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Traders Love the World Cup ⚽

The US beat Iran to advance to the next round of the World Cup 🇺🇸, traders are too busy watching soccer to trade securities, US sports drew record viewership over Thanksgiving, banks are looking to offload buyout debt from their balance sheets, and Alameda owes $55k to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.

Together with

Good Morning,

The US beat Iran to advance to the next round of the World Cup 🇺🇸, traders are too busy watching soccer to trade securities, US sports drew record viewership over Thanksgiving, banks are looking to offload buyout debt from their balance sheets, and Alameda owes $55k to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

11/29/2022 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks dipped yesterday as investors awaited guidance on the Fed's rate hike path

    • Jerome Powell is expected to speak on the US economy and labor market today

Earnings

  • HP beat on Q4 EPS and revenue estimates thanks to strong technology infrastructure demand, while providing better-than-expected Q1 '23 sales forecasts (BBG)

  • Intuit beat on Q1 EPS and revenue estimates on strong small business sales while raising its Q2 guidance (MW)

  • What we're watching this week:

    • Today: Royal Bank of Canada, Salesforce, Victoria's Secret

    • Thursday: Toronto-Dominion Bank, Kroger

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US Treasury yield curve inversion has reached new extremes (WSJ)

  • US consumer confidence slipped to a four-month low in November (RT)

  • US government will backstop mortgages above $1M for first time (WSJ)

  • The World Cup is on, and traders are watching, leading to low trading volumes (BBG)

  • Banks stuck with $42B of buyout debt on their balance sheets seize chance to offload it before end of year (BBG)

  • UK will allow banks to take on more risk to stay competitive (RT)

  • Oil prices are back near pre-Ukraine war levels (AX)

  • Most of Dubai's newly listed shares are trading below IPO price (BBG)

  • Credit Suisse investors dumped rights to subscribe to new shares in a cash call aiming to raise $2.3B (RT)

  • US Senate grilled Albertsons and Kroger CEOs over firms' $25B merger (RT)

  • AMC Networks will lay layoff 20% of US workforce as their CEO stepped down (WSJ)

  • Juventus FC's entire board resigned amid investigation into its finances (FT)

  • Snap will require employees to be in offices 80% of time starting late February (RT)

  • Chinese authorities are seeking out Covid protesters (RT)

  • Qatar claims up to 500 migrant workers died due to World Cup (AP)

  • NFL, World Cup, and college football all drew record viewership over Thanksgiving weekend (AX)

  • Twitter postponed Blue Verified relaunch (TI)

  • US Thanksgiving weekend saw a record 197M shoppers (RT)

A Message From Affinity

Volatile market conditions have forced both sides of M&A transactions to rethink their sourcing strategies.

Affinity hosted a webinar where they spoke to Eden Global Partners and Solganick & Co about the strategies they’re using to maintain momentum in the M&A market throughout the end of 2022—and how they’re planning to source the best deals into 2023 and beyond.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • RBC, Canada’s biggest bank, agreed to buy HSBC’s Canadian operations for $10.1B (WSJ)

  • Fosun Pharmaceutical is considering a sale of Indian drugmaker Gland Pharma, which has a market value of ~$3.8B (BBG)

  • Carlyle is exploring a multibillion-dollar bid for a large part of Austrian energy company OMV’s oil and gas portfolio (BBG)

  • Swiss food and beverage company Nestle may put its Palforzia peanut-allergy treatment up for sale, only two years after buying it in a $2.7B deal (BBG)

  • Medical tech firm Boston Scientific will buy smaller peer Apollo Endosurgery for $615M, including debt (RT)

  • Italy-controlled power generator supplier Ansaldo Energia will raise $569M in capital and push back debt maturities amid Europe's gas crisis (RT)

  • Global Infrastructure Partners is considering buying Indian telecommunications infrastructure provider Tower Vision India at a potential $300-400M valuation (BBG)

  • Drugmaker AstraZeneca agreed to buy biotech company Neogene Therapeutics for up to $320M (RT)

  • Indian drug maker Gland Pharma will buy French pharma firm Cenexi for $124.3M (RT)

