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Good Morning,

Retail traders are reviving 'meme stock' mania versus hedge funds in Europe, UBS threatened to leave its Swiss HQ, Boston Celtics got acquired in the biggest sports deal ever, and DoorDash signed a deal with Klarna to offer BNPL.

Master your modeling and valuation skillset and accelerate your Wall Street career with the FMVA® Certification from CFI, the #1 rated finance training provider.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 3/20/2025 market close.

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Markets

  • US stocks slipped yesterday as economic and tariff uncertainty continued to weigh

  • Canada-US 10Y yield spread fell to -125 bps after hitting a three-decade low of -153 bps in early-February

  • Oil jumped on new Iran sanctions

  • London copper prices hit a five-month high, surpassing $10k/ton

  • Canadian dollar recovered to an 11-day high after hitting a two-decade low vs US dollar last month

Earnings

  • Micron beat Q2 estimates and gave rosy guidance on a 300% YoY increase in data center revenue (CNBC)

  • Nike slid 5% despite topping EPS and revenue estimates as it issued concerns over tariffs and sliding consumer confidence (CNBC)

  • FedEx fell 6% following after missing Q3 earnings and revenue estimates and cutting FY guidance as it struggles with soft demand and industrial sector uncertainty from tariffs (RT)

  • Accenture tumbled 7% despite beating Q2 earnings estimates as DOGE cuts are beginning to weigh on revenues (CNBC)

  • Darden Restaurants rose 6% after narrowly beating Q3 earnings estimates as the firm sees minimal correlation between pessimistic consumers and dining out (CNBC)

  • Lennar beat Q1 earnings but warned that higher rates, inflation, and a downturn in consumer confidence is offsetting its high demand (RT)

  • CVC beat Q4 estimates and guided for further FY growth on optimism that uncertain geo-politics will provide attractive investment opportunities (WSJ)

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • BoE held rates at 4.5% and gave a hawkish forecast (CNBC) 

  • Japan inflation rose 2.7% YoY, keeping rate hike hopes alive (CNBC)

  • UK consumer morale rose to a three-month high (RT)

  • Global debt exceeded $100T last year as interest costs surge (RT)

  • Government debt interest costs hit the highest level since 2007 (FT)

  • S&P 500 firms returned a record amount of capital last year (AX)

  • YC startups are fastest growing in fund history because of AI (CNBC)

  • Private credit firms are pushing risk boundaries to win deals, with spreads at record low (BBG)

  • US backlog is pushing European unicorns to eye local IPOs (BBG)

  • UK bond sales are forecast to rise to a record $400B next year (FT)

  • Retails traders take on Europe hedge funds in latest 'meme stock' mania (FT)

  • Leveraged ETFs are in free fall after record inflows last year (WSJ)

  • China is seeking foreign capital to bolster changing economy (RT)

  • China PE and VC funds are seeking more time to deploy capital (BBG)

  • China's restaurants are racing to the bottom in deflation-hit economy (RT)

  • UBS threatened to leave Swiss HQ over capital requirements (BBG)

  • Canada's OTPP gained 9.4% last year (BBG)

  • BlackRock bets on retail push as it chases Europe (RT)

  • Big Four attacks IRS over unfair tax treatment of Coca-Cola (FT)

  • Nvidia will open a quantum computing lab near Harvard, MIT (RT)

  • Klarna signed a BNPL deal with DoorDash (CNBC)

  • Tesla trade-ins are on track for record high amid Musk backlash (RT)

  • 80% of Japan firms stay committed to DEI despite backlash (RT)

  • Apple shuffles leadership in rare move amid AI struggles (BBG)

  • Apple TV+ is losing over $1B annually (TI)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Insurance broker Howden is nearing a deal to acquire peer Risk Strategies, which is owned by PE firm Kelso & Co, for $10B 

  • PE tycoon Bill Chisholm agreed to acquire NBA team Boston Celtics for $6.1B, marking the largest sports takeover ever

  • Munich Re's primary insurance unit Ergo agreed to acquire California's Next Insurance for $2.6B

  • German bank Targo Deutschland agreed to acquire Oldenburgische Landesbank from Apollo for $1.9B

