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Good Morning,

Google is launching an AI service to rival ChatGPT, FTX is asking for political donations back, US mortgage applications are up 25% YTD, Goldman thinks hedge funds are caught in a bigger squeeze than the 2021 meme stock frenzy, AbbVie lifted a self-imposed $2B M&A limit, and global air traffic has recovered to 69% (nice) of pre-Covid levels.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks continued to slip yesterday as investors digested a mighty January jobs report that may lead the Fed to reconsider their rate hike pause

• Global stocks also slid, with the MSCI World Index losing 1.1%

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 slid 0.8%

• UK’s FTSE 100 beat its 2018 peak to hit an all-time high on Friday

• Different AI stocks have rallied between 100% and 700% YTD

• The dollar continued to strengthen, hitting a four-week high against the euro

Earnings

• Activision Blizzard beat Q4 EPS estimates on record quarterly net bookings and higher than expected monthly active users; the firm is due to be acquired by Microsoft for $69B in Q2 2023 (YH)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: KKR, BP

  • Wednesday: Uber, Robinhood, Walt Disney, Yum! Brands

  • Thursday: PepsiCo, PayPal

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Janet Yellen believes US will avoid a recession given historic unemployment (RT)

• US mortgage applications are up ~25% YTD (WSJ)

• South Korea and Australia renewed an $8.2B currency swap agreement (RT)

• Goldman believes HFs are caught in bigger squeeze than 2021's meme stock frenzy (RT)

• Home equity loans are booming (AX)

• NYSE plans to pay in full majority of claims after glitch (BBG)

• UK property returns fell 12% in in Q4 in largest drop since 2008 (RT)

• India's Adani crisis is spilling over into street protests as losses top $110B (RT)

• Tech giants will invest over $9B in Saudi Arabia in coming years (RT)

• Big Tech firms are aggressively pursuing investments and alliances with AI start-ups amid ChatGPT craze (FT)

• SoftBank’s Vision Fund posted its fourth straight quarterly loss (CNBC)

• Carlyle Group named ex-Goldman exec Harvey Schwartz as new CEO (FT)

• Credit Suisse is marketing its First Boston IB unit to as a 'super boutique' and sees up to $3.5B in revenue (RT)

• Credit Suisse is delaying compensation for some of its bankers (mainly at the MD and director level) (BBG)

• Google unveiled its ChatGPT rival Bard (CNBC)

• Drugmaker AbbVie will lift its self-imposed $2B cap on M&A deals (WSJ)

• Premier League accused Manchester City of financial rule breaking (FT)

• Global airline traffic recovered to 68.5% of pre-Covid levels last year (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Gold producer Newmont made a $16.9B bid for Australian peer Newcrest Mining, and is open to raising its offer (RT)

• Storage company Public Storage made an unsolicited $11B offer for rival Life Storage (BBG)

• Brazilian miner BHP’s $6.6B purchase of Australian copper and gold producer OZ Minerals received approval from the Brazilian competition regulator (RT)

• The Rothschild family plans to take its investment bank Rothschild & Co. private at an ~$4B valuation (FT)

• General Atlantic is exploring the sale of OneOncology, an operator of independent cancer-care practices, which could fetch $2B+ in a deal (BBG)

• PE firm Epiris is gauging interest for a potential sale of British auction house Bonhams that could fetch ~$1B (BBG)

• Australian pension fund Rest Super is seeking $694M in a sale of its 12.6% stake in local electricity distribution firm Endeavour Energy (BBG)

• Steel firm Bentler North America called off a previously announced agreement to sell 100% of its shares in its $460M steel pipe business to Luxembourg-based manufacturer Tenaris (RT)

• The FTC will not appeal its loss in federal court in its fight to stop Meta Platforms' reported ~$400M acquisition of VR content maker Within Unlimited (RT)

• Japanese car maker Nissan agreed to buy an up to 15% stake in Renault’s EV unit Ampere (RT)

