MS News & Events

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MS) announced that Huel, one of the first investments made by the 1GT climate private equity strategy, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Danone (DANOY). Huel's range of plant-based drinks and meals has made it a global leader in sustainable nutrition in a variety of accessible options. Since 1GT's investment in 2023, Huel has delivered substantial organic growth, including significant progress in its U.S. expansion and continued innovation across its product suite. Vikram Raju, MSIM's Head of Climate Private Equity Investing and 1GT platform, commented: "1GT is proud to have played a role in Julian Hearn's compelling vision to revolutionize meals and address the carbon signature of the food ecosystem. We are also grateful for the partnership with CEO James McMaster, his team and Highland Capital as the company made tangible progress in tracking and quantifying its sustainability impact while broadening its appeal to a global customer base. This announcement represents a compelling example of 1GT's focus on backing businesses where strong commercial performance and positive carbon impact go hand in hand. We look forward to seeing Huel's continued success as part of the distinctive Danone platform." In line with its Renew Danone strategy, the acquisition will enhance Danone's presence in functional nutrition and extend its portfolio into the fast-growing Complete Nutrition space. Huel's complementary range, spanning various food forms including ready-to-drink and powders, is supported by best-in-class digital execution, strong digital direct-to-consumer sales, and a fan-base in the UK, Europe and the United States. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Evernorth's XRP treasury SPAC and Morgan Stanley's in-house bitcoin ETF filing show how corporate balance sheets and wirehouse distribution are moving deeper into digital assets just as U.S. regulators finalize a commodity taxonomy and greenlight tokenized securities venues. Spot bitcoin ETF flows flickered negative midweek, giving equity investors a first test of how durable the latest inflow streak really is. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with "Crypto Currents," daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio.EVERNORTH FILES FOR FIRST PUBLIC XRP TREASURY COMPANY:Evernorth, the Ripple-backed XRPtreasury firm, filed awith the SEC, advancing its plan to become the first publicly traded XRP treasury company on a major U.S. exchange. For equity investors who watched Strategytransform from a legacy software company into a leveraged bitcoin holding vehicle, the architecture here is immediately recognizable, and intentionally so. The deal's mechanics are straightforward: Evernorth will merge with Armada Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC already trading on a U.S. exchange, with the combined entity targeting a Nasdaq listing under the proposed ticker 'XRPN'. The transaction is projected to generate over $1B in gross proceeds, backed by a consortium that reads like a who's-who of crypto institutional capital: Ripple, SBI, Pantera Capital, Kraken, and GSR. Overwhelmingly, those proceeds are earmarked for one purpose, buying more XRP.The company is not starting from zero., accumulated across two purchase windows between October 20 and November 4, 2025, at an average entry price of $2.54 per token. With XRP trading around $1.47 at time of publication, that existing position is roughly 42% underwater, a material fact that belongs prominently in any investor's due-diligence file. The S-4 estimates the merged entity will hold at least that volume at launch, meaning XRPN shareholders will immediately inherit an unrealized loss in the treasury position. That underwater entry point is the single most important risk factor equity investors should stress-test before this stock ever trades. Strategy's model worked in part because bitcoin's long-term appreciation absorbed periods of drawdown; XRP's price history is far more idiosyncratic, driven heavily by litigation outcomes, Ripple's own token releases, and retail sentiment cycles. The SEC's March 17 guidance explicitly classifying XRP as a digital commodity, alongside bitcoin, ether, dogecoin, avalanche, and aptos, removes the securities-law overhang that suppressed XRP's institutional adoption for years. But regulatory clarity is not the same as price recovery.have framed this as "Is Evernorth the Strategy of XRP?" and the. Use public equity and debt markets to systematically accumulate a digital asset on the balance sheet, offering institutional investors indirect crypto exposure through a familiar equity wrapper. What that framing obscures is that Strategy's model succeeded over a multi-year accumulation campaign, not a single pre-IPO buy window executed at a price 42% above current market. SEC approval of the S-4 is the remaining regulatory gate; Armada II shareholder approval is also required before the deal formally closes. Neither is guaranteed, and the SEC's current queue ofmeans the timeline is uncertain. Equity investors who want XRP exposure today have a liquid alternative in the spot XRP market itself; the premium (or discount) at which XRPN trades relative to its net asset value will be the critical valuation metric once it lists.MORGAN STANLEY SHARPENS ITS IN-HOUSE BITCOIN ETF:Morgan Stanleysubmitted aon March 18. The fund would trade under the ticker 'MSBT' on NYSE Arca. This is the operational-detail amendment that matters: Coinbase Custody will safeguard bitcoin holdings in cold storage. Bank of New York Mellonwill handle cash custody and administrative operations. Daily NAV will be calculated using the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark at 4:00 PM ET, consistent with how the existing approved Bitcoin ETFs mark their books. Analysts project expense ratios in the 0.20%–0.30% range, competitive with the current field, where fee compression has already been aggressive. The fund accommodates both cash-based and in-kind creation/redemption for authorized participants, the latter being structurally more tax-efficient for institutional holders and a signal that Morgan Stanley intends to compete seriously at the institutional end of the market. The distribution angle is where this filing separates itself from earlier entrants. Morgan Stanley employs more than 15,000 financial advisors and oversees approximately $1.8T in wealth management assets. Reports indicate advisors were authorized to recommend bitcoin ETFs to qualified clients beginning in early 2026. An in-house Morgan Stanley ETF unlocks a distribution channel that third-party issuers can only partially access — advisors naturally default to house products where compliance friction is lower and relationship economics align. For equity investors in the existing bitcoin ETF ecosystem, BlackRock'sIBIT, Fidelity's FBTC, and others, MSBT represents a marginal competitive threat on flows, though the market-expansion effect of a major wirehouses' direct entry likely more than offsets share dilution. The broader ETF context bears noting: the SEC is currently examining more than 126 cryptocurrency ETF proposals simultaneously, and as we reported yesterday, the joint SEC-CFTC taxonomy framework has materially shortened the legal path to approval for funds holding assets newly classified as digital commodities.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $69,051.26, while ether was trading at $2,110.48,.

Janus Henderson (JHG) clients and staff are urging the company to reject a takeover bid from Victory Capital and to instead accept a lower-priced deal from Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management and General Catalyst, Lauren Thomas and Justin Baer of The Wall Street Journal reports. Clients, such as Morgan Stanley (MS) and Citigroup (C), have expressed discomfort about Victory's plans and potential cost cuts, with some clients believing a deal with Victory could lead to an exodus of portfolio managers and other disruptions, some people familiar with the matter told the Journal.