Together with

Good Morning,

US fighter jets shot down multiple UFOs in Canadian and American airspace, the UK economy grew by 0% in Q4, North American firms purchased a record number of robots last year, the SEC is investigating the Mormon Church's investment arm, Moody's downgraded some Adani firms, Meta is planning more job cuts, and the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. While the ending was anti-climactic, the other 58 minutes of the game were absolutely electric.

Need to find some last-minute Valentine's Day flowers? Check out today's sponsor, Floom.

Also, we are in the process of finalizing our updated Wall Street comp survey! Karl has been spread thin the past few months but he’s now freed up a bit.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks ended Friday's session mixed with mega cap growth stocks coming under pressure from rate hike fears 

  • All three major US indexes recorded weekly losses for the first time this year, with the S&P and Nasdaq posting their biggest weekly decline in two months 

• The dollar index is on track for its second straight weekly gain for the first time since mid-October

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Tuesday: Coca-Cola, Airbnb, GoDaddy, Restaurant Brands International 

  • Wednesday: Cisco, Shopify, Zillow 

  • Thursday: DraftKings, WeWork

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• UK economy grew 0% in Q4 (CNBC)

• US posted a $39B January deficit as debt default looms (RT)

• Investors have pulled net $31B from US equity mutual funds and ETFs YTD (WSJ)

• North American firms purchased a record number of robots last year (RT)

• Construction employment is projected to grow despite slowing economy (AX)

• US plans to outright ban investments in some Chinese tech firms (RT) 

• US jet shot down another UFO over Canada (NYT)

• SEC is investigating the Mormon Church’s investment arm (WSJ)

• Saudi bourse has 23 companies waiting to list, with 75 more pending approval (RT)

• China tightened risk management requirements on banks (CNBC)

• Canada also smashed job estimates, adding 150k in January (RT)

• Global investors are reducing holdings of Chinese government bonds (RT)

• Ackman's Pershing Square reaped $2.7B on interest rate trades in 2022, despite finishing down 9% (RT)

• Moody's downgraded some Adani firms, while MSCI will cut weightings in some of its stock indexes (RT)

• India's regulator is investigating Adani Group's links to some investors in their aborted $2.5B share sale (RT)

• UK's watchdog is probing Barclays over anti-money laundering systems (FT)

• Meta is planning a fresh round of job cuts (FT)

• Walmart is pushing back against supplier price hikes (RT)

• A US judge dismissed a shareholder lawsuit against Robinhood (RT)

• Layoffs and shutdowns hit biotech industry in u-turn (WSJ)

A Message From Floom

It's February 13th, you're swamped at work, and you forgot to order flowers for Valentine's Day.

Don't worry fam, Floom has you covered.

Floom brings the local florist experience online, reminding people just how special it is to both send flowers and have flowers delivered to you.

So how does it work? Floom connects you with talented and unique local florists, with the majority offering same-day flower delivery, ensuring that you'll have the perfect Valentine's Day with that special someone.

So what are you waiting for? Get that bouquet ordered by checking out Floom here! 

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Payments giant FIS is preparing to break up and undo a $43B acquisition it completed in 2019 (RT)

• Dutch electricity grid operator TenneT will explore a full sale of its German operations to the German government for $16B (RT)

• Advent and CVC are among suitors considering bids for pharma firm Viatris' European consumer-health assets which could fetch ~$3.2B (BBG)

• Telefonica and Liberty Global are planning to sell a 25% stake in Britain's largest telecoms tower company Cornerstone which could be valued at over $3.2B (RT)

• French telecoms firm Orange is considering options including stake sales for its African and Middle Eastern mobile towers business which could fetch a ~$1B valuation (BBG)

• South Korean entertainment company HYBE agreed to buy a 14.8% stake in rival SM Entertainment from its founder for $333.6M (RT)

• CVC Capital Partners emerged as the lead bidder to buy a $150M-$200M minority stake in Indonesian industrial gas company Samator Indo Gas (BBG)

• India's Kotak Mahindra Bank will acquire Sonata Finance for $65.04M in an all-cash deal (RT)

• Canadian agricultural equipment company MTI agreed to buy US oil company Chevron’s assets in Myanmar (RT)

