour des dispositifs de chauffage externes, ces étapes avaient été franchies.
Garantir la sûreté
Mais, le 25 janvier, un an après sa demande de « levée du troisième point d’arrêt », ITER a reçu la réponse négative de l’ASN : « Le point d’arrêt lié à l’assemblage tokamak ne pourra pas être levé (…). En conséquence, l’assemblage du tokamak ne peut être engagé. » Ce dernier devait avoir lieu « vers la fin 2022 », explique Laban Coblentz, directeur de la communication d’ITER. Il ajoute : « Le chantier n’est pas arrêté. Ce courrier n’interrompt pas le travail. C’est une phase habituelle de dialogue avec le régulateur. Il faut dire aussi que nous avons affaire à une machine qui est la première du genre et qui très complexe. »
Sur les deux premiers éléments de la chambre à vide, des travaux continuent, en effet, pour y souder des pièces de renforcement et des bobines électriques. Ils sont encore dans le hall d’assemblage et le premier pourrait être descendu dans le puits principal dans « quelques semaines », estime Laban Coblentz.
L’ASN demande, en fait, des compléments pour garantir la sûreté et la maîtrise de la radioprotection au sein de l’installation sur sept points. D’abord, sur la tenue des matériaux face au flux de neutrons émis lors des réactions. « ITER n’a pas apporté tous les éléments pour que nous puissions nous positionner », rappelle Bastien Lauras, chef de la division de Marseille de l’ASN.
Ensuite, lors des collisions avec les surfaces de la chambre à vide, ces neutrons rendent radioactifs des noyaux dans l’enceinte. L’ASN demande donc aussi des « cartographies radiologiques » pour estimer les rayonnements sur l’installation et permettre d’affirmer que la sécurité des travailleurs sera assurée. Elle indique aussi qu’il est nécessaire pour ITER de démontrer que le radier en béton supportera bien un éventuel surpoids lié à l’ajout de protections supplémentaires possibles. De même, elle demande un bilan plus abouti des diverses sources radioactives présentes lors du fonctionnement ou en cas d’accident de la machine. Tout comme elle exige de nouvelles démonstrations de la tenue de l’installation aux effets d’un séisme, pour tenir compte du retour d’expériences de l’accident de Fukushima, à l’instar de ce qui a été demandé pour les installations nucléaires classiques.
Des mois décisifs
Enfin, deux autres demandes concernent des défauts constatés lors de la fabrication. Le radier, capable de supporter les 400 000 tonnes de la machine complète, repose sur 493 piliers parasismiques, mais il s’est un peu relevé aux bords. L’ASN demande d’en tenir compte dans la démonstration finale de sûreté.
La dernière requête concerne les éléments de la chambre à vide. Les deux premiers, livrés par la Corée de Sud, de 440 tonnes chacun, ont des dimensions non conformes, dues à des défauts de fabrication. Cela nécessite de modifier la manière de les assembler par soudure ou de réparer ces non-conformités. Il était prévu qu’un robot, mis au point en Espagne, fasse le travail, mais la procédure a dû être revue. L’ASN demande donc des preuves que ces soudures répondront aux exigences de tenue et de sécurité.
Dans une lettre rendue publique par New Energy Times, Bernard Bigot, le directeur général d’ITER, assure que les Espagnols ont trouvé une solution. Laban Coblentz estime que toutes les réponses pourront être apportées « en avril ou mai ». « ITER doit déposer un nouveau dossier pour que nous puissions l’instruire », précise Bastien Lauras. Pour le premier point d’arrêt, ITER avait prévu de couler le béton en 2013 mais n’avait été autorisé à le faire que plus d’un an plus tard par l’ASN.
Les prochains mois vont donc être décisifs, car plusieurs autres événements sont en suspens. La partie européenne d’ITER, l’agence Fusion For Energy (FE), attend, elle aussi, les résultats d’une enquête, mais cette fois sur les conditions de travail en son sein. En mai 2021, un ingénieur s’est, en effet, suicidé. Puis, en novembre, une grève des personnels a poussé la direction à demander une enquête supplémentaire sur les circonstances de ce décès. Devant des parlementaires de la commission de contrôle budgétaire, le 28 février, Johannes Schwemmer, le directeur de F4E, a reconnu qu’un soutien psychologique avait été mis en place et que la charge de travail, avec « 98 projets à mener par 440 personnes », était très importante. Des représentants syndicaux ont, eux, parlé d’« absence de dialogue social » et de « management toxique ».
En juin prochain, le conseil d’ITER se réunira et « étudiera les propositions de révisions de calendrier et de coût », selon Laban Coblentz. En septembre 2021, Bernard Bigot considérait d’ailleurs comme « intenable » de commencer les opérations de test sans fusion, en 2025, comme prévu. Désormais, la communication d’ITER préfère évoquer non pas cette étape, mais celle, plus tardive, des premières réactions de fusion, annoncées pour 2035.
La Cour des comptes européenne prévenait, dans son rapport de 2021, que « tout changement dans les principales hypothèses qui sous-tendent l’estimation et l’exposition au risque pourrait entraîner d’importantes augmentations des coûts et/ou de nouveaux retards ». Prémonitoire, peut-être, celui-ci stipulait que « l’autorité française de sûreté nucléaire a le dernier mot, et [que] toute modification future des exigences en la matière pourrait avoir une incidence financière importante ».

