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Good Morning,

Coinbase’s stock has been on a tear, X faces more advertisers fleeing, Google is pushing for anti-trust action vs Microsoft in the UK cloud market, Citadel and its peers are piling into the same trades, Tiger Global’s biggest venture fund has 18% loss after markdowns, and Cathie Wood had her best month ever despite waning fanbase.

Want to discover the next breakout company? Today’s sponsor, Harmonic AI, provides market intelligence on 20M+ startups with tools designed to create better deal flow.

One quick note: the Exec Sum team is putting together our 2023 Holiday Gift Guide, and we want to know your best gift ideas. Clothing, accessories, electronics, travel experiences, books, and anything else for any gender is fair game. If you have some ideas, please include them here. Thanks!

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks mostly rose after positive PCE inflation data

  • The Dow led indices with a 1.47% gain, while the Nasdaq fell 0.23%

• European stocks rose after eurozone inflation fell to 2.4%, which was below expectations

Earnings

• Dell reported Q3 revenue that declined more than expected due to continued sluggish corporate demand for personal computers (BBG) 

• Kroger beat Q3 earnings expectations but cut its full-year same-store sales guidance due to food-at-home disinflation and economic pressure (YF)

• Ulta Beauty shares rose ~10% after beating Q3 earnings and revenue expectations and raising its full-year earnings and revenue expectations (CNBC) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Bank of Montreal

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• S&P 500’s historic 8.9% rally blindsides skeptics on Wall Street (BBG)

• Sam Altman returns to OpenAI with more influence than ever before (BBG)

• Vanguard’s biggest bond ETF becomes first to break $100B (BBG)

• OPEC+ agrees to deepen voluntary oil output cuts (RT)

• Google pushes for antitrust action against Microsoft in UK cloud market (RT)

• Cathie Wood clocks in best month ever despite waning fanbase (BBG)

• Tiger Global’s biggest venture fund has 18% loss after markdowns (BBG)

• After Musk tirade, X faces prospect of more advertisers fleeing (RT)

• Tesla’s long-awaited cybertruck to start at about $61,000 (WSJ)

• Nelson Peltz launches fresh proxy fight against Disney (WSJ)

• Citadel and its peers are piling into the same trades, and regulators are taking notice (BBG)

• PG&E’s $2B convertible bond shows revival in full swing (BBG)

• Bari Weiss’s surging news startup lures readers miffed at media coverage of Israel (WSJ)

• TikTok CEO challenged by tech leaders on pro-Palestine posts (BBG)

• Novo Nordisk sues two pharmacies for allegedly selling tainted Wegovy, Ozempic knockoffs (CNBC)

• Consumers pulled back on spending, inflation eased in October (WSJ)

A Message From Harmonic

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Occidental Petroleum is in talks to acquire private major energy producer CrownRock, which could be valued well above $10B including debt (WSJ)

• AbbVie will acquire cancer treatment developer ImmunoGen for $10.1B (BBG) 

• US PE firm General Atlantic is weighing joining co-shareholder Hg in selling its stake in Argus Media, which could lead to 50% of the oil pricing data business being sold in a deal that could value the company at over $5.1B (RT) 

• Britain will intervene in the $1.5B acquisition of the Telegraph Media Group by Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI on public interest grounds to examine the deal's impact on accuracy and freedom of expression (RT) 

• Seven & i Holdings will buy Convenience Group Holdings, the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores in Australia, for $1.1B (BBG) 

• The Dutch government plans to sell shares worth ~$1.1B in ABN Amro Bank, lowering its stake from 49.5% to 40% (BBG) 

• Buyout firms including Blackstone, EQT and CVC Capital Partners are submitting bids for a minority stake in a vehicle that controls the broadcasting rights for Germany’s top football leagues; DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga is seeking bids of up to $1.1B for up to an 8% stake (BBG) 

• Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is considering a bid for a significant minority stake in PCCW’s fiber business for ~$1B (BBG) 

• KKR is working on a bid for Telecom Italia's submarine cable unit Sparkle; TIM and KKR discussed a valuation of around $817M-871M (RT) 

• India's UltraTech Cement will acquire the cement business of Kesoram Industries in a $645M all-stock deal (RT) 

• BP will acquire the other 50% stake in its solar power JV Lightsource BP at a base equity valuation of $322M (RT) 

• Norway's independent oil firm OKEA postponed a $220M purchase of a 28% stake in the Statfjord area from Equinor due to revised volume estimates (RT) 

• Faherty Brand, a family-owned clothing brand and retailer, is exploring strategic options including the sale of a minority stake (BBG) 

• British sports and fashion group Frasers will seek to buy SportScheck's business and assets out of administration (RT) 

