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Good Morning,

BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Cyber Monday sales are projected to hit record highs, the EU failed to institute a price cap on Russian oil, banks plan to compensate victims of Zelle scams, Musk is beefing with Apple, and Meta was fined $276M by Europe.

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As we close out 2022, we wanted to let y'all know we're always looking for new partners to help support this newsletter we circulate to over 200k subscribers and keep it free for readers! If you'd like to inquire about partnerships, pls fill out this form. 

Let's dive in!

Before The Bell

Markets

• All three major US indexes shed ~1.5% yesterday as markets digested widespread protests across China and hawkish Fed comments that indicated more rate hikes are coming

  • Protests in China are largely over labor conditions and the country's draconian Covid-19 policies

• Stocks in Hong Kong rebounded early Tuesday AM after falling on Monday due to the same news around protests

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 0.6% after logging its sixth straight weekly gain on Friday

• Oil recovered from 2022 lows as OPEC+ output cut rumors offset concerns about China's Covid policies

• Tomorrow (Wednesday), we'll get the Eurozone inflation reading and a highly-anticipated speech from Jerome Powell

Earnings

• What we're watching this week: 

  • Today: HP, Intuit

  • Wednesday: Royal Bank of Canada, Salesforce, Victoria's Secret

  • Thursday: Toronto-Dominion Bank, Kroger

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Cyber Monday sales are projected to hit a record $11.6B (RT) 

• China's central bank boosted consumer and business lending as economy struggles with Covid (WSJ)

• EU failed for a third time to agree on Russian oil price cap yesterday (RT)

• EU plans to shift derivatives clearing from London to Frankfurt (RT)

• Credit default ratio in Brazil hit highest level in almost 4 years (RT)

• JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others plan to compensate Zelle scam victims in hopes to boost consumer trust in Zelle (WSJ)

• Oaktree Capital Management's head of performing credit says higher quality junk bonds are primed for bargain hunting (BBG)

• Meta was fined $276M in Europe for data-scraping leak (WSJ)

• A top Fed official warned that US unemployment could hit 5% next year (FT)

• Elon Musk accused Apple of threatening to remove Twitter from App Store (RT)

• ByteDance investors struggle to sell shares at discounted $240B value amid IPO uncertainty (TI)

• Credit Suisse bonds fell and CDS rose amid struggles to win over rattled investors (RT)

• Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan will undergo cancer treatment (RT)

• Apollo Global co-founder Leon Black was accused of rape in Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan mansion in a lawsuit (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Microsoft is likely to offer remedies to EU antitrust regulators soon to avoid formal objections to its $69B bid for game developer Activision Blizzard (RT)

• Marlboro maker Philip Morris will de-list tobacco maker Swedish Match after raising its stake to 93% (RT)

• French football club Paris Saint-Germain has drawn interest for a minority stake from three separate buyers, with one offer valuing the club at ~$4.1B (BBG)

• Shell agreed to buy renewable natural gas producer Nature Energy Biogas for ~$2B (BBG)

• EQT is in talks to buy a majority stake in French calibration company Trescal at a ~$1.5B valuation (BBG)

• China Evergrande Group will sell a Shenzhen commercial plot for $1.05B amid their ~$300B debt woes (RT)

• PE firm Bridgepoint is in talks to buy Energy Capital Partners for ~$1B (BBG)

• Everstone Capital is considering selling Everlife, its healthcare platform in Asia, in an up to $1B deal (BBG)

• PAG and Platinum Equity are among bidders vying for Avent International’s stake in Singaporean tuition chain The Learning Lab, which could fetch up to $500M (RT)

• Yahoo agreed to buy a ~25% stake in AI-powered advertising agency Taboola.com as part of a 30-year exclusive advertising partnership, boosting shares up 78% (BBG)

• French supermarket retailer Casino launched the sale of part of its stake in Brazilian cash-and-carry chain Assai (RT)

VC

• Escient Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on small molecule therapeutics for neuro-immune disorders, raised a $120M Series C led by NEA, Abingworth, and Forge Life Science Partners (BW)

• Bionaut Labs, a startup building ‘tiny drug delivery robots,’ raised a $43.2M Series B led by Khosla Ventures (TC)

• V7, a startup automating training data for computer vision AI models, raised a $33M round at a ~$200M valuation led by Radical Ventures and Temasek (TC)

• Morse Micro, a fabless semiconductor company designing WiFi chips, raised a $20M Series B from TelstraSuper, HESTA, Hostplus, and more (BW)

• FrankieOne, an API platform for identity verification and fraud detection, raised a $15.4M Series A+ led by AirTree Ventures and Greycroft (TC)

• Deepomatic, a visual automation platform for field service workers, raised a $10.5M Series B led by EnBW New Ventures and Orbia Ventures (TC)

• Cameroonian crypto and savings platform Ejara raised an $8M Series A led by Anthemis and Dragonfly Capital (TC)

• Amie, a startup building a productivity app centered around the calendar, raised a $7M seed round led by Spark Capital (TC)

• Logistics and supply chain startup Cofactr raised a $6M seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Pet food maker I-Tail plans to raise $588M in Thailand’s second-biggest IPO this year (BBG) 

• South African industrial group Barloworld plans to spin off and IPO its car rental business Zeda at a $260M valuation (BBG)

• Russian e-scooter firm Whoosh is considering a Moscow IPO (RT)

Debt

• A group of investors led by Mexico’s Banca Mifel and backed by Apollo are in talks with banks for ~$2B of financing for their bid to buy Citigroup’s Mexican retail unit Banamex (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Crypto lender BlockFi filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (CD)

Fundraising

• Australia's Macquarie Asset Management raised $13.16B in commitments for its network infrastructure-focused fund (RT)

• Carlyle raised $3.12B for a pan-European technology fund focused on lower mid-market and growth technology companies (RT)

• Denmark-based VC BackingMinds raised a ~$52M fund to invest in companies outside of Europe’s capital cities and entrepreneurs often overlooked by traditional investors (TC)

Crypto Corner

• BlockFi has over 100k creditors, they owe $275M to their second largest creditor FTX, and the firm will lay off two-thirds of its 292 employees: bankruptcy filings (RT)

• BlockFi sued Sam Bankman-Fried over Robinhood shares that he allegedly pledged as collateral for loans to Alameda (FT)

• JPMorgan believes centralized crypto exchanges will remain dominant despite FTX collapse (CD)

• Auditors are charging crypto clients higher bills amid FTX collapse (FT)

• F1 won’t suffer from 'complete mess' FTX collapse triggered: McLaren CEO (AS)

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A Message from Lit

Got a few updates on things we're working on, some of which we could use your help:

• VC Investment Opportunities: as we close out 2022, got a handful of early-stage investment opportunities to present to the accredited audience early in the new year. If you're an accredited investor / qualified purchaser and want access to Litquidity Syndicate deals, please fill out this survey. Priority given to the most active community members through newsletter signups and open rates!

• Partnership Opportunities: if you want to partner with me and reach an audience of 2.5 million+ across social media, email newsletters, or other mediums, you can submit an inquiry here. We've got some discounts on ad slots between Christmas and New Years!

Meme Cleanser

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