S&P 5,000

The Chiefs beat the 49ers in a thrilling Super Bowl LVIII, Bezos sold a $2B Amazon stake, gyms are facing lower growth rates, a crowd set a Waymo car ablaze in San Francisco, and the S&P closed above 5,000 for the first time.

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Litquidity Capital
February 12, 2024

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Good Morning,

The Chiefs beat the 49ers in a thrilling Super Bowl LVIII, Bezos sold a $2B Amazon stake, gyms are facing lower growth rates, a crowd set a Waymo car ablaze in San Francisco, and the S&P closed above 5,000 for the first time.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 2/9/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks mostly rose, as the S&P closed above 5,000 for the first time 

    • The Nasdaq led indices with a 1.25% gain, while the Dow fell 0.14%

Earnings

  • PepsiCo shares fell ~4% after beating Q4 earnings expectations but missing on revenue, as net sales declined for the first time in nearly four years (CNBC) 

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Waste Management

    • Tuesday: Airbnb, Shopify, Coca-Cola, Datadog

    • Wednesday: Sony, Cisco Systems, Kraft Heinz

    • Thursday: Coinbase, DraftKings, John Deere, Applied Materials

    • Friday: Cinemark

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII (ESPN)

  • Jeff Bezos sells nearly 12M Amazon shares worth at least $2B, with more to come (CNBC)

  • Apple’s Vision pro is an iPad killer - but not anytime soon (BBG)

  • Gyms face tough year as key January growth screeches to a halt (BBG)

  • The cost of Biden’s climate tax credits is soaring (WSJ)

  • Elon Musk isn’t the only billionaire fighting Delaware (WSJ)

  • X sold million dollar-ad packages for Super Bowl Sunday (BBG)

  • China’s carbon emissions are set to decline year earlier than expected (WSJ)

  • Crowd sets Waymo self-driving vehicle ablaze in San Francisco (RT)

  • The world’s smartest young minds just cracked a 2,000 year old mystery (WSJ)

  • Investors in Airbnb arbitrage business allege they were defrauded in scheme promising ‘higher returns than the stock market’ (CNBC)

  • Travelers ride the rails to save money (and the planet) as Amtrak chases pre-covid ridership (CNBC)

  • Trump’s NATO remark sparks political storm in world capitals (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Permian rivals Diamondback Energy and Endeavor Energy Resources are finalizing a merger to create an oil-and-gas giant worth over $50B (WSJ) 

  • Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing companies, Grab Holdings, which has a $13.4B market cap, and GoTo Group restarted talks for a potential merger (BBG) 

  • Saudi Telecom, Warburg Pincus, and French telecom billionaire Xavier Niel’s Iliad are among suitors that have progressed in the bidding for Altice’s Portuguese assets; Altice is seeking $8.6B-$10.8B for the business (BBG) 

  • Fiberglass manufacturer Owens Corning agreed to buy doormaker Masonite International in a deal worth $3.9B (BBG) 

  • PE firm Advent International is working on a possible $2.5B sale of UK parcel delivery group Evri (BBG) 

  • Commodities trading giant Vitol Group will acquire a controlling stake in refiner Saras from the family of Italian billionaire Massimo Moratti in a deal valuing the company at $1.9B (BBG) 

  • Italy’s electricity grid operator Terna is mulling a bid for high-voltage assets worth as much as $1.6B (BBG) 

  • The founding family of Italian luxury bag and shoemaker Tod’s and PE firm L Catterton are taking the company private in a deal that values the Italian luxury brand at ~$1.5B, excluding debt (FT) 

  • Barclays will buy most of the banking operations of Britain's biggest supermarket group Tesco for ~$757M (RT) 

  • Sony Group is acquiring a half interest in pop star Michael Jackson’s music catalog from the late singer’s estate for at least $600M (BBG) 

  • KKR and Macquarie Group are among suitors shortlisted in the bidding for billionaire Patrick Drahi’s French fiber company (BBG)

VC

  • Neurona Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company, raised a $120M round led by Viking Global Investors and Cormorant Asset Management (FN)

  • Nasdaq Private Market, a provider of liquidity solutions to private companies, raised a $62.4M Series B led by Nasdaq (FN)

  • Sensorion, a biotech company focused on hearing loss, raised $55M in funding from Redmile Group, Invus, Sofinnova Partners, and others (BW)

  • Xensam, a Stockholm-based startup providing AI-based tools to help businesses understand and track where and how software is being used, raised $40M in funding from Expedition Growth Capital (TC)

  • Wrapmate, a technology-driven managed marketplace, received a $16M investment from JettyCove (FN)

  • Navro, a digital payments startup, raised $14M in funding led by Bain Capital and Unusual Ventures (FN)

  • Functional beverage startup Odyssey raised a $6M round from Rocket Beverage Group’s Richard Laver and existing investors (TC)

  • Myrspoven, a Stockholm-based AI software company building optimization, raised a $5.9M round led by 4impact capital, Vantaa Energy, and existing investor AMAVI Capital (FN)

  • Cascading AI, a fintech startup automating the loan application and origination process using AI, raised a $3.9M pre-seed round led by Peterson Ventures (VC)

  • DLT securities trading platform Axiology raised a $2.2M seed round led by Baltic Sandbox Ventures and Coinvest Capital (EU)

  • Recycled plastics procurement platform Cirplus raised a $1.1M round led by WEPA Ventures (EU)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Hyundai Motor is set to hire banks including Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase for an IPO of its Indian unit that may raise ~$2.5B (BBG) 

  • Mexican discount retailer BBB Foods shares rose 8.9% in its debut day of trading after its $589M IPO (BBG) 

  • Kazakhstan's flag carrier Air Astana priced its its IPO at $350M-$370M, giving the company a capitalization of ~$847M (RT) 

  • Shares of Metagenomi Technologies slumped 32% in its debut day of trading, giving the genetics medicine company a $384M valuation (RT) 

  • German perfume retailer Douglas, Swiss skincare giant Galderma, Italian clothing brand Golden Goose, Spanish travel technology firm Hotelbeds, and Spanish fashion group Puig are all considering IPOs in Europe as soon as the first half of this year (RT)

Debt

  • Automotive Cells Company, an EV battery venture led by Mercedes and Stellantis, is close to raising $4.7B in debt from banks, which will be used to finance its expansion in Europe (BBG)

Fundraising

  • Asset manager Ares Management raised $1.7B for private credit fund dedicated to Australia and New Zealand (BBG)

Crypto Corner

  • Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global settled a New York fraud lawsuit (BBG)

  • A New York fraud lawsuit involving Gemini Trust and Digital Currency Group is now seeking $3B in restitution for investors (BBG)  

  • According to JPMorgan, Bitcoin ETFs by BlackRock and Fidelity are gaining a liquidity edge over a larger rival from Grayscale Investments (BBG)

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