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Good Morning,

Musk threatened to drop his Twitter bid, Rob Walton is favored to win the Denver Broncos ownership, Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote, the SEC might shake up retail trading rules, Biden's student loan forgiveness plan is pushed back a month, China concluded its Didi probe, and Apple revealed it is entering the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) space.

Fintech VCs that were hoping to sell their BNPL portfolio companies to Apple are most certainly punching the air rn.

Find out how to get a discounted membership to Equinox by checking out today's sponsor, MNE MKR, below!

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 6/6/2022 market close.

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

Markets

  • US stocks rose slightly on Monday, with all major indexes closing up less than 0.5%

    • Beijing rolled back some of its Covid-related restrictions, which boosted investor confidence and pointed toward a possible reopening

    • Shares of Didi also jumped 24% after China concluded its probe

  • The 10-Yr treasury hit its highest level in almost a month as investors sold bonds

  • Investors will continue to monitor interest rate movements and await the release of the May CPI reading Friday morning

Earnings

  • GitLab jumped almost 11% after hours on the heels of a big earnings beat and a raised outlook (MW)

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • China concludes Didi cybersecurity probe, lifts ban on new users (WSJ)

  • Musk threatens to end Twitter deal over lack of information on spam accounts (WSJ)

  • Biden’s decision on student loan forgiveness likely to come in July or August (CNBC)

  • Housing wealth gains a record $1.2T in the first quarter (CNBC)

  • SEC closes in on rules that could reshape how the stock market operates, including sending retail stock orders to auctions for execution (WSJ)

  • UK PM Boris Johnson narrowly survives no-confidence vote triggered by lawmakers in his own party (CNBC)

  • DOJ moves to seize two planes worth more than $400M from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich (CNBC)

  • Apple unveils installment pay plan, CarPlay update in push beyond iPhone (WSJ)

  • Rob Walton is favored to win Denver Broncos bid with $4B offer (BBG)

  • Paramount sued over ‘Top Gun’ copyright as ‘Maverick’ soars at the box office (CNBC)

  • Peloton hires Amazon cloud exec to be new CFO in latest shakeup in top ranks (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Canadian fund CDPQ agreed to invest $5B in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port, Jebel Ali Free Zone, and National Industries Park (BBG)

  • JetBlue Airways improved on its offer for Spirit Airlines, boosting a breakup provision to $350M and adding upfront cash payments, pushing the total value of the proposal to ~$3.4B (BBG)

  • Medical device maker Becton Dickinson agreed to buy pharmacy automation solutions provider Parata Systems in a $1.52B deal (RT)

  • Cerberus Capital Management is considering options including a sale of packaging firm Closure Systems at a potential $1B+ valuation (BBG)

  • Infinity Power, a JV between energy companies Masdar and Infinity Energy, agreed to buy a 60% stake in Africa-focused renewable energy firm Lekela Power at a $1.8B valuation (BBG)

  • Compass Diversified agreed to buy PrimaLoft, a provider of materials to produce synthetic down jackets, for $530M including debt (BBG)

  • Bain Capital has committed $250M in growth capital at a $1B+ valuation to packaged-foods distributor Cuisine Solutions (BBG)

  • Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund agreed to buy a $185M stake in Capital Bank of Jordan (BBG)

  • KKR agreed to buy a minority interest in Apexanalytix, a tech developer for supply chain risk management services; the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed (BBG)

  • Spanish stainless steel maker Acerinox ended merger talks with rival Aperam (BBG)

VC

  • Biomanufacturing company Resilience raised a $625M Series D from undisclosed new and existing investors (BW)

  • Israel radar firm Vayyar Imaging raised a $108M Series E at a $1B+ valuation led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (BBG)

  • Go1, a curated enterprise learning platform, raised a $100M round at a $2B valuation led by AirTree Ventures and Five Sigma (TC)

  • Perimeter 81, a Security Service Edge (SSE) and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) provider, raised a $100M Series C at a $1B valuation led by B Capital (BW)

  • Crypto financial services firm BlockFi is in the process of closing a new round of funding at a $1B valuation (much lower than the $5B valuation it was targeting last year). Sources say the new round will be led by Bain Capital Ventures (TBC)

  • AppOmni, a platform that connects and secures SaaS apps, raised a $70M Series C led by Thoma Bravo (TC)

  • Endurance events marketplace Let’s Do This raised a $60M Series B led by Craft Ventures and Headline (TC)

  • Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong startup using AI to discover new drugs, raised a $60M Series D led by Warburg Pincus, B Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and more (TC)

  • Robotic process automation startup Magical raised a $35M Series A led by Coatue (TC)

  • Stellate, a startup helping companies build global data graphs, raised a $25M Series A led by Tiger Global and $5M seed round led by boldstart ventures (PRN)

  • CybSafe, a behavioral-science and data-driven cybersecurity company, raised a $28M Series B led by Evolution Equity Partners (BW)

  • Brazilian agtech startup Agrotools raised a $21M round at a $94M valuation led by Horácio Lafer Piva (Klabin), Pedro Paulo Campos (JPM, Pátria and Arsenal), and other angels (TC)

  • Opal, a decentralized access management startup, raised a $10M Series A led by Greylock (TC)

  • Prometheus Materials, a startup manufacturing zero-carbon building materials, raised an $8M Series A led by Sofinnova Partners (BW)

  • HackNotice, a company-wide threat awareness platform, raised a $7M Series A led by Strategic Cyber Ventures (BW)

  • Nigerian credit management and analytics platform Indicina raised a $3M seed round led by Target Global (TC)

  • PlayFitt, a gamified movement app, raised a $2.5M seed round led by Anges Quebec (PRN)

Fundraising

  • Bain Capital raised $2B for its second special situations fund, with a focus on structured credit and equity investments in Asia-Pacific (BBG)

  • Closed Loop Partners, an investment firm specializing in circular economy businesses, closed a $200M fund (PRN)

Crypto Corner

  • Weekly bitcoin inflows totaled $126M as institutions keep buying the dip (DC)

  • Ethereum NFT game Illuvium sells $72M+ in digital land plots (DC)

  • English Premier League files crypto and NFT trademarks (DC)

Exec's Picks

  • Cadre is looking pretttty intriguing if you’re looking to diversify with commercial real estate (top shelf investing committee). Learn more about investing in commercial real estate here.

  • Last call: we're refreshing our Wall Street comp survey with data from IB, S&T, HF, PE, VC, and more. We need your help to get the most robust data set possible! If you wish to anonymously submit your latest comp info, you can do so here! We're looking to increase transparency on the street and get y'all paid!

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.

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