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Hancock Whitney Renews Share Repurchase Authorization
DALLAS, Dec. 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beneficient (NASDAQ: BENF) (“Ben” or the “Company”), a technology-enabled platform providing exit opportunities and primary capital solutions and related trust and custody services to holders of alternative assets through its proprietary online platform AltAccess, announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Mercantile Bank International Corp. (“Mercantile Bank”), a Puerto Rico-based International Financial Entity (“IFE”), in exchange for an aggregate purchase price of $1.5 million, which is payable in up to approximately 2.1 million shares of the Company’s Class A common stock and cash. “We are very excited about the potential avenues for revenue growth that would be facilitated through this acquisition,” said Beneficient. “Acquiring Mercantile Bank would enable the Company to offer an expanded range of companion custody and other fee-based services that complement our existing businesses on a broader scale with the potential to generate additional cash flow in the near term. Our objective is to deliver additional alternative asset custody services to customers with the potential to generate higher fee rates than are generally available for traditional custody services. We also believe the acquisition has the potential to enhance and broaden our current offerings in ways that may open new international opportunities, allowing us to further democratize the market for illiquid alternative assets.” IFEs are licensed and regulated by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico (the “OCIF”) and may provide specific banking and other financial activity from Puerto Rico for persons, entities, and organizations around the globe that are non-residents of Puerto Rico. An IFE’s authorized activities may include custody, clearing, and payments and related traditional and digital products and services and, as approved by the OCIF, traditional banking services, such as deposits, lending, investments, and trusts. Upon closing of the acquisition, the Company, which has primarily focused on meeting the needs of individual investors and small-to-midsized institutions, expects to expand its offering of custody services to also address the current needs of large institutional investors and the growing needs of third-party alternative trading systems and foreign securities exchanges. The acquisition would position Ben to offer alternative asset custody services that include, among other potential items, a companion line of business focused on issuing depositary receipts to assist holders of foreign investments gain access to the capital markets of additional international jurisdictions. The Company believes these alternative asset custody services may yield higher fee assessments than more traditional custody offerings. The Company expects this companion business line to begin generating custody and depositary receipt issuance fee-based revenue and cash flow during calendar year 2025 that it would deploy to fund Ben’s ongoing operations and ultimately our core alternative asset liquidity product offerings. The acquisition reflects Beneficient’s execution on its objective of expanding its alternative asset custody fee-based service offerings to third parties and institutional investors. Closing of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including, among other things, approval by OCIF, and is anticipated to be completed in the second calendar quarter of 2025. About Beneficient Beneficient (Nasdaq: BENF) – Ben, for short – is on a mission to democratize the global alternative asset investment market by providing traditionally underserved investors − mid-to-high net worth individuals, small-to-midsized institutions and General Partners seeking exit options, anchor commitments and valued-added services for their funds− with solutions that could help them unlock the value in their alternative assets. Ben’s AltQuoteTM tool provides customers with a range of potential exit options within minutes, while customers can log on to the AltAccess® portal to explore opportunities and receive proposals in a secure online environment. Its subsidiary, Beneficient Fiduciary Financial, L.L.C., received its charter under the State of Kansas’ Technology-Enabled Fiduciary Financial Institution (TEFFI) Act and is subject to regulatory oversight by the Office of the State Bank Commissioner. For more information, visit www.trustben.com or follow us on LinkedIn. Contacts Matt Kreps: 214-597-8200, mkreps@darrowir.com Michael Wetherington: 214-284-1199, mwetherington@darrowir.com Investor Relations: investors@beneficient.com Disclaimer and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements can be generally identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, statements relating to the anticipated timing of closing the acquisition, benefits of the acquisition and the Company’s anticipated product and service offerings following the closing of the acquisition. These forward-looking statements reflect our views with respect to future events as of the date of this document and are based on our management’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts, projections, assumptions, beliefs and information. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. All such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control, and could cause future events or results to be materially different from those stated or implied in this document. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. These risks include, but are not limited to, the ultimate outcome of the acquisition; the Company’s ability to consummate the acquisition in a timely manner or at all; the ability of the parties to satisfy the closing conditions to the acquisition; the possibility that the Company may be unable to successfully integrate Mercantile Bank’s operations with those of the Company or realize the expected benefits of the acquisition; the possibility that such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming, or costly than expected; the risk that operating costs, customer loss, and business disruption (including, without limitation, difficulties in maintaining relationships with employees, contractors, and customers) may be greater than expected following the acquisition or the public announcement of the acquisition; the Company’s ability to retain certain key employees of Mercantile Bank; the ability to launch and receive market acceptance for new products and services; and risks related to the entry into a new line of business; the risk factors that are described under the section titled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this document and in our SEC filings. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
