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Good Morning,

Japan PE nearly tripled last year, China is investigating PwC for its role in Evergrande’s fraud, Goldman’s hedge fund clients are getting active in crypto, big tech founders are cashing out on stocks, Canada will cap mortgages for certain borrowers, and Cathie Wood valued Bitcoin at $1.5M.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks ended mixed on Friday but clinched their best week YTD, with the Nasdaq and S&P rising 2.9% and 2.3% respectively

• Europe's Stoxx 600 paused near record highs after dovish cues from major central banks

• Swaps traders are pricing in three 25 bps BoE rate cuts by 2024-end to match the Fed

• Japanese yen traded near multi-decade lows versus the dollar but may see intervention by Japan

• Argentina's dollar bonds hit record highs, gaining ~60% since Milei's election

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Tuesday: Gamestop

  • Wednesday: Cintas, Jefferies, MillerKnoll

  • Thursday: Walgreens Boots Alliance 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Goldman’s hedge fund clients are getting active in crypto options (BBG)

• Japan PE deals jump in otherwise gloomy year for Asia (BBG)

• US investment funds pull $13.3B from BlackRock in anti-ESG campaign (FT)

• US firms' stock purchases via buybacks and M&A will hit 6-year high this year (RT)

• Investors pour into US corporate bond funds at record rate (FT)

• Thiel, Bezos and Zuckerberg join parade of insiders selling tech stocks (FT)

• CRE CLOs face unprecedented stress amid real estate pain (BBG)

• Oil execs talk down shift to green energy amid booming profits (FT)

• China banned Intel and AMD chips in government computers (FT)

• A banned trader worked ~20 years before regulators caught on (BBG)

• Canada will cap number of mortgages to highly indebted borrowers (RT)

• China is investigating PwC for role in Evergrande's $78B fraud (BBG)

• A Signa MD is under investigation for fraud (RT)

• Cathie Wood's ARK Invest scooped ~10k Reddit shares (RT)

• Activist investor Politan is planning a second proxy fight for two more seats at Masimo (WSJ)

• England homes are more cramped than those in NYC (BBG)

• Stanley looks to replicate the water-bottle hype among guys (WSJ)

• Russia detained 11 suspects after a deadly terrorist attack (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Vodafone's $16.4B deal to combine its UK unit with CK Hutchison's Three faces an in-depth antitrust investigation (BBG) 

• Robert Bosch, Lennox International, and Samsung Electronics are among industrial firms competing to acquire heating and ventilation assets worth over $6B from Johnson Controls International (RT) 

• Ageas will halt its pursuit of UK insurer Direct Line Insurance Group after two takeover proposals were rejected; its last offer valued Direct Line at ~$4.1B (BBG) 

• PE firms Advent International and CVC teamed up to bid for PE firm Cinven’s Hungary-based Partner in Pet Food; Cinven previously sought a valuation of ~$2.2B (FT) 

• Blackstone held informal talks with advisors over a $1.9B sale of flexible workspace provider The Office Group amid a pickup in demand (BBG) 

• Anthropic is weighing a slate of SWFs to acquire FTX's ~$1B, 7.84% stake in the AI startup (CNBC) 

• Midstream company MPLX will acquire pipeline operator Summit Midstream Partners’ Utica assets for ~$625M cash (RT) 

• Qualcomm ended its bid to acquire Israeli automobile-focused chipmaker Autotalks due to regulatory hurdles (RT) 

• Newmont kicked off the sale of its Akyem gold mine in Ghana, which is attracting interest amid soaring gold prices (BBG) 

VC

• Espresso Systems, a startup building shared sequencing technology for layer-2 blockchains, raised a $28M Series B led by a16z (FN)

• Swiss fintech Nsave raised a $4M seed round led by Sequoia Capital and TQ Ventures (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chime, a fintech firm offering fee-free services, is targeting a 2025 US IPO; the fintech was valued at $25B in 2021 (BBG) 

• Galderma soared 21% in its trading debut, giving the skin-care company a $16.7B market cap (BBG) 

• $5.3B Hong Kong-listed Samsonite International is keeping the possibility of a take-private deal open as the luggage maker considers a dual listing in the US (BBG) 

• LatAm-focused health chain Auna fell 20% in its trading debut after its $360M US IPO, which was priced below a marketed range (BBG) 

• Oman’s state energy company OQ picked HSBC for the listing of its exploration and production business and Morgan Stanley for its methanol and LPG unit (BBG) 

• Walmart-backed digital marketing firm Ibotta filed for a US IPO (RT)

SPAC

• Shareholders approved Digital World Acquisition Corp’s $5.7B merger with Trump Media & Technology Group (RT) 

Debt

• A group of debt arrangers led by Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan priced $6.1B in high-yield bonds and leveraged loans to support Stone Point Capital and CD&R’s acquisition of Truist Financial’s insurance business (BBG) 

• Banks and direct lenders are competing to arrange a ~$2B debt package to back the potential LBO of real estate and facility manager Apleona Group owned by PAI Partners (BBG) 

• Cerberus-backed Electrical Components International held discussions with private credit firms for a new $1.1B loan to refinance the company’s debt (BBG) 

• Swedish real estate group SBB will buy back debt worth $440M at a 60% discount to calm investor nerves (RT)

• Centerview Partners held conversations with private credit lenders to refinance ~$270M of debt of wheel supplier Superior Industries (BBG)

• Senior lenders to  theater chain AMC are weighing options to tackle debt (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Evergrande withdrew its Chapter 15 bankruptcy application (WSJ)

• Elder care company Petersen Health Care plans to sell its nursing homes, which may be worth $215M-$305M, to new care providers in bankruptcy (RT)

Fundraising

• TPG will close its eighth Asia buyout fund at ~$5B and slash its China allocation by half (BBG)

• VC World Fund closed its first fund at ~$325M to invest in decarbonization technologies (TC) 

• Diversity focused VC Impact X Capital Partners is looking to raise $126M for its second fund and is already backed by Bank of America (RT)

• BMO partnered with Carlyle to launch a private markets fund for Canadian investors (RT)

Crypto Corner

• Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood reiterated her $1.5M price target for Bitcoin (CD) 

• Crypto job listings are rebounding (BBG)

• Accused crypto laundering mastermind dreamt of being a Buddhist goddess (FT)

Exec’s Picks

• WSJ published interesting insights into the problematic growth of US’s $27T Treasury debt.

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