WSJ : A Chinese Nickel Market Mystery

A Chinese Nickel Market Mystery
Did the London Metal Exchange cancel trades to help a Chinese firm?

Market ructions amid war aren’t unusual. But the London Metal Exchange’s retroactive cancellation of nickel trades this month appears to be unprecedented. One question is whether the Hong Kong-owned exchange intervened to rescue a Chinese nickel tycoon.

Nickel prices were climbing for the better part of a year prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, amid rising demand for electric-vehicle batteries and stainless steel. Russia supplies about 20% of the world’s high-grade nickel, and worries about sanctions sent prices higher. This threatened the Tsingshan Holding Group, which had built a large short position.

Tsingshan is one of the world’s largest nickel and stainless steel producers. It is also a cornerstone of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks closer ties with poorer countries by developing their natural resources.

Tsingshan Chairman Xiang Guangda also has a history of moving markets. Nickel prices dropped last year after he announced that Tsingshan had developed a game-changing technology that would enable cheaper intermediate grade nickel to be used for batteries. This could expand the nickel supply available for batteries and push down prices.

Many investors suspect that Mr. Xiang had built a short position with plans to flood the market with his nickel. But then as prices climbed amid Russia’s invasion, his brokers struggled to meet margin calls, and bullish investors took advantage. Nickel prices surged 250% amid the short squeeze before the LME suspended trading and cancelled trades.

The Journal reported that Tsingshan would have owed $15 billion if not for LME’s intervention. Tsingshan could cover its short position by delivering high-quality nickel to the exchange, but this would probably require the Chinese government to swap its high-grade reserves for Tsingshan’s low-grade nickel.

By cancelling trades, LME effectively rescued Tsingshan and Beijing. Exchanges sometimes halt trading when prices are volatile, but they don’t invalidate contracts. Some traders are speculating that LME’s owners at the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. felt pressure from Beijing, even if not explicit, to do so.

LME has blamed a lack of visibility in over-the-counter agreements and described the market moves as unprecedented. LME CEO Matthew Chamberlain denies Chinese pressure and said this week that the exchange intervened “because of the size and the systemic impact of the client and we would have done that whatever their nationality.”

This explanation is hard to credit. Tsingshan may have lost billions of dollars, but it wouldn’t have taken down the nickel market. There were some worries when the Hong Kong exchange bought LME in 2012 that it might be vulnerable to China’s political influence. LME has sought Chinese approval to open a metals warehouse in the mainland.

Nickel trading resumed on the LME last week with circuit-breakers to prevent large price swings, but technical glitches abounded. The fiasco has caused some traders to exit positions, reducing market liquidity, and it has damaged the LME’s reputation. AQR Capital Management founder Cliff Asness tweeted: “I’ve been doing this for a wee bit of time. This is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.”

Markets can’t function efficiently without investor confidence. If LME doesn’t restore cancelled trades, U.K. regulators ought to investigate what happened and why.