• Billionaire Byron Trott is in talks to purchase a minority stake in the NFL’s Miami Dolphins from team owner Stephen Ross (BBG)

VC

• Rocket propulsion startup Ursa Major raised a $138M Series D-1 led by Eclipse and Explorer 1 Fund (PRN)

• Tech-enabled warehousing startup Huboo raised a $36.6M round from Ada Ventures, Maersk Growth, Hearst and more (TC)

• Stensul, a multi-channel marketing creation platform, raised a $34.5M Series C led by Sageview Capital (TC)

• SMB focused business services provider Exectras raised $30M in debt financing from Tacora Capital (BW)

• Retail e-commerce startup Zubale raised a $25M Series A extension led by QED Investors (TC)

• Bright Uro, a startup developing a medical device for lower urinary tract symptoms, raised a $23M Series A led by Laborie (BW)

• Kognitos, a startup helping businesses automate processes, raised a $20M round led by Khosla Ventures (TC)

• Mytos, a startup automating cell manufacturing, raised a $19M Series A led by Buckley Ventures (BW)

• AI decisioning platform Rich Data Co raised a $17.5M Series B led by Westpac and nCino (PRN)

• Pave Mobility, a Dania Beach, FL-based parking-enforcement solutions provider, raised $16M in financing led by US Infravest Managers (FN)

• Aviz Networks, a provider of open networking software for cloud-scale infrastructures, added Cisco Investments, Moment Ventures, Accton, and Wistron to its latest funding expansion, bringing the total to $10M (BW)

• Culmination Bio, a St. George, Utah-based company building a disease-agnostic patient data intelligence platform, raised $10M in funding from Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Amgen Ventures (FN)

• ORX AI, a provider of AI healthcare solutions, raised $9.5M from Sun Life Investment (PRN)

• AI-powered forensic accounting solutions startup Valid8 Financial raised an $8.5M Series A led by Silverton Partners (PRN)

• VISIE, a startup developing 3D scanners for surgery, raised an $8.2M Series A led by Lon White, medtech industry veteran and VISIE board member (BW)

• Clayful, a startup helping students connect to mental health experts in 60 seconds, raised a $7M round led by Google Latino Founders Fund, Reach Capital, Ovo Fund, Common Sense Ventures, and more (TC)

• Drug discovery startup Pepper Bio raised a $6.5M seed round led by NFX (TC)

• Retrocausal, a startup providing platform services for manufacturing process management, raised $5.3M in funding led by Glasswing Ventures, One Way Ventures, and Indicator Ventures (FN)

• Term Structure, a Taipei, Taiwan-based company offering a non-custodial fixed-income protocol, raised a $4.25M seed round led by Cumberland DRW (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Shares of India’s Tata Technologies surged 163% in its trading debut after its $365M IPO (BBG) 

• The $222M Saudi IPO of MBC Group, the Middle East’s biggest broadcaster, sold out in an hour (BBG)

• Zeekr, the premium EV brand of Chinese automaker Geely, put its US IPO on hold due to valuation differences (RT) 

Debt

• Marina Bay Sands, the Las Vegas Sands-owned resort, plans to loan as much as $7.5B from banks to expand its hotel and entertainment business (BBG) 

• PG&E priced a $1.9B convertible bond offering overnight after upsizing it from the initial $1.5B, the largest offering in nearly two years (BBG)  

• International Finance, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, garnered $6.7B in investor orders for its $1.5B social bond offering (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Chilean renewable-energy generator ILAP filed for bankruptcy in the US with plans to restructure over $400M debt (BBG) 

• Property developer China Evergrande Group is seeking to avert a potentially imminent liquidation with a last-minute debt restructuring proposal (RT) 

• Chinese state-backed developer Sino-Ocean Group is in talks with bad-debt manager China Cinda Asset Management over financial support (BBG)

Fundraising

• UAE is planning a $30B climate fund with BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, and TPG; the fund will be managed by Lunate Capital, which is overseen by the Abu Dhabi royal family (BBG) 

• French PE firm Antin Infrastructure Partners raised $1.3B for its latest fund tied to energy transition (RT) 

• Seacoast Capital, a lower-middle market non-control growth capital investor, closed its Seacoast Capital Partners V at $280M (FN)

Crypto Corner

• Coinbase’s stock rallied 60%+ in same month that FTX and Binance founders brace for prison (CNBC)

• Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy acquired another $593M of Bitcoin; MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings are now worth ~$6.5B (BBG)

• The Philippines' SEC began the process of blocking access to Binance (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• Jason Zweig wrote a fantastic profile on Charlie Munger in The Wall Street Journal.

• Twitter user “The Cultural Tutor” published a great thread on the evolution of architecture over the last two centuries.

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