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Good Morning,

Sam Altman was fired, almost rehired, then not rehired over the weekend, Wall Street is tired of ESG, Shakira is on trial for alleged tax fraud, Argentina has a new president, Bob Iger has had a roller coaster year at Disney, and former first lady Rosalynn Carter passed away.

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Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks edged slightly upward to close out a third straight winning week

  • The S&P led indices with a 0.13% gain

• European stocks rose thanks to a eurozone October inflation report showing decelerating inflation

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Zoom

  • Tuesday: Nvidia, HP, Lowe’s, Autodesk, Medtronic, Abercrombie & Fitch, Best Buy, Nordstrom, 

  • Wednesday: Deere

  • Thursday: Royal Bank of Canada

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discusses possible return, mulls new AI venture (RT)

• Wall Street’s ESG craze is fading (WSJ)

• Huawei is giving Apple stiff competition in China (CNBC)

• Tesla beat lawsuit claiming it monopolizes repairs, parts (RT)

• Apple’s in-house technologies team still has plenty of work to do (BBG)

• Inside Bob Iger’s roller coaster year at Disney (WSJ)

• Shakira stands trial in Spain for alleged tax fraud (RT)

• Ruble bends to Putin’s will in nod to wartime election economics (BBG)

• OPEC+ to consider whether more oil cuts needed (RT)

• Former first lady Rosalynn Carter died at 96 (WSJ)

• GM’s Cruise CEO offers apology, will allow share sales (RT)

• Bayer ordered to pay $1.56B in latest US trial loss over Roundup weedkiller (RT)

• Argentina votes for new president to confront economic crisis (WSJ)

• India seen keeping rice export bans into 2024, holding up global prices (BBG)

• F1, the NBA and a Super Bowl: Las Vegas makes its play as America’s sports capital (WSJ)

• Israel, Hamas close in on hostage deal amid mounting scrutiny of Gaza death toll (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe is nearing a deal to acquire a 25% stake in Manchester United from the Glazer Family that would value the Premier League team at $5.4B (FT)

• Spanish utility Iberdrola is planning to make an offer for Electricity North West that could value the British power distribution network at up to $4.3B (RT)

• North and South Carolina hospital network Novant Health will acquire three hospitals and their related operations in South Carolina from Tenet Healthcare for $2.4B cash, which Tenet will use to reduce debt (RT)

• The Barclay family made a fresh offer, which is backed by media and sports investment group RedBird IMI, to reclaim the Telegraph newspaper from Lloyds Banking Group; RedBird would lend money to Barclay family, allowing them to repay their $1.4B of debt owed (BBG)

• OneLife Fitness is exploring a sale that could value the US operator of health and fitness clubs at ~$700M (RT)

• Chinese billionaire Li Shufu’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group sold a $350M stake in Volvo Car (BBG)

• Italian fashion house Missoni is exploring a potential sale of the family-owned company (RT)

• Panasonic Holdings agreed to sell part of its automotive systems unit and will potentially seek a public listing of the business (BBG)

• Petal Card, a credit card company backed by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, is exploring options including a possible sale or additional funding (BBG)

• Indonesian state miner PT Mineral Industri Indonesia agreed to acquire a 14% stake in Vale Canada’s and Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining’s Indonesian nickel mining unit (RT)

• Abris Capital Partners is considering a sale of private healthcare provider Scanmed Group; Polish cardiovascular care company American Heart of Poland is the most likely buyer (RT)

• Barclays is exploring a potential acquisition of Tesco’s banking operations (RT)

• Norway's competition watchdog may block Norwegian Air's bid for domestic rival Wideroe, as it may cause fewer and more expensive flights (RT)

VC

• Sustainable aviation fuel startup SkyNRG raised a $190.9M round led by Macquarie Asset Management (EU)

• Forward, a startup using sensors, mobile, and AI to improve healthcare, raised a $100M growth round led by Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, and more (FN)

• Smart glass startup Halio raised a $70M round led by SKC (FN)

• X-Bow Systems, a low-cost hypersonics provider, raised $64M in funding from Lockheed Martin Ventures (PRN)