  • Pharmaceutical companies Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi are separately engaged in preliminary discussions to buy Horizon Therapeutics, a developer of medicines for rare autoimmune and inflammatory diseases (BBG)

  • Cosmetics maker Natura & Co is working with BofA and Morgan Stanley to sell a stake in its high-end Aesop unit (BBG)

  • Indian conglomerate Tata Group agreed to merge Air India with Vistara, its JV with Singapore Airlines, to create a bigger full-service carrier (RT)

VC

  • Locus Robotics, a warehouse robotics startup, raised a $117M Series F led by Goldman Sachs, G2 Venture Partners, and Stack (TC)

  • Rgenta Therapeutics, a startup developing RNA-targeting medicines, raised a $52M Series A led by AZ CICC Healthcare Investment Fund (PRN)

  • Speech recognition startup Deepgram raised a $47M round led by Madrona (PRN)

  • Greenwood, a digital banking platform for Black and Latino individuals / businesses, raised a $45M round led by Pendulum (BW)

  • Nifter, an art-focused NFT marketplace, is seeking to raise a $40M seed round (BW)

  • Coworking and warehouse space company Saltbox raised a $35M Series B led by Cox Enterprises and Pendulum Holdings (TC)

  • Zylo, a startup helping companies reduce SaaS costs and operationalize renewals, raised a $31.5M Series C led by Baird Capital (PRN)

  • Southeast Asian insurtech startup Igloo raised a $27M Series B extension led by Cathay Innovation (TC)

  • Pearpop, a marketplace for social collaborations, raised an $18M Series A extension at a $300M valuation led by Sound Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Blockchange Ventures, and more (TC)

  • Adtech startup Silverpush raised a $12M Series C led by JM Finance PE (PRN)

  • Digital work analytics platform Produce8 raised a $6M seed round from undisclosed tech investors (PRN)

  • Energy and maritime intelligence startup SynMax raised a $6M seed round led by Skylar Capital (BW)

  • Jurata Thin Film, a startup working to stabilize vaccines at room temperature, raised a $4.9M seed round led by Golden Seeds (PRN)

  • Orda, a a startup digitizing restaurants in Africa, raised a $3.4M seed round led by Quona Capital and FinTech Collective (TC)

  • Carbon Reform, a startup building modular carbon removal tech, raised a $3M seed round led by Azolla Ventures (PRN)

  • Ixana, a startup developing wearable silicon chip hardware, raised a $3M seed round from Uncorrelated Ventures, Samsung Next, Evonexus, and more (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trade

  • Chinese insurer Sunshine Insurance plans to raise up to $948M in a Hong Kong IPO (BBG)

Debt

  • Banks including JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley will seek to market $417M of debt used to fund betting company 888’s purchase of peer William Hill International (BBG)

Fundraising

  • Carlyle plans to raise $8.5B+ for a new private credit fund (BBG)

  • Adams Street Partners, a private markets investment firm, closed its 2022 Global Fund Program with $1.1B in committed capital (BW)

  • Scania, a Swedish transportation and industrial conglomerate, launched a $190M second fund to invest in B2B startups (PRN)

  • TriLinc Global Impact Fund raised $50M in funding from Blue Orchard and KfW DEG to invest in growth-stage SMEs in developing economies (BW)

Crypto Corner

  • Genesis creditors are organizing with restructuring lawyers and seeking options to keep the crypto brokerage out of bankruptcy (BBG)

  • Crypto exchange Bitfront will shut down (RT)

  • Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi claimed to be 'the antithesis of FTX' and will seek to return customer funds ASAP (RT)

  • FTSE Russell unveiled a crypto index series (CD)

  • Crypto exchange Kraken agreed to pay $360k for violating Iran sanctions (TV)

  • FTX's Alameda Research owes $55k to Jimmy Buffett's Bahamas Margaritaville bar, making it the trading firm's fourth-largest creditor (BI)

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Holiday Merch SZN

We've got some new pieces in the merch store and select items on sale! If you're looking for some quick gift ideas for the finance hardo in your family or want to get a last minute white elephant present for someone in the office, now's your chance!

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