Meta Meets Its Fate

Author

Litquidity Capital
November 15, 2024

Together with

Good Morning,

FTC's breakup of Meta, Instagram and WhatsApp is going to trial, the Italian mafia got caught for massive tax fraud, Trump named Jay Clayton as Wall Street's top cop, and Amazon is going head-to-head with Nvidia on AI chips.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 11/14/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks fell as J Pow signaled caution on additional rate cuts 

    • Traders reduced bets of a 25 bps December rate cut to 62% 

  • Canada's TSX index hit a record high

  • China's dollar bond sale priced at zero spread to US Treasurys, the tightest for such debt in 30 years

    • Spreads fell further to -25 bps in their trading debut 

  • Ukraine dollar bond prices surged past 50¢ on bet that Trump will end war 

  • European gas futures hit their highest in a year on Russia supply concerns 

  • Gold held near a two-month low 

Earnings

  • Walt Disney rose 6% after beating Q4 earnings and revenue estimates as streaming growth propelled its entertainment segment (CNBC)  

  • Applied Materials fell 6% after missing Q4 earnings estimates and forecasting a dim Q1 due to slowing sales in China (INV)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Alibaba

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US PPI inflation rose 2.4% YoY (CNBC) 

  • UK GDP grew 0.1% in Q3 (CNBC)

  • Japan GDP grew 0.9% to snap two quarters of YoY declines (GDP)

  • J Pow sees no need to hurry to cut rates (CNBC)

  • Trump will not appoint Jamie Dimon to his administration (BBG)

  • US alternatives industry asked Trump for SEC reform (RT)

  • PE investors are seeking cash back before committing to new funds (WSJ)

  • US money market funds hit a record high of $6.7T (FT)

  • US credit card debt hit a record high, though delinquencies fell (CNBC)

  • BoE governor and UK chancellor called for UK to rebuild ties with EU (FT)

  • Nissan is facing record $5.6B in 2026 maturities amid struggles (BBG)

  • Activists Glenview, Sachem Head and Third Point raised stakes in CVS (RT)

  • FTC breakup of Meta is going to trial (RT)

  • FTC will launch an antitrust investigation into Microsoft's cloud business (RT)

  • Amazon steps up effort to build AI chips to rival Nvidia (FT)

  • EU fined Meta $840M for antitrust ad practices (WSJ)

  • US is investigating Citigroup over ties to sanctioned Russian billionaire (BBG)

  • An ex-BofA broker pled guilty to laundering his father's bribes (WSJ)

  • Trump named ex-SEC chair Jay Clayton as US attorney for Manhattan (BBG)

  • Trump named RFK Jr. as health secretary (BBG)

  • Italy arrested 43 over $550M mafia tax fraud (FT)

  • Immigration to rich countries hit a record high in 2023 (FT)

  • NYC approved a bill shifting broker fees to landlords (NYT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Blackstone and Warburg Pincus are weighing a $12B sale of fintech IntraFi 

  • Coach-owner Tapestry terminated its $8.5B deal to buy Michael Kors-owner Capri after a US judge blocked the deal

  • Blackstone is in talks to acquire a 20% stake in the snacks business of India's Haldiram's at an $8B valuation

  • French building materials producer Saint-Gobain is exploring a sale of its auto glass unit for $2.6B

  • EV maker Zeekr will acquire a 51% stake in peer Lynk at a $2.5B valuation as Chinese automotive giant Geely seeks to streamlines its businesses 

  • Shale producer Ovintiv will acquire Canadian oil assets from Paramount Resources for $2.4B cash

  • ADQ-backed healthcare group PureHealth is weighing an acquisition of hospital operator NMC Healthcare for a few billion dollars

  • General Mills agreed to acquire the North American unit of Whitebridge Pet Brands for ~$1.45B

  • PE firm Carnelian Energy Capital is exploring a sale of US O&G producer Ridgemar Energy at an over $1B valuation, including debt

  • European PE firm Triton will acquire Finnish engineering firm Cargotec's cargo handler business MacGregor in a $506M deal, including debt

  • Warburg Pincus-backed telecoms technology firm Circles is considering a sale of its digital telecom services provider Circles.Life for several hundred million dollars

  • Unilever is exploring a sale of some of its Dutch food brands

  • Sweden's Boliden is nearing a deal to buy Lundin Mining’s two European mines

VC

  • Data analytics firm Databricks is in talks to sell ~$1B in secondary shares at a $55B valuation to Thrive Capital 

  • Elicit Plant, an agri-biotech providing biosolutions for broadacre crops, raised a $48M Series B led by Carbyne Equity Partners 

  • Eco-friendly aviation startup OpenAirlines raised a $47.4M round led by Eiffel IG

  • SwiftConnect, a digital access key for office buildings, raised a $37M Series B led by Quadri Ventures 

  • Vaulted Deep, a carbon removal and storage startup, raised a $32.3M Series A led by Prelude Ventures 

  • Next-gen insurtech solutions startup FASST raised a $29.5M round led by Revaia 

  • AI-enabled travel experiences startup Tourlane raised a $26.4M Series D led by Sequoia

  • Homethrive, a tech-enabled caregiving solutions, raised $20M led by TELUS Global Ventures and 7wireVentures 

  • ePlane, an Indian eVTOL startup, raised a $14M Series B led by Speciale Invest and Antares Ventures 

  • Mach9, a startup using AI to convert mobile lidar scans into 2D and 3D models, raised a $12M seed round led by Quiet Capital 

  • Impilo, a digital healthcare platform, raised an $11.5M Series A led by Construct Capital 

  • Hydrogen-producing electrolyzer startup Ecolectro raised a $10.6M Series A led by Toyota Ventures

  • Influencer marketplace Influur raised a $10M Series A led by Point72 Ventures and HTwenty Capital 

  • Naturbeads, a technology addressing microplastic pollution, raised a $9.9M Series A led by Eos Advisory

  • UAE fintech Pemo raised a $7M round led by Augmentum Fintech

  • SurePath AI, a governing platform for GenAI in the enterprise, raised a $5.2M seed round led by Uncork Capital 

  • UK fintech Tangible raised a $5.1M round led by Future Positive Capital, Hardware Club VC, and more

  • Team-GPT, a startup offering a suite of AI tools, raised a $4.5M seed round led by True Ventures 

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Chinese autonomous driving firm Pony AI is seeking to raise $348M at a $4.5B valuation in a US IPO and private placement

  • Telecoms group VEON is considering a US IPO for its Ukrainian unit Kyivsta

Debt 

  • Banks are preparing an $11.6B debt package to back Brookfield's potential take-private of Spanish pharmaceutical giant Grifols

  • Tapestry is planning to buy back $6.1B of bonds it sold to fund its now-canceled acquisition of Capri

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Bankrupt sports broadcaster Diamond Sports won court approval for an $8B restructuring plan to hand control to lenders and exit Chapter 11

  • Satire news website The Onion will acquire conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars out of bankruptcy

Fundraising

  • Finnish VC Maki raised $105M for its third fund to invest in Nordic deeptech 

Crypto Corner

  • Stablecoin issuer Tether will soon tokenize stocks, bonds, funds and commodities (BBG)

  • Eighteen states sued SEC and SEC chair for 'regulatory overreach' on crypto (CT)

  • Bitfinex hacker got five years in prison for Bitcoin money laundering scheme (CNBC)

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