FT : EU to unveil landmark legislation to tackle market power of Big Tech

EU to unveil landmark legislation to tackle market power of Big Tech
Digital Markets Act now expected to target core online platforms with market cap of at least €75bn

The EU is poised to unveil a landmark law designed to rein in the market power of Big Tech this week, after a deal was struck on crucial details such as the size of companies targeted by the long-anticipated legislation.

The Digital Markets Act could be revealed as early as Thursday, following the European Commission, European Parliament and member states agreeing many of the final aspects of the law, despite intense lobbying efforts from the likes of Google and other large technology groups.

The legislation is now expected to target companies that have a market capitalisation of at least €75bn and run one core online “platform” service such as a social network or web browser, according to two people directly involved in the deal.

To qualify as a “gatekeeper” — the powerful internet groups that are the focus of the new law — a company will also have to have at least 45,000 active users, the same people said.

Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft all meet this standard, but it is likely to also include far more groups than previously thought such as accommodations site Booking.com and ecommerce group Alibaba.

Those involved in the deal said the final details could still change and the timing of an expected announcement could yet slip, as negotiators continue to hammer out further details. But the framework agreed in recent days represents a crucial breakthrough for the bloc, as it plans the biggest overhaul of the laws governing the world’s biggest technology companies in over two decades.

The act will set out for the first time the rules of how large online platforms must compete in the EU’s market. Among the details agreed by EU bodies is a measure that will force large tech companies to offer consumers the option to choose an email application and a search engine when buying a new smartphone.

Users will also have the legal right to uninstall applications. At the moment, companies such as Apple and Google preload many of their services on to devices without giving consumers a prior choice. People will also be able to use online services with greater restrictions to the way these companies handle their data.

Another measure agreed between legislators in Brussels will force messaging services to interact with competing services from smaller rivals. This could mean that a user of Meta-owned WhatsApp should be able to send messages directly to a user of an entirely different messaging service, breaking the “closed” model that many tech groups favour.

EU regulators have argued that the new rules will be transformative. Andreas Schwab, a German MEP and a key powerbroker in Brussels, said the Digital Markets Act had the potential to allow “competitors to enter a market that has been dominated by a few companies and it limits the possibility for existing companies to close markets”.

But critics suggest that the legislation will throttle innovation. Nick Clegg, president of global affairs for Facebook’s parent company Meta, has warned it “risks fossilising how products work and preventing the constant iteration and experimentation that drives technological progress”.

Senior EU officials have disregarded such criticisms and are celebrating the new rules, which are expected to be in place at the start of 2023.

Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, told the Financial Times: “We have tried in the past to address gatekeeper issues through competition cases. But these cases can take years and in the meantime the harm to SMEs and innovators is done. We needed an innovative response. And we [have] managed, against all odds.”

FT : Scientists debate fourth Covid vaccine dose as Omicron cases rise

Scientists debate fourth Covid vaccine dose as Omicron cases rise
Experts accept need to inoculate elderly, but some are less convinced about revaccinating younger, healthy people

A fourth Covid-19 vaccine dose offers protection for elderly people and those with health problems, a growing body of research suggests, but experts have found a lack of evidence to support rolling out a fresh round of jabs more broadly.

The UK, Germany, France and Sweden are among countries offering fourth doses to the elderly and vulnerable. In the US, Pfizer last week asked regulators to authorise a fourth dose for people over 65 while Moderna wants its jab to be available to all adults.

But the EU drug regulator has expressed doubts about the need for a fourth jab, requesting additional data and citing hypothetical concerns that repeated boosters could overload people’s immune systems.

Some experts warn that waning immunity from boosters and previous infections, along with a lack of restrictions, mean health services could be overwhelmed if a highly pathogenic variant emerges.

The debate over a fourth dose coincides with a surge in Covid cases in Europe linked to the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron BA.2 sub-variant.

Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said data from Israel — which became the first country to give third and fourth doses — show that efficacy wanes after about four months.

“It’s exactly what we saw with the first shot,” he said, adding that it had been hoped a third dose might boost the immune system’s memory enough to provide long-lasting protection.


Israeli data on the efficacy of fourth doses differ depending on the age of the recipient. When Pfizer made its application to the US regulator, it said evidence from Israel showed that an additional booster dose increased immune responses while lowering infection rates and incidences of severe illness.

However, when Israel’s Sheba Medical Center gave its healthcare workers a fourth shot, it found it boosted antibodies but did not prevent infection with Omicron.