• RNA and protein manufacturing startup Nature’s Toolbox raised a $47.5M Series B led by RA Capital Management (FN)

• Project management software startup Ingenious.Build raised a $37M Series A led by Morpheus Ventures and Navitas Capital (FN)

• Route 92 Medical, a medical technology company, raised a $31M Series F led by U.S. Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, InnovaHealth Partners, and The Vertical Group (FN)

• Cumulus Coffee Company, a startup advancing a solution for making cold brew at home, raised a $20.3M seed round led by Valor Siren Ventures and Valor Equity Partners (FN)

• Leap, a platform for generating value from distributed energy resources, raised $16M in funding from Presidio Ventures (VC)

• Inclusively, a workforce inclusion platform, raised a $13M Series A led by Firework Ventures (FN)

• Workshop, an email platform for internal communications, raised a $12M Series A led by McCarthy Capital (PRN)

• Every.io, a provider of a ‘back office stack’ for startups, raised a $9.5M seed round led by Base10 (FN)

• Climate tech startup Kind Designs raised a $5M seed round led by Mark Cuban and Anthropocene Ventures (BW)

• Sleek, a Web3 social network, raised a $5M seed round from Binance Labs, Shima Capital, and more (FN)

• Blockchain-based game studio Bazooka Tango raised a $5M round led by BITKRAFT Ventures (FN)

• AireXpert, a Buffalo, NY-based provider of aerospace and aviation collaboration and automation solutions, raised $3M in funding led by Reformation Partners (FN)

• Glencoco, an NYC-based marketplace that connects companies with business development consultants, raised a $3M round led by Felicis and Crossbeam (FN)

• AI startup Artisan AI raised a $2.3M pre-seed round from Y Combinator, Bayhouse Capital, and Oliver Jung (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Shares in WuXi XDC Cayman closed 36% higher in its trading debut after the Chinese cancer drug maker’s $471M Hong Kong IPO (BBG)

• Investment vehicle Investcorp Capital ended its debut day of trading flat after its $451M IPO (BBG)

Debt

• Blackstone is the frontrunner to win a ~$17B portfolio of commercial-property loans from the FDIC’s sale of Signature Bank debt (BBG)

• Veritiv sold $1.3B of debt to support Clayton Dubilier & Rice’s leveraged buyout of the packaging supplier (BBG)

• Banco BPM is selling $327M worth of euro-denominated additional Tier 1 bonds (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Dermatologic treatment designer Timber Pharmaceuticals filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (WSJ)

• Amazon aggregator Thrasio is preparing to file for bankruptcy (WSJ)

Fundraising

• Bain Capital raised $7.1B for its latest Asia-Pacific buyout fund (BBG)

• The renewable investing arm of British energy company Octopus Energy launched a dedicated fund with Japan's Tokyo Gas to invest $3.7B in offshore wind projects by 2030 (RT)

• LG Technology Ventures, LG Group’s VC arm, created a $309M fund to back startups in AI, batteries, and mobility (BBG)

• Cybersecurity VC Ballistic Ventures is seeking to raise as much as $300M for its second fund (TC)

Crypto Corner

• The SEC deferred making a decision again on two more spot Bitcoin ETF applications (BBG)

• Fidelity is seeking to create an ether ETF (CD)

Exec’s Picks

It was a busy weekend in the AI world as OpenAI fired, then tried and failed to rehire Sam Altman as its CEO. We have linked articles below to help you keep up with the latest OpenAI news:

• Axios published a summary of the situation as of November 18th.

• Negotiations between OpenAI’s board and Sam Altman have hit a snag due to disagreements over the board’s role, according to Bloomberg.

• Before his removal from OpenAI, Altman was reportedly looking to raise billions for a new chip venture, according to Bloomberg.

• Microsoft is one of the key players pushing to reinstall Altman, according to Forbes.

• Disagreements between Altman and other OpenAI employees on ‘AI safety’ created a rift that likely contributed to Altman’s dismissal, according to The Information.

• Altman ultimately decided not to return to his role of CEO at OpenAI as of midnight Sunday night, per The Information.

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