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TGPCB shuts down Ralpro Techno Crafts for effluent dumpingIPO Frenzy next week: Five main-board, six SMEs to hit primary market to raise Rs 18,500 crore PTI Updated: December 8th, 2024, 17:30 IST in Business , Sci-Tech 0 Pic- IANS Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp Share on Linkedin New Delhi: The IPO market is set to be bustling next week, with 11 companies like Vishal Mega Mart, TPG Capital-backed Sai Life Sciences and fintech firm One Mobikwik Systems gearing up to launch their initial share sales, collectively aiming to raise nearly Rs 18,500 crore. Other mainboard IPOs to be launched during this period are Inventurus Knowledge Solutions Ltd and Blackstone-owned diamond grading firm International Gemmological Institute (India) Ltd. Also Read Mcap of 6 of top-10 most valued firms jump Rs 2 lakh crore; TCS, HDFC Bank lead gainers 2 hours ago FPIs return to Indian equities with Rs 24,454 crore inflow in December first week 3 hours ago Alongside the five main-board IPOs, six SMEs are preparing to float their maiden public issues next week to garner over Rs 150 crore collectively. Together, these 11 companies aim to raise approximately Rs 18,500 crore through public offerings. These IPOs will span various sectors and deal sizes and include fresh issues and offers for sale. The companies are tapping the primary market to provide an exit route to the existing shareholders, raise funds for expansion plans, retire debt and support working capital requirements. Trivesh D, COO of Tradejini, an online brokerage house, had said the Maharashtra election verdict and the UP Lok Sabha by-election results created a positive market sentiment that could boost IPO activity and fundraising efforts. While 2024 has been a strong year for IPOs overall, some recent issues have struggled in the secondary market, highlighting the recurring challenge of pricing during a bull run when issuers often aim for higher valuations, he stated. So far in 2024, 78 main-board companies, including Hyundai Motor India, Swiggy, NTPC Green Energy, Bajaj Housing Finance and Ola Electric Mobility, have mobilised around Rs 1.4 lakh crore collectively via mainboard. This was way higher than Rs 49,436 crore garnered by 57 firms through the route in 2023. The IPOs of Vishal Mega Mart, Sai Life Sciences and Mobikwik will be open for public subscription on December 11 and conclude on December 13. Further, the three-day initial share-sales of Inventurus Knowledge Solutions and International Gemmological Institute will open on December 12 and December 13, respectively. Before this, the public issues of Property Share Investment Trust SM REIT and Suraksha Diagnostic concluded their IPOs in the first week of December. Vishal Mega Mart is looking to float an Rs 8,000 crore IPO, which will be entirely an offer-for-sale (OFS) of shares by promoter Kedaara Capital-led Samayat Services LLP, with no fresh issue of equity shares, according to the updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). The price band has been set at Rs 74 to Rs 78 per share. Sai Sai Life Sciences has fixed a price band of Rs 522 to Rs 549 per share for its Rs 3,043 crore initial public offering (IPO). This comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 950 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 3.81 crore shares by a promoter, investor shareholders and other shareholders. The Mobikwik IPO is aiming to raise Rs 572 crore through a fresh issue of 2.05 crore shares. The price band for the offering has been set at Rs 265 to Rs 279 per share. The issue by Inventurus Knowledge Solutions consists entirely offer for sale, comprising 1.88 crore shares and merchant bankers have pegged the issue size at Rs 2,500 crore. International Gemmological Institute is eyeing Rs 4,225 crore through the IPO. The issue includes a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 1,475 crore and an OFS valued at Rs 2,750 crore by promoter BCP Asia II TopCo Pte Ltd, an affiliate of Blackstone, red herring prospectus showed. The share price band of Inventurus Knowledge Solutions and International Gemmological Institute will be announced on Monday. Upcoming SME IPOs are Dhanlaxmi Crop Science Ltd (December 9-11), Toss The Coin Ltd and Jungle Camps India Ltd (both December 10-12), Supreme Facility Management Ltd and Purple United Sales Ltd (December 11-13) and Yash Highvoltage Ltd (December 12-16). The primary market is experiencing strong interest from issuers and investors across various sectors. The IPO investors over the past five fiscal years have enjoyed significant gains. 236 IPOs launched between FY21 and FY25 delivered an average listing gain of 27 per cent for the retail bucket, with current gains soaring to 105 per cent (as of October 31, 2024), Trivesh stated. PTI Tags: BSE Business Investment IPO NSE Stock market Share Tweet Send Share Suggest A Correction Enter your email to get our daily news in your inbox. Leave this field empty if you're human:
