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Good Morning,

Swiss National Bank lost $143B in 2022, Eurozone unemployment is at a record low, Bed Bath & Beyond is a meme stock again, Disney employees are being called back to the office four days per week, Rolls-Royce hit record sales in 2022, and UGA dominated TCU in the national championship game.

While college football is over, the NFL playoffs are just getting started. Check out today's sponsor, Hecho, for your go-to tequila soda for playoff szn.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• Tech stocks were the major winners on Monday as investors bet on slower Fed rate hikes 

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.9% as China reopened borders overnight 

• Canada's TSX rose 0.2% to a four-week high 

• The dollar slid to a 7-month low against the euro 

• Fed officials expect Thursday's December CPI data to influence the size of their January-end rate hike

  • Rates markets are now pricing in a ~75% chance of a 25 bps Fed rate hike

Earnings

• Jefferies posted a 52% and 18% decline in Q4 profit and net revenue respectively as dealmaking tumbles; they nonetheless posted their second-best year for IBD revenue (YH)

• What we're watching this week: 

  • Today: Bed Bath & Beyond 

  • Thursday: TSMC

  • Friday: JPMorgan, BofA, Citi, Wells Fargo, BlackRock

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• ECB expects 'very strong' wage growth over next few quarters (RT)

• Eurozone unemployment remained at a record low 6.5% in November (RT)

• Investors ploughed $867B into ETPs in 2022, second highest inflow on record (RT)

• Swiss National Bank posted a record $143B loss in 2022 (RT)

• 40% of German firms expect output decline in 2023 (RT)

• PE firms are increasingly investing in drug makers (RT)

• Canadian building permit values rose by 14.1% MoM in November (RT)

• Bed Bath & Beyond surged 75% before-the-bell as retail investors weigh their potential bankruptcy (YH)

• J&J will pursue M&A to boost eye care and surgical robots business (RT)

• Disney employees must return to the office four days a week (CNBC)

• Alibaba shares jumped 7% on news of Jack Ma ceding control (RT)

• SEC charged McDonald's ex-CEO for misleading investors about his firing (RT)

• Rolls-Royce posted record sales in 2022 (RT)

• Berkshire Hathaway sold shares worth $25.9M in EV-maker BYD (RT)

• Morgan Stanley COO Jon Pruzan is retiring (RT)

• Novavax's longtime CEO Stanley Erck is retiring (RT)

• A UN report claims the ozone layer could heal by 2040 (NYT)

• Over 7k NYC nurses striked on Monday (AP)

A Message From Hecho

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Sip responsibly, and Sip Hecho.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• CVS Health Corp is exploring an acquisition of primary care center operator Oak Street Health, which has a market cap of $5.5B (RT)

• Vista Equity Partners agreed to by insurance technology provider Duck Creek Technologies for ~$2.6B (BBG)

• Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca agreed to buy US biotech CinCor Pharma for up to $1.8B (BBG)

• Israeli-backed PE fund GOI Energy partnered with commodities trader Trafigura to buy Lukoil's Sicilian refinery for $1.6B (FT)

• Italy's Chiesi Farmaceutici will buy Amryt Pharma in a $1.48B deal (RT)

• Canadian fintech Nuvei agreed to buy US payments tech firm Paya in a $1.3B deal (RT)

• The management group of financial services firm Canaccord Genuity is seeking to take the firm private in a potential $843M deal (BBG)

• Israeli insurance and investment group Harel offered to acquire credit card company Isracard at a $770M valuation (RT)

• Activist investment fund Inclusive Capital acquired a 0.83% stake in German pharma giant Bayer for $435M (RT)

• Microsoft acquired DPU-maker Fungible for ~$190M (TC)

• Toronto Stock Exchange owner TMX agreed to buy a 21% stake in US data analytics company VettaFi for $175M (RT)

• Biotech Neurocrine Biosciences entered a strategic agreement with gene therapy treatment maker Voyager Therapeutics, investing $175M upfront with Voyager being eligible for up to $2.7B for hitting development/commercial goals (BBG)

