Together with

Good Morning,

Wells Fargo was fined $3.7B for misconduct, Musk will resign as Twitter CEO and is looking for a successor, ESG funds are set for a net outflow this year, Phoenix pro basketball teams are getting scooped up by a billionaire, German VC funding is down 46%, AWS got a $724M Navy contract, US lawmakers unveiled a $1.65 trillion spending bill for 2023, and SBF is getting extradited to the US.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stock indexes edged slightly higher after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly raised the cap on a benchmark rate, inching away from its ultra relaxed monetary policies 

  • All three major US indexes broke a four day losing streak 

• Tesla fell 8% yesterday on growing angst over Elon Musk's Twitter distraction

Earnings

• Nike smashed Q2 EPS and revenue estimates as persistent North America and Europe demand helped offset a sales slump in China; their stock jumped 12% AH (RT)

• FedEx beat Q2 EPS estimates on aggressive cost-cutting measures that are offsetting persistent weak demand; their stock rose 3.7% AH to cover the day's losses (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week: 

  • Today: Micron

  • Thursday: CarMax

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US business equipment borrowings rose 9% in November (RT)

• ESG funds are set for first annual net outflow in over a decade (RT)

• Cash is losing its top spot as euro zone's dominant means of payment (RT)

• Tech start-ups are racing for debt deals amid funding crunch (FT)

• German VC funding fell by 46% to $11.9B in 2022 (SFT)

• US lawmakers unveiled a wide-ranging, $1.65 trillion spending bill for 2023 with sharp increases in military and domestic spending (WSJ)

• Australian Securities Exchange abandoned plans to overhaul ASX using blockchain (RT)

• EU states rejected plans to ban brokers from earning fees for directing share trades to trading platforms (RT)

• Instacart, Databricks, Arm could lead the IPO market out of its freeze in 2023 (TI)

• Trading volumes on Moscow Exchange surpassed $14.4T for a second consecutive year (RT)

• Wells Fargo will pay a record $3.7B fine to settle charges of illegal conduct over car loans, mortgages and bank accounts (RT)

• Elon Musk is set to resign and is actively searching for a new Twitter CEO (CNBC)

• US Navy awarded AWS a $724M enterprise software license contract (RT)

• TikTok owner, ByteDance, is now aiming to expand into the US enterprise software market (TI)

• Trump's tax records to be released by Democrats after House panel vote (BBG)

A Message From Juice Reel

They're not a sportsbook. They're how you make money sports betting. 

If you're an avid Exec Sum reader then you've seen us mention Juice Reel before - the bet tracking and analytics app that lets you link in any of your betting account and your bet history automatically syncs into the app (and we mean any of your betting accounts: from Bovada or your bookie's sketchy website up through the DraftKings and FanDuels of the world) 

Initially we were hyped about the analytics, Expedia-like odds comparisons, and insights Juice Reel offers -- all for free -- but things escalated and this is newsworthy. 

Think about this....

As you bet, you create betting data (aka a list of your bets and how they performed). When Juice Reel users auto-sync in their betting data from their sportsbooks, the platform has the ability to analyze tens of thousands of people's betting data....and that allows for some pretty amazing things.

Juice Reel automatically and anonymously puts top performing bettors' picks up for sale to be unlocked by the rest of the community. As opposed to the fake handicappers shilling betting advice on Twitter, everyone automatically becomes an "anonymous betting advice salesman". And because it's completely anonymous and performance-based, only truly profitable bettors' picks will sell. So every Juice Reel user gets access to the very best (and trustworthy) picks, while highly profitable bettors essentially have Juice Reel automatically monetizing their betting data for them and while they sit back and passively receive rewards for giving good picks to the rest of the  Juice Reel Community.

Juice Reel also uses the pool of data that the whole Juice Reel Community synced into the app to give insights on what the best and worst historical bettors are doing so you can follow winners while simultaneously fading (aka betting against) historical losers at scale. If you're thinking "how much can data really help you win", these guys put out 2 free picks a day to their instagram and went 207-136.

The betting community has embraced Juice Reel and I highly recommend this app if you bet on sports -- the fact that it's totally free makes it even better.

