Hello and welcome to Alts Cafe:
The most important alternative investing stories each week, customized to your liking, best enjoyed over a cup of coffee.
Highlights:
- International Investing: Ukraine’s economic recovery is triggering costly GDP-linked bond payments.
- Precious Metals and Gems: China’s halt on exports of heavy rare earth metals is affecting Tesla’s plans to build humanoid robots.
- Crypto: Abundant Mines founder Beau Turner is taking questions in the Alts Community
- Private Equity: Chinese state-backed investment funds are halting new investments in US private equity firms
- Farmland: Institutional investors are buying up Tasmanian farmland, leading to concerns about local buyers being priced out.
- Collectibles: A Kobe Bryant jersey sold for $7 million
- Luxury Goods: The percentage of Americans planning to buy luxury goods in the next 12 months decreased from 18.3% a year ago to 16.3%
- Artwork: Sotheby’s London announced an auction for a rare set of all four Shakespeare Folios as a single lot.
- Real Estate: US industrial vacancy rates rose to 6.3% in Q1, the highest level since 2014.
Let’s go.
Table of Contents
International Investing
Around the world…
- 🇩🇪 Germany’s government cut its 2025 growth forecast to zero.
- 🇯🇵 Core inflation in Tokyo jumped 3.4% in April, the highest in two years.
- 🇦🇺 Australia’s Labor government pledged free 24/7 telehealth
- 🇿🇲 Zambia’s central bank may pause rate hikes after annual inflation held steady at 16.5%.
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine’s economic recovery is triggering costly GDP-linked bond payments.
Discuss
Balkan countries are leading Europe’s economic surge
- Eastern European countries have seen the largest increases in living standards—or real economic productivity—since 2014.
- The entire Balkan region, and former Soviet bloc countries, have seen their per capita GDPs rise between 25–50% since 2014.
- The only Western European country that has seen such a big change is Ireland.
Precious Metals and Gems
Bullish news
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced legislation aiming to cut approval times by half for critical mineral projects.
- Gem Resources PLC completed its first emerald sales from the new Gravelotte mine in South Africa.
Bearish news
- China’s halt on exports of heavy rare earth metals is affecting Tesla’s plans to build humanoid robots.
- Silver demand is expected to fall by 1.4% in 2025.
- Washington State legislators introduced bills to repeal precious metals tax exemptions
Learn more
Rare earth metals are not actualy rare!
In fact, the US Geological Survey notes that rare earths are “relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust.”
But they aren’t concentrated in one place, they’re widely dispersed around the globe.
Oh, and China China completely dominates the refinement market.
“China has strategically flooded the global market with rare earths at subsidized prices, driven out competitors, and deterred new market entrants.” – 2018 US Dept. of Defense report
Crypto
Bullish news
- The Federal Reserve Board withdrew restrictive guidance on banks’ crypto activities.
- Crypto firms like Kraken and Bitget are expanding into traditional finance.
- Twenty One Capital announced plans to go public through a SPAC deal backed by Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether, and SoftBank.
Bearish news
- A hacker compromised the official XRP Ledger software, inserting malicious code.
- Former SEC chair Jay Clayton, now interim US Attorney for SDNY, took action in a crypto fraud case where perpetrators stole $12 million.
Investment opportunity
This week’s sponsor is Abundant Mines: an innovative company giving you access to your own personal Bitcoin mine.
You buy a machine, they host it in Oregon, run it, and maintain it, and you get paid out daily in Bitcoin.
We’ll be doing a deep dive on them soon.
In the meantime, founder Beau Turner is taking questions in the Alts Community:
Private Equity & Private Credit
Bullish news
- PE firm Thoma Bravo acquired four Boeing digital businesses, including Jeppesen and ForeFlight.
- Mubadala and Fortress Investment Group announced a $1 billion strategic partnership.
Bearish news
- Chinese state-backed investment funds are halting new investments in US private equity firms.
- Harvard University’s endowment is in advanced talks to sell private equity stakes.
Join the Discussion
Intel dumps its $17b blunder
Altera was supposed to help Intel dominate FPGAs, the programmable chips used in defense and robotics. But the plan fizzled. Altera now makes up just 3% of Intel’s sales and lost $615M last year.
The chip giant is offloading a 51% stake in Altera (as opposed to Altea, hah) to Silverlake, valuing the biz at half what Intel paid for it a decade ago. ($17B in, < $9B out.)
While Intel fumbled FPGAs, Nvidia rode GPUs into the AI stratosphere —
now worth 30x more than intel.