Massad Boulos, who has been widely described as a billionaire and a lawyer and was recently named as one of Donald Trump's advisors on Middle East affairs, appears to be neither a billionaire nor a licensed attorney, according to public records and interviews. Boulos first entered the public eye in 2018, when his son Michael met Tiffany Trump at a club in Greece and the pair began dating. The couple married at Mar-A-Lago in 2022, making Massad Boulos Tiffany's father-in-law. He was credited in news stories with playing a key role in Donald Trump's 2024 electoral victory, helping peel Arab American voters away from Democrats in battlegrounds like Michigan. Earlier this month, Trump said Boulos would be a "senior advisor" on Middle Eastern affairs, joining a team that includes Trump's longtime friend and supporter Steven Witkoff, his pick for ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and Marco Rubio, his nominee for secretary of state, who will shape US policy in the region. At the time, Trump described Boulos as an "accomplished lawyer" and a "highly respected leader in the business world." But Trump apparently inflated Boulos's résumé. Business Insider found no proof of Boulos's supposed billions. And while he may have attended law school, he hasn't passed a bar exam and can't practice law. No connection to a company that shares his last name — but he does control a truck dealership worth less than $1 million in Nigeria Claims of the Boulos family's wealth first started circulating in English-language media in 2018, when Tiffany Trump's relationship with Michael Boulos became public. his family "owns a multibillion-dollar conglomerate" and later mentioned Boulos Enterprises. Vanity Fair the description of the Boulos businesses as "worth billions," a description that was picked up by the Times. On December 2, the New York Times said Massad Boulos built "his wealth in West Africa" and runs two companies, SCOA Nigeria and Boulos Enterprises. The Financial Times called him an "auto tycoon" who leads both companies, while ABC a "billionaire businessman" who "runs Boulos Enterprises." But Massad Boulos doesn't run Boulos Enterprises, according to several former employees and its actual boss, Boulos Boulos. Boulos Enterprises is part of the Boulos Group, a holding company owned by a different group of Lebanese Nigerians with the same last name. A due-diligence report for Boulos Enterprises Ltd. created by Moody's Orbis database doesn't mention Massad Boulos. Archived copies of the Boulos Group website from 2016 and 2018 didn't mention him, either. And Elephant Africa Holding, a Mauritius company created by the Boulos Group to hold its paper businesses, also doesn't mention Massad in its corporate filings. On Thursday, the Times and said he previously misled one of its reporters by answering "yeah" when asked if it was accurate to call his company a multi-billion dollar business. Beyond headlines in news outlets, BI couldn't find any evidence to suggest Massad Boulos is a billionaire. The company Massad Boulos actually does run, SCOA Nigeria, which has a subsidiary called SCOA Motors, is a penny stock. Its shares trade for , roughly a tenth of a US cent, making the entire business worth about $865,000. That's not Billionaire's Row money, but it could buy you in Queens. The company's , which is partly printed in Comic Sans, is consistent with such a valuation. For its financial year ending September 30, SCOA reported about 5.9 billion naira, or $3.7 million, in revenue and about 25 million naira, or $15,562, in post-tax profits. The year before, when sales were weaker, SCOA lost about 715 million naira, or $444,000. In interviews with the New York Times, Boulos has said he didn't correct the record because he doesn't discuss his businesses. He also said it was hard to value his family's businesses. It's possible that Massad Boulos's family could have other sources of wealth. His wife, Sarah Fadoul Boulos, is the daughter of another Lebanese businessman in Africa, Michel Zouhair Fadoul, whose boasts of a presence in "more than 10 countries" and has been among the most successful Lebanese businesses in Africa. On social media, Massad and his family seem to live large, posting from a yacht floating off the southern coast of France and a ski run in . While Massad Boulos has virtually no history of political giving, his son Michael made $200,000 in political contributions in two days in 2020. Michael was also reported to have proposed to Tiffany with a $1.2 million ring — which he " " to an even pricier piece by their wedding day. Phone numbers listed for Massad Boulos and his wife were disconnected. Efforts to reach him through family members and political associates weren't successful. 'Is not now, and never has been, an attorney licensed to practice law' It's also not clear that Massad Boulos is a "lawyer," as Donald Trump has described him. Some news outlets say that Boulos has a law degree from the University of Houston. But a spokesman for the University of Houston system said that's not correct; Boulos has a bachelor's degree in "general business" from one of its smaller schools, the University of Houston-Downtown. In a 2015 interview on Nigerian TV, said her husband "graduated as a lawyer from Thurgood Marshall School," part of Texas Southern University, before they moved to Nigeria. Massad Boulos also listed a law degree from the school on his LinkedIn profile before the profile went offline, according to information saved in the contact database Rocketreach. Texas Southern officials didn't respond to several requests for comment on Wednesday and Thursday. But graduating from law school doesn't make someone a lawyer. Nahdiah Hoang, the executive director of the Texas Board of Law Examiners, said in an email that Boulos applied to take the July 1996 bar exam, but he either didn't take it or didn't pass. A spokeswoman for the Texas Bar said Boulos "is not now, and never has been, an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas." BI also