Together with

Good Morning,

Russian oligarchs are getting their yachts repo'd worldwide, J Pow sees a 25bp rate hike coming soon, Russia's economy might shrink 35%, the Sackler family is paying out big bucks for opioid lawsuits, strip clubs are accepting bitcoin (can you throw satoshis at strippers in the metaverse?), the EU wants to end Russia's WTO-favored status, and Founders Fund raised $5B.

Anyone trying to crowdfund the purchase of one of these oligarch yachts? YachtDAO might be the best idea of 2022.

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

• The tech sector pulled US stocks down yesterday, while action in the energy and bond markets slowed as investors monitored the rising tensions in Ukraine

  • Despite being positive for most of the session, the Dow closed in the red with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq following suit

• J Pow announced Wednesday that the Fed was inclined towards a “25-basis-point rate hike in March”, and he reiterated Thursday that it was too early to say how the war in Ukraine would impact their next steps

• Jobless claims for last week came in lower-than-expected at 215K (vs. 225K expected)

• The highly anticipated February jobs report is released today as well

Earnings

• Grab quarterly revenue declined 44% and net loss widened after spending more on incentives to lure drivers and customers (BBG)

• Best Buy shares jumped 7% yesterday even after reporting worse-than-expected Q4 earnings, as investors believe the retailer will benefit in the long-term from consumers’ adoption of telemedicine and videoconferencing (CNBC)

• Kroger shares popped 10%+ after posting quarterly gains in sales and projecting a single-digit growth rate in 2022 (MW)

• Costco shares fell despite better-than-expected top- and bottom-line estimates while same-store sales growth slowed (MW)

• Gap shares climbed AH after posting a beat-and-raise report despite rising inflation and logistics challenges as more American consumers look to refresh their wardrobes post-pandemic (CNBC)

• Smith & Wesson shares dropped 14.7% AH after the company’s Q3 results came in short of analyst expectations. The company reported $0.69 in adjusted EPS on $177.7M of revenue (CNBC)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• EU seeks to end Russia WTO favored-nation status (BBG)

• Lazard hires top dealmaker Marcus Schenck from rival Perella (BBG)

• Rivian cancels price hikes for existing customers after outcry (BBG)

• Powell affirms Fed on track for March hike, will move with care (BBG)

• GOP senators dig in on boycott of Raskin Fed vote (BBG)

• At least two superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs have been seized (CNBC)

• White House asks Congress for additional $32.5B to support Ukraine, fight Covid (CNBC)

• UK regulator orders Cellnex to sell 1K towers to buy CK Hutchison units (RT)

• Russian forces advance in Southern Ukraine as cease-fire talks end (WSJ)

• Purdue Pharma’s Sackler family agrees to pay $6B in lawsuit settlements (WSJ)

• Russian economy to shrink 35% due to Ukraine invasion sanctions, JPMorgan says (CNBC)

• Russian billionaires lose $80B in wealth (CNBC)

• Wall Street is already pouncing on Russia's cheap corporate debt (BBG)

A Message From LEX

The S&P 500 dropped from 4700 to 4200 between January and February

War, inflation, interest rates, and a million other variables make stocks volatile. Luckily, a building is still a building. Commercial real estate is your answer to hedging inflation and diversifying your portfolio. That’s why we're excited about LEX. 

Truth is, the best deals in real estate are hard to find, unless you shorted Russian stocks all the way to accreditation (legend) and now you have access. Even then, you’ve got scarce deals, crowdfunding, or REITs to pick from…until LEX. 

LEX IPOs buildings so you can get in the game. 

By taking buildings public, LEX has created a way for you to invest in marquee commercial real estate. Build a portfolio by picking the buildings you want to invest in. Each building gets a ticker and trades like your other stocks.

The best part?

As a shareholder, you can get paid dividends flowing from the rent paid by the tenants. You can also earn tax advantaged passive income and trade without lockups.

Check out LEX’s live assets in New York City and upcoming IPO in Seattle. 

