Listing Plans and Rumors

• Thoma Bravo-backed home service software business ServiceTitan is planning to IPO before the end of 2024. It plans to file as soon as this week, though the timing could change.

• Venture Global LNG is planning to file this week for an IPO that could raise more than $3B and has hired Goldman, JPMorgan, and BofA to run the listing. This IPO is expected to be one of the largest IPOs in recent years, with JPMorgan analysts pegging Venture Global's enterprise value at more than $100 billion.

• Klarna confidentially filed for IPO. In previous reports, Klarna reportedly hired MS, JPM, and GS to lead an IPO that could come as soon as H1 2025.

• Blackstone and Warburg Pincus are considering options, including a sale or IPO for their fintech portfolio company, IntraFi. The transaction is expected to occur in early 2025 and could value the firm at $12B.

• Aethon Energy Management hired Goldman and Citigroup to explore options, including an IPO or sale for its natural gas assets, Aethon United, at an enterprise value of around $10B.

• Peak Resources postponed its IPO, citing market conditions.

• Liberty Media is looking to split off unit Liberty Live Group into a separate public entity, which owns about 70M shares in Live Nation Entertainment (LYV).

• Vinted CEO rules out an IPO for the near future as it is focusing on expanding into new countries and categories.

IPO Candidates

• SoftBank-backed Argentine fintech Ualá raised a $300M Series E at a $2.75B valuation, led by Allianz and including investments from Pershing Square Foundation and Claure Group. The company will seek to IPO in the US upon reaching profitability in all of its markets.

• Writer, a generative AI startup for enterprises backed by Accenture and ICONIQ, announced $200M in Series C funding at a $1.9 billion valuation with participation from the venture arms of Salesforce, Adobe, Citi, IBM, and Workday.

• Oyster, an HR startup backed by LinkedIn and PayPal Ventures, raised new financing from ServiceNow Ventures following its recent Series D round, which valued the company at $1.2B, bringing the total capital raised to $291M.

• Thrive Capital is in discussions to acquire an appx. $1 billion stake in Databricks via a tender offer at a valuation of around $55 billion.

• Google Ventures-backed Tessl, an AI code development startup, raised $125M Series A at a $750M valuation, led by Index Ventures, with Accel, GV, and Boldstart participating.

• RTW Investments-backed Beta Bionics, a diabetes management solutions company, raised a $60M Series E Preferred Stock round led by new investor Wellington Management.

• Firefly Aerospace raised a $175M Series D round at a valuation of more than $2 billion, led by a new investor, RPM Ventures.

• SpaceX is in early talks for a secondary sale that could increase the valuation to $255 billion, up from $210 billion.

• CHAOS Industries, a next-generation defense tech startup, raised a $145M Series B led by Accel, with participation from 8VC, bringing its total funding to $215M.

• Radiant Industries, a nuclear microreactor company, raised a $100M Series C led by DCVC with participation from a16z and Chevron Technology Ventures, bringing its total venture funding to $160M.

• SoftBank-backed Metsera, an obesity and metabolic disease biopharma, raised a $215M Series B led by Wellington Management and Venrock, with participation from new investors including Fidelity, Janus Henderson, T. Rowe Price, Viking, and RA Capital Management. The company has now raised over $500M to date.

• Wonder, a super food delivery app founded by Marc Lore, acquired Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway.com for an enterprise value of $650M, including $500M of senior notes and $150M cash. Closing is expected in Q1 2025. Wonder also raised an additional $250M.

• CoreWeave raised a minority investment of $650M led by Jane Street, Magnetar, Fidelity and Macquarie Capital, with additional participation from Cisco Investments, Pure Storage, BlackRock, Coatue, Neuberger Berman and others.

• Tiger Global-backed Vecna Robotics, a warehouse robotics startup, raised $14.5M from existing investors, bringing the total raised to date to $179M.

• Alentis Therapeutics, a Swiss-based biotech, raised a $181.4M Series D round led by OrbiMed, co-led by Novo Holdings, and with participation from existing investor RA Capital Management, among others.

• Vialto Partners, a provider of global mobility, tax, and immigration solutions for companies, entered into a recap transaction comprising $225M in equity and $700M in debt reduction from CD&R and some of its existing lenders, including HPS Investment Partners.

Public M&A Activity

Announcements

• Liberty Broadband ($LBRDA) to be acquired by Charter Communications, Inc. ($CHTR) in an all-stock deal, with LBRDA holders to receive 0.2360 CHTR shares per LBRDA share, implying an equity consideration of appx. $13.3 billion at the time of the announcement.

• Adams Resources ($AE) to be acquired by Tres Energy in an all-cash deal, at $38.00 per share (39% premium to the closing price prior to announcement), with an appx. enterprise value of appx. $139M.

