S&P targets IHS Markit — Inside the latest Vista drama — Wealth management-focused SPAC

Welcome back.

We're in the final stretch before the end of the year. But don't interpret that to mean fewer interesting stories.

The first day back has already proved exciting, as S&P Global announced plans to acquire IHS Markit for $44 billion, which would be the biggest deal of 2020.

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Here's another great piece from Casey Sullivan and Dakin Campbell on the latest drama at private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners.

If you haven't been keeping up, Casey and Dakin have broken a number of stories detailing what has unfolded off the back of Robert Smith, Vista Equity Partners' CEO, admitting he took part in a tax-evasion scheme.

In this latest piece, Casey and Dakin dive into how Smith and longtime Visa executive Brian Sheth were big early supporters of Nate Paul, an Austin real-estate developer who's part of an escalating political scandal involving the Texas Attorney General.

Click here to read the entire story.

A new SPAC is on the hunt for a wealth-management deal

Rebecca Ungarino with a nice look at a recently listed SPAC that's targeting a deal in the wealth management and asset management space. Rebecca spoke to the CEO to get the rundown of what it is looking for. Read more here.

Challenger banks are hot on the heels of legacy players

Shannen Balogh with a nice look at all the progress being made by challenger banks. Check out how the so-called 'neobanks' are catching up to the biggest players in the space. Read more here.

Odd lots:

GM Plans to Seek Banking Charter to Grow Auto-Lending Business (WSJ)

BuzzFeed's acquisition of HuffPost has kicked off speculation of more digital media tie-ups, and SPACs are already circling (BI)

The 5 highest-paid CEOs in the financial services industry an earned average of $27.9 million each in 2019. Meet the CEOs from Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs (BI)