checked bar records for DC and 47 other states — covering 99% of the US population — and found Boulos wasn't registered as a lawyer in any of those states, either. (BI was unable to confirm if Boulos was registered to practice law in Alaska or South Dakota.) L'Orient Le Jour, a Lebanese newspaper, reported that Boulos is also a citizen of Lebanon, Nigeria, and France. There's no public evidence that Boulos is licensed as a lawyer in any of those places. He was not listed in the directories for the 11 largest French bar associations, which cover two-thirds of French lawyers. Lawyers in Lebanon must be registered with one of two bar associations; one of them, the Beirut Bar Association, said Boulos wasn't in its database, and the other didn't respond to repeated inquiries. The Nigerian Bar Association and the country's Supreme Court, which maintains its registry of lawyers, did not respond to emails about whether Boulos was an attorney. Read the original article onBEIRUT (AP) — Syrian insurgents swept into the central city of Hama on Thursday and government forces withdrew, dealing another major blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad days after insurgents captured much of Aleppo, the country’s largest city. The stunning weeklong offensive appeared likely to continue, with insurgents setting their sights on Homs, the country’s third-largest city. Homs, which is about 25 miles south of Hama, is the gate to the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power and the coastal region that is a base of support for him. The offensive is being led by the jihadi group HTS and an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Their sudden capture of Aleppo, an ancient business hub in the north, was a stunning prize for Assad’s opponents and reignited the Syrian civil war that had been largely a stalemate for the past few years. Hama is one of the few cities that has remained mostly under government control in the conflict, which broke out in March 2011 following a popular uprising. By sunset, dozens of jubilant fighters were seen shooting in the air in celebration in live footage from Hama’s Assi Square. The square was the scene of massive anti-government protests in the early days of the uprising in 2011, before security forces stormed it and got the city under control. The Syrian army on Thursday said it redeployed from Hama and took positions outside the city to protect civilians. Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the de facto leader of the Syrian insurgency, announced in a video message that fighters had reached Hama in a “conquering that is not vengeful, but one of mercy and compassion.” Al-Golani is the leader of the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which previously served as al-Qaida’s branch in Syria and is considered a terrorist group by the United Nations as well as countries including the U.S. The group that was known as the Nusra Front in the early years of Syria’s conflict changed its name and said in recent years that it cut ties with al-Qaida. Al-Golani publicly toured Aleppo on Wednesday and spoke about Hama on Thursday from an undisclosed location in what appeared to be a video filmed with a mobile phone. “This is a massive win for the rebels and a strategic blow for the (Syrian) regime,” Dareen Khalifa, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group and an expert on Syrian groups. She said the question is whether the opposition will be able to reach Homs and take over the area, which she said would be a game-changer. “I think then we are going to have to pause and consider whether or not this regime can actually survive this war,” she added. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country supports the opposition fighters, reiterated during a telephone call with the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres that the Syrian government should urgently engage with its people “for a comprehensive political solution.” Guterres said in a statement later that after 14 years of war in Syria, “it is high time” for all parties to engage seriously in talks to resolve the conflict in line with Security Council Resolution 2254.” That resolution, which was adopted unanimously in December 2015, endorsed a road map to peace in Syria. The measure called for a Syrian-led political process, starting with the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — an opposition war monitor — said after fierce battles inside Hama, opposition gunmen now control the police headquarters in the city as well as the sprawling air base and the central prison from where hundreds of detainees were set free.SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Kyle McCord threw for a season-high 470 yards with two touchdowns to lead Syracuse to a 31-24 win over UConn on Saturday. The win gives the Orange (8-3) their first eight-win regular season since 2018, and third since 2000. McCord completed 37-of-47 passes for his first 400-yard game this season. He opened the game with a 77-yard touchdown drive, spanning two plays in 50 seconds. The touchdown came on a 22-yard pass to Oronde Gadsden. McCord broke Syracuse’s all-time record for single-season passing yards with 4:12 remaining in the first half. He needed 273 yards and three touchdowns to pass Ryan Nassib. UConn (7-4) will end its season without a Power Four win after staying within 10 points of the Orange for all 60 minutes. The Huskies have ended each of their four Power Four games within one score of their opponent. Huskies running back Cam Edwards led UConn on the ground with 87 rushing yards, including a 71-yard touchdown dash in the first quarter. Quarterback Joe Fagnano finished the game with 228 passing yards and two touchdowns. UConn: Linebacker Jayden McDonald recorded a second-best 12 tackles, including a sack and tackle-for-loss. McDonald was the one of three Huskies to reach McCord for a sack. Syracuse: Eight receivers caught passes, with three recording over 100 yards each. Wide receivers Darrell Gill Jr. (177 yards) and Jackson Meeks (110) and tight end Oronde Gadsden (103 and a touchdown) combined for 390 receiving yards. Syracuse had 540 total yards to UConn's 352. UConn: Visits Massachusetts on Saturday Syracuse: Hosts No. 11 Miami on Saturday — Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
AI Shopping Bots Race to Fill Online CartsPitt quarterback Eli Holstein leaves game with left leg injury against Louisville
