Mask Off, England Edition

Russia is (probably) invading this time, Boris said no more covid restrictions, China is investigating Jack Ma again, Carl Icahn launched a proxy fight for two McDonald's board seats, over $100M in luxury cars are still lost at sea, the Ottawa blockade is dispersing, SpaceX may move launches to Florida, fracking is back, and FTX is entering the gaming business.

Together with

Good Morning,

Russia is (probably) invading this time, Boris said no more covid restrictions, China is investigating Jack Ma again, Carl Icahn launched a proxy fight for two McDonald's board seats, $155M in luxury cars are still lost at sea, the Ottawa blockade is dispersing, a Marathon refinery exploded, fracking is back, and FTX is entering the gaming business.

New BSD podcast dropped last night, with Lit and Mark running through Wall Street’s most detailed salary dataset ever. Catch the latest on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

If you want to invest in the short-term rental real estate market, check out today's sponsor, reAlpha. Not only can you invest through them, you can invest in the company itself by clicking here. 

Happy second Monday, let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 2/21/2022 market close.

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

  • US stock markets were closed yesterday due to Presidents' Day, but deal flow, foreign equities, and crypto remained active

  • Investors continue to monitor the ever-changing Russia-Ukraine conflict

  • The other primary market driver continues to be monetary policy, as investors watch how the Fed plans to react to inflation

Earnings

  • What we’re watching today: Home Depot, Macy’s

  • Wed: Lowe’s, eBay, Hertz

  • Thurs: Moderna, Etsy, Beyond Meat

  • Fri: Foot Locker

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Biden set to order sanctions on separatist regions of Ukraine, EU vows additional measures (CNBC)

  • Fed’s Bowman backs March hike, is open to debate on half-point (BBG)

  • UK PM Boris Johnson to lift all remaining Covid restrictions in England (CNBC)

  • US warns that Moscow has compiled lists of Ukrainians to target after invasion (CNBC)

  • Putin recognizes separatist eastern Ukrainian regions as independent (CNBC)

  • China tells banks, state firms to report exposure to Jack Ma’s Ant (BBG)

  • UK to roll out additional Covid shots for over 75s and vulnerable people within weeks (CNBC)

  • Carl Icahn launches proxy fight for two McDonald’s board seats (WSJ)

  • Marathon’s Louisiana refinery rocked by explosion, fire (BBG)

  • Porsches and Lamborghinis lost at sea may be worth $155M (BBG)

  • Ottawa blockade largely dispersed as financial crackdown widens (BBG)

  • Frackers push into once-dead shale patches as oil nears $100/barrel (WSJ)

  • US nears return to Iran nuclear deal (WSJ)

  • Virgin Hyperloop axes half its staff to focus on freight (FT)

  • Big Oil on course for near-record $38B in share buybacks (FT)

  • NBC draws lowest Olympics ratings ever with Beijing games (WSJ)

A Message From reAlpha

Airbnb has revolutionized the real estate and hospitality industries and created opportunities for wealth generation with short-term rental properties. There are currently over 10 million short-term rental properties globally, representing a $1.2 trillion market.

Even so, traditional barriers to real estate investing still exist.

That’s why reAlpha is revolutionizing this market through advanced technology and democratizing it through fractional ownership. Their AI-chosen Airbnb properties have the potential to beat long-term rental property revenue by 70%+ per property. 

Now, reAlpha is taking democratization a step further, allowing anyone to become a shareholder in their entire business model.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Standard General and Apollo Global are nearing a deal to acquire television broadcaster Tegna in deal valued at $24/share, which would give the broadcaster a $4.6B valuation (BBG)

  • Italian payments giant Nexi is in advanced talks to buy BPER Banca’s Italian payments unit for ~$400M (BBG)

  • 777 Partners is finalizing an acquisition of Brazilian football club Vasco Da Gama which is valued at ~$330M (BBG)

  • Warburg Pincus is weighing taking full control of wealth manager Tilney Smith & Williamson by buying out co-owner Permira (BBG)

