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Good Morning,

Amazon will soon allow auto dealers to sell cars on their site, Congress wants to expel George Santos after a House Ethics report, Cruise suspended their employee share program, Alphabet’s Pichai says China will be at the forefront of AI, and Jim Harbaugh accepted the Big Ten’s sign stealing suspension.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed relatively unchanged 

  • The Dow fell 0.13%, while the S&P rose 0.12%

• Oil prices slumped ~5% due to investor concerns over global oil demand

• European stocks fell as positivity around cooling inflation wore off

Earnings

• Walmart shares fell 8% despite beating Q3 earnings and revenue expectations due to the company’s cautious outlook on consumer spending (CNBC)

• Macy’s shares rallied 6% after beating Q3 earnings and revenue expectations thanks to inventory and margin improvement offsetting a 7% YoY decline in sales (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: BJ’s

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Amazon will allow auto dealers to sell cars on its site, starting with Hyundai (CNBC)

• Momentum builds to expel George Santos after House Ethics report (AX)

• Fed’s Mester wants ‘much more evidence’ that inflation has been defeated (CNBC)

• US yields underestimate ‘adverse fiscal dynamics,’ Barclays says (BBG)

• Cruise suspends employee share program, citing need to revalue business (WSJ)

• US continuing jobless claims rise to highest in almost two years (BBG)

• YouTube debuts AI tool that mimics vocals of artists like John Legend, Demi Lovato (CNBC)

• China will be at the forefront of AI, Alphabet’s Pichai says (BBG)

• Apple’s effort to replace Qualcomm chip in iPhone falls further behind (BBG)

• Brigade, Sculptor among now-bankrupt WeWork’s biggest creditors (BBG)

• Japan firms exit Taiwan offshore wind projects, deepening industry crisis (BBG)

• Wall Street loves Washington’s new debt approach - for now (WSJ)

• Microsoft is bringing its Copilot chatbot to Windows 10 (CNBC)

• Applied Materials under US probe for shipment to Chinese chipmaker SMIC (RT)

• Americanas fraud was $1B more than previously suspected (BBG)

• Argentina running out of soy adds to next president’s economic woes (BBG)

• Jim Harbaugh accepts the Big Ten’s sign stealing suspension (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Alternative credit manager Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, which has ~$14B AUM, is exploring strategic options including an outright sale (BBG)

• Canadian PE group Brookfield canceled plans to sell holiday resort group Center Parcs after failing to secure bids at its $5B price (FT)

• Engineering consultant Jacobs Solutions is in advanced talks to merge its government consulting arm at a valuation of over $4B with PE-owned Amentum Services (RT)

• QuidelOrtho is considering a sale of its transfusion medicine unit, which could be valued at $1.5B-$2B (BBG)

• Greece sold a 22% stake in its second-largest lender by market value, National Bank of Greece, raising over $1.1B; the sale was oversubscribed by eight times (RT)

• US PE firm Arctos Partners acquired a minority stake in the Aston Martin F1 team at a $1.1B valuation from Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll (BBG)

• Pet food and confectionery giant Mars will acquire UK chocolate business Hotel Chocolat in a $663M deal (FT)

• Spanish train maker Talgo, which had a market value of $537M, received a preliminary proposal from an unidentified Hungarian business group to acquire all its shares (RT)

• Advent International will acquire payments firm myPOS at a valuation of over $500M in the PE investor’s latest push into digital payments (RT)

• Premier wine group The Duckhorn Portfolio will acquire Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards from spirits and wines business Brown-Forman in a $400M cash-and-stock deal (BW)

• Amancio Ortega, the billionaire founder of Inditex Zara clothing chain, agreed to buy a 49% stake in a Spanish clean energy portfolio from Repsol for $395M (BBG)

• British pub Young & Co’s Brewery will acquire smaller rival City Pub Group for $201M as British pubs struggle (BBG)

• Chinese delivery giant Meituan is exploring a potential acquisition of Delivery Hero’s Southeast Asian business (BBG)

VC

• T-Therapeutics, a biotech company developing TCR therapeutics, raised a $59.5M Series A led by Sofinnova Partners, F-Prime Capital, Digitalis Ventures, and Cambridge Innovation Capital (FN)

