Twitter has now reached out to TikTok owner, ByteDance, showing interest in buying the US operations of the video-sharing app, private sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

It, however, looks like a herculean task for Twitter in outbidding Microsoft, and concluding the megadeal deal in 45 days, as directed by US President, Donald Trump.

The odds against Twitter:

Twitter has a market capitalization of around $30 billion, almost as much as the same valuation of TikTok’s US operation. What this means, therefore, is that Twitter will need to raise additional funds before the deal could see the light of day.

“Twitter will have a hard time putting together enough financing to acquire even the U.S. operations of TikTok. It doesn’t have enough borrowing capacity,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan.

“If it (Twitter) tries to put together an investor group, the terms will be tough. Twitter’s own shareholders might prefer that management focus on its existing business,” he added.

However, one of Twitter’s major shareholders, private equity firm Silver Lake, is interested in supporting Twitter in part for the required funds needed to pull the deal through, one of the sources to Reuters added.

“Twitter has also privately made a case that its bid would face less regulatory scrutiny than Microsoft’s, and will not face any pressure from China given that it is not active in that country,” the sources said.

ByteDance, Twitter, and TikTok declined to comment.

TikTok has come under fire from US lawmakers over national security concerns surrounding data collection.

Some days ago, Nairametrics reported about Microsoft’s offer to acquire TikTok’s U.S operation, following the recent escalation of President Trump’s attacks on TikTok and other Chinese tech firms.

Chainlink (LINK) price continues to set new records as the DeFi-related token reaches a new all-time high close to the $13.5

Over the last 24-hours, LINK has surged as high as $13.46 on a leading crypto analytic tracker, Coingecko.

Chainlink presently stands as the sixth most valuable crypto asset valued at $4.65 billion dollars.

Recall that Nairametrics had previously given  an in-depth insight on how Chainlink (LINK), against all odds, joined the top 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. This followed heightened interest by crypto traders and investors for the digital coin over the last several weeks.

Time to sell?

A renowned crypto trader, Benjamin Blunts, posted on Twitter saying he would rather prefer to wait for LINK’s price to go up a bit higher before considering selling. He said:

“I actually would be inclined to start looking for shorts soon, however, it seems my entire feed is doing the same. so I will wait for another push higher I think, not really interested in standing in front of the strongest, fastest horse right now.”

$link $14 🤯

I actually would be inclined to Start looking for shorts soon, however it seems my entire feed is doing the same. so I will wait for another push higher I think, not really interested in standing in front of the strongest, fastest horse right now. https://t.co/YPCAGvXxfw

— 🍄🌲Benjamin Blunts🌲🍄 (@SmartContracter) August 8, 2020

Quick fact: Chainlink is a blockchain that is designed to bridge the space between blockchain technology-based smart contracts (created by ETH), and other user programs. Since blockchains by principle can’t have access to data outside their paths or networks, a defi instrument is needed to facilitate data feeds in smart contracts, and Chainlink helps to solve such needs.

It should also be noted that about a year ago, Chainlink announced that Google was integrating Chainlink into their approach to smart contract adoption on how users could use Chainlink to connect to BigQuery, one of Google’s most popular cloud services.

AXA Mansard Insurance Plc has announced its divestment from its subsidiary, AXA Mansard Pension Limited, after agreeing to sell its stake to Eustacia Limited, a member of the Verod Group.

This is part of the insurance firm’s plan to focus on and grow its insurance businesses across all parts of the country.

This disclosure was made in a notification that was sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on August 8, 2020, by AXA Mansard Insurance Plc and signed by its Company Secretary, Mrs Omowunmi Mabel Adewusi.

AXA Mansard Insurance disclosed that Eustacia Limited was selected as the preferred bidder, after the completion of a bid process. AXA Mansard along with the minority shareholder agreed to sell the entire issued ordinary share capital of AXA Mansard Pensions comprising of 60% shareholding (2,067,672,000 shares) held by AXA Mansard Insurance Plc and 40% shareholding (1,378,448,000 shares) held by the minority shareholder.

The statement from AXA Mansard Insurance reads, ‘’AXA Mansard Insurance Plc announces the divestment from its subsidiary, AXA Mansard Pensions Limited. After obtaining the Shareholder’s approval at the Company’s Extra-Ordinary General Meeting held on the 13^th of February 2020, the Company commenced the process of divestment by appointing Messer Rand Merchant Bank as the Financial Advisers while Aluko & Oyebode acted as the Legal Advisers on the transaction.’’

‘’Upon completion of a bid process, Eustacia Limited (a member of the Verod Group) was selected as the preferred bidder. The Company along with the minority Shareholder entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Eustacia Limited to divest the entire issued ordinary share capital of AXA Mansard Pensions comprising of 60% shareholding (2,067,672,000 shares) held by AXA Mansard Insurance Plc and 40% shareholding (1,378,448,000 shares) held by the minority shareholder.’’

The insurance firm, also in its statement said that the divestment has received letters of no objection from the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), National Pension Commission (PENCOM) and the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

It should be noted that the completion of the divestment is, however, subject to the receipt of the final approval of the National Pension Commission.

In his reaction, the CEO of AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, Kunle Ahmed, said that this transaction marks a new step in the insurance firm’s broader strategy to focus on and grow their life, property & casualty and health businesses across all its geographies. He said that the AXA Group sees great potential in the Nigerian insurance market and believes they are ideally placed to capture these opportunities due to its market leadership position.

On his part, the CEO of AXA Mansard Pension Limited said that they are confident about Verod’s strong commitment to providing the company with the requisite support to actualize their promise to its clients and stakeholders.

A partner at Verod Group, the new owners, Eric Idiahi, said, ‘’We strongly believe that this is the ideal time to enter the market and that AXA Mansard Pensions provides an excellent beachhead from which to establish a consolidated position and gain market share.’’

Nairametrics reported early this year that AXA Mansard Insurance Plc announced that its shareholders have approved the company’s plan to sell its pension management subsidiary, AXA Mansard Pensions Ltd and some undisclosed real estate investments.