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Wells Fargo conducted sham interviews for DEI candidates, UK is cracking down on PE bonuses, Hedge funds are ditching European shorts at record pace, and Toyota's chairman may lose his board seat.

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Before The Bell

As of 07/29/2024 market close.

Markets

US stocks traded flat as markets paused a rotation into small caps and prepared for crucial Big Tech earnings
- S&P 500 tech sector is still trading at a 29.5x NTM P/E, a two-decade high
Oil fell to the lowest level in seven weeks
Fed, BOJ, and BoE will announce their latest rate policy decisions mid-week

Earnings

McDonald's missed Q2 estimates on a same-store sales decline and a global sales decline for the first time since Covid as consumers pulled back spending; shares nonetheless rose ~4% on success in its new $5 value meal deal (CNBC)
What we're watching this week:
- Today: Microsoft, AMD, PayPal, Starbucks, Pfizer, P&G
- Wednesday: Meta, Qualcomm, Boeing
- Thursday: Apple, Amazon, Intel, Coinbase
- Friday: ExxonMobil, Chevron
Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

Wells Fargo allegedly conducted sham interviews for DEI candidates (RT)
UK kicked off a tax crackdown on PE bosses (FT)
Hedge funds ditched short European bets at the fastest pace in a decade (RT)
Bond funds are seeing record-high investment inflows (WSJ)
Japanese corporate dollar bond sales hit a record high in Q2 (BBG)
US cut Q3 borrowing projections (BBG)
CRE foreclosure rates are at the highest in a decade (WSJ)
Vitol paid out a record $6.4B to its execs last year (FT)
Apple does not use Nvidia chips to train its AI models (RT)
Singapore's Temasek plans to invest $30B in US (RT)
Toyota's chairman may lose his board seat support this year (RT)
Loews CEO James Tisch will step down after 25 years (RT)
Euronext is looking to expand via M&As (FT)
The post-Covid factory boom is running out of steam (WSJ)
Texas oil pipelines are facing a congestion problem (BBG)
Ethiopia will float its currency as it seeks an IMF deal (FT)
Cost of Miami office space hit a record high (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

A consortium led by Sixth Street Partners agreed to take private insurer Enstar at a ~$5.1B valuation (WSJ)
Miner BHP and Lundin Mining will jointly acquire Canadian exploration firm Filo for ~$2.96B cash (WSJ)
Saudi Arabia's PIF increased its majority stake in Premiere League team Newcastle United in a deal that values the team at $1.3B (BBG)
Vital Energy and Northern Oil and Gas agreed to jointly acquire US shale assets from PE-owned Point Energy Partners for $1.1B (RT)
Investment firm Pondera is exploring a sale of its controlling stake for self-cleaning litter box maker Whisker at a $1B valuation (RT)
Spanish construction firm Sacyr is seeking to sell a 49% stake in its new Voreantis unit for $872M (RT)
Permian Resources will acquire Delaware Basin assets from Occidental Petroleum for $818M (RT)
Aditya Birla's UltraTech Cement bought an additional ~33% stake in India Cements for $472M to secure a 55% controlling stake (BBG)
Foods giant J.M. Smucker is exploring a sale of its Voortman Bakery brand at a $350M+ valuation (RT)

Altana, a value chain management system, raised a $200M Series C led by USIT (BW)
Indian bike-taxi startup Rapido raised a $120M Series E at a $1B valuation led by WestBridge Capital (TC)
osapiens, a cloud platform for compliance with international ESG regulations, raised a $120M Series B led by Goldman Sachs (EU)
DataDome, an AI-powered protection against fraud and malicious bots, raised a $42M Series C led by InfraVia Capital (FN)
unspun, a 3D weaving technology, raised a $32M Series B led by DCVC (PRN)
Trio Mobil, an AI and IoT solutions for workplace safety and efficiency, raised a $26.5M growth round led by NewSpring (PRN)
Accounting automation platform Rillet raised $13.5M in funding led by Creandum and First Round Capital (EU)
Bee AI, a wearable AI assistant, raised a $7M round led by Exor (TC)
Philippine digital health insurance startup Hive Health raised a $6.5M pre-Series A from Gentree Fund, Y Combinator, and others (FN)
AeroShield Materials, a startup building energy efficiency applications, raised $5M in funding from MassVentures, MassMutual Ventures and more (BW)
GovWell, a workflow system for local governments, raised a $4.5M seed round led by Work-Bench (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

Honeywell is considering an IPO of its majority-owned quantum computing firm Quantinuum at an up to $10B valuation (BBG)
A consortium led by Centerbridge Partners is exploring exit options including an IPO of specialty insurer Canopius at a $3.9B valuation (BBG)
Thoma Bravo raised $2.7B in a sale of half its stake in Nasdaq (BBG)
An investor in Australian miner Fortescue is selling $1.3B worth of shares (BBG)
Indian e-scooter maker Ola Electric is seeking to raise $734M in India's largest IPO YTD (RT)

Debt

Print and packaging firm R.R. Donnelley is set to price a $1.7B bond sale to help fund its planned acquisition of Valassis Communications (BBG)
Cruise operator Royal Caribbean sold $1.5B in junk bonds to refinance debt (BBG)
Theme park chain Seaworld launched a $1.5 billion loan refinancing (BBG)
Nineteen banks including JPMorgan and Citigroup will provide a $1.1B loan to back the EQT-led LBO of video game services firm Keywords Studios (BBG)
Netflix is exploring its first investment-grade bond sale (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

US machine maker Hardinge filed for bankruptcy after its sale in China was blocked (BBG)

Fundraising

Arcmont Asset Management plans to raise over $13B for its fifth European direct-lending fund (BBG)
Healthcare PE firm Amulet Capital Partners raised $1.2B for its third fund (WSJ)

Crypto Corner

Trump vowed to sack the SEC chair and end 'persecution' of crypto (FT)
US moved $2B of seized Bitcoin to a digital wallet (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

FT published an insightful Big Read on weather US companies keep faith in the 'Texas miracle?'

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