Bad Day To Be a Block

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Good Morning,

Yesterday was another calm day on the headline front, with the China craze and Mideast stealing much of markets' attention.

In other interesting news; US is weighing breaking up Google, Pfizer's CEO will meet its activist investor, and Hindenburg shorted Roblox.

Master all your valuation methods and stand out as a top valuation expert with the FMVA® Certification from CFI, the #1 rated finance training provider.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 10/08/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks rose yesterday to rebound from Monday's sharp losses 

  • China's CSI 300 dropped 8% after its recent 35% rally as stimulus optimism ebbed

    • MSCI China ETF fell 11%

    • KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF tumbled 10%

    • Hong Kong's HSI index dropped 9.4% in its worst day since 2008 

  • UK-Germany 10Y yield spread rose to 1.94% to its highest since August 2023 on UK fiscal policy concerns

Earnings

  • PepsiCo beat Q3 EPS estimates but missed on sales for a second-straight quarter and lowered its FY outlook on continued weakness in North America demand (CNBC

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Thursday: Delta, Domino's

    • Friday: JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BlackRock

  • Full calendar here

🇺🇸 Election Forecast

As of 10/08/2024.

Kamala has pulled back ahead as Kalshi just launched over 20 new election markets. See live odds and place your trade!

Headline Roundup

  • US budget deficit topped $1.8T in FY 2024 (WSJ)

  • New Zealand cut rates by 50 bps in second cut (CNBC)

  • US bank profits to shrink on interest income, focus shifts to Fed cuts (RT)

  • Gold ETFs saw inflows for a fifth-straight month (RT)

  • UK pledged to reduce barriers for specialist trading firms (FT)

  • Indians pour their family savings into IPOs, stoking bubble fear (BBG)

  • Pfizer's CEO plans to meet activist Starboard Value (FT)

  • Hindenburg posted their short report on Roblox (RT)

  • US is weighing breaking up Google following illegal monopoly ruling (CNBC)

  • BofA named a new co-head of global M&A (RT)

  • Princeton reversed ban on oil companies funding research (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Ares will buy the international arm of real estate investment firm GLP Capital Partners for $1.8B in cash and stock

  • Singapore's GIC is considering a sale of its 50% stake in India's Greenko Energy for ~$5B

  • Tokyo Gas is in talks to acquire Chevron's Texas natural gas assets for ~$1B 

  • China's Zijin Mining will buy a Ghana gold mine from Newmont for $1B 

  • BlackRock and JPMorgan Asset Management made a minority investment in back-office services firm Dynasty Financial Partners at an $800M valuation

  • Berlusconi family is in talks to sell a stake in football club AC Monza

  • Innovation Network Corp. of Japan is reviving the sale of its 21% stake in Malaysian telecom tower company Edotco

  • Cannae and KDSA Investment Partners acquired a majority stake in spices maker Watkins

VC

  • Maven Clinic, a virtual clinic for women's and family health, raised a $125M Series F led by StepStone

  • Gropyus, a startup that prefabricates buildings using robots, raised a $109M round led by Semapa and Practical Venture Capital

  • Auger, an AI-powered tool for supply chain-dependent businesses, raised a $100M seed round led by Oak HC/FT 

  • Blue Energy, a startup building modular nuclear power plants in shipyards, raised a $45M Series A led by Engine Ventures and At One Ventures

  • Resolve AI, an AI startup for engineers to automate software operations, raised a $35M seed round led by Greylock

  • AI testing platform Distributional raised a $19M Series A led by Two Sigma Ventures

  • MarqVision, an AI-driven IP protection startup, raised a $16M Series A+ from Altos Ventures, QuantumLight, and more

  • VESSL AI, an MLOps platform to reduce GPU costs, raised a $12M Series A from A Ventures, Ubiquitous Investment, and more

  • Claim, a social app for Gen Z to discover brands, raised a $12M Series A led by VMG Technology 

  • Lightdash, an open source BI platform, raised an $11M Series A led by Accel 

  • Bitlayer, a Bitcoin Layer 2-based startup, raised a $9M Series A extension co-led by Polychain Capital and Franklin Templeton 

  • Driver, an AI helping firms create technical documentation, raised an $8M seed round led by GV 

  • Third Dimension AI, a 3D GenAI startup, raised a $7M seed round led by Felicis 

  • Data management platform Kiva AI raised a $7M seed round led by CoinFund 

  • Edtech Revyze raised a $6M seed round led by Speedinvest and Moonfire 

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Honeywell will spin off its advanced materials unit at an $11B valuation 

  • Japan's largest oil refiner Eneos is planning to spin off its metals division JX Advanced Metals at an over $4.7B valuation

  • CVC-backed Polish convenience store chain Zabka is expected to price its IPO at the top of a marketed range to raise $1.6B

  • Partners Group-backed KinderCare Learning raised $576M in an IPO priced toward the bottom of a marketed range

  • AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems will likely postpone its IPO on national security concerns

  • Spanish bakery firm Europastry postponed its IPO for a second time this year

Debt

  • Verizon lined up $10B of short-term debt to help fund its $9.6B acquisition of Frontier Communications  

  • Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol is seeking to raise $2B in dollar bonds to repurchase debt

  • Saudi Arabian lender Al Rajhi Bank raised a $1.9B sustainability-linked Islamic syndicated loan

  • Banks led by UBS sold a $1B leveraged loan to help finance Vista Equity Partners' buyout of software company Jaggaer  

  • Chinese biotech WuXi AppTec raised $500M via a convertible bond issuance

  • Utility services firm Wateralia is nearing raising a $329M debt package from Blackstone to refinance existing debt 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Cineworld is in talks to refinance $1.8B of bankruptcy exit financing  

  • Staple Street Capital will acquire medical equipment firm Avante in bankruptcy   

  • Northvolt unit Northvolt Ett Expansion filed for bankruptcy after halting its expansion plan

Fundraising

  • PE firm Renovus Capital Partners raised $875M for its fourth fund 

Crypto Corner

  • Crypto.com will sue the SEC for suing them

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