• Deep Sky, a Montreal-based carbon removal project developer, raised a $57.5M Series A co-led by Brightspark Ventures and Whitecap Venture Partners (PRN)

• Vulcan Cyber, a company developing software to help enterprises detect vulnerabilities in their software stack, raised $55M in equity financing led by Maor Investments and Ten Eleven Ventures (TC)

• NTx, a life sciences company building biomanufacturing platforms, raised a $47.5M Series B led by RA Capital Management (BW)

• SGNL.ai, a Continuous Access Management company, raised $36M from Cisco Investments, Costanoa Ventures, and Fika Ventures (PRN)

• Cloud-based platform Ninety raised a $35M Series B led by Blue Cloud Ventures (PRN)

• On Target Laboratories, a startup developing intraoperative molecular imaging agents, raised a $30M Series C led by H.I.G. Capital, The Hurvis Group, and others (VC)

• Silicon photonics startup SiLC raised $25M in funding from Hokuyo Automatic, Hankook & Company, and ROHM Semiconductor (VC)

• The Cumulus Coffee Company, a startup developing a cold brew machine for home use, raised a $20.3M seed round led by Valor Siren Ventures and Valor Equity Partners (PRN)

• Lynx, a Madrid-based provider of AI software that detects and prevents fraud and financial crimes, raised an $18.5M Series A led by Forgepoint Capital (FN)

• Codegen, a startup automating software engineering tasks, raised a $16M seed round led by Thrive Capital (TC)

• Inclusively, the workforce inclusion platform, raised a $13M Series A led by Firework Ventures (BW)

• Bezi, a collaborative 3D design tool, raised a $13M Series A led by Benchmark (FN)

• SwiftConnect, a provider of connected access enablement solutions, raised a $10M round led by Quadri Ventures (FN)

• Switch Maritime, a startup developing hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric zero-carbon ferries, raised a $10M Series A led by Nexus Development Capital (FN)

• CFX Labs, a startup aiming to monetize the payments market, raised a $9.5M seed round led by Shima Capital, Decasonic, Antalpha, and more (VC)

• Optiwatt, a consumer energy optimization app and operating system, raised a $7M Series A led by Navitas Capital (FN)

• Ediphi, a cloud-based estimating solution, raised a $6.5M seed round from Suffolk Technologies (PRN)

• Tactical collectible card game Shardbound raised a $5M round led by BITKRAFT Ventures (TC)

• OCOchem, a startup commercializing technology to electrochemically convert carbon dioxide and water into sustainable platform molecules, raised a $5M seed round led by TO Ventures (VC)

• Morf Health, a startup helping healthcare providers sync patient data, raised a $3M seed round led by Kindred Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• India's Tata Technologies set its IPO valuation at ~$2.5B (RT)

• Elon Musk denied a report that his rocket company SpaceX was discussing an IPO of its satellite business as soon as 2024 (RT)

• Alibaba shares plunged 9% after the Chinese e-commerce giant canceled its spinoff of its cloud computing unit due to US chip export restrictions on China (CNBC)

Debt

• Banco Santander raised $2.5B through the sale of two bonds yielding 9.625% (BBG)

• Sweden's SBB offered to buy back $650M in hybrid and senior securities to cut debt on its balance sheet (RT)

Fundraising

• Blackstone raised $8B from institutional investors for its first close of a direct lending fundraise (BBG)

• VC Menlo Ventures raised $1.4B in new capital to invest in the next generation of AI startups (TC)

• L Squared Capital Partners, a tech PE firm, closed its fourth PE fund at $840M (FN)

Crypto Corner

• A JV between Binance Holdings and Gulf Energy Development plan to launch a crypto exchange in Thailand next year after winning a license from the country’s regulator (BBG)

• CoinShares, one of Europe’s largest cryptocurrency asset managers, is looking to buy ETFs from rival Valkyrie, which has a spot Bitcoin ETF awaiting regulatory approval (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• This Bloomberg piece explains how Raising Cane’s owner Todd Graves became a chicken finger billionaire.

• Google’s newest advanced AI music generation model, Lyria, is one of the cooler recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.

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