( MENAFN - EIN Presswire) WILMINGTON, NEW CASTLE, DE, UNITED STATES, December 24, 2024 /EINPresswire / -- According to a recent report published by Allied market Research, titled, " Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Market by Component, Application, and industry Vertical: Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019–2026," the hyper-converged infrastructure market size was valued at $3.84billion in 2018, and is projected to reach $33.16 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 30.7% from 2019 to 2026. Get Research Report Sample Pages : Rise in need for flexible infrastructure and increase in demand for architectures that can handle heavier workloads such as business analytics and big data tools is a major factor that drives the growth of the global hyper-converged infrastructure market during the forecast period. Major business leaders encourage organizations to adopt software-centric architecture that help them integrate, compute, and store into a single suite. This compelled leading virtualization vendors to work toward hybrid cloud systems and help their customers to upload transactional workloads to the public cloud and perform heavy workloads usually mission critical on-premise. As IT companies are embarking on data center modernization projects, coupled with rise in need to modernize the data center architecture, the hyper-convergence infrastructure is playing a vital role as it provides the agility of public cloud infrastructure without the need to relinquish control of hardware. While the security in the public cloud has significantly improved, the enhanced degree of data protection inherited into hyper-convergence is a primary factor that has boosted the adoption of hyper-convergence infrastructure among various organizations. This in turn is expected to drive hyper-converged infrastructure market growth. By application, the data center consolidation segment dominated the overall hyper-converged infrastructure market analysis in 2018 in terms of revenue and is further expected to endure traction for hyper-converged infrastructure among organizations during the forecast period. This is attributed to high adoption of hyper-converged architecture among the data center organizations as it offers benefits such as lowest power usage effectiveness (PUE), lowest latency, scalability on demand, and others. Procure Complete Research Report Now : /purchase-options The companies in Asia-Pacific have witnessed to roll out hyper-converged infrastructure, as a distinct to embark company-wide digital transformation projects which in turn has supported the growth of the hyper-converged infrastructure market share in the region. The preference of companies that operate in Asia-Pacific is to work on discrete workloads due to high volumes of data silos generated in the region due to high availability of connected devices, proliferation of applications, and prominence of Internet services. In addition, this approach is more manageable, cost-efficient, and easier to integrate within existing infrastructure framework. Key Findings Of The Study : By component, the hardware segment dominated the hyper-converged infrastructure market. However, the software segment is expected to exhibit significant growth during the forecast period in the hyper-converged infrastructure industry. By application, the data center consolidation segment accounted for the highest revenue in 2018 and is expected to continue this trend in the coming years. Depending on industry vertical, the BFSI industry generated the highest revenue in 2018. However, the healthcare sector is expected to witness a considerable hyper-converged infrastructure market growth in the near future. Region wise, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness significant growth in terms of CAGR in the coming years in the HCI market. Inquire Before Buying : Some of the key market players profiled in the hyper-converged infrastructure market forecast include Cisco Systems, Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. , Microsoft Corporation , NetApp, Inc. , Nutanix, Inc. , Pivot3 , Scale Computing, and VMware, Inc. Read More Reports : 5G Femtocell Market Generative AI in Creative Industries Market Secure Access Services Edge Market Online Soft Skills Training Market Travel and Expense Management Software Market Utilities Security Market About us : Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Wilmington, Delaware. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies, and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. David Correa Allied Market Research +1 800-792-5285 email us here Visit us on social media: Facebook X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above. MENAFN23122024003118003196ID1109025238 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.ALBANY, N.Y. — In response to a projected loss of more than 100,000 public health professionals in the U.S. by 2025, Maria College will launch a bachelor of science degree and minor in public health in January 2025.Designed for those passionate about health but not focused on direct patient care, the program enables graduates to [...]
