Exxon Boosts Exec Pay 📈

US service industry activity unexpectedly rose in November, Credit Suisse is 'stable' according to its chairman, PepsiCo plans to cut 100s of North American corporate jobs, ExxonMobil is raising its executives' pay, and Nike severed ties with Kyrie Irving.

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Good Morning,

US service industry activity unexpectedly rose in November, Credit Suisse is 'stable' according to its chairman, PepsiCo plans to cut 100s of North American corporate jobs, ExxonMobil is raising its executives' pay, and Nike severed ties with Kyrie Irving.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 12/5/2022 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks posted their worst day in nearly a month as strong services sector data fueled speculation of further Fed rate hikes

  • The dollar index rose 0.8% on the same news

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:

    • Today: AutoZone

    • Wednesday: GameStop

    • Thursday: Broadcom, Costco, lululemon

    • Friday: Oracle

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US service industry activity unexpectedly rose in November, with employment rebounding (RT)

  • President Joe Biden is expected to announce 2024 bid after the holidays (BBG)

  • US factory orders rose by more than expected in October (RT)

  • Ghana will swap domestic debt in attempt to regain economic stability (RT)

  • Credit Suisse business is 'definitely stable': chairman (RT)

  • PepsiCo plans to cut hundreds of North American corporate jobs (WSJ)

  • GameStop began laying off employees (AX)

  • Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield will depart the company (RT)

  • ExxonMobil raised CEO and top executives base pay (RT)

  • Klarna launched a platform that connects retailers with influencers (FEX)

  • BP is doubling down on hydrogen as fuel of the future (RT)

  • Porsche will join Germany's blue-chip index, just two months after its market debut (RT)

  • Hertz will pay $168M to settle false-arrest allegations (WSJ)

  • Nike severed ties with Kyrie Irving (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Data center operator Aligned is in talks to buy Latam-focused rival Odata at a $1.8B valuation (BBG)

  • CVC Capital Partners is nearing a deal to buy UK building supplies merchant Jewson, which could fetch up to $1.2B (BBG)

  • Fortune Brands Home & Security will buy Swedish lock giant Assa Abloy's Yale and Emtek lock brands and its US and Canada residential businesses in an $800M deal (RT)

  • Blackstone Real Estate agreed to buy six industrial properties from the asset-management arm of Toronto-Dominion Bank for $297M (BBG)

  • Conglomerate Grupo Mexico is in advanced talks to potentially buy Banamex, Citigroup’s Mexican retail banking unit (BBG)

  • EQT and Macquarie are among potential suitors considering buying Morgan Stanley’s 40% stake in German wind park developer PNE (BBG)

  • Swedish industrial group SKF is exploring a sale of its aerospace operations after activist investor Cevian Capital has pushed for change (BBG)

  • French Ligue 1 football club Olympique Lyonnais gave American investor Eagle Football Holdings until today to reach a final and unconditional agreement to purchase the club (RT)

VC

  • Indian consumer nutrition platform HealthKart raised a $135M Series H at a $350M valuation led by Temasek (TC)

  • SonoThera, a biotech company focused on genetic therapy, raised a $60.75M Series A led by ARCH Venture Partners (BW)

  • Runway, an applied AI research company, raised a $50M Series C led by Felicis (BW)

  • Chattermill, a startup using AI to extract insights from customer experience data, raised a $26M Series B led by Beringea (TC)

  • Vaxxas, a clinical-stage biotechnology company commercializing a needle-free vaccination platform, raised a $23M round led by OneVentures and UniQuest (BW)

  • Loft Dynamics, a VR simulator for aviation, raised a $20M round led by Craft Ventures, Sky Dayton, and Up Ventures (PRN)

  • Giraffe360, a proptech startup enabling agents and brokers to generate high-resolution photos of properties / floor plans / virtual tours, raised a $16M round led by Founders Fund (TC)

  • Aigens, a Hong Kong-based startup providing online ordering and marketing tools for the food and bev industry, raised a $14M Series A led by Ant Group (TC)

  • AI-enabled video search platform Twelve Labs raised a $12M seed extension round led by Radical Ventures (TC)

  • Embedded mortgage infrastructure platform Pylon raised an $8.5M seed round led by Conversion Capital (BW)

  • Social commerce startup Kapu raised an $8M seed round led by Giant Ventures and Firstminute Capital (TC)

  • Balance Theory, a collaborative workspace for cybersecurity, raised a $3M seed round led by DataTribe (BW)

  • OneOrder, an Egyptian supply chain solutions provider for restaurants, raised a $3M seed round led by Nclude (TC)

  • Data integration and automation startup Synatic raised a $2.5M seed extension round led by E Squared Ventures and UW Ventures (PRN)

  • Egyptian e-commerce support platform SideUp raised a $1.2M seed round from Launch Africa VC, 500 Global, Riyadh Angels, and more (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Beijing-based Sunshine Insurance Group is considering pricing its Hong Kong IPO at the bottom of its marketed range to raise ~$863M (BBG)

  • Russian e-scooter company Whoosh is eyeing a $400M valuation in its upcoming IPO (RT)

SPAC

  • Crypto stablecoin issuer Circle scrapped its $9B merger with Concord Acquisition Corp. (FT)

Fundraising

  • CVC Capital Partners closed a third European direct lending fund at $6.5B (PI)

  • AlbaCore Capital Group raised $2.3B for its third private lending fund (BBG)

  • Baird Capital's direct private investment arm is looking to raise up to $225M for its sixth US VC fund (ALT)

  • French VC firm Partech raised $124M for a fourth seed fund dedicated to early-stage tech startups (TC)

Crypto Corner

  • Binance saw a 30% surge in trading activity following the FTX implosion; Coinbase and Kraken's activity rose as well (BBG)

  • Crypto lender Nexo is leaving the US, citing regulatory 'dead end' (TB)

  • US House committee chair said SBF must testify next week (RT)

  • Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius won court approval to grant bonuses totaling ~$2.8M to keep employees from quitting (BBG)

  • FTC is investigating several crypto firms over allegations of misleading/deceptive advertisements (BBG)

  • UK is finalizing plans for regulation of crypto industry (FT)

  • Crypto exchanges and brokerages will soon be required to report customer info directly to the IRS and to investors themselves (AX)

Exec's Picks

  • Affinity hosted a webinar where they spoke to Eden Global Partners and Solganick & Co about the strategies they’re using to maintain momentum in the M&A market throughout the end of 2022—and how they’re planning to source the best deals into 2023 and beyond. Check it out.

  • The Block's Frank Chaparro had a two-hour chat with Sam Bankman-Fried discussing how FTX and Alameda Research failed. Listen to the conversation 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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