  • Crypto exchange Kraken will acquire retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5B

  • Carlyle is seeking a buyer for Colombian oil producer SierraCol for ~$1.5B

  • Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is in advanced talks to acquire the Indian unit of UAE developer Emaar at a $1.4B valuation

  • Abu Dhabi SWF Mubadala is weighing a sale of part of its $1B stake in telecom operator Du

  • TPG Capital agreed to acquire the digital banking solutions unit of Italian fintech Nexi for over $870M 

  • Norway's $1.7T SWF Norges is set to acquire a 25% stake in prime property around London's Covent Garden district from landlord Shaftesbury for ~$740M

  • Bain Capital agreed to acquire an 18% stake in India's Manappuram Finance for $508M

  • LatAm VCs Nazca and Bridge agreed to merge combining over $300M in AUM

  • Dutch vegan foods maker Vivera agreed to acquire Unilever's The Vegetarian Butcher brand

  • A consortium of Baku Steel and Azerbaijan Investment Co. entered exclusive talks to acquire troubled Italian steelmaker Acciaierie d'Italia

  • India's Jio Financial Services reached a preliminary agreement with German insurance giant Allianz to form an insurance business in India

VC

  • OpenAI-rival Perplexity is in talks to raise up to $1B at a doubled $18B valuation

  • Carbon Arc, an AI data utility company, raised a $56M round led by Liberty City Ventures

  • Evroc, a Swedish startup building a hyperscale cloud in Europe, raised a $55M Series A led by Blisce, EQT Ventures, Norrsken VC, and Giant Ventures

  • Good Good Golf, a golf media and lifestyle brand, raised a $45M round led by Creator Sports Capital

  • AI-powered senior living solutions provider Inspiren raised a $35M Series A led by Avenir

  • NymCard, am embedded finance platform operating across the MENA region, raised a $33M Series B led by QED Investors

  • Buynomics, an AI startup improving pricing and revenue optimization, raised a ~$30M Series B led by Forestay Capital

  • Asper.ai, an AI growth platform for consumer goods and manufacturing, raised $20M in strategic investment from Fractal

  • SkySpecs, a renewable energy asset health management company, raised $20M in growth funding led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives

  • Brainomix, an AI-focused medtech company, raised a $18M Series C led by Parkwalk Advisors and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund

  • Rerun, a Swedish dev tools startup, raised a $17M seed round led by Point Nine Capital

  • Kosli, a Norwegian automated governance solutions for software delivery, raised a $10M Series A led by Deutsche Bank's VC group and Heavybit

  • Moonwatt, a sodium-ion energy storage startup, raised $8.7M in funding led by daphni and LEA Partners

  • Crypto-powered uranium trading platform Uranium Digital raised a $6.1M seed round led by Framework Ventures

  • Brazilian legal tech Jusfy raised a $5.2M pre-Series A led by SaaSHolic and Maya Capital

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave raised its IPO offering for $2.7B at a $32B valuation, which is already over-subscribed on its first day 

  • Hanwha Aerospace plans to raise $2.5B in South Korea's biggest share sale in three years

Debt

  • European drinks maker Refresco shelved a $2.3B leveraged loan repricing as junk debt sentiment sours

  • European crop-protection company Rovensa pulled a planned $1.2B loan refinancing 

  • State-owned Indian Bank plans to raise $580M through long-term infrastructure bonds

  • China is marketing debut sovereign green bonds in London

Fundraising

  • Credit investment firm Marathon Asset Management raised $2.7B for its second opportunistic fund

  • Credit investment firm Castlelake raised $2B for its fifth aviation-focused credit fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Pakistan plans to legalize Crypto in bid for foreign investment

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

Exec’s Picks

  • RacquetX is organizing the largest conference for all things racquet sports – tennis, padel, pickleball – literally any sport with a racquet. Clubs, tech startups, and players in the ecosystem are uniting in Miami Beach from March 22-24 to listen to panels, meet others in the space, and watch top players compete. I'm a judge for the startup competition they're hosting and would love for you to join! RSVP here and use code litquidityrx25 for 25% off!

  • Joe Wiggins wrote a great piece on how investment mistakes can compound over time.

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.