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Good Morning,

Investors cut allocations to US stocks by the most ever, all 'Mag 7' stocks turned negative YTD, Morgan Stanley will lay off 3% of employees, SpaceX returned the stranded NASA astronauts to Earth, and early VCs are set to make 200x returns on Wiz after Google acquired the startup for $32B.

Invest in institutional-caliber private markets with 10 East, a membership-based investment platform offering targeted exposure to PE, credit, and more.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 3/18/2025 market close. Litquidity portfolios as of 3/17.

Click here to learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks fell yesterday as investors braced for today's Fed meeting 

    • All 'magnificent 7' stocks are now negative YTD

  • Asia stocks rose for a fourth-straight day amid cash rotation out of US

  • Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index slid 7% in its worst day since 2011 over fiscal leadership uncertainty

    • The index is down 15% YTD

  • Gold hit a new ATH

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Five Below, Williams Sonoma, General Mills

    • Thursday: Micron, Nike, FedEx, Accenture, Darden Restaurants, Lennar

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Russia agreed to a partial ceasefire with Ukraine (BBG)

  • Scott Bessent sees no reason for recession (BBG) 

  • BOJ held rates steady at 0.5% (CNBC)

  • Goldman, McKinsey see Europe as rare bright spot in global M&A (BBG)

  • Investors are pouring into short-term US debt to ride out market storm (FT)

  • Hedge fund momentum bets crater all at once amid volatility (BBG)

  • Investors cut allocation to US stocks by the most ever (BBG)

  • Corporate insiders' buying spree gives confidence to S&P 500 bulls (BBG)

  • VCs set for 20,000% windfall on Wiz after Google's $32B acquisition (RT)

  • European ETF industry salaries surge as managers fight for talent (FT)

  • Short sellers made $16B profit from Tesla shorts (FT)

  • Deutsche Bank will give DWS preferred access to its private credit deals (BBG)

  • Rio Tinto backs dual-listing despite Pallister's proxy firm-backed bid (WSJ)

  • Samsung will pursue M&A deals amid growth struggles (RT)

  • Morgan Stanley will cut 2k jobs (BBG)

  • Citi slashed execs bonuses tied to bank's turnaround (BBG)

  • Nasdaq will open new Texas HQ as state's appeal grows (RT) 

  • Russia's SWF is eyeing rare earth projects with US firms (RT)

  • Foreign CEOs to flock to China for key summit, Xi meeting (RT)

  • Costco is pressuring Chinese suppliers to cut prices (FT) 

  • Inter Milan's value collapsed 75% before Oaktree seized control last year (FT)

  • Top insurance CEO will head to business school after retirement (BBG)

  • Jonathan Larmore was sentenced to five years for fake WeWork bid (BBG)

  • Women's pro sports is expected generate over $2.35B this year (RT)

  • SpaceX returned stranded NASA astronauts to Earth (WSJ)

  • US births fell to a four-decade low (BBG)

A Message from 10 East

Where Sophisticated Investors Access Private Markets

10 East is a co-investment platform where sophisticated investors access private market investments alongside a veteran team with a 12+ year track record of strong performance across over 350 transactions. The firm is led by Michael Leffell, former Deputy Executive Managing Member of Davidson Kempner.

Members have the flexibility to participate on a deal-by-deal basis across private equity, credit, real estate, and venture capital.

Benefits of 10 East membership include:  

  • Flexibility – members have full discretion over whether to invest on an offering-by-offering basis. 

  • Alignment – principal commits material personal capital to every offering.  

  • Institutional resources – a dedicated investment team that sources and diligences each offering.

There are no upfront costs or commitments associated with joining 10 East.

Exec Sum readers can join 10 East with complimentary access here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Investors sold secondary shares in Elon Musk's Twitter / X at a $44B valuation, up from $10B pre-election and back to its 2022 buyout valuation

  • Google-parent Alphabet agreed to acquire cloud-security startup Wiz for $32B

  • Walgreens Boots Alliance's executive chair Stefano Pessina will double his stake to 30% as part of PE firm Sycamore's $10B LBO of Walgreens

  • Singapore's Uber-backed Grab is in advanced talks to acquire Indonesian rival GoTo, which had a $6B market cap

  • KKR is weighing an acquisition of New Mexico's largest utility TXNM Energy, which has a $4.4B market cap

  • Swiss PE firm Partners Group will acquire a portfolio of 11 natural gas power plants in California from Avenue Capital Group for $2.2B

  • Canadian miner Equinox Gold's $1.8B takeover bid for rival Calibre Mining faces opposition from top shareholder VanEck

  • Brokerage Hidden Road is exploring a sale or capital raise at a $1B valuation

  • Oracle is considering acquiring TikTok’s US operations with security assurances and a small stake, while its algorithm remains in China

  • Swiss insurers Helvetia and Baloise are exploring a merger to create one of Switzerland's largest insurance firms

  • PE firm Sixth Street Partners acquired a 10% stake in MLB team San Francisco Giants

  • UK retail group Frasers plans to make a mandatory offer for Norwegian sporting goods retailer XXL, after previously dropping its bid