• Australian renewable energy startup Recharge Industries was selected as the preferred bidder to buy the majority of insolvent UK battery firm Britishvolt’s business and assets (BBG)

• High-frequency trading firm Optiver agreed to buy commodity trader Traxys (BBG)

• Jumeirah Group, the hotel-management group that operates Dubai’s Burj Al Arab, agreed to buy the Le Richemond hotel in Geneva (BBG)

• VVIP Ventures, a JV made of up digital media company Vinco Ventures and Icon Publishing, agreed to buy a group of tabloid brands including the National Enquirer (CNBC)

• French container shipping giant CMA CGM is studying the 'multibillion-dollar' logistics arm of peer Bollore as a potential acquisition target (BBG)

• Putin approved of Russian car dealer Avtodom's purchase of Mercedes-Benz's Russia's finance arm (RT)

VC

• AI startup and OpenAI rival Cohere is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars at a $6B+ valuation (RT)

• ShiftMed, a Virginia-based healthcare labor marketplace, raised $200M in funding led by Panoramic Ventures (TC)

• IgGenix, a pre-clinical biotech company working on treating peanut allergy, raised a $40M Series B led by Alexandria Venture Investments (BW)

• Magic, a code generating platform similar to GitHub’s Copilot, raised a $23M Series A led by CapitalG (TC)

• Marketing management platform Breef raised a $16M hybrid Series A led by Greycroft (TC)

• Slingshot Biosciences, a synthetic cell platform for customizing cell and cell line mimics, raised an $11M Series A-3 co-led by ARCH Venture Partners and Northpond Ventures (BW)

• Elementus, a blockchain data intelligence platform, raised a $10M Series A-2 led by ParaFi Capital (PRN)

• cellvie, a therapeutic mitochondria transplantation startup, raised a $5.5M round led by Taiho Ventures (PRN)

• Quipli, a startup building software for the equipment rental market, raised $3.5M in funding from Boundless Venture Co (PRN)

• LATYS, a startup delivering a drop-in antenna that extends wireless signals without interference, raised a $3M seed round from Rhapsody Venture Partners (BW)

• Latent Technology, a startup building AI-based tech for developing video games, raised a $2.1M pre-seed round led by Root Ventures and Spark Capital (AX)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava confidentially filed for an IPO; the company last raised money at a $1.7B valuation (CNBC)

• Struggling retailer Bed Bath & Beyond will raise ~$1B via convertible preferred securities and warrants in effort to avoid bankruptcy (BBG)

• Shares of EV startup Canoo were sharply lower in early trading yesterday after it agreed to sell discounted shares to raise $52.5M (CNBC)

• Panera and Fogo Hospitality are among other restaurant brands looking to IPO in H1 2023 (WSJ)

• German web hosting firm IONOS plans to sell shares at the lower end of a targeted range in its Frankfurt IPO (RT)

Debt

• Adani Group's founders will prepay a $1.1B loan that was backed by shares of some of its companies in a move to boost investor confidence (WSJ)

• Chinese property developer Dalian Wanda received orders worth ~$500M for a targeted $300M three-year US dollar bond sale in their second bond sale of the month (FT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Crypto exchange Gemini will contribute $100M in cash to a recovery plan for bankrupt crypto lender Genesis (CNBC)

Fundraising

• French VC firm Ovni Capital raised $54M to invest in early-stage global startups (TC)

• Nex Cubed launched a $40M accelerator aimed at investing in HBCU founders (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Genesis creditors agree to be paid back with stock in Barry Silbert's DCG (TI)

• FTX is asking for its political donations back (AX)

• Four crypto ad deals for Super Bowl LVII fell apart after FTX collapse (AP)

• Binance will temporarily suspend US dollar bank transfers (AX)

• Binance introduced a tool for calculating taxes on transactions (CD)

• UK's financial regulator warned crypto firms of jail time for unauthorized ads (CD)

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• Ben Thompson covered "The Four Horsemen of the Tech Recession" in his latest Stratechery piece.

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared more details about their launch of Bard, Google's newest AI initiative, here.

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