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Oil prices are approaching $100/barrel, debris of the missing F-35 fighter jet may have been found in South Carolina, negotiation talks resumed in Detroit as UAW threatened to widen its strike, Morgan Stanley got sued by PE firms for $750M, and Salesforce is rehiring former execs.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed largely unchanged as investors await the Fed’s meeting this week

  • The S&P led indices with a 0.07% gain

• WTI prices continued their climb upwards with a 1.63% gain to $92.25/barrel

• European stocks fell ahead of a slew of central bank meetings, led by a 1.39% decline in France’s CAC, after Societe Generale’s strategic plan disappointed investors (RT)

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: AutoZone

  • Wednesday: FedEx, General Mills

  • Thursday: Darden Restaurants

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Debris field that may be linked to missing F-35 fighter jet found in South Carolina (WSJ)

• Talks resume in Detroit as UAW threatens to widen strike (WSJ)

• Surging physical oil market brings $100 crude back in sight (BBG)

• Tesla, Saudi Arabia in early talks for EV factory (WSJ)

• Morgan Stanley sued for $750M by private equity firms claiming fraud (BBG)

• BlackRock strategists downgrade China stocks on growth concerns (BBG)

• The Fed isn’t getting the economy it expected (WSJ)

• Elon Musk says Twitter, now X, is moving to small monthly subscription and has 550M monthly users (CNBC)

• Arm Holdings shares slide as options draw robust trading volume (RT)

• More SE Asia firms consider US IPOs, filling void left by China peers (RT)

• Pot stock rally burns short sellers for $105M (BBG)

• Striking unions impacting the economy at a level not seen in decades (CNBC)

• Wall Street gearing up for Fed’s ‘hawkish pause’ (BBG)

• Citi sees homebuilding investors tuning out through year-end (BBG)

• Salesforce turns to ‘boomerangs,’ luring back former execs to help reignite growth (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Global credit manager Marathon Asset Management will bid for Signature Bank’s $33B commercial real estate loan portfolio (BBG)

• Gold miner Newmont received regulatory approval from Australia to proceed with its proposed $16.9B acquisition of Australia's Newcrest Mining (RT)

• Oil industry data supplier TGS agreed to buy Norwegian rival PGS in an all-share deal to form a $2.6B data firm (BBG)

• PE firms Hg and Permira are exploring strategic options, including a minority sale, for their stakes in German software firm Personal & Informatik; a deal could value the HR software provider at over $2.1B (RT)

• Hitachi offered to sell French and German assets in a bid to address EU antitrust concerns about its $1.8B purchase of Thales' GTS railway signaling business (RT)

• US PE firm Paine Schwartz Partners lowered offer price to buy Australian horticultural company Costa Group by $64M to a $958M valuation (RT)

• British paper and packaging company Mondi agreed to sell its largest plant in Russia to to a unit of real estate developer Sezar Group for $826M cash (RT)

• KKR agreed to pay $807M for a 20% stake in Singapore Telecommunications’ regional data center business (BBG)

• Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries is exploring the sale of its Middle Eastern retail pharmacy network and is seeking ~$272M (BBG)

• Knowles, a supplier of high-performance components and solutions, will acquire capacitor manufacturer Cornell Dubilier for up to $263M cash (BW)

• Disney held preliminary talks with potential buyers, including billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, for its India streaming and television business (BBG)

• CVC Capital Partners is exploring options for its Finnish healthcare company Mehilainen (BBG)

• Canadian fund Ontario Teachers Pension Plan acquired stakes in Australian environmental markets platform GreenCollar from KKR and other shareholders (RT)

VC

• Nephron Pharmaceuticals, a provider of inhalation solutions and suspension products, raised $350M in funding led by BlackRock, PNC, and National Association (FN)

• Indigo Ag, a sustainable agriculture startup, raised $250M in funding led by Flagship Pioneering, State of Michigan Retirement System, and Lingotto Investment Management (FN)

• Writer, a startup developing an ‘enterprise-focused generative AI platform’, raised a $100M Series B at a $500M valuation led by ICONIQ Growth (TC)

