Golden Parachuting into the Bankruptcy Hearings

Welcome!

In today’s letter: Ari Emmanuel isn’t happy with Endurance’s public performance, Schumer expectedly calls for FTC review of the oil & gas mammoth mergers, reviewing 2019 IPOs, and the long march towards bankruptcy is finally here for WeWork.

Live shot of Neumann distraught following the bankruptcy news, wondering how much longer the golden parachute payout valued at $1B+ will last him:

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Thank you all for your support! Lets jump in.

General Market Headlines

• Fed poised to hold rates steady despite economy's bullish tone — Reuters

• U.S. jury finds realtors liable for inflating commissions, awards $1.78 billion in damages — CNBC

• Warnings on Weak Demand Are Piling Up This Earnings Season — Bloomberg

• Shares in world’s biggest offshore wind developer plunge to fresh low after taking $4 billion hit on U.S. projects — MarketWatch

• US Slows Pace of Increase in Quarterly Long-Term Debt Sales — Bloomberg

Pricings/ Filings

IPO Pricings / Other Listings

• Pineapple Financial ($PAPL), a Canadian “tech-focused mortgage broker” priced Its IPO at $4 per share, raising $3.5M. — PR

 🗞️ IPO & Other Listing News ($1B+ / Prominent)

Pre-IPO Updates

• Hamilton Insurance (Soon: HG) targets up to $2 bln valuation in US IPO — Reuters

  • Snippet: The company, along with some existing investors looking to sell their shares, aims to raise up to $270 million, it said in a regulatory filing.

General IPO Commentary & Post-IPO Coverage

• Endeavor’s ($EDR) Ari Emanuel eyes public market exit as Hollywood tempers fray — FT

  • Snippet: In the 30 months since he took Endeavor public in 2021, chief executive Ari Emanuel has not been shy about expressing his frustration about its share price.

    On Wednesday Endeavor announced it had launched a review of “strategic alternatives”. Its controlling shareholder, the private equity firm Silver Lake, said soon afterwards that it was considering a proposal to take the company private. The stock surged, ending the week up nearly 28 per cent.

📈 2023 IPO Trading Stats

Daily Moves of the $5B+ IPO Clan

Random IPO Chart of the Day

Lets take a trip down memory lane to find out how our favorite 2019 IPOs are doing. This chart presents the returns from the IPO price for companies that had a valuation of over $5B at their IPO launch and are still publicly traded.

👀 Upcoming Action

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Deal Announcements / Terminations / Closings

Announcements

• Ametek ($AME) raises profit outlook, buys Paragon Medical in $1.9 bln deal — Reuters

🗞️ News

Talks / Rumors and Other Potential Deals

• Blue Owl’s Rees Is Interested in Buying Pittsburgh Steelers Stake — Bloomberg

  • Snippet: Rees, a Pennsylvania native and longtime fan of the Steelers franchise, is a willing buyer of the minority stake being sold by sports investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. No final decision has been made on the ultimate buyer.

    A representative for billionaires Harris and Blitzer declined to comment. Rees, whose interest in the stake is in a personal capacity, declined to comment through a Blue Owl spokesman.

Deal Coverage and Updates

• US Senator Schumer urges FTC to probe Exxon ($XOM), Chevron ($CVX) mega-deals — Reuters

• JetBlue ($JBLU) sinks to 12-year low as airline forecasts more losses, Spirit ($SAVE) antitrust trial begins — CNBC

General M&A Commentary / Post M&A Coverage

• Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ plan for X, in his own words — The Verge

  • Snippet: In What is now called X is in the process of becoming “a single application that encompasses everything,” he recently told employees. Being the “digital town square,” as he has described Twitter in the past, isn’t enough. For X to succeed in Musk’s eyes, the platform needs to compete with YouTube, LinkedIn, FaceTime, dating apps, and the entire banking industry.

    “We’re rapidly transforming the company from what it was, Twitter 1.0, to the everything app,” Musk said during an internal X meeting on October 26th, which The Verge listened to and is publishing a full transcript of below. The meeting was timed to the anniversary of Musk officially buying Twitter for $44 billion and was his first joint all-hands with Linda Yaccarino, who joined as CEO in May.

📈 Live Merger Trading Stats

Daily Gainers & Losers — By Daily % Chg. among the parties (Targets/Acquirers) of active mergers valued at $5B+

SPAC Action

Approvals/ Completions

• Forbion European (FRBN) & enGene completed their merger. The combined company began trading under the new ticker, $ENGN, today. — SF

• OmniLit ($OLIT) & Syntec Optics shareholders approved the merger with Syntec Optics. — PR 

Terminations/ Liquidations

• International Media ($IMAQ) & Risee Entertainment and Reliance Entertainment Studios terminated the merger agreement following the expiration of the outside date. — SF

• Chain Bridge I ($CBRG) announced it will liquidate effective Nov 15 at an appx. redemption price of $10.80. — PR

🗞️ News

SPAC Market Coverage

• AirAsia parent company, Capital A, provides more detail on its previously reported, but still unannounced, deal with Aetherium Acquisition Corp ($GMFI). Per the Reuters report, GMFI is to acquire Capital A subsidiaries- Brand AA, the holder of AirAsia brand rights, and Fleet Consolidated, its aircraft leasing company, at a valuation of $1B to form Capital A International.

De-SPAC Updates

• See the ‘Bankruptcy News’ section below for Cyxtera & WeWork updates

📈 De-SPAC Trading Stats

Daily De-SPAC Gainers & Losers — Top 3 & Bottom 3 (By Daily % Chg. among 2019- De-SPACs)

Notable Delistings, Bankruptcies

Bankruptcy News

• WeWork ($WE) commanded a $47 billion valuation at its peak. It's crashed over 99% since then - and could now file for bankruptcy, reports say — Business Insider

• Following, Cyxtera’s ($CYXTQ) Chapter 11 process, Brookfield to acquire all of Cyxtera’s assets for $775M and plans to combine Cyxtera with its data center portfolio company, Evoque. — PR

The People’s Takes — Memes and More from the Interwebs