• Activist investor ValueAct purchased a stake in music streaming service Spotify, arguing that its costs are too high (FT)

• Japan's SoftBank is considering selling its stake in M&A adviser Raine Group (BBG)

• Australian insurance group Open is in exclusive talks to acquire the underwriting arm of UK insurer Saga (RT)

• French broadcaster Canal+ increased its stake in South African pay-TV company MultiChoice to 30.3% from 20% (BBG)

• PE firm Reverence Capital is considering a sale of college payments platform Transact (BBG)

• Top Belgian soccer club KAA Gent is seeking to sell a stake in the club (BBG)

• Ford cut its stake in EV maker Rivian to 1.15% (RT)

VC

• At-home fitness startup Tonal is in talks to raise capital at an up to $500M valuation, a massive cut compared to last year’s $1.9B valuation (BBG)

• Singapore-based cross-border payments startup Tazapay raised a $16.9M Series A led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia (TC)

• Decentralized crypto exchange C3 raised a $6M seed round led by Two Sigma Ventures (CD)

• Africa-focused luxury e-commerce platform Jendaya raised a $1.2M pre-seed round from Sabi CEO Anu Adedoyin Adasolum and several angel investors (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Link REIT plans to issue $2.39B of rights units to existing holders to strengthen its capital base (RT)

• Israel's Enlight Renewable Energy raised $252M at a ~$2B market cap in its US IPO on Friday (RT)

• Oman-owned oil firm OQ plans to raise up to $244M in an IPO of its oil-drilling unit with Saudi Arabia’s PIF serving as an anchor investor (BBG)

• Biotech Mineralys Therapeutics raised $192M in a Nasdaq IPO (FBT)

• China's Alibaba sold its remaining stake in Indian fintech Paytm for ~$167M via a block deal (RT)

• Citicore Renewable Energy Corp., one of the Philippines' biggest solar power producers, is preparing to IPO in 2023 (RT)

SPAC

• Biotech SPAC Keen Vision Acquisition Corp. plans to raise $130M through its IPO (EPT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Distressed Brazilian retailer Americanas got court approval for a debtor-in-possession financing plan of up to $379M through the sale of local bonds (BBG)

Fundraising

• NBA star Carmelo Anthony formed a $750M PE fund, Isos7 Growth Equity, with Isos Capital to invest in sports (VTY)

• Toronto-based asset manager Sagard raised $555M for its third private debt fund to take advantage of tightening lending conditions in North America (BBG)

• Medtech giant Olympus raised $50M for their new Olympus Innovation Ventures to invest in medtech startups (FBT)

Crypto Corner

• G20 is exploring collective cryptocurrency regulation (RT)

• SEC's commissioner publicly dissented to SEC's enforcement action against crypto exchange Kraken (CNBC)

• Fintech PayPal paused its stablecoin project amid regulatory scrutiny (BBG)

• Banco do Brasil is allowing residents to pay taxes using crypto (CT)

• Crypto fans pile into AI tokens amid ChatGPT mania (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• Eight Sleep is a high-tech smart bed system that has taken Silicon Valley by storm. With a built-in heating and cooling system, multiple foam layers to deliver comfort, and analytics tracking to help you optimize your sleep and recovery, Eight Sleep is the complete package. Upgrade your mattress game here, and use code "LIT" at checkout for a great discount!

• Given the SEC's Mormon Church probe, here is a thread that Jack Raines wrote last year about how the Mormon Church built a $128B investment arm.

• Derek Thompson's latest on Super Bowl ads as an economic indicator is fantastic.

Litney Partners - Financial Recruiting 💼💼

If you're currently a junior investment banker looking to break into the buy side, considering lateraling to another investment bank, or have recently been impacted by widespread layoffs, it's time you check out Litney Partners, a partnership between Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates at leading private equity, hedge fund, venture capital, growth equity, and credit funds, as well as investment banks. 

To get started, simply head over to the Litney website and create your profile by dropping your resume / filling out the form:

Meme Cleanser

Advertise with us // Visit our merch store // Invest alongside Lit Ventures

Thinking of starting your own newsletter? Beehiiv is the best platform for creators, period. Click here to get started building your own audience.