  • German health-care technology provider Stratec’s founder is exploring options which could include a potential sale (BBG)

  • Ant Group-backed fintech M-DAQ agreed to buy e-wallet operator Wallex (BBG)

  • Advent International is the likely buyer of Chinese health-food and bakery chain Wagas (BBG)

VC

  • Swedish EV startup Volta Trucks raised a $260M Series C at a $490M+ valuation led by Luxor Capital (TC)

  • Crypto trading platform Amber Group raised $200M at a $3B valuation led by Temasek, with participation from existing shareholders including Sequoia China, Pantera Capital, and Tiger Global (BBG)

  • Groundfloor, a real estate wealthtech platform, raised $118M: a $5.8M equity investment & $100M via Groundfloor's investment platform from Medipower, a $7.2M equity investment from 3,600+ individual investors through SeedInvest, and $5M in convertible notes from 86 investors on the platform (PRN)

  • Dowsure, a startup providing credit for e-commerce sellers, raised a $20M Series B led by an undisclosed strategic investor (PRN)

  • Zoomo, a last mile delivery e-bike supplier, raised an additional $20M in equity to close out its Series B led by Collaborative Fund (TC)

  • Jambo, a Congo-based web3 user acquisition platform, raised a $7.5M seed round from Coinbase, Alameda Research and more (TC)

  • Upflowy, a no-code startup with drag and drop tools to build and optimize web experiences, raised $4M in funding led by Counterpart Ventures (TC)

  • Volt, a DeFi platform built on the Fuse Network, raised a $3.4M round from Spark Capital, TRGC, and more (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • E-commerce firm Zazzle taps Citi, Barclays for IPO which could see the company valued between $1B-$2B (BBG)

  • State-owned Dubai Electricity & Water Authority is considering tripling its annual dividend target to $1.69B after its Q1 IPO (BBG)

  • Mekong Capital-backed Vietnam loan company F88 is seeking a $1B valuation at its planned 2024 listing (BBG)

  • HSBC will initiate a share buyback of as much as $1B after posting a 79% increase in adjusted pretax profit to ~$4B in Q4 (BBG)

  • Indian whiskey maker Allied Blenders picked banks ICICI, Axis for its IPO in which it plans to sell $300M in shares (BBG)

  • British sports-car maker Lotus is considering listing its electric vehicle arm, Lotus Tech, in the UK, US, or China; though size of issue and valuation are still to be determined (BBG)

Crypto Corner

  • Crypto exchange FTX US is launching a new gaming business (TBC)

  • Russian government introduces crypto bill to parliament despite central bank objections (CD)

  • Coinbase rewards researcher $250k for discovering "market-nuking" bug (TBC)

Exec's Picks

  • FranShares - where anyone can earn passive income, diversify their portfolio, and hedge against inflation through franchise investing with target returns of 16.00% - 21.86%. More than 9,000 investors are already on the waitlist. Don’t miss your chance to get in on this investment opportunity – join the waitlist and secure your spot today!

  • Yesterday, Jack Raines wrote a great piece about how being right for the wrong reasons can be disastrous for investors. Check out his latest here.

  • If you're a guy planning to escape the freezing winter cold and heading down to Miami, Tulum, or Cartagena for the winter, up your swimsuit game with a pair of Meriggi shorts. Inspired by the relaxed Mediterranean vibe, these shorts will have the ladies coming to your beach cabana asking you where you're from.

Big Swinging Decks Podcast

🚨NEW BSD DROPPED LAST NIGHT🚨

In today's episode, Lit and Mark run through Wall Street’s most detailed salary dataset ever. 

The two former bankers and voices of the Bullpen also start the campaign to raise all banks' meal allowances for junior bankers - tune in and join the movement! The official 2021 compensation survey will be available to Exec Sum subscribers.

As always, this podcast is brought to you by CoinFLEX.US. Check 'em out.

Catch the latest episode on Spotify and Apple.

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've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

Meme Cleanser

Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝

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