In interim findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, the authors said that for young and healthy people, a fourth vaccine provided “little protection” above just having three doses.

This is why many countries are prioritising older groups where they can get the most “bang for their buck”, Topol said.

The UK this week started administering fourth doses to the over-75s and those at highest risk. Professor Adam Finn, a member of the UK government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said Omicron has created a “moving situation”. He is closely watching data to understand who is being hospitalised.

“If we go on having a lot of viral circulation, which is unhappily going back up again, we’re going to have a bigger problem,” he said.

Finn believes a wider booster rollout in the UK in the autumn is likely, ahead of a possible winter wave. “The present fourth dose booster is seen as a way of bridging between now and then, [for] the people who cannot make it safely to the autumn programme,” he said.

As some governments move to a posture of living with Covid, they may be satisfied with only revaccinating those most likely to experience severe disease.

However, some experts believe governments need to give out boosters to help health systems catch up on treating other conditions.

Penny Ward, visiting professor in pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London, said even patients admitted with — but not because of — Covid require extra resources. Vaccines, antivirals and long-acting antibody treatment can all help alleviate this pressure.

“Allowing the situation to continue where the health service is completely overwhelmed with disease, now we have the tools to prevent it, is irrational,” she said.

But some scientists have expressed concerns that too many boosters could lead to “immune exhaustion” — a phenomenon in which repeated exposure to a pathogen over time diminishes the ability of immune cells to respond effectively.

“This hasn’t been demonstrated yet for Covid-19 but it’s something to study,” said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Health authorities that opt to roll out boosters must decide whether to use the original vaccines or versions of the shots tailored to the Omicron variant that emerged in November.

“Continuing to boost with the same formulation of the vaccine may blunt the ability of the immune system to respond to new variants,” said Adalja.

In the coming weeks, vaccine makers BioNTech and Pfizer and Moderna are expected to publish the late-stage trial results of their Omicron-targeted shots. The data will show how effective the vaccines are against the variant.

But scientific advisers will have to weigh whether to switch to the tweaked jabs based on information that no one has: whether the next variant evolves from Omicron or a previous strain.

Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist at Rockefeller University, said a paper she co-authored, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, shows that an Omicron infection boosted the antibodies of those who had two doses of the vaccine, but did not boost them for those who had had three doses.

She believes this may provide a clue about the added benefit of an Omicron-tailored shot. “If they have already had three doses, I don’t believe it is justified. If they have only had two doses then the updated vaccine is the best choice,” she said.

Even if governments decide fourth doses are needed, it may be a struggle to convince people to be vaccinated again. Only about half of Americans who had two shots returned for their third. A survey of US adults who had received at least one Covid vaccination found that almost half would either “definitely not” get a booster or only do so if they were required to.

Ezekiel Emanuel, vice-provost of global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, said public health experts must consider what the public will tolerate. “The idea that every six months people are going to get a booster . . . that just is not going to happen,” he said.

>>> US After Hours Summary: Several companies fall on earnings: ADBE -2%, GAN -1

After Hours Summary: Several companies fall on earnings: ADBE -2%, GAN -16%, POSH -9.8%, WOR -8.1%, SNPO -7.3%, HQY -1.8%

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: MXCT +2.9%, PAGS +0.4%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: MOR +6.2% (MOR and INCY receive Swissmedic temporary approval for Minjuvi in combination with lenalidomide), OPRA +4.9% (sells 42.35% ownership interest in Nanobank for $127.1 mln), OSUR +0.5% (names interim CEO, previously announced evaluation of strategic alternatives continues), NVAX +0.4% (co and Serum Institute receive EUA for COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents in India), NTAP +0.3% (announces additional $1 bln share repurchase authorization), AZO +0.3% (announces additional $2 bln share repurchase authorization), CWT +0.1% (acquires assets of Monterey Water Co)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: GAN -16%, POSH -9.8%, WOR -8.1%, SNPO -7.3%, ADBE -2%, HQY -1.8%, AIR -0.2%, HA -0.1%

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WSJ : Oligarch Companies Want to Pay Their Debts. But Sanctions Stand in the Way

Oligarch Companies Want to Pay Their Debts. But Sanctions Stand in the Way.
Steelmaker Severstal set to default Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter

Russian companies owned by sanctioned oligarchs say they are having trouble making payments to their foreign creditors, potentially setting them up for default even though they have the funds to pay.

