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Good Morning,

Blackstone hit $1T AUM, the Fed launched its instant payments system, housing’s recession may have already happened, Sergey Brin is working on AI tech at Google, Barry Sternlicht is looking for bargains after the Fed raised rates, North Korea breached a US tech firm to steal crypto, and TSMC delayed the start of its Arizona factory.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Stocks were mixed as the Nasdaq plummeted, led by declines in Tesla and Netflix, after the companies released their latest earnings reports

  • The Dow posted its ninth-straight green day, its longest winning streak since September 2017

  • Twenty stocks in the S&P 500 touched 52-week highs with 11 reaching all-time highs

• Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.2% after Japan reported weaker-than-expected trade data for June

Earnings

• Johnson & Johnson beat Q2 expectations and raised its FY guidance after benefiting from a rebound in demand for non-urgent surgeries among older adults, who deferred those procedures during the Covid pandemic (CNBC)

• TSMC beat Q2 expectations but saw its first quarterly net income decline since Q2 2019 due to a plunge in demand for consumer electronics post-pandemic, the stock was down 5% (CNBC)

• American Airlines beat Q2 expectations after a strong start to the peak travel season as airline executives remain upbeat about travel demand, particularly for international trips (CNBC)

• Capital One beat Q2 profit estimates helped by higher income from borrowers following a rise in benchmark lending rates (RT)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Friday: American Express

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Blackstone hit $1T AUM (WSJ)

• US leading indicators point to recession starting soon (RT)

• Housing’s recession already happened (WSJ)

• Fed launches long-awaited instant payments service, modernizing system (RT)

• Biden creates team to find ways of ending debt ceiling standoffs (BBG)

• Asia's private credit market is thriving (RT)

• China's state banks selling dollars offshore to slow yuan declines (RT)

• Sergey Brin is back in the trenches at Google (WSJ)

• Fed-driven ‘Category 5 Hurricane’ has billionaire Sternlicht eyeing bargains (BBG)

• SPAC planning to take Trump’s media business public will settle with the SEC if merger goes ahead (FT)

• Twitter to subpoena Senator Elizabeth Warren over communications with US agencies (RT)

• Amazon to launch pay-by-palm technology at all Whole Foods stores by year-end (CNBC)

• US ambassador to China hacked in China-linked spying operation (WSJ)

• Victims want Morgan Stanley to answer for ex-financial advisor’s Ponzi scheme (CNBC)

• Apple supplier TSMC delays start of Arizona chip factory (CNBC)

• Stanford president will resign after report found flaws in his research (NYT)

• Elon Musk reportedly used millions of dollars in Tesla funds to secretly build himself a literal glass house (YF)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• The FTC plans to pause its in-house trial against Microsoft’s $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard, opening the door for potential settlement talks (BBG)

• Bain Capital increased its buyout offer for SoftwareOne Holding AG to ~$3.7B after its previous $3.2B offer was turned down last month (RT)

• Australia’s Ramsay Health Care and Malaysia’s Sime Darby are exploring a sale of their $1.3B healthcare joint venture (RT)

• KKR is nearing a deal to acquire chemical maker Chase for $1.2B including debt (RT)

• Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski’s $587M offer for a 51% stake in Almacenes Exito was rejected by its owner, Brazilian retailer GPA (RT)

• Impala Platinum won control of miner Royal Bafokeng Platinum after rival Northam Platinum agreed to sell its 34.5% stake in the miner for $505M cash and 30M Impala shares (RT)

• Japanese biopharma company Sosei Group is buying Switzerland-based Idorsia Pharmaceuticals’ South Korean and Japanese operations for $466M (RT)

• A consortium led by blockchain investors Matthew Roszak and Peter Vessenes is nearing a $125M deal to acquire crypto media firm CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group (RT)

• Owner and operator of logistics real estate GLP is in talks to sell some of its Chinese assets to state-owned firm China Logistics Group (BBG)

• Swedish streaming service Visplay Group put itself up for sale after it released its second quarterly earnings, which sent its shares down 39% (BBG)

VC

• Karat, a startup building financial tools for content creators, raised a $70M Series B: $30M in debt led by TriplePoint Capital and $40M in equity led by SignalFire (TC)

• Aeroseal, a climate tech startup, raised a $67M Series B led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Climate Investment (FN)

• Energy Dome, a startup building a CO2 battery, raised a $60M Series B led by Eni Next and Neva SGR (BW)