Get on Juice Reel 👈👈 right now and start winning with analytics 🤝

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• US mortgage lending billionaire Mat Ishbia agreed to buy a majority stake in the Phoenix Suns and Mercury professional basketball teams at a $4B valuation, in one of the biggest deals in NBA history (BBG)

• Insurer American Equity Investment Life rejected an unsolicited $3.9B takeover proposal from Prosperity Life (RT)

• Automotive supplier Magna International agreed to buy driver-assistance business Veoneer for ~$1.5B (BBG)

• The Oman Investment Authority plans to raise $1.3B+ from divestments in 2023 (BBG)

• QIC Private Capital will acquire a 50% stake in New Zealand's utility Vector's metering business for $1.1B (RT)

• French PE firm PAI Partners agreed to buy International Flavors and Fragrances' Savory Solutions Group at a $900M valuation (MW)   

• Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is in talks to buy a $250M stake in Tabreed, the local venture of National Central Cooling Co. (BBG)

• Canadian miner Lithium Americas agreed to buy the shares it doesn’t already own in Arena Minerals at a $227M valuation (RT)

• Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius received multiple bids for its retail platform and mining businesses (BBG)

• First Myanmar Investment Co. agreed to buy a 4.5% stake in Myanmar’s Yoma Bank (BBG)

VC

• Lineage Logistics, a temperature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics solutions provider, raised a $700M round from new and existing strategic partners (BW)

• South Korean financial ‘super app’ Toss raised a $405M Series G at a $7B valuation led by Tonic Private Equity (TC)

• User Interviews, a startup helping companies recruit survey participants, raised a $27.5M Series B led by Sageview Capital (TC)

• iOnctura BV, a clinical-stage biotech startup developing cancer therapies, received $18.59M in funding from the European Investment Council’s accelerator program (PRN)

• Nectar, an allergy care platform, raised a $16.5M Series A led by Harmony Partners (PRN)

• Sonio, a French startup empowering fetal medicine professionals with software / AI, raised $10.7M ($8M in equity / $2.7M grant) from the European Innovation Council’s accelerator program (BW)

• Xscape Photonics, a startup developing photonic chips for ultra-high bandwidth connections inside data centers / high performance computing systems, raised $10M from Altair (PRN)

• LatAm business lending startup Kredito raised a $6M round from a group of angels and family offices (TC)

• ArenaCX, an outsourcing management platform, raised $4.2M in funding from Eagle Ventures, Sovereign’s Capital, and more (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• EV maker Lucid completed a $1.5B equity offering: ~$915M via a private share sale to Saudi Arabia’s PIF (who will retain a 62% stake) and $600M via a traditional secondary stock offering (CNBC)

SPAC

• Storm response and power infrastructure services firm Sparks Energy is nearing a deal to merge with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. III at a ~$475M enterprise value (BBG)

• Alexander Straub, the founder of British telecom company Truphone offered to buy back his company for $250M via a SPAC reverse merger (FT)

Debt

• Sixth Street Partners is leading a $2.3B loan to help fund the $6.4B LBO of satellite operator Maxar Technologies (FT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Cosmetics giant Revlon reached a restructuring agreement to turn over ownership to its creditors and wipe out current shareholders, allowing it to exit bankruptcy in April (RT)

Fundraising

• Pittsburgh-based Incline Equity Partners is seeking to raise $1.75B for its sixth fund (BJ)

• AINDA, a Mexican PE manager focused on LatAm energy and infrastructure, is seeking to raise $600M for a new fund by early 2023 (RT)

• Israel VC fund 10D raised $245M for two funds: an oversubscribed $185M early-stage fund to invest in seed and Series A deep tech startups and a $60M opportunity fund to invest in companies in the 10D early-stage portfolio (GLB)

• Chicago-based VC firm The 81 Collection raised $41M for an inaugural fund (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• FTX is seeking to claw back SBF’s political donations (FT)

• Blockchain VC funding surpassed 2021 total despite declining since May (CT)

• SBF will be extradited to the US today (NBC)

• NBA legend Scottie Pippen's NFT drop sells out in record 77 seconds (TB)

Exec's Picks

• Staax is a peer-to-peer payments and investments platform that lets you pay and get paid in fractional shares of stock for everyday transactions, and they are giving away free stocks this holiday season! Want a chance to win up to $100,000? Here's how to enter: Download Staax, use the code STAAXVIP when registering, verify your identity on the Staax app, transfer in at least $50, and refer friends using the referral code in your settings page on the app, and send at least 3 friends at least $5 of stock. The giveaway runs until December 31st, 2022, so get started by downloading Staax here!*

• Life imitates art, and Stanford's "Guide to Acceptable Words" is straight out of a South Park episode.

• Reuters published a chart showing how different assets / commodities have performed this year. Pasted below for easy reference:

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:

Meme Cleanser

Advertise with us // Visit our merch store // Invest alongside Lit Ventures

Thinking of starting your own newsletter? Beehiiv is the best platform for creators, period. Click here to get started building your own audience.