VC

  • Nerdio, a platform simplifying how companies deploy and manage Microsoft cloud technologies, raised a $500M Series C at a $1B+ valuation led by General Atlantic, Lead Edge Capital, and Stepstone

  • Robotics company Apptronik raised a $53M Series B led by B Capital and Capital Factory

  • AI-powered code review platform Graphite raised a $52M Series B led by Accel

  • GrubMarket, a healthy food procurement and distribution startup, raised a $50M Series G at a $3.5B+ valuation from Liberty Street Funds, 3Spoke Capital, and others

  • VIA, a data and identity protection platform, raised a $28M Series B led by Bosch Ventures

  • AI-driven logistics platform Augment raised a $25M seed round led by 8VC

  • Enterprise blockchain platform Crossmint raised a $23.6M round led by Ribbit Capital

  • Indian clean beauty brand Pilgrim raised a $26.3M round at a ~$350M pre-money valuation from Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office, Vertex Ventures, and more

  • AI-focused blockchain protocol Halliday raised a $20M Series A led by a16z crypto

  • doinstruct, a compliance platform for frontline worker training, raised an $18M Series A led by HV Capital

  • VulnCheck, an exploit intelligence company, raised a $12M Series A led by Ten Eleven Ventures

  • AI agent infrastructure startup Arcade raised $12M from Laude Ventures

  • brain.space, an Israeli Brain-Data-as-a-Service ecosystem for exclusive GenAI mental modeling, raised an $11M Series A led by Toyota Ventures

  • 257, a software and AI company focused on the residential energy market, raised a $9.2M seed round led by F2 Venture Capital

  • Crypto casino and sportsbook Yeet.com raised a $7.75M round led by Dragonfly

  • Israeli data protection platform Orion Security raised a $6M seed round led by Pico Venture Partners and FXP

  • Featherless.ai, a serverless AI inference platform, raised a $5M seed round from Airbus Ventures

  • Leta, a Kenyan logistics software startup, raised a $5M seed round led by Speedinvest

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Swedish self-driving truck startup Einride is in talks for a US IPO at an over $5B valuation

  • Pfizer will sell its remaining 7.3% stake worth ~$3.3B, in British consumer healthcare group Haleon

  • Japan's JX Advanced Metals surged 6% in its trading debut after raising $2.9B in Japan's biggest IPO in six years

  • The Indian unit of South Korean consumer electronics giant LG Electronics received approval for a potential $1.5B IPO

  • Malaysian discount-store retailer Eco-Shop is in talks for investment commitments from Aberdeen, Lion Global, AHAM Asset Management, and Assure General Insurance for a planned IPO that could fetch a $1B valuation

  • Activist hedge fund Starboard Value built a $500M stake in design-software maker Autodesk and plans to launch a proxy fight

  • Volkswagen is selling a 2.2% stake in its trucking unit Traton to for ~$394M

  • The founding Haselsteiner family of Austrian construction company Strabag offered to sell a 1.7% stake worth $165M

SPAC

  • Ukrainian mobile network operator Kyivstar will merge with Cohen Circle Acquisition Corp. I in a $2.2B deal

Debt 

  • Banks are preparing to offload $9.5B of debt backing PE firm CD&R's $16B LBO of Sanofi's consumer health unit Opella

  • Blackstone and Permira-backed European online classifieds company Adevinta is in advanced talks with private credit firms for a $6.8B debt refinancing package, beating out banks

  • Over 12 private credit funds including Ares, Cerberus, Davidson Kempner, and Farallon Capital gave binding commitments to Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji, which is raising $3.3B in India's biggest private credit deal ever

  • Bain Capital-owned Chinese data center operator Bridge Data Centres obtained a $2.8B loan for its Malaysia operations

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Ghana's embattled cocoa board is reviewing its $2B debt pile

  • Swedish D2C cosmetics firm Oriflame reached a deal to write off $570M of debt and raise ~$55M in fresh funds from a group of bondholders and the founding family

  • Blockbuster film producer Village Roadshow Entertainment received a $365M bid for its film library after filing for Chapter 11

  • PE-backed HVAC rollup Air Pros filed for Chapter 11 with plans to sell all units

Fundraising

  • PE firm New State Capital raised $700M for its fourth fund

  • European VC firm Sofinnova Partners raised $180M for a biotech acceleration fund

  • Aligned Climate Capital raised $85M for its second VC fund and is exploring raising a private credit fund

  • Motion Ventures raised over $50M for a targeted $100M second fund, the largest maritime-focused tech fund on record 

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Binance founder CZ says 95% of crypto investors won't survive

  • 83% of institutional investors plan to up crypto allocations in 2025

  • Fintech and crypto firms are seeking bank charters for growth

  • Netflix-backed director was accused of blowing $11M meant for Netflix show on crypto

  • Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

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  • March Madness is back! Litquidity is hosting the official Wall Street survivor pool this year, with an up to $50k prize. Put some skin in the game this season and spice up your watch parties. Register here!

  • Financial Times conducted a deep investigation into Brookfield, exploring how much how the asset management giants really makes considering circular cash flows and self-transactions within its global property portfolio.

  • Financial Times published another interesting Big Read on Goldman Sachs' CEO succession, where evidence is strengthening speculation that the bank may have already decided its next CEO.

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.

We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.