• Life sciences firm Qiagen acquired DNA-biometrics firm Verogen in a $150M cash deal (RT)

• Credit Suisse is close to acquiring ex-Citigroup executive Michael Klein's advisory boutique M. Klein & Co for a few hundred million dollars (BBG)

• Miner Tianqi Lithium agreed to buy Australian lithium explorer Essential Metals for $94M (BBG)

• India's IIFL Private Equity Fund is set to invest up to $72M in hospital chain Kauvery Hospital for a minority stake (LM)

• 117 parties have expressed interest in buying at least one of FTX's four for-sale units (BI)

• PSG-owner Qatar Sports Investments is targeting Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool for potential takeovers (BBG)

• French media firm Vivendi's Canal Plus will buy the OCS film and pay-TV division of Orange, France's biggest telecoms group (RT)

• UK battery startup Britishvolt is in talks with a consortium of investors to sell a majority stake in the company (RT)

• The Intercept, a progressive nonprofit investigative news outlet, will spin off from its parent First Look Media (AX)

• Angel Island Capital Management merged with Nassau Financial Group to become a subsidiary of Nassau’s asset management arm (BW)

VC

• In-home care provider Monogram Health raised $375M in new funding from investors including CVS Health, Cigna Ventures and TPG Capital (PRN)

• Hybrid healthcare company Carbon Health raised a $100M Series D from CVS Health Ventures (BW)

• SoniVie, a medical device startup focused on hypertension, raised a $60M Series C led by Andera Partners (PRN)

• Superscript, an insurtech startup targeting SMEs and growing tech firms, raised a $54M Series B led by BHL UK (TC)

• Job change data provider Live Data Technologies raised a $5M Series A led by Entrada Ventures (BW)

• Releaf, a Nigerian agritech startup supplying ingredients to manufacturers, raised a $3.3M pre-Series A led by Samurai Incubate Africa (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• UK revived talks with Japan's SoftBank regarding a London IPO for chip designer Arm (FT)

• Tencent-backed Chinese healthcare startup WeDoctor plans to file for an IPO in either the US or Hong Kong by end of April (BBG)

• Singapore commodity trader Olam Group plans to IPO its majority-owned Olam Agri Holdings in Saudi Arabia as early as H1 2023 (RT)

• Sony and Honda's year-old EV JV is considering an IPO (RT)

• Danish investment bank Saxo Bank is considering a Copenhagen IPO as early as this year after a failed SPAC merger (RT)

Fundraising

• Khosla Ventures is raising up to $3B for three new funds: $1.5B for its eighth flagship fund, $1B for its second opportunities fund, and $400M for its latest seed fund (AX)

• Six former executives from GoldPoint Partners launched Dextra Partners, a new multistrategy middle-market private investment manager, with $2.5B of capital (WSJ)

• India-focused PE firm ChrysCapital raised $1.4B for its ninth fund, the largest ever India PE fund (CQ)

• Superannuation fund HESTA committed $200M to its 12-year-old sustainability focused PE investment program with Stafford Capital Partners (AFR)

• Golden Gate Capital, a firm long differentiated from other PE firms with its evergreen fund, is considering raising a traditionally structured PE fund (BOI)

Crypto Corner

• Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi repaid an investor $15M to settle a threatened lawsuit over its cratering equity value (RT)

• BlockFi management hasn't withdrawn any crypto since October (CD)

• Coinbase surged over 15% as analysts said it could benefit from FTX collapse (MW)

• Mastercard launched a web3-focused artist incubator with blockchain platform Polygon (TC)

• YouTube star Logan Paul apologized for CryptoZoo project failure (BBC)

• Four crypto billionaires’ deaths in one month have sparked wild theories among crypto community (CT)

Exec's Picks

• The New York Times covered the story about Noma, the world's best restaurant, closing its doors.

• According to Forbes, Binance is bleeding assets, down $12B in under two months.

The Hiring Block 💼

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

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