The gunman who stalked and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fled New York City by bus, police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. Here's the latest: Police believe gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO has left New York City The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer may have fled the city on a bus, New York City police officials told CNN on Friday. People are also reading... Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. “We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Gunman’s steps after killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO give police new clues The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer made sure to wear a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras that have aided authorities piecing together his movements and his identity. A law enforcement official said Friday that new surveillance footage shows the suspect riding the subway and visiting establishments in Manhattan and provided more clues about his actions in the days before he ambushed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . The gunman’s whereabouts and identity remain unknown Friday, as did the reason for Wednesday’s killing. New York City police say evidence firmly points to it being a targeted attack . ▶ Read more about the search for the gunman For many companies, investor meetings are seen as a risk In many companies, investor meetings like the one UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was walking to when he was fatally shot are viewed as very risky because details on the location and who will be speaking are highly publicized. “It gives people an opportunity to arrive well in advance and take a look at the room, take a look at how people would probably come and go out of a location,” said Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, which is based in the greater Seattle area. Some firms respond by beefing up security. For example, tech companies routinely require everyone attending a major event, such as Apple’s annual unveiling of the next iPhone or a shareholder meeting, to go through airport-style security checkpoints before entering. Others forgo in-person meetings with shareholders. ▶ Read more about how companies protect their leaders Police have obtained other surveillance images of the person wanted for questioning Those images include New York’s subway system, a law enforcement official said. In establishments where the person was captured on camera, he always appeared to pay with cash, the official said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. — Mike Balsamo Another health insurer taking precautions after the shooting Medica, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care firm that serves 1.5 million customers in 12 states, said it’s temporarily closing all six locations. The firm has offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and North Dakota, and employs about 3,000 people. Employees will work from home, Medica spokesman Greg Bury said in an email Friday. “The safety of Medica employees is our top priority and we have increased security both for all of our employees,” a statement from Medica said. “Although we have received no specific threats related to our campuses, our office buildings will be temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution.” Bury also said biographical information on the company’s executives was taken down from its website as a precaution. Government health insurance provider Centene Corp. says its Investor Day will now be virtual The insurer cited the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in its announcement about the Dec. 12 event. “All of us at Centene are deeply saddened by Brian Thompson’s death and want to express our support for all of those affected. Health insurance is a big industry and a small community; many members of the CenTeam crossed paths with Brian during their careers,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a news release. “He was a person with a deep sense of empathy and clear passion for improving access to care. Our hearts are with his family and his colleagues during this difficult time.” Centene Corp. has grown in recent years to become the largest insurer in Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that covers care for people with low incomes. Insurers manage Medicaid coverage for states, and Centene has more than 13 million people enrolled in that coverage. UnitedHealth Group says it’s focused on supporting Brian Thompson’s family The insurance company also said it’s focused on ensuring the safety of employees and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place,” the company said. NY Mayor Eric Adams provided no new information on investigation’s progress during interviews But he said Friday that he’s confident police will arrest the shooter. “We are on the right road to apprehend him and bring him to justice,” Adams said on TV station WPIX. Hours after the shooting, UnitedHealthcare removed photographs of its executives from its website Later, it removed their names and biographies entirely. Investigators believe the suspect may have traveled to NY last month on a bus that originated in Atlanta Police and federal agents have been collecting information from Greyhound in an attempt to identify the suspect and are working to determine whether he purchased the ticket to New York in late November, a law enforcement official said. Investigators were also trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone recovered from a pedestrian plaza through which the shooter fled. Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO spotlights complex challenge companies face in protecting top brass The fatal shooting of Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. Experts say today’s political, economic and technological climate is only going to make the job of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them even more difficult, experts say. Some organizations have a protective intelligence group that uses digital tools such as machine learning or artificial intelligence to comb through online comments to detect threats not only on social media platforms such as X but also on the dark web, says Komendat. They look for what’s being said about the company, its employees and its leadership to uncover risks. ▶ Read more about the steps companies take to protect their leadership Police test DNA and fingerprints on discarded bottle as they hunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer Police said Thursday they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper from a trash can near the scene of the ambush and think the suspect bought them from a Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The items were being tested by the city’s medical examiner. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.Four key initiatives of the Digital Main Street program
The NHL's annual holiday roster freeze begins at 11:59 PM ET on Dec. 19 to 12:01 AM ET on Dec. 28. If the media rumor mill is anything to go by, there could be some activity in the trade market before then. Twelve trades have taken place since this season began on Oct. 4. Among the most recent was the Colorado Avalanche shipping goaltender Justus Annunen to the Nashville Predators for goalie Scott Wedgewood on Nov. 30, followed later that day by the Columbus Blue Jackets shipping defenseman David Jiricek to the Minnesota Wild. The most notable move thus far occurred on Dec. 6 as the New York Rangers traded Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks. The 30-year-old defenseman was No. 3 on our December 2024 Trade Targets List . Trouba wasn't the only notable player to surface in trade rumors recently. There was speculation regarding Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, Vancouver Canucks center J.T. Miller and Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri. How much stock should we put into this conjecture? Follow along as we break them down to determine those worth buying or selling. Let us know what you think in the app comments below. The New York Rangers surprised the hockey world on Dec. 6 by trading defenseman Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen and a 2025 fourth-round pick. That deal came just a week after reports indicated Rangers GM Chris Drury was open to offers for several veteran players. Larry Brooks of the New York Post indicated that the Trouba trade was just the beginning as Drury attempts to shake up his struggling roster. He claimed that Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk had become the Rangers' primary trade target. Tkachuk, 25, is among the league's top power forwards. He's in the fourth season of an eight-year contract with an average annual value of $8.2 million and lacks no-trade protection this season. Brooks believes adding the gritty Tkachuk would "immediately change the Rangers' identity. Brooks suggested it could take a significant package offer to pry Tkachuk away from the Senators, and would likely include playmaking winger Alexis Lafrenière. However, TSN's Darren Dreger reported no trade talks between the two clubs, pointing out that the Senators had publicly rejected all trade offers for their captain. Buy or Sell: Sell The Ottawa Sun 's Bruce Garrioch reports the Senators have no intention of trading Tkachuk, citing a "well-placed source" who said the club has no plans to trade their captain and never discussed it. Brooks subsequently walked back his earlier report, saying Tkachuk was the prototype forward they sought. Stats and standings (as of Dec. 6, 2024) via NHL.com . Salary info via PuckPedia . Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri beganhis NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs until traded to theColorado Avalanche in 2019. He spent three seasons with theAvalanche, helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2022 before signing aseven-year contract with the Calgary Flames. Some observers believe the Maple Leafsshould bring back Kadri, suggesting they need a physical second-linecenter if they're to contend for the Stanley Cup. Former Sportsnetanalysts Doug MacLean and Jeff Marek recently made the case for theLeafs to bring back the 34-year-old center. Kadri had been the subject of offseason trade conjecture after the Flames traded away several key players last season. It was assumed he would prefer playing for a contender instead of a rebuilding club. However, he told reporters during training camp to "pump the brakes" on the speculation, claiming he loved the club and the city. On Nov. 29, Sportsnet's Eric Francis was asked his opinion about the recent rumors. He believes Kadriwould draw interest if the Flames put him on the trade block.However, he doesn't think they're shopping him or intend todo so anytime soon. Buy or Sell: Sell Assuming Kadri waives his no-movementclause, the cap-strapped Leafs can't afford his annual average valueof $7 million through 2028-29 without shedding a lot of salary first.Even if the Flames retain half of his cap hit it could complicateefforts to re-sign pending UFAs Mitch Marner or John Tavares. The Vancouver Canucks emergence lastseason as a playoff contender was partly due to J.T. Miller. Askillful and intense two-way center, the 31-year-old was their leading scorer last season with a career-high 103 points as theCanucks finished with 109 points, sporting the third-best record in franchise history . Since Nov. 19, Miller has beenon an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons. The lack ofdetails prompted some observers to suggest he had clashed with headcoach Rick Tocchet while another believed he didn't get along withyoung star Elias Pettersson. Some even wondered if Miller would betraded, suggesting the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers asdestinations. However, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Dec.5 that he didn't believe Miller had requested a trade. Canucks president Jim Rutherford sought to quell the conjecture. On Dec. 5, Patrick Johnston of The Vancouver Province reported Rutherford wanted the baseless rumors to stop, calling them "disrespectful". He also indicated that he's not trading the center, saying the team stood by him. Buy or Sell: Sell On Nov. 19, Johnston reported Millerhad tried to play through an upper-body injury but the emotionalweight of doing so overwhelmed him. The veteran center took the timeoff to regain his focus. He was also selected to Team USA for the2025 4 Nations Face-Off in February, suggesting he could soon returnto the Canucks lineup. It's been a difficult season for the Pittsburgh Penguins thus far, spending most of it near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. A recent four-game win streak has them within striking distance of a wild-card berth, but they remain a fixture in the trade rumor mill. Most of the focus is on the Penguins' pending unrestricted free agents like Marcus Pettersson or players with a year or two left on their contracts like Noel Acciari and Michael Bunting. They're likely to become trade candidates if general manager Kyle Dubas becomes a seller at the trade deadline. However, Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects took to "X" on Dec. 4 citing sources suggesting the Dallas Stars could be interested in long-time Penguins center Evgeni Malkin. The Stars could seek a replacement for Tyler Seguin, who's out for four to six months following hip surgery. Robinson acknowledged Malkin's full no-movement clause and the difficulty of coming up with a suitable trade offer. Nevertheless, he thinks they could put Seguin and his $9.9 million cap hit on a long-term injury reserve and use the cap savings to take a run at landing Malkin. Buy or Sell: Sell The Athletic's Penguins' beat writer Rob Rossi dismissed this notion . He compares the Malkin rumors to those associated with team captain Sidney Crosby, indicating they're not happening. Both players have indicated their intent to finish their careers with the Penguins. Mikko Rantanen has become a vitalmember of the Colorado Avalanche. In his 10-season NHL career, the28-year-old forward has become one of the league's elite scorers,helping the Avs win their first Stanley Cup in 2022. From hisbreakout performance in 2017-18 through 2023-24, he's eighth overall with 579 points in 486 games. This season, Rantanen is among the league's leading scorers with 15 goals and 20 assists for35 points in 27 games, sitting seventh as of Dec. 6. He's also second among Avalanche scorers . Rantanen is in the final season of his six-year contract with an average annual value of $9.3 million. He'sin line for a significant pay raise and will be among next summer'stop unrestricted free agents unless the Avalanche can sign him beforethe market opens on July 1. On Nov. 28, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported Rantanen believes he could make $14 million annually on theopen market. The highest-paid player on the Avalanche is MacKinnonwith an AAV of $12.6 million. LeBrun wondered if the Avs might gethim signed for less than that. Buy or Sell: Buy Rantanen could accept a little lessthan MacKinnon's cap hit to stay in Colorado. Based on LeBrun'sreport, however, it could cost the Avalanche more than that. With thesalary cap projected to rise to $92.5 million next season, hewon't have difficulty finding a team willing to pay him $14million annually.
