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Good Morning,

Gucci and Chanel are gobbling up US real estate, rising rates will likely affect bank balance sheets next quarter, Jamie Dimon predicted a 3.5 day work week for the next generation, the Russell 2000 turned negative for the year, Evergrande shares resumed trading, and Netflix is selling merch.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed mixed as investors reacted to the US narrowly avoiding a government shutdown

  • The Nasdaq gained 0.67%, while the Dow closed 0.22% lower

• WTI prices fell 2.2% to below $90/barrel

• European stocks fell, led by a 1.28% decline in England’s FTSE 100, after the latest PMI revealed a downturn in manufacturing output

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: McCormick & Company

  • Wednesday: Tilray

  • Thursday: Lamb Weston, Levi’s, Constellation Brands

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Rising rates likely hit bank balance sheets in quarter (WSJ)

• JPMorgan’s Dimon predicts 3.5-day work week for next generation thanks to AI (BBG)

• Drag on oil demand in China and US is limiting rally, Citigroup’s Morse says (BBG)

• The benchmark for small cap stocks - the Russell 2000 - turned negative for the year (CNBC)

• China Evergrande shares soar as trade resumes amid police probe (BBG)

• Netflix takes a page from Disney and hawks more merch (WSJ)

• Ackman says the economy is starting to slow and the Fed is likely done hiking (CNBC)

• US warned China to expect updated export curbs in October (RT)

• Gucci, Chanel, and other luxury retailers splurge on American real estate (WSJ)

• Argentines’ love of dollars creates a windfall for local brokers (BBG)

• Tougher return-to-office policies are no remedy for half-empty buildings (WSJ)

• Microsoft CEO says Google’s agreements with Apple unfairly harmed Bing (WSJ)

• Pentagon sees months left in supply of weapons for Ukraine (WSJ)

• Fast-food drive-thru lanes speed up as fewer drivers wait in line (CNBC)

• Casino stocks were flying, now they’re flirting with bear market (BBG)

• Ally Financial starts job cuts with less than 5% of staff affected (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Italian construction magnate Matterino Dogliani’s family firm Finnic is considering a takeover bid for Autostrade per l’Italia that could value the highway operator at ~$21B, including debt; Italian Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said an offer would be of ‘great interest’ (BBG & RT)

• PE firms Bain Capital and Cinven lined up banks to help them weigh options for Stada Arzneimittel, including a potential sale of the $10.5B German drugmaker (BBG)

• Bain Capital is mulling a 49% stake sale in US LBM that could value the building materials group at $7B or more, including debt (BBG)

• Shipping group MSC will acquire a 50% stake in Italian passenger rail operator Italo, which is currently owned by Global Infrastructure Partners; deal terms were not disclosed, but it was previously reported that the deal would give Italo an EV of $4.4B (RT)

• Drugmaker Viatris will divest some of its businesses for a total of up to $3.6B: France-based Cooper Consumer Health offered $2.17B for almost all of its OTC drug business, while Spanish pharmaceutical company Insud Pharma and Iquest Enterprises will buy its women’s healthcare business and active pharmaceutical ingredients business in India for $1.2B in total proceeds (RT)

• Tech-focused PE firm Vista Equity Partners is exploring a sale of Quickbase that may value the software company at over $2.5B, including debt (BBG)

• Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is weighing a sale of Gigamon, which could value the private technology company at over $2B (BBG)

• China's Hollysys Automation Technologies, a maker of automation and control systems, will consider a $1.6B takeover offer from a consortium led by Recco Control Technology and Dazheng Group Investment Holdings, as well multiple other offers (RT)

• Cinven is weighing a a sale of German life insurer Viridium after another one of its insurance investments was hit by heavy customer outflows; Viridium had a book value of over $1.1B in 2021 (RT)

• KKR sold an industrial property portfolio for a total aggregate value of $560M to an undisclosed buyer (RT)

• KKR is in exclusive talks to acquire Eugin from German health care company Fresenius in a potential deal that values the Spanish and Portugese fertility clinics at $529M (RT)

• Lithia Motors will acquire British auto dealer Pendragon’s UK motor and leasing businesses for $482M (RT)

• Casino Guichard-Perrachon sold 61 shops to rival Les Mousquetaires at an EV of $220M as the troubled French retailer tries to restructure its debt (BBG)

• MC2 Titanium will acquire a 98% stake in cyber security business Trustwave from Singapore Telecommunications for $205M (RT)

