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Good Morning,

Argentina got upset by Saudi Arabia in its first World Cup match, China is leading global IPO volumes, the White House extended its pause on student loan repayments, Goldman got fined for misleading customers about ESG investments, Credit Suisse is laying off China-based bankers, Twitter is having tech glitches, and Ronaldo is leaving Manchester United.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• All three major indexes climbed over 1% yesterday on a host of strong retail earnings

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.8% to a three-month high

• The Fed will release their November meeting minutes today which will provide clues on the direction of future rate hikes

Earnings

• Best Buy beat on Q3 EPS and revenue estimates on lower-than-expected hits to demand, while sticking to its Q4 outlook; their stock rose 12.7% yesterday (CNBC)

• American Eagle beat on Q3 EPS and revenue estimates on improved profit margins and inventory management and record Q3 numbers for its Aerie brand; their stock rose 17.9% yesterday (YH)

• AutoDesk matched Q3 EPS and revenue estimates but missed on Q4 guidance expectations amid challenging macroeconomic conditions; their stock fell 9% in AH trading (IBD)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Europe will be hit hardest in global slowdown: OECD (RT)

• Investor home purchases dropped 30% YoY in Q3 (CNBC)

• China leads global equity IPO volumes this year, raising $71.2B YTD (RT)

• BoE projects over $36B of annual losses to cover QE program (RT)

• White House extended student loan repayment pause through June 2023 (AX)

• Media industry layoffs spike amid recession fears (AX)

• SEC charged Goldman Sachs Asset Management with a $4M penalty for misleading customers about ESG investments (RT)

• Credit Suisse laid off one-third of China-based bankers and half of research team (RT)

• ​​HP will cut up to 6k jobs by end of FY 2025 (RT)

• Bob Iger is restructuring Disney less than a day after being renamed CEO (AX)

• Twitter tech glitches mount as staffers depart (AX)

• German authorities searched BNY Mellon in cum-ex probe (RT)

• Senate antitrust panel will hold hearing on Ticketmaster problems after Taylor Swift debacle (RT)

• Teva Pharmaceutical and AbbVie finalized opioid-related government lawsuits worth over $6.6B (RT)

• The founding team of alternative financing startup Pipe is stepping down as hunt for 'veteran' CEO begins (TC)

• Americans are giving up home-cooked meals for restaurants this Thanksgiving (AX)

• Cristiano Ronaldo will leave Manchester United with immediate effect (AP)

• Saudi Arabia's 2-1 win over Argentina is statistically the biggest shock in World Cup history (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• A group of PE firms led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira completed their purchase of software company Zendesk, taking it private in a $10.2B deal (RT)

• 'Large pharmaceutical companies' have demonstrated interest in buying cancer drugmaker Mirati Therapeutics, which has a market value of ~$4.9B (BBG)

• Agricultural commodities trader Bunge agreed to buy 49% of French agricultural resource supplier BZ Group (RT)

• Chinese conglomerate Fosun International appointed Deutsche Bank to advise on a potential sale of its stake in Hong Kong-based reinsurance company Peak Re (RT)

• The owners of English football club Manchester United are exploring strategic options that could lead to a full sale of the club; shares ended the day up 15% and continued to rise in after-hours trading (BBG)

• Hong-Kong-based fintech Quantifeed acquired UK peer Alpima (BBG)

• Media group Vivendi's proposed acquisition of rival Lagardere will likely face full-scale EU antitrust probe (RT)

VC

• PayZen, a fintech startup focused on healthcare affordability, raised $220M: $20M in equity led by 7wireVentures and a $200M credit facility from Viola Credit (BW)

• Swell Energy, a startup building virtual power plants, raised a $120M round led by SoftBank and Greenbacker Capital (BW)

• WorkJam, a digital frontline workplace platform, raised a $50M Series D led by Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Inovia Capital (BW)

• CatalYm, a company developing an anti-cancer immunotherapy, raised a $49M Series C led by Brandon Capital and Jeito Capital (BW)

• Cobee, a startup building an employee benefits superapp, raised a $41M Series B led by Octopus Ventures and Notion Capital (TC)

• Aura, a startup making digital picture frames, raised $26M in debt / equity led by Lago Innovation Fund (TC)

• Freight management software startup GoFreight raised a $23M Series A led by Flex Capital and Headline (PRN)

• Taktile, a fintech startup helping companies test and deploy decision making models, raised a $20M Series A led by Index Ventures and Tiger Global (TC)

• Italian mobility and vehicle assistance startup hlpy raised a $7.7M Series A extension led by Synergo Capital (PRN)

• Decentralized identity startup Carv raised a $4M round at a $40M valuation led by Vertex (TC)

• Popup, a startup developing a no-code platform to personalize online storefronts, raised a $3.5M pre-seed round led by Accel (TC)

• Leta, a Kenyan supply chain and logistics provider, raised a $3M pre-seed round led by 4Di Capital, Chandaria Capital, and more (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese solar power equipment company Longi Green Energy Technology selected CICC for a potential $4B Swiss GDR sale in 2023 (BBG)

Debt

• Balance, a B2B payments startup specializing in financing and ecommerce, raised a $350M credit facility from Viola Credit (BW)

SPAC

• Hyperloop Transportation Technologies agreed to merge with Forest Road Acquisition Corp. II in a $565M deal (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Crypto lender Genesis hired Moelis to explore options including a potential bankruptcy (NYT)

Fundraising

• PE firm Stonepeak Partners is aiming to raise between $15-20B for its next flagship North American infrastructure fund to invest in utilities, data centers, ports and railways (RT)

• Alternative investment firm Raven raised $834M for its Credit Fund II (PRN)

• Poland-based VC firm bValue raised ~$74M for a third fund to invest in later stage startups in Central and Eastern Europe (SFT)

• Energy-focused PE firm EnCap Investments is raising a twelfth flagship fund dedicated to oil & gas production; a fundraising target has not yet been set (RT)

Crypto Corner

• Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is soliciting Middle East investors for crypto recovery fund (BBG)

• FTX, SBF’s parents, and senior FTX staff bought Bahamas properties worth $300M (RT)

• Crypto VC Digital Currency Group, which owns Genesis Trading and Grayscale, owes $575M to Genesis Trading's crypto lending arm, CEO Barry Silbert said in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday (RT)

• Coinbase shares hit a record low amid worsening crypto contagion anxiety (BBG)

• NY governor Kathy Hochul signed a moratorium to curb crypto mining (BBG)

• Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX is seeking to indemnify unidentified individuals for actions they took and continue to take in connection with assets that represent a significant share of the company's estate (RT)

Exec's Picks

• Ledger: FTX just blew up and thousands of customers lost their crypto by keeping it on exchanges. The old mantra "Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins" is as relevant now as it ever has been. Now is the best time to act on self-custody. Secure your digital assets with Ledger this Black Friday & get free BTC. When you buy a Ledger Nano by November 28th -- you can receive up to $30 of free Bitcoin. 

• Billionaire investor Bill Ackman u-turned on his crypto skepticism, writing a thread on Twitter about the potential for crypto to benefit the economy.

• Want to upgrade your sleep? Eight Sleep is the leading smart bed in the market with a multilayer foam mattress, heating/cooling capabilities, and analytics tracking to optimize your sleep cycles. I'm sure y'all have seen the VC and tech communities on twitter raving about it. They're running a great Black Friday deal where you can get $250 off their mattress cover or $500 off their Pod 3 mattress. Check them out here.

The Hiring Block 💼

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

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