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Good Morning,

The US labor market was on fire in June, US VC funding declined 50% YoY in Q2, high-yield bond deals are back, Threads hit 30M downloads in its first 16 hours, UBS overhauled leadership in its wealth management division, the US is renewing its audit of NY-listed Chinese firms, and Japan’s base salary growth hit a 28-year high.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Stocks slid yesterday after better-than-expected jobs data increased investors’ anxiety over the Fed's rate hike path

  • The Dow and S&P 500 marked their worst daily performances since May

  • S&P 500 correlation has plunged to near-record lows

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 shed 2.3% in its biggest one-day drop since March

• Singapore stock benchmark is on track for its lowest close in eight months

• US 2Y Treasury yield hit its highest level since 2007 to surpass 5%

• Futures markets priced in a 92% chance of a 25 bps Fed rate hike this month

• Swaps markets priced in a UK interest rate of 6.5% by next March

• Oil is on track for its second straight weekly gain

• Bitcoin touched a 13-month high amid growing institutional demand

Earnings

• Levi Strauss beat Q2 earnings estimates but cut profit outlook for the year due to consumer slowdowns impacting wholesale revenue and high inventory levels, the stock fell 6% AH (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: AZZ, Urban One

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US private sector added 497k jobs in June, smashing estimates (CNBC)

• US layoffs fell to a seven-month low in June (RT)

• Great resignation shows signs of ending (WSJ)

• US VC funding fell ~50% YoY in Q2 (BBG)

• US EV sales surged 50% in H1, but slower than H1 2022 (WSJ)

• AI boom is boosting poor tech industry outlook (WSJ)

• High-yield bond deals are back (AX)

• Green bonds overtook fossil-fuel debt deals for the first time (BBG)

• Threads became the most rapidly downloaded app (NYT)

• Twitter threatens Threads lawsuit against Meta (RT)

• UBS overhauls leadership at wealth management division (RT)

• Exxon is struggling to attract traders amid low pay offers (BBG)

• China’s sinking markets heap pressure on Xi to deliver stimulus (BBG)

• US renewed its audit of NY-listed Chinese firms (BBG)

• Goldman says the West needs to invest $25B+ in rare earths to match China (RT)

• Japan's base salary growth hit 28-year high in May (RT)

• Samsung sales fall most in over a decade as chip slump persists (BBG)

• DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub sue NYC over minimum-wage law (WSJ)

• PepsiCo and Mars see business boom in Russia after staying behind (BBG)

• Tech layoffs disproportionately affected women (AX)

• Lazard fired its co-head of restructuring in North America for inappropriate behavior (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• PE firm GTCR acquired a 55% stake in Worldpay, the merchant services business of Fidelity National Information Services, in a deal that values the unit at $18.5B (RT)

• TPG and Blackstone are evaluating competing bids for Standish Management in a deal that could value the US fund administrator at $1.7B (RT)

• Italy is in talks with Saudi Arabian, Norwegian, and Singaporean sovereign wealth funds over plans for a $1.1B residential area in Milan (RT)

• Scientific instrument maker Thermo Fisher Scientific will acquire healthcare data provider CorEvitas for $913M cash to boost its portfolio of services for pharmaceutical clients (RT)

• Cronos Group, an Altria Group-backed Canadian cannabis producer with a market cap of $773M, is exploring potential options, including a sale, after attracting acquisition interest (RT)

• Vietnam's Saigon–Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank is in discussions to bring in a strategic partner that would own up to a 20% stake in the lender in a deal that would value the bank at $2B-$2.2B (RT)

• London-listed hedge fund Man Group will buy a controlling stake in US middle market private credit manager Varagon Capital Partners for $183M (RT)

• Bausch + Lomb acquired Johnson & Johnson's eye & contact drops brand Blink for $107M (RT)

• Norwegian Air will buy domestic peer Wideroe for $106M to strengthen its Norwegian position (RT)

• Digital marketing company Avenue Z paid $75M for Bevel, a communications firm for tech and VC (BBG)

• Emirates Telecommunications Group and France’s Orange SA are evaluating bids for a 45% stake in Ethiopia’s state-controlled telecom operator, Ethio Telecom (BBG)

• Italian insurer Generali’s asset management arm will buy Connecticut-based rival Conning Holdings as part of a partnership with Cathay Life, a unit of Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holding (RT)

VC

• Clair, a fintech company aiming to launch the first consumer-friendly on-demand pay solution, raised a $175M round led by Thrive Capital (BW)

• Japanese robotics startup Telexistence raised a $170M Series B led by SoftBank (TC)

• CADDi, a provider of procurement solutions for the manufacturing industry, raised an $89M Series C from Globis Capital Partners, DCM Ventures, and more (FN)

• Qover, a Belgian-based insurtech specializing in embedded insurance orchestration, raised a $30M Series C from Alven, Kreos Capital, and Zurich Global Ventures (FN)

• Men's activewear brand Ten Thousand raised a $21.5M Series A led by Provenance (PRN)

• Laser fusion startup EX-Fusion raised a ~$13M seed round led by ANRI, Nissay Capital, Delight Ventures, and more (FN)

• Numarics, a startup building an ‘OS’ for businesses, raised an $11.1M seed round led by UBS and FiveT Fintech (FN)

• nami, a multi-sensing platform and ecosystem enabler for the Internet of Things, raised a $10.5M Series A led by Verizon Ventures, Amavi Capital, INSPiRE, and Aconterra (PRN)

• DataGalaxy, a Lyon-based provider of collaborative data governance solutions, raised a $10M seed round led by AV8 Ventures (FN)

• Kinnu, a London-based AI-powered learning app, raised a $6.5M seed round led by LocalGlobe and Cavalry Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• L Catterton, the PE firm backed by LVMH, is considering strategic options including an IPO for Birkenstock which could value the German sandal maker at over $6B (BBG)

• Renewable energy unit Adani Green plans to raise $1.5B through qualified institutional placement to fund the Adani conglomerate’s coal divestment (BBG)

• Chinese AI startup Fourth Paradigm received China’s nod for a Hong Kong IPO (RT)

Debt

• A group of banks including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs will provide $9.4B of debt to back GTCR’s purchase of a majority stake in FIS’s merchants payment unit Worldpay, in what will be the biggest buyout financing in over a year (BBG)

• India state-run Power Finance Corporation is looking to raise up to ~$738M through two sets of bond sales (ET)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• UK believes that distressed water company Thames Water can avoid falling into public ownership, as it is in talks to raise $1.3B from investors (BBG)

Fundraising

• Altas Partners raised $4B for its third PE fund (PB)

• Enterprise SaaS VC Notion Capital closed its fifth fund at its hard cap of $326M (TC)

• Europe’s Sienna VC is raising $250M to invest in Israeli tech startups (CT)

• Insight Partners raised $118M for its second 20/20 Vision Capital fund to invest in VC funds led by underrepresented managers (RT)

• Climate VC Public Ventures launched a $100M impact fund focused on ‘improving health equity and supporting climate preparedness for underserved communities’ (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Taylor Swift didn't back out of $100M FTX deal, SBF did (CNBC)

• Key Binance execs including strategy chief have quit (BBG)

• CFTC investigators concluded that bankrupt crypto lender Celsius and its ex-CEO broke US rules before its bankruptcy (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear joined the Logan Bartlett Show for a wild conversation that covered everything from whether or not AI will kill us all to his experience in Y Combinator’s first batch with Sam Altman and Paul Graham. Check it out here.

• Speaking of Paul Graham, his newest essay, How to Do Great Work, is must-read material.

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