• TalkTalk Telecom Group is selling its B2B division to the broadband provider’s main shareholders at a $116M valuation ahead of its breakup (BBG)

VC

• Quinbrook, a specialist investment manager focused exclusively on the infrastructure needed to deliver the energy transition, raised $750M for its UK-focused Renewables Impact Fund (BW)

• Vietnamese consumer goods company Masan Group raised $500M in equity from Bain Capital (PRN)

• Social AI platform Chai raised a $40M investment at a $450M valuation from CoreWeave (PRN)

• Albo, a neo bank, raised a $40M Series C led by Morpheus Ventures (FN)

• League One Volleyball, a professional volleyball league, raised $35M in funding led by Left Lane Capital (FN)

• AI company Health Data Analytics Institute raised a $31M Series C led by Invus (PRN)

• HDAI, a care optimization and decision support company, raised a $31M Series C led by Nassib Chamoun (FN)

• Farther, an NYC-based wealth management firm, raised a $31M Series B at a $131M valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (FN)

• Framer, an Amsterdam-based web design platform, raised a $27M Series C led by Meritech Capital (FN)

• IYK, a remote Web3 startup that helps brands launch digital collectibles tied to real-life products, raised a $16.8M seed round led by a16z Crypto (FN)

• Qube Technologies, a global leader in cost-effective and accurate continuous emissions monitoring technology, raised a $15M Series B from Riverbend Energy Group (BW)

• AI Clearing, an autonomous construction progress tracking and quality control platform, raised a $14M Series A led by Prudence (BW)

• Rated Labs, a London-based, Ethereum-based oracle and datasets provider, raised a $12.9M Series A led by Archetype (FN)

• Kafene, a POS financing platform, raised a $12.6M Series B extension led by Third Prime (PRN)

• Bonsai Robotics, a startup building vision-based autonomy for farm equipment, raised a $10.5M seed round led by Acre Venture Partners (TC)

• Cultivate Power, a distributed solar and storage project developer, raised $10M in equity funding from Generate Capital (PRN)

• Biopharmaceutical company Mogrify raised a $10M Series A extension led by Astellas Venture Management and Parkwalk Advisors (BW)

• Queer social app Lex raised a $5.6M seed round led by Stellation Capital (TC)

• Piccolo Medical, a medical device startup, raised a $5.5M Series B led by Event Capital Strategies (PRN)

• MeetingPackage, an all-in-one sales automation software specializing in venue and group bookings, raised a $4.6M Series A led by Scale Capital (EU)

• PDF summarization and question-answering startup Humata AI raised a $3.5M round from Google’s Gradient Ventures, ARK Invest, and M13 (TC)

• AskFora, a startup helping companies work with people they know, raised $1.5M in funding from Firsthand Alliance, Glasswing Ventures, Koa Labs, Ex Ventures, and others (FN)

• Shopblocks, an e-commerce platform that enables companies to create an online store, raised over $1.5M in funding led by Mercia Equity Finance (FN)

• Tailbox, a startup developing a platform for personalized tours powered by generative AI, raised a $1.5M seed round from Link Ventures (VC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• German premium footwear brand Birkenstock, which is backed by PE firm L Catterton, targeted a fully diluted valuation of ~$10B for its highly anticipated US IPO; it is looking to raise up to ~$1.6B (RT)

• Nordic insurance group Sampo Oyj spun off its Mandatum asset management and life insurance unit, which started trading at a market value of $2B (BBG)

• French software company Planisware launched an IPO on Euronext Paris and is seeking to raise $255M at a valuation of up to $1.3B (RT)

• PT Barito Renewables Energy is poised to raise $203M through an IPO in Jakarta (BBG)

• Russian technology company Astra is plans to list its shares on the Moscow Stock Exchange this month through an IPO (RT)

SPAC

• Taiwanese live streaming platform 17Live received a $676M merger proposal from Singapore-listed Vertex Technology Acquisition Corp. to become Singapore’s first SPAC to find a target (BBG)

Fundraising

• T. Rowe Price Group and Oak Hill Advisors are launching a new private credit fund, T. Rowe OHA Select Private Credit Fund, which already has $1.5B of investible capital (BBG)

• Payments processor Visa launched a $100M venture fund to invest in generative AI startups (RT)

Crypto Corner

• Coinbase secured a full payments license from Singapore (RT)

• SBF allegedly considered paying Donald Trump not to run for re-election in 2020 (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• Matt Levine explained why Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense will be tough in his court hearing.

• Electric truck manufacturer Rivian Automative is apparently losing $33,000 per truck sold, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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