Beyond Meat's rollercoaster journey takes center stage, detailing its dramatic debt swap and unexpected meme-stock surge, while Qualcomm's stock skyrockets after introducing new chips for the booming AI data center market. Keurig Dr Pepper's strategic move to secure $7 billion from private equity firms to bolster its acquisition efforts adds another layer of intrigue. Meanwhile, NXP Semiconductor hints at a recovery in the auto chip market, signaling optimism for the industry ahead.
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Convertible Bond Turned Meme-Stock Windfall
Beyond Meat raised over $1 billion with a zero-coupon convertible bond amid peak plant-based hype four years ago.
That bond swap later turned into a windfall when meme-stock mania sent BYND shares up ~1,300% in days.
insights INSIGHT
Qualcomm Targets AI Data Center Market
Qualcomm unveiled AI200 chips targeting the AI data-center market to challenge Nvidia's dominance.
The company bets power-efficient designs and new memory tech can win cloud AI customers starting in 2026.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Private Equity Steps Into Keurig Deal
Keurig Dr Pepper secured $7 billion from Apollo and KKR to help fund its planned $18 billion purchase of JDE Peet's.
The financing trims expected debt from $38 billion to about $31 billion and brings $4 billion direct investment from the firms.
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- Beyond Meat (BYND) Four years ago, Beyond Meat was able to raise over $1 billion selling a a zero-coupon convertible bond due 2027, taking advantage of rampant bets on the future of plant-based meat products. Wolverine Asset Management, DE Shaw & Co. and Context Capital Management were among the firms that bought in, only to watch Beyond’s fortunes flag spectacularly as the meatless burger craze faded. By this year, Beyond had to address the looming maturity from a position of weakness. It launched an exchange offer with existing bondholders through a debt-swap paying 7% interest and additional shares in exchange for the old notes. What looked like a pretty nice outcome for the bondholders quickly turned into a wild ride after Beyond Meat’s shares got caught up in the latest bout of meme-stock madness. The stock soared some 1,300% in a matter of days, delivering, on paper at least, a windfall to holders of the convertible. The bond itself, due in 2030, trades around 110 cents on the dollar.
- Qualcomm (QCOM) Qualcomm Inc. shares rose to their highest price in 15 months after unveiling chips and computers for the lucrative AI data center market, aiming to challenge Nvidia Corp. in the fastest-growing part of the industry. The company’s new AI200 lineup will start shipping next year, Qualcomm said on Monday. The first customer will be Saudi Arabia’s AI startup Humain, which plans to deploy 200 megawatts’ worth of computing systems based on the chips starting in 2026.
- Keurig (KDP) Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. is raising $7 billion from Apollo and KKR to help finance its acquisition of JDE Peet’s NV, aiming to ease investor concerns about taking on too much debt. Wall Street has expressed skepticism over Keurig’s August announcement to buy the Dutch coffee company for about $18 billion. The deal raises Keurig’s leverage and triples its exposure to a coffee category that investors wanted to see reduced, TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow wrote in a note earlier this month. The stock increased as much as 10% on Monday, the biggest intraday gain since March 2020. Year to date, shares had declined 15% through Oct. 24.
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