Sign up for free and get a $50 bonus when you deposit at least $500.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• A consortium led by Macquarie and KKR is in advanced talks to buy UK electricity distribution business UK Power Networks in a potential $20B deal (BBG)

• Baring, Junlebao advance in bidding for $2B baby formula brand Friso (BBG)

• Pentair, a leading provider of water treatment and sustainable solutions, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Manitowoc Ice, a leading provider of commercial ice makers, for $1.6B (IR)

• Philippines telecom company PLDT has received offers from six foreign firms to buy thousands of its telecom towers for up to $1B (RT)

• Indian agrochemical producer UPL is attracting takeover interest from global competitors (BBG)

• KKR sold a stake worth €210M ($233M) in radar maker Hensoldt AG after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Germany to increase its defense budget (BBG)

• Verbit, a Tel Aviv- and New York-based AI-powered transcription and captioning service platform, acquired Take Note, a U.K.-based company that provides similar services for the market research sector (TC)

• Moroccan B2B e-commerce and retail startup Chari has acquired Axa Credit, the credit branch of Axa Assurance Maroc, for $22M (TC)

VC

• Peter Thiel's Founders Fund raises $5B for early to late-stage deals, increasing total AUM to $11B (BBG)

• M13 Partners, a consumer technology VC fund, raised a $400M fund to invest in seed to Series B startups (BW)

• Turkish AI startup Insider raised a $121M Series D at a $1.22B valuation led by Qatari Wealth (BBG)

• Apollo.io, an all-in-one sales intelligence and engagement platform, raised a $110M Series C led by Sequoia Capital (TC)

• Luminous Computing, a startup building an AI supercomputer, raised a $105M Series A from Gigafund, Bill Gates, 8090 Partners, Neo, and more (BW)

• Atomic, a payroll API-provider that powers 70 banks, credit unions, and fintech companies, raised a $40M Series B co-led by Mercato Partners and Greylock (TC)

• Shares, the social finance app that lets you buy and sell shares of stock while tracking your friends’ portfolios, raised a $40M Series A led by Valar Ventures (TC)

• Mark Pavlyukovskyy, Ajay Gupta, and Glen Anderson raised $10M for New Zealand’s first operator-run fund, NZVC, to fund seed and Series A-stage startups (TC)

• Indonesian agritech AgriAku, a Jakarta-based B2B marketplace for farmers, raised a $6M pre-Series A led by Go-Ventures (TC)

• MyPlace, a social network designed to help friends share their private homes, raised a  $5.8M seed round led by FreeStyle Ventures (TC)

• Sudo Africa, a fintech that provides a card-issuing API for developers and businesses in Nigeria, has raised $3.7M in pre-seed funding from Picus Capital, LoftyInc Capital, Rallycap Ventures, Kepple Africa, Berrywood Capital, ZedCrest and Suya Ventures (TC)

• Stax, a startup that allows Africans to buy airtime, send and request money, and transfer funds between accounts via automated USSD codes, has raised a $2.2M seed extension round co-led by World Within Ventures and Noemis Ventures (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Talkdesk, last valued at $10B in August, prepares for a US IPO (BBG)

• Swedish electric scooter startup Voi has picked banks to arrange a planned IPO (BBG)

SPAC

• Beauty tech firm Perfect agreed to merge with Provident Acquisition Corp in a $1.02B deal (RT)

Debt

• Tilray Brands will acquire up to $211M of senior secured convertible notes that were issued by HEXO in a transaction that would bring together Canada’s top two cannabis market share leaders (IR)

Crypto Corner

• NFT marketplace OpenSea blocks users in Iran due to US sanctions (DC)

• Three people sentenced to prison for involvement in unlicensed bitcoin exchange (TBC)

• Tootsie’s and Scarlett’s Cabaret Miami to accept bitcoin (PRN) 

• Russia’s crypto volumes are stalling across major exchanges (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• We are now selling BofA (not Bank of America, but BofA Deez Nuts 😤) merch, check out our new gear here!

• Jack Raines wrote a piece about investor confirmation bias and why we think "the market is wrong" when our stocks go down. Check out The Market Is Wrong, Bro

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've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

Meme Cleanser

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

Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