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Good Morning,

Workers are getting a share of profits in KKR's deals, Citigroup and Apollo teamed up in a private credit push, Elliott slammed Southwest's CEO, Supermicro fell into deeper trouble, and China is going founder god mode on economic stimulus.

Learn advanced financial modeling and stand out as a top valuation expert with the FMVA^® Certification from CFI, the #1 rated finance training provider.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 09/26/2024 market close.

Markets

US stocks rose as investors digested upbeat economic data
- S&P notched its third record-high this week
China's CSI 300 rose 4.2% yesterday on track for its best week in a decade
Hong Kong's HSI rallied 4.2% to a one-year high in its best day since March 2023
MSCI's EM stock index rose 2.3% in its best day since November
China 30Y yield fell to 2.14% to the lowest in nineteen years
Silver is up 35% YTD at its highest since 2012
Oil plummeted on reports of Saudi abandoning its $100/bbl price target

Earnings

Costco comfortably beat Q4 EPS estimates but missed on revenue due to continued caution in spending by budget-conscious consumers (RT)
CarMax climbed 5% after beating Q2 EPS estimates as price cuts on used vehicles boosted unit sales (YH)
Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

China is assembling an 'economic bazooka' (WSJ)
China will issue $284B in debt, vows action on real estate and rates (BBG)
US Q2 GDP growth was revised upwards to 3% (YH)
M&A seen slowing ahead of US elections (RT)
US money market assets hit record $6.4T despite Fed rate cut (BBG)
Saudi Arabia may abandon $100/bbl target to take back market share (FT)
Workers get share in windfall as PE firms soften image (FT)
UK tells audit firms to report PE approaches (FT)
PE-backed Belron is planning the biggest-ever dividend recap (FT)
Citigroup and Apollo formed a $25B private credit JV (BBG)
Wells Fargo sends Fed crucial review in fight against asset cap (BBG)
DOJ is probing Supermicro days after scathing Hindenburg short report (WSJ)
Activist Elliott slammed Southwest's CEO amid strategy overhaul (NYP)
Sam Altman denies receiving equity stake in OpenAI (CNBC)
Argentina's poverty rate soared above 50% in H1 (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

Validus Energy agreed to buy rival Citizen Energy for over $2B, including debt (RT)
PE firm TPG will acquire a minority stake in wealth manager Homrich Berg at a ~$1B valuation (RT)
Visa agreed to acquire AI payments protection firm Featurespace for ~$935M (RT)
Australian fund manager Platinum Asset Management rejected a $421M takeover offer from hedge fund Regal Partners (RT)
A consortium including KKR will take a 74% stake in regional airport operator Queensland Airports from a group including Macquarie (WSJ)
Satellite-TV firm DirecTV is in advanced talks to merge with rival Dish (WSJ)
General Atlantic chairman Bill E. Ford acquired a significant minority stake in English football team York City FC (BBG)
South African bank FirstRand agreed to acquire HSBC's South African corporate bