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Good Morning,

UBS had a ‘historic’ $28.8B Q2 profit thanks to its Credit Suisse acquisition, banks are getting tough on return-to-office laggards, confidence in the carbon credit market is decreasing, China is trying to boost its economy and currency, airline earnings outlooks are dropping, and NYC’s Pension CIO sees little impact from Wall Street’s ESG pullback.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed mixed after a 3.3% YoY PCE report, in line with expectations

  • The Nasdaq rose 0.11%, while the S&P and Dow edged lower

• Asian stocks fell over mixed Chinese economic data and concerns over its property market

Earnings

• UBS shares rallied 6% after reporting a ‘historic’ $28.8B Q2 net profit thanks to its acquisition of Credit Suisse (CNBC)

• Broadcom shares fell 5% after forecasting Q4 revenue slightly below analyst estimates; it slightly beat analyst Q3 earnings and revenue expectations (BRRN)

• Dell stock rose ~8% after blowing past analyst Q2 earnings and revenue expectations and topping full-year guidance forecasts (BRRN)

• Dollar General shares fell 12% after it missed Q2 revenue and earnings expectations and cut its full-year earnings and sales target for the second time this year (RT)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• UBS flags cost cuts after $29B Credit Suisse windfall (BBG)

• US health officials want to loosen marijuana restrictions. Here’s what it means (CNBC)

• Stagflation dangers stalk Europe as markets eye end to hikes (BBG)

• Tesla reportedly facing DOJ, SEC probes over plans to build Elon Musk a large glass house (CNBC)

• Banks get tough on return to office laggards after summer break (BBG)

• Europe’s biggest oil company quietly shelves a radical plan to shrink its carbon footprint (BBG)

• Carbon credit market confidence ebbs as big names retreat (RT)

• China ramps up campaign to boost fragile economy, currency (BBG)

• Barclays is setting aside balance sheet cash for private debt push (BBG)

• Shopify stock pops after company strikes ‘Buy with Prime’ deal with Amazon (CNBC)

• Taylor Swift, Beyonce and ‘Barbenheimer’ are lifting consumer spending this quarter (CNBC)

• Airline stocks come down to earth as earning outlook darkens (BBG)

• 63% of workers unable to pay a $500 emergency expense (CNBC)

• NYC Pension CIO sees little impact from Wall Street ESG pullback (BBG)

• China’s economy shows fresh weakness in factories, housing consumer spending (WSJ)

• Oil demand in US topped pre-covid levels in May and June (BBG)

• Ukraine counteroffensive pierces main Russian defensive line in southeast (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• NYSE-owner Intercontinental Exchange’s $11.7B acquisition of mortgage data company Black Knight is expected to close on September 5 after the FTC accepted a binding settlement (BBG)

• Rotech Healthcare is exploring a sale that could value the home medical equipment provider at over $1.5B, including debt (RT)

• Fortress Investment Group’s $1.5B purchase of Sogo & Seibu Co. department store chain from Seven & i Holdings is set to close today despite a potential strike from employees protesting the acquisition (BBG)

• Kylie Jenner explored buying back a 51% stake in Kylie Cosmetics she sold to beauty company Coty for $600M in 2020 (BBG)

• Canadian energy infrastructure company AltaGas will acquire natural gas assets from Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure for $480M to strengthen its midstream operations (RT)

• Rare disease company Zevra Therapeutics agreed to acquire life-threatening disease therapy maker Acer Therapeutics for up to $76M (GNW)

• Shareholders of Zamp, the owner of Burger King Brazil, rejected a proposal to implement a poison pill for Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, which has built a 20% stake in the firm and previously offered to take over Zamp (RT)

• McLaren Applied’s e-mobility unit agreed to acquire bankrupt Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof (BBG)

VC

• Generative AI startup AI21 Labs raised a $155M Series C at a $1.4B valuation led by Walden Catalyst, Pitango, SCB10X, b2venture, and more (TC)

• Elemental Cognition, a startup using AI to solve hard problems, raised a $60M Series B from Bridgewater Associates, Breyer, AME Cloud Ventures, and more (FN)

• Otto, a customer engagement platform for veterinary clinics, raised a $43M Series B led by Mercury Fund and Boehringer Ingelheim (BW)

• Sortera Technologies, a material sorting company, raised a $30.5M Series C led by RA Capital Management (FN)

• Solar-as-a-Service startup UrbanVolt raised a $28.3M round led by Verdane (FN)

• English language learning app Speak raised a $16M Series B-2 led by angel investor Lachy Groom (TC)

• Teale, a French startup providing a mental health platform for employees, raised an $11M Series A led by Alter Equity and Bpifrance’s Digital Venture fund (TC)

• Travel tech startup Branchspace raised a $6.4M round led by Gresham House Ventures (FN)

• FlipGive, a Toronto-based cashback rewards and end-to-end fundraising solution for youth sports teams, raised $5M in financing co-led by Thrive Venture Fund at BDC Capital and Framework Venture Partners (FN)

• Datavations, a developer of market research software, raised a $4.3M seed round led by Nevcaut Ventures (FN)

• TeamSense, an attendance tracking platform for the hourly workforce, raised a $4M round led by Bonfire Ventures (FN)

• FirstMate, a platform for NFT creators and admins to own more of their relationship with collectors, raised $3.8M in funding led by Dragonfly Capital (FN)

• Occuspace, a startup providing occupancy management tech, raised a $3.6M seed round led by Okapi Venture Capital (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• SoftBank Group’s semiconductor unit Arm will embark on an investor road show and is considering pricing its shares on September 13; its stock will begin trading the next day; the company is looking to raise between $5-7B at a $60-$70B valuation (BBG)

Debt

• Asset Reconstruction Company, an Indian distressed assets investor backed by Avenue Capital, is seeking a global partner to buy as much as $665M of soured loans this year (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Benitago, an acquirer of businesses selling products on Amazon, filed for bankruptcy protection less than two years after a $325M capital raise (WSJ)

Fundraising

• HDFC Capital Advisors, an arm of India’s biggest lender HDFC Bank, is seeking to raise as much as $2B for a real estate private credit fund (BBG)

• The Jiaravanon Family, an Asian family who controls diversified holding company Charoen Pokphand Group and global alternative investment group LDA Capital, are hoping to raise up to $2B for their CPFam-LDA Asia Growth Fund, which will invest in high-growth pre-IPO companies (FN)

• VC Realization Capital Partners Management closed Realization Capital Partners II at $323M to invest in high-potential, growth-stage tech companies (FN)

• Brazilian investment manager and broker XP launched a fund to raise $162M to acquire commercial rights to some Brazilian soccer clubs (RT)

• HashKey Capital launched the first secondary market crypto fund to invest in altcoins with the goal of outperforming Bitcoin (RT)

Crypto Corner

• France’s data watchdog carried out ‘checks’ at Worldcoin’s Paris office this week (RT)

• Binance Asia-Pacific’s head Leon Foong is leaving the exchange (BBG)

• SEC defers decisions on Invesco, WisdomTree bitcoin ETFs (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• Conor Mac published an excellent list of under-appreciated aspects of investing.

• Walter Isaacson shared an excerpt of his new Elon Musk biography in The Wall Street Journal that covers behind-the-scenes details of his Twitter acquisition.

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