As one community member put it:
“$17B was crazy valuation, but still not the worst buy for Intel across its acquisition for past 10 years “
Farmland
Bullish news
- The Dean Organic Fund relaunched in the UK, offering interest-free, unsecured loans for small farming enterprises.
- IHS Brazil expanded its Amazon agroforestry project.
Bearish news
- Nearly 10,000 acres of South Carolina farmland face potential Superfund designation.
- Institutional investors are driving up Tasmanian farmland prices, leading to concerns about local buyers being priced out.
Learn more
The Tasmanian farmland story is interesting, because Tasmania is one of the places in the world whose farmland is set to benefit from climate change.
Music and Film
Bullish news
- Indie film studio A24 announced the launch of A24 Music.
- Warner Bros. Discovery avoided a lawsuit over Superman rights after a federal judge dismissed claims from the estate of co-creator Joseph Shuster.
Bearish news
- Record labels are demanding $700 million from the Internet Archive in a lawsuit targeting its Great 78 Project.
Join the Discussion
In retaliation for Trump’s 125% tariffs on Chinese imports, China’s Film Administration is slashing the number of American movies allowed to screen in the country effective immediately.
But here’s the plot twist: US movies were already bombing at China’s box office.
Collectibles
Bullish news
- A Kobe Bryant jersey worn during his Lakers debut season sold for $7 million at Sotheby’s.
- Freddie Mercury’s sister secretly spent £3 million to acquire items from the late singer’s collection at auction.
Bearish news
- Thieves stole $500,000 worth of rare baseball cards.
Learn more
Pokémon Go just sold to the Saudis for $3.5B — but this story goes way beyond gaming.
We explore the rise of Pokémon as a global brand, its sale to the Saudis, and what it all means for privacy and investing.
Podcast
Check out the fun bonus chat I recorded with Michael Thompson from the Fear & Greed podcast. We talk about chasing digital creatures through the streets of Santa Monica, and how he’d be retired by now if he could only find his holographic Charizard.
Luxury Goods
Bullish news
- Hermès announced a new factory in France, hiring 260 artisans for a leather workshop in Normandy.
- Bottega Veneta’s social media silence strategy paid off with the brand rising to sixth place on the Lyst Index.
Bearish news
- Top luxury brands saw a nearly 25% drop in consumer interest from January to April 2025.
- The percentage of Americans planning to buy luxury goods in the next 12 months decreased from 18.3% a year ago to 16.3%
Artwork
Bullish News
- Sotheby’s London announced an auction for a rare set of all four Shakespeare Folios as a single lot.
Bearish News
- LA pawn shop owner indicted for selling a stolen Andy Warhol print of Lenin worth $175,000 for just $6,000.
London meetup 🇬🇧
Recently, Altea members met at Chequers pub in St James, London, where Nicho (our mustachioed art broker) prepped the crew for our two art gallery visits.
Bella from Ben Hunter Gallery took us around her gallery and HHH, nearby, to give us some firsthand insights into the contemporary art scene— what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s about to take off.
Finally, we popped next door to Maison Francois, where Marina, from legendary auction house Bonhams, dropped by to give us the inside track into this season’s hottest pieces.
Startups & VC
Bullish news
- BloombergNEF named 12 climate tech startups as its 2025 Pioneers.
Bearish news
- The former CEO of startup Promai, had assets frozen after allegedly defrauding the company.
Wine, Whiskey & Spirits
Bullish news
- Sazerac Company unveiled Hawk’s Rock Distillery in County Sligo, Ireland.
- Despite past controversies, demand for rare bourbons like Pappy Van Winkle remains strong.
Bearish news
- Constellation Brands projected a 17 to 20% sales drop in wine and spirits for 2026, forcing brand divestments.
Real Estate
Bullish news
- Nashville property values have jumped by an average of 45% since 2021.
- Denver’s apartment market is seeing more leasing incentives and lower rents.
Bearish news
- US industrial vacancy rates rose to 6.3% in Q1, the highest level since 2014.
- New housing construction dropped 11% as President Trump’s trade war pushes up building material costs.
Classic Cars
Bullish news
- A 1970 Ford XY Falcon GT, hidden for 50 years beneath a Queensland home, sold for $247,000 at auction.
Bearish news
- The Hagerty Market Rating has dipped below 60 for the first time since 2020.
That’s all we have!
Cheers,
Wyatt
Disclosures
- Altea has no holdings in any companies mentioned in this issue
- This issue was sponsored by KingsCrowd
- This issue contains no affiliate links
