Hungry Eyes

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In today’s letter: Panera is slicing costs ahead of its potential second coming, Plaid is watching the IPO market with eager eyes, Cedar Fair & Six Flags unite, and Silver Lake is looking to team up with Mubadala for one of its largest deals yet.

Let’s get into it! But first, a bit of IPO trivia for you:

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General Market Headlines

• U.S. stocks on rise as traders bet Fed rate hikes are finished and await more jobs data and Apple’s earnings — MarketWatch

• Uber ($UBER), Lyft ($LYFT) to pay $328 million to settle New York wage theft claims — Reuters

• Fed Extends Pause on Rate Hikes but Keeps Door Open to Moving Higher — WSJ

• Target ($TGT) CEO says shoppers are pulling back, even on groceries — CNBC

• Toyota ($TM) Gives 9% Pay Bump to Most U.S. Auto-Factory Workers, Following UAW Gains in Detroit — WSJ

Pricings/ Filings

IPO Launches/ Pricings

• Hamilton Insurance Group (Soon: HG) Announces IPO Launch — PR

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

IPO/ Other Listing Plans & Rumors

• Panera Laying Off 17% of Corporate Staff as It Eyes IPO — WSJ

  • Snippet: Now Panera’s readying to go public again, potentially as early as next year, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. Dueñas, Einstein’s president and CEO since 2019, became Panera Brands’ CEO in July, among several executive changes the company made this year in advance of the possible IPO.

• Plaid weighs IPO nearly 3 years after walking away from Visa sale (no timetable) — Fortune

  • Snippet: Plaid, like everyone else, is watching the market, Perret said. “An IPO is certainly an aspiration of ours,” said Perret who mentioned a direct listing or traditional IPO as considerations. “There are some good options out there. We’ll do the work and figure out what the right answer is for us,” he said.

Potential IPO Company News

• Space Force awards $2.5 billion in rocket contracts to SpaceX and ULA for 21 launches — CNBC

• Shipping Startup Flexport Is in Crisis Mode Heading Into the Holiday Season — Bloomberg

General IPO Commentary & Post-IPO Coverage

• Toronto Stock Exchange Has 1 IPO This Year in Historic Dry Spell — Bloomberg

📈 2023 IPO Trading Stats

Daily Moves of the $5B+ IPO Clan

👀 Upcoming Action

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Deal Announcements / Terminations / Closings

Announcements

• Cedar Fair ($FUN) and Six Flags ($SIX) to combine in merger of equals transaction. The combined company will have a pro-forma enterprise value of appx. $8B. FUN holders will receive shares 1:1 of the combined company with SIX holders receiving 1 share per 0.58 SIX shares. — PR

• Disney ($D) to buy remaining 33% stake in Hulu from Comcast ($CMCSA) for at least $8.6 bln — Reuters

• Zillow Group ($Z) to acquire Follow Up Boss, “an industry leader in customer relationship management”, for $400M + a $100M earnout. — PR

Closings

• Nasdaq ($NDAQ) completes its $10.5B acquisition of fintech company, Adenza, from Thoma Bravo. — Bloomberg

• ExxonMobil ($XOM) closed its acquisition of Denbury in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.9B. — PR

🗞️ News

Talks / Rumors and Other Potential Deals

• Silver Lake Seeks Mubadala Backing for Endeavor Group ($EDR) Bid — Bloomberg

  • Snippet: Silver Lake Management Managing Partner Egon Durban is turning to his closest partner in the Middle East to back one of the firm’s largest-ever buyout deals.

    The private equity firm is in talks to team up with Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. on its potential takeover bid for Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., the talent agency and entertainment company behind Ultimate Fighting Championship, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Mubadala — an existing investor in Endeavor — is in the early stages of deciding how much capital it would invest in the deal, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.

Deal Coverage and Updates

• New Relic ($NEWR) shareholders approved the acquisition by Francisco Partners and TPG. The transaction is expected to close around Nov 8. — PR

📈 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

• American Opportunity ($AMAO) closed its merger with Royalty Management Corporation. The combined company will continue to trade as AMAO as the listing application with Nasdaq is still pending. — PR 

Terminations/ Liquidations

• Industrial Tech II ($ITAQ) & NEXT Renewable Fuels mutually terminated the merger agreement. ITAQ now intends to liquidate. — SF

🗞️ News

SPAC Market Coverage

• Trump-Linked SPAC ($DWAC) Spent $10.8 Million On Legal Fees Amid Regulatory Probes — Forbes

De-SPAC Updates

• Prenetics Global ($PRE) announced it will effect a 1-for-15 reverse stock split on Nov 14. — PR

📈 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

• Adam Neumann Wounded WeWork ($WE), an Office Market Bust Finished It Off — WSJ

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

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