President-elect Donald Trump praised Pete Hegseth, his embattled nominee for Defense secretary, in a social media post Friday, but some of the president-elect's allies are doubtful Hegseth can make it through the confirmation process. Hegseth doesn't appear to have the votes in the Senate to get confirmed and his nomination is in trouble, according to two sources close to Trump. "I believe the votes are not there for Pete," said a Trump adviser who asked not to be identified. "They're not going to be there. I think Trump will let Pete fight and come to that conclusion on his own." The second source said Hegseth's nomination appears to be doomed unless Trump "goes into full push." More: Pete Hegseth controversy explained: What to know amid backlash to Trump's Defense pick Trump lauded Hegseth, a combat veteran and former Fox News host, on social media Friday, writing that he "is doing very well." "His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe," Trump added. Trump seems committed to Hegseth for now, said a third source close to the president-elect. "That is my current sense," said the source. Hegseth's nomination has been teetering, though, amid a series of revelations about his personal life. He was accused of sexual assault, which he denies and for which he has never faced charges. And a whistleblower report first detailed by The New Yorker alleged he was forced out of leadership roles with two nonprofit veterans groups - Concerned Vets for America and Vets for Freedom - for personal misconduct, mismanagement of funds and intoxication on the job. More: Pete Hegseth vows he won't drink 'a drop of alcohol' if confirmed as defense secretary There also have been reports about excessive drinking by Hegseth during his stint at Fox News. The New York Times published an email sent to Hegseth by his mother in which she wrote “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years)." Penelope Hegseth went on television this week to defend him and said she regrets the email. "Pete Hegseth is going to get his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, not a sham hearing before the American media. We believe that Pete Hegseth is the right guy to lead the Department of Defense," Vice President-elect JD Vance told reporters Friday in North Carolina. "That’s why President Trump nominated him. We’re not abandoning this nomination.” Mark Lucas, who succeeded Pete Hegseth as executive director of Concerned Vets for America, dismissed the concerns about him as political. He said he didn't have any issues with Hegseth and is volunteering to testify before a Senate panel to support his confirmation Lucas also criticized people attacking Hegseth for doing so behind the cloak of anonymity. More: Alcohol, antipathy cloud Pete Hegseth sex assault allegations with conflicting accounts "They're going to run the same playbook against Pete Hegseth that they did with Brett Kavanaugh ," he told USA TODAY, referring to the Supreme Court justice who was accused sexual assault as a teenager during his 2018 confirmation. "If people want to come forward, they can. They can say whatever they want under oath. But it's going to be investigated." Hegseth may not benefit from the same "choir boy" treatment as Kavanaugh, said Mike Davis, who piloted Kavanaugh's contentious hearings as a Senate Judiciary Committee chief counsel. "Hegseth admits he was certainly not a choir boy. The Kavanaugh claims were ridiculous. Everyone who knew him knew he was a virgin into his 20s − then suddenly he's a serial rapist in high school?" Davis told USA TODAY. "Everyone knows Hegseth was a playboy. That doesn't mean he was a rapist. And the accusations, while serious, may not withstand public scrutiny after her public testimony." Davis said his group, the Article III Project, is mobilizing a phone, email and social media blitz to support Kash Patel and Hegseth. Hegseth's struggles have Trump considering a backup. He has been weighing replacing Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis , who ran against him in the GOP presidential primary. DeSantis, a Navy veteran, will join Trump at the Army-Navy football game on Dec. 14, according to Fox News . Hegseth said during his visit to the Capitol this week to meet with senators that he spoke with Trump and the president-elect is standing behind him. "He said: 'Keep going, keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way,'" Hegseth said of his conversation with Trump. "Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter. I'm here for the war fighters."