• EV startup Maka Motors raised a $37.6M seed round led by AC Ventures and East Ventures (TC)

• Precision manufacturing software startup ProShop ERP received a $32M growth investment from Mainsail Partners (FN)

• Sensorfact, an Utrecht, Netherlands-based provider of a platform for manufacturers to improve their resource efficiency, raised a $27.8M round led by Blume Equity (FN)

• Aquasantec International, a Kenyan manufacturer and distributor of water tanks, pipes, and related products, received a $25M investment from Vantage Capital (FN)

• EpiBiologics, a startup developing an antibody-based protein degradation platform, raised a $23M Series A extension from Digitalis Ventures, Taiho Ventures, and Codon Capital (BW)

• Whop, an online marketplace for digital goods, raised a $17M Series A from Insight Partners, The Chainsmokers, and more (TC)

• Robotics startup Botinkit raised a $13M Series A led by Forebright (TC)

• FedML, a custom AI development company, raised an $11.5M seed round led by Camford Capital (FN)

• UpLift, a behavioral health startup, raised a $10.7M Series A led by Ballast Point Ventures (BW)

• Skillit, a data-driven recruiting platform for skilled full-time construction labor, raised an $8.5M round led by MetaProp and Bow Capital (BW)

• Peppermint, a startup providing an online clubhouse community for older adults, raised an $8M seed round led by Primetime Partners (FN)

• GlobalComix, a digital comics platform, raised a $6.5M Series A led by Point72 (BW)

• Cleanlab, an automated solution for boosting the accuracy of enterprise AI solutions, raised a $5M seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures (BW)

• DGG, a 3D content creation startup, raised a $4.5M round led by IRIS (FN)

• 3D BioFibR, a biomaterials startup for tissue engineering, raised a $3.5M seed round led by Invest Nova Scotia (BW)

• People operations platform Zelt raised a $3.5M seed round led by Episode 1 Ventures and Village Global (FN)

• Thalia, a semiconductor business development platform, raised a $2.7M round led by Mercia Ventures (FN)

• Carbon13, a venture builder aiming to decarbonize the economy, raised a $2.2M seed round led by True Ventures (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Carvana will raise up to $1B by selling shares through an at-the-market program, alongside its $1.2B debt restructuring deal (WSJ)

• Swedish property group SBB will issue preference shares worth $228M to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (RT)

• Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority invited investment banks to pitch for its planned IPOs of its taxi and parking businesses (RT)

• Alef Education, an Abu Dhabi-based edtech firm, is considering an IPO in UAE (BBG)

SPAC

• Spanish EV firm QEV Technologies is in talks to merge with SPEAR Investments I in a $234M deal (RT)

Debt

• Frontier Communications Parent is looking to sell ~$1B of bonds that will repackage revenue from its secured fiber network (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Troubled property developer Dalian Wanda Group is finalizing asset sales to repay a $400M dollar bond due July 23 (BBG)

Fundraising

• CVC Capital Partners raised $29.2B for the world’s largest buyout fund, defying the current challenging fundraising environment (BBG)

• Apollo Global Management is planning to launch its first-ever fund dedicated to asset-based financing that is expected to reach $5B (BBG)

• Sequoia Capital China is in talks to raise $2.8B for a new Chinese currency fund (TI)

• Jive Investments, Brazil’s largest distressed-asset manager, is planning to raise up to $1B for its Jive Distressed and Special Situation IV to invest in struggling companies (BBG)

• Pan-European PE firm Fremman Capital raised over $667M for its debut fund (ALT)

• VC firm Mayfield launched a new $250M AI-specific seed stage fund (FRB)

• Mizuho Financial Group plans to launch a $72M debt fund to invest in Japanese startups (BBG)

• Early-stage VC Big Sky Capital debuted its first fund with $20M in capital commitments (TC)

Crypto Corner

• FTX sued SBF and former executives to recoup hundreds of millions they fraudulently transferred (RT)

• Britain rejected a report that proposed to regulate crypto as gambling (RT)

• North Korean hackers breached a US tech company to steal crypto (RT)

• Key House Republicans unveiled a bill to establish rules of oversight for crypto (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• After exchanging tweets with Elon Musk, anonymous Twitter account “Sophie” published an excellent breakdown of Twitter’s LBO that included refinancing steps Musk could take.

• Morgan Housel discussed the “social debt” that comes with more money.

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