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Adobe’s Figma acquisition collapsed, Nikola founder Trevor Milton is headed to prison, Washington-area office default risk surpassed San Francisco’s, more Americans own stocks than ever before, the EU is targeting Musk’s X in an illegal content probe, and Binance has to pay the CFTC $2.7B.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rose even as Fed officials attempted to rein in expectations for rate cuts

  • The Nasdaq led indices with a 0.63% gain

• Asian stocks mostly fell due to worries about China’s economy

Earnings

• What we're watching this week: 

  • Today: FedEx, Accenture 

  • Wednesday: General Mills, Micron, MillerKnoll, BlackBerry

  • Thursday: Nike, Carnival 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Washington-area office default risk surpasses San Francisco’s (BBG)

• Nikola founder Trevon Milton sentences to four years in prison for fraud (CNBC)

• Apple to halt watch sales as it prepares to comply with US import ban (WSJ)

• Adobe has $6B for AI and buybacks after Figma deal collapses (BBG)

• Swedes support Tesla mechanics’ strike (RT)

• US vows Naval forces to protect ships passing through Suez Canal (WSJ)

• Bond managers seek to win back clients sitting on $6T in funds (BBG)

• More Americans than ever own stocks (WSJ)

• EU targets Musk’s X in first illegal content probe (RT)

• Former First Republic workers sue FDIC over withheld retirement pay (RT)

• ‘Underwater’ car loans signal US consumers slammed by high rates (BBG)

• The Great American warehouse building boom is over (WSJ)

• Czech Republic set to meet $13B deficit goal, finance chief says (BBG)

• Volcano near Iceland’s Grindavik erupts after series of earthquakes (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Adobe scrapped its $20B acquisition of cloud-based designer platform Figma due to regulatory issues in the UK and EU (BBG) 

• Abu Dhabi National Oil is preparing to increase its takeover offer for Covestro and offer concessions; the new proposal will value the German plastics and chemicals maker at ~$12.3B (BBG) 

• Japan’s Nippon Steel will acquire United States Steel for $14.1B to create the world’s second-largest steel company (BBG) 

• French billionaire Xavier Niel’s telecoms company Iliad proposed merging its Italian operations with Vodafone Italia in a cash-and-stock deal that values Vodafone Italia at $11.4B (FT) 

• British landlord LondonMetric Property is in talks to merge with London REIT LXI to create an $8.1B property company (FT) 

• A consortium backed by Clearlake Capital and Insight Partners agreed to acquire software developer Alteryx in a deal that values the company at $4.4B, including debt (BBG) 

• American conglomerate Koch Industries will acquire chemicals company OCI’s US crop nutrient business for $3.6B (BBG) 

• Buyout firm EQT will acquire medical device component manufacturer Zeus in an estimated $3.4B deal (BBG) 

• Door maker Masonite International will acquire PGT Innovations, a manufacturer and supplier of windows and doors, for $3B in a bid to expand its business (RT) 

• IBM will acquire German tech group Software AG’s Super iPaaS, a business that helps companies integrate applications and data, for $2.3B (FT) 

• Abu Dhabi-backed fund CYVN Holdings invested $2.2B in China’s Nio for a 20.1% stake in the EV maker (BBG) 

• Canada's Brookfield is seeking to sell renewable assets worth $1.6B, including debt, owned by its company Saeta Yield (RT) 

• US restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese is exploring a sale amid takeover interest; the company could fetch well over $1B in a sale (RT) 

• PE firm TPG will acquire a 75% stake in a portfolio of warehouse properties around Toronto for $750M from Oxford Properties Group (BBG) 

• Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking will acquire Australian data manager Link Administration Holdings in a $744M deal (BBG) 

• New Hope Liuhe, China’s top animal feed maker and leading meat producer, will sell controlling stakes worth $590M in two core operations to raise cash after heavy losses (BBG)

• AssetMark Financial Holdings’ Chinese controlling shareholder, Huatai Securities, is exploring options for the business including a potential sale (BBG)

VC

• UK power supplier Octopus Energy raised $800M at a $7.8B valuation in an additional funding round led by Origin Energy and Tokyo Gas (BW)

• Saudi BNPL platform Tamara raised a $340M Series C at a $1B valuation led by SNB Capital and Sanabil Investments (TC)

• Guam digital infrastructure provider GTA received a $200M investment from Stonepeak (BW)

• French revenue-based financing platform Unlimitd received a $109.2M investment from Absolute Capital Partners (EU)

• Media monitoring startup Meltwater received a $65M investment from Verdane (TC)

• 4D cardiac imaging and navigation platform LUMA Vision raised a $22M Series A-3 led by EQT Lifesciences, ABV Uni Fund, imec.xpand, and more (BW)

• Plant-based materials startup Lingrove raised a $10M Series B led by Lewis & Clark Agrifood and Diamond Edge Ventures (BW)

• CurbWaste, a provider of a waste management payments software platform, raised a $10M Series A led by Flourish Ventures (FN)

• KAID Health, a medical AI startup, raised $9M in funding led by Activate Venture Partners, Martinson Ventures, and others (FN)

• Strike Graph, a TrustOps platform for operating and measuring security and compliance, raised an $8.5M round led by BAMCAP (FN)

• Aether Fuels, a climate technology company, raised an $8.5M pre-Series A led by JetBlue Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, Doral Energy Tech Ventures, and others (FN)

• Metagood, a blockchain technology and digital assets company, raised a $5M seed round led by Sora Ventures (FN)

• AI-empathy startup Shelpful raised a $3M seed round led by Apollo Projects (VC)

• Crowda, an AI-powered platform connecting investors with real estate developers, extended its Pre-Seed funding round to $2M led by Land Services Group (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Luxury fashion group Golden Goose plans to raise ~$1.1B through a Milan IPO (RT) 

• Citicore Renewable Energy, one of the Philippines' biggest solar power producers, filed for an up to $232M IPO (RT)

Debt

• Morgan Stanley is looking to sell a $350M loan it made to Saudi Arabia’s PIF (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Farfetch secured a lifeline from Korean e-commerce company Coupang, which agreed to lend $500M, buy the assets and delist the troubled fashion platform’s shares (BBG) 

• Insurance software firm and short seller target Ebix filed for bankruptcy after struggling with higher rates and looming debt payments (BBG) 

• Amazon is in talks with Diamond Sports Group and some of its creditors to invest in the bankrupt regional-sports broadcaster and start a streaming partnership (BBG) 

Fundraising

• Merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners raised $3.2B for a new real estate credit fund (BBG) 

• Saudi PE firm Jadwa Investment is seeking to raise $530M for a new fund to boost dealmaking in fast-growing Middle Eastern oil exporting countries (BBG) 

• Argonaut Private Equity raised $500M for its Argonaut Private Equity Fund V to back industrial businesses in underserved parts of the US (WSJ)

• Tech investor DCVC is raising a $300M venture fund that will focus on Series B climate startups (AX) 

Crypto Corner

• US court approves for Binance to pay $2.7B to CFTC (RT)

• The SEC delayed its decision on the listing of the Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust ETF (RT) 

• Coinbase petitioned a US appeals court to review the SEC’s denial of its request for crypto rules (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• Josh Brown wrote about five ways investors lost money in 2023.

• Axios’s Kate Marino explained how falling yields have Wall Street bracing for a refinancing bonanza.

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