The first major default since Russia invaded Ukraine and the West unleashed punishing sanctions could come as soon as Wednesday. Steel giant Severstal PAO owed a coupon payment due on a dollar bond on March 16 with a five business-day grace period, which expires Wednesday.

Severstal paid the $12.6 million interest payment to a unit of Citigroup, C +1.05% Inc., which collects the payments for bondholders, according to a person familiar with the matter. That money was transferred to the bank’s U.S. accounts, but hasn’t yet ended up with the bondholders. The company could announce that it will be in default early Wednesday, the person said.

In a statement last week, Severstal said that it believed Citigroup may not process the payment. It said it sent a test payment worth 1% of its coupon to see if it would go through.

A spokesperson for Citigroup declined to comment.

The U.S., European Union and other Western allies enacted sanctions on individuals and put measures in place to restrict Russia’s central bank. The measures have disrupted the ability of Russia’s most prominent companies to access global financial markets. Western banks are reluctant to touch Russian money without strong assurances that what they are doing is legal, leading to delays and confusion.

Severstal is based in Cherepovets, north of Moscow, and is one of Russia’s largest steelmakers. It is majority-owned by Alexey Mordashov, one of the country’s richest men with an estimated fortune of $29 billion. Mr. Mordashov was included in the EU’s sanctions list and Italian police seized a complex of residential buildings on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia he owns last week.

It is possible that Severstal’s default may still be avoided if the payment is allowed through at the last minute. Russia’s government was able to make a transfer of dollars to foreign bondholders last week, avoiding default, because of exceptions written into the sanctions to allow some debt payments. Moscow also backed down from an order from President Vladimir Putin that Russia’s debt payments should be made in rubles, even for bonds denominated in other currencies.

A Severstal default would be the first major Russian company default in six years, according to S&P Global. The last was Far-Eastern Shipping Company PLC, a Russian transportation company, which restructured its debt in 2016.

Another steelmaker, Evraz EVR -12.59% PLC, which counts Roman Abramovich as a major shareholder, said on Monday that an $18.9 million coupon payment on a bond was blocked by Société Générale. It was due on March 21.

A spokesperson for Société Générale declined to comment.

Evraz said in a statement that the payment blocking had its roots in the U.K. Treasury’s decision to include Mr. Abramovich on its extended sanctions list. Mr. Abramovich is sanctioned by both the U.K. and the EU, including an asset freeze and a travel ban.

Severstal and Evraz have both said that they have the funds and are ready to make their payments and meet their obligations.

“Apart from malfunction of financial infrastructure, there are no reasons for a potential event of default,” the Evraz statement said.

Russia’s companies have about $98 billion of hard-currency debt outstanding and are due to make around $17 billion of payments this year on that debt, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. International investors hold about $21 billion of Russian corporate bonds, or 22% of the total stock, a March 2 report by the bank said.

Investors have been reluctant to buy the bonds, even though they trade at a deep discount and despite the companies saying they want to pay.

Severstal’s $800 million bond, due in 2024, was trading at around 15 cents on the dollar on Monday, according to AdvantageData. Evraz’s note was priced at 64 cents on the dollar.

“We are concerned the ability and willingness of Russian companies to pay may decrease, as we may not see the removal of the sanctions for a while,” said Tatjana Greil Castro, a credit portfolio manager at Muzinich & Co.

Bonds issued by Russian firms including Gazprom PJSC, Severstal and Evraz are in a popular JPMorgan emerging-market corporate bond index known as the CEMBI. The bank said on March 7 that it would exclude Russian sovereign and corporate debt from its indexes, effective at the end of the month.

Other prominent Russian companies have been able to make good on their interest and principal payments since the invasion began. Energy major Gazprom paid investors on time when a $1.3 billion bond matured on March 14. Rosneft sent $2 billion to investors that week for a bond that matured on March 13. The payment was about two days late, but ultimately arrived within its grace period, according to bond investors.

Both Gazprom and Rosneft’s top bosses are on the U.S. and the U.K.’s sanctions list, but the companies are primarily owned by the Russian government.