• Dragos, a startup building software to secure manufacturing and industrial equipment control systems, raised a $74M Series D extension at a $1.7B valuation led by WestCap (TC)

• Canton Biologics, a Guangzhou-based molecule biopharmaceutical CDMO, raised a ~$41.2M Series C led by SDIC Venture Capital (FN)

• Enterprise-focused web3 orchestrator Bastion raised a $25M seed round led by a16zcrypto (FN)

• Genomics company Broken String Biosciences raised a $15M Series A led by Illumina Ventures and Mérieux Equity Partners (BW)

• Sports media and sports publisher The Sporting News raised $15M in funding led by Playtech (FN)

• Mojave, a startup providing liquid desiccant systems, raised a $12.5M round led by At One Ventures and Fifth Wall (FN)

• Boxbot, a startup helping last-mile carriers sort and store packages, raised a $12M Series A led by Playground Global (BW)

• Series AI, a US-based game technology and content company, raised a $7.9M seed round from A16Z Games, Bitkraft, F4 Fund, and the Siqi Chen Access Fund (FN)

• Hearth, a digital whiteboard startup for families, raised a $4.7M round from Ingeborg Investments, Stellation Capital, and more (FN)

• Le Petit Lunetier, a Paris-based eyewear brand, raised a $4M round led by Neso Brands (FN)

• Reskilling platform Catalyte raised a $1.5M round led by Green Street Impact Partners (FN)

• Roam, a startup providing low-rate mortgages included in home purchases, raised a $1.25M seed round led by Founders Fund (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Instacart is planning to sell shares in its IPO at $30 or more; the grocery delivery firm would have a $9.9B fully diluted equity valuation at $30/share (BBG)

• Marketing automation company Klaviyo increased its proposed price range for its IPO and is targeting a fully diluted equity valuation of up to $9B; it is seeking to raise up to $557M (RT)

• The medical vials division of Schott launched its IPO offering on Monday and is aiming to raise up to $1.1B at a valuation of up to $4.6B (RT)

• Omani energy firm OQ is seeking to raise up to $771M in the IPO of its gas pipelines unit, giving the OQGN a $1.6B valuation (BBG)

• Spanish travel technology firm Hotelbeds is interviewing banks for a $1.1B IPO next year (RT)

• The IPO of Samhi Hotels, the operator of Marriott, Hyatt and IHG hotels in India, was oversubscribed by 5 times (RT)

• Steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal’s ports unit JSW Infrastructure plans to raise up to $336M through what is set to be India’s second-biggest IPO this year (BBG)

• Carrier Global is exploring a stock market listing of its commercial and residential fire unit (BBG)

• Spanish airline Volotea hired Morgan Stanley and Barclays for a possible listing on the Madrid stock market (RT)

SPAC

• Mobile game publishing company Gamehaus will merge with Golden Star Acquisition Corp. in a $500M deal (BZ)

Debt

• UBS Group sold its first bond since its Credit Suisse takeover, issuing $4.5B worth of fixed notes in US dollars (BBG)

• Banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase started the sale of $2.9B of bonds to fund GTCR’s purchase of a majority stake in Worldpay (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Canada's Metroland Media Group will seek bankruptcy protection and will stop printing over 70 weekly community newspapers (RT)

Fundraising

• Crypto VC Blockchain Capital closed its sixth early-stage fund and its first opportunities fund at $580M (TC)

• Lowercarbon Capital raised over $550M for two new venture funds- one for pre-seed and seed-stage startups, and a second to double down on portfolio companies (AX)

• Italy’s FIEE Sgr raised ~$100M for SpesX Energy Transition, a new long-short fund that will bet on the debt and equity of companies involved in the carbon transition (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• Crypto funds saw ~$500M in outflows over the last nine weeks (BBG)

• Cryptocurrency platform JPEX shut down some trading amid a probe by the Hong Kong police (BBG)

• Ex-Deutsche Bank investment banker will plead guilty to crypto fraud (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• Alex Sherman explained what Disney selling its legacy media assets might mean for the company moving forward.

• This Wall Street Journal piece explains how music streaming has changed song and album structure.

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