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Good Morning,

Elon Musk fired shots at Bob Iger, Henry Kissinger died, former bankers are printing money in private credit, OPEC+ is mulling oil cuts, PDD passed Alibaba in value, Microsoft secured a non-voting board seat at OpenAI, and Nikki Haley is getting some presidential buzz.

Looking to get your hands on a new Rolex or Patek? Check out Bezel, the most trusted marketplace for buying & selling luxury watches!

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks mostly edged downwards but remain on track for their biggest monthly gain in 2023 

  • The Nasdaq fell 0.16%, while the Dow gained 0.04%

• European stocks mostly rose, led a 1.09% gain in Germany’s DAX, after Germany’s inflation eased more than forecast in November

Earnings

• Salesforce shares jumped 9% after beating Q3 adjusted earnings expectations while meeting revenue estimates (CNBC)

• Snowflake shares surged 7% after reporting better-than-expected Q3 earnings and revenue (I)

• Foot Locker shares rocketed 16% after beating Q3 adjusted earnings and revenue expectations and forecasting slightly better-than-expected full-year sales trend (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Kroger, UiPath, TD Bank, Dell

  • Friday: Bank of Montreal

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Elon Musk, slinging expletives, says advertiser boycott on X may kill it (BBG)

• Henry Kissinger died at age 100 (CNBC)

• Banking escapees make billions from private credit boom (BBG)

• OPEC+ mulls new oil production cuts amid Middle East conflict (WSJ)

• Bond market’s best month since 1980s sparks cross-asset rally (BBG)

• Alibaba’s value dips below upstart PDD’s in landmark for China (BBG)

• UAW launches organizing drive, targets Tesla and Toyota (WSJ)

• The $7T ETF boom gets blamed again for dumb stock moves (BBG)

• Welcome to COP28, the UN climate conference hosted by an oil giant (WSJ)

• PGA Tour commissioner says he’s talking to possible investors ahead of Saudi deal deadline (CNBC)

• Microsoft secures non-voting board seat at OpenAI (CNBC)

• Nikki Haley getting buzz, but faces tough math to beat Trump (RT)

• GM plans $10B stock buyback in bid to assuage investors (WSJ)

• FTC chair Lina Khan defends her track record when it comes to blocking mergers and doesn’t subscribe to Amazon (CNBC)

• Spirit Airlines offers buyouts to salaried employees to cut costs (CNBC)

• Disney names Jeremy Darroch, Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman to board (WSJ)

• Fidelity, Invesco prep for revival in China’s beaten-up markets (BBG)

• No one wants to pay for the green transition (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Cigna, which now has a market cap of ~$77B, is in talks to merge with $59B Humana in a cash-and-stock deal to create a US health-insurance powerhouse; a deal could be finalized by the end of the year (WSJ) 

• Huawei Technologies' new smart car software and components firm is set for a $35B valuation after it sells stakes to investors including Changan Auto (RT) 

• Digi Communications reached a preliminary deal to acquire assets from Orange and Masmovil Ibercom, potentially clearing the path for its two bigger rivals’ $20.5B merger (BBG) 

• PE fund Ardian and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will acquire 15% and 10% stakes in Britain's busiest airport, Heathrow, from infrastructure giant Ferrovial for a total of $3B (RT) 

• KKR will pay $2.7B cash for the remaining 37% stake it doesn’t own in insurance company Global Atlantic (BBG) 

• Blackstone will take Rover Group, an online marketplace in the fast-growing market for pet-care services, private in a $2.3B all-cash deal (BBG) 

• Banijay, the French TV production group owned by FL Entertainment, submitted a binding offer for British rival All3Media; All3Media’s joint owners Liberty Global and Warner Bros Discovery were reportedly seeking offers of around ~$1.7B (RT)

• Gabon's national oil firm, Gabon Oil Company, is seeking to use its right of first refusal to acquire Carlyle Group’s Assala Energy, which the PE firm sold for $1.3B to France's Maurel & Prom (RT)

• Swiss insurer Baloise is exploring the sale of a $1.1B Belgian life insurance portfolio (RT) 

• Elliott Investment Management has taken a $1B stake in Phillips 66 and is seeking as many as two board seats in a push to improve company performance (CNBC)

• An investor consortium, including Portuguese retailer Sonae SGPS and company management, made an offer for Musti Group valuing the Finnish petcare chain at $954M (BBG) 

• Kingdom Holding, the holding company of Saudi Prince Alwaleed, raised its stake in Citigroup to 2.2% after purchasing a $450M stake from the billionaire (BBG) 

• Discover Financial Services is exploring a sale of its student-loan business (BBG) 

• Broadcom is reviewing strategic options for two business units of cloud computing firm VMware, which it recently acquired for $69B (RT) 

• Spanish plasma company Grifols is in advanced talks to sell part of its minority stake in Shanghai RAAS Blood Products to China Merchants Group (BBG)

VC

• Castore, the premium performance sportswear brand and digital platform for sports teams, raised $184M in funding led by Raine Group (BW)

• Cybersecurity startup BlueVoyant raised a $140M Series E led by Liberty Strategic Capital and ISTARI (FN)

• Together, a startup creating open source generative AI and AI model development infrastructure, raised a $102.5M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins (TC)

• Braincube, a provider of a manufacturing data software platform, raised $91M in funding led by Scottish Equity Partners (FN)

• Paysend, a card-to-card and international payments platform, raised $65M in funding led by Infravia Growth Capital, One Peak, and Hermes GPE Innovation Fund (PRN)

• ArrivoBio, a startup using small molecules to activate the SIRT6 enzyme, raised a $45M Series B led by Orlando Health Ventures (BW)

• DuploCloud, a cloud-based software-as-a-service startup, raised a $32M Series B led by WestBridge Capital and StepStone Group (TC)

• Eco-friendly lithium extraction startup ADIONICS raised a $27M Series B from Bpifrance, Céleste Management, and others (PRN)

• Faropoint, an infill industrial investment manager, raised a $25M round led by Invesco Real Estate (BW)

• Kahuna Workforce Solutions, a provider of operational skills and competency management software, raised a $21M Series B led by Resolve Growth Partners (BW)

• MENA-based additive manufacturing and digital inventory platform Immensa raised a $20M Series B led by Global Ventures (TC)

• Modo Energy, a provider of a SaaS platform for data analytics for renewable energy assets, raised a $15M Series A led by MMC Ventures (FN)

• AR startup Squint raised a $13M Series A led by Sequoia (TC)

• Biolexis Therapeutics, a clinical-stage AI-enabled drug discovery company, raised a $10M Series A led by Clarke Capital (PRN)

• Local Infusion, a tech-enabled infusion provider, raised a $10M Series A led by Blisce (VC)

• Property management solution Revela raised a $9M Series A led by FirstMark Capital (PRN)

• Acctual, a startup helping crypto companies better manage their bills, raised a $3.9M seed round at a $15M valuation co-led by Third Prime and IDEO (TC)

• Soil carbon measurement technology startup Yard Stick raised a $1.4M Series A extension from Extantia Capital (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Dubai Taxi received over $41B in investor orders for its $315M IPO (BBG) 

• Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, a state-owned green lender, surged 88% on its debut day of trading in Mumbai after its $258M IPO (BBG) 

• Sequoia-backed fintech firm One Mobikwik Systems selected banks for a Mumbai IPO that could raise ~$84M (BBG) 

• Mexican industrial real estate trust Fibra Next delayed its IPO due to missing tax papers; its IPO was expected to be Mexico’s biggest since 2018 (BBG) 

• Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, is close to hiring advisors for a long-delayed Q1 2024 London IPO (BBG) 

• Prosus-backed PayU’s Indian unit is seeking an IPO within the next 12 months (BBG)

Debt

• Dating app Grindr saved $17M after refinancing its debt and securing a $300M term loan A (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Austrian tycoon Rene Benko’s Signa filed for insolvency after a last-ditch attempt to raise emergency funds failed (BBG) 

Fundraising

• Utah investment firm Tower Arch Capital closed its Tower Arch Partners III at $750M to invest in founder and family-owned businesses with strong management teams in the lower middle market (FN)

• VC Tola Capital closed its third fund at $230M to invest in AI-enabled enterprise software (TC)

Crypto Corner

• FTX won bankruptcy court approval to begin selling its $744M stake in digital trusts managed by crypto firm Grayscale Investments to repay creditors (BBG) 

• Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a $1B class action lawsuit for promoting Binance (F)

• One-stop shop financial services firm SoFi Technologies is exiting crypto due to increasing banking regulator scrutiny (BBG) 

• Binance’s top executive team will remain intact according to its new CEO (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• Lawrence Cunningham discussed how Charlie Munger was Buffett’s alter ego in this MarketWatch piece.

• Rob Isbitts discussed whether or not we really need a Bitcoin ETF.

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