Closings

• KKR and Dragoneer closed the $4.8 billion take-private acquisition of Infrastructure Holdings.

• Boston Scientific closed its $3.3 billion acquisition of Axonics.

• Advent International, Nuvei CEO Philip Fayer, along with Novacap, closed the take-private acquisition of Nuvei Corporation.

• Peak Bio (OTC: PKBO) and Akari Therapeutics (AKTX) closed their merger as equals in an all-stock transaction. The combined entity will continue to operate as Akari Therapeutics, Plc, and continue to be traded on Nasdaq as AKTX.

• R1 RCM's ($RCM) acquisition by TowerBrook Capital Partners and CD&R is expected to close on Nov 19.

Terminations / Talks Failed / Disregarded

• Tapestry ($TPR) reached an agreement with Capri ($CPRI) to terminate the merger agreement between the parties due to regulatory block, and as the outcome of the appeal legal process is uncertain and unlikely to be resolved by Feb 10, 2025, outside date.

• Cigna stated that it is not pursuing a deal with its rival, Humana.

Live Deal Updates

• The DOJ sued to block UnitedHealth's $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys ($AMED), stating the deal would give UnitedHealth too much power in the home health and hospice services market. Both parties said they remain committed to the merger.

• Spirit Aero ($SPR), which announced in July that it would be acquired by Boeing, said it would receive up to $350M in advance payments from Boeing and up to $107M from Airbus. This comes days after the company issued a "going concern" warning that it may be unable to fund its operations through the next 12 months.

• In investigating Novo Holdings' planned $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent ($CTLT), EU antitrust regulators have asked pharma rivals and customers for feedback in four business areas.

• Frontier Communications ($FYBR) announced that its stockholders approved the acquisition by Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ), with ten of the company’s top 12 stockholders voting to approve the transaction. Frontier stockholders will receive $38.50 per share in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of 2026, subject to receipt of certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

• Endeavor Group ($EDR) will sell its OpenBet and IMG Arena businesses to the management-led group OB Global, backed by Ari Emanuel, for about $450M. The divestments are a necessary step in closing Silver Lake's $13 billion deal to take Endeavor private.

• Revance ($RVNC) and Crown Laboratories pushed the tender offer commencement date again to Nov 19.

Potential M&A

• PE firm Triton Partners is considering acquiring Evotec ($EVO) a German drug development company after it confirmed a close to 10% stake in the company. Triton is among several PE firms that have been considering buying Evotec.

• Nasdaq-listed biotech Halozyme Therapeutics offered 11 euros per share as part of a non-binding proposal to acquire German drug development company Evotec ($EVO). Evotec is considering the offer.

• Compass Minerals ($CMP) with an enterprise value of approximately $1.5 billion, is in advanced discussions with PE firms for a potential sale, having received acquisition interest from multiple firms, with a deal possibly being announced within weeks.

• Banks are expected to send final proposals next week to Brookfield Asset Management for a debt package of about €11 billion ($11.6 billion) to support the take-private of Spanish pharmaceutical company Grifols ($GRFS). A bank group will be appointed by the end of the month.

• PHX Minerals ($PHX) declined WhiteHawk's proposal to acquire the company for $4 per share in cash.

• McKesson, Oracle, and Thoma Bravo are among the final firms in talks to acquire EMR data company Veradigm (OTC: $MDRX), formerly Allscripts.

• Golden Entertainment ($GDEN) is considering strategic alternatives, including a corporate merger.

• Predictive Oncology ($POAI) announced its Board initiated a strategic alternatives review process, including a sale, asset sale, or licensing transaction.

Activism, Investor Disputes & Shorts

• Elliott takes more than $5B stake in Honeywell ($HON) and is pushing the company to spinoff its aerospace arm into a separate company. The idea was previously floated by Third Point in 2017, but was dismissed by the company.

• ValueAct takes $1-billion stake in Meta ($META). It is not currently an activist stake.

Separations, Restructurings, and Other Special Sits

• IAC ($IAC) is considering a spinoff of Angi ($ANGI) that would result in its 85% stake in the company being distributed to shareholders. There’s no specific timeline for the transaction, but it is expected to occur at the end of Q2.

• DirecTV terminated its plan to acquire Dish after Dish's bondholders refused to accept the terms of a proposed debt offer, which was a requirement for the acquisition.

Bankruptcies

• After merger talks with Frontier Group fell apart, Spirit ($SAVE) is in advanced talks with a supermajority of its secured noteholders for a restructuring. The process would be carried out via a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, resulting in the cancellation of the company’s existing equity, wiping out shareholders.

• SunPower (SPWRQ) shareholders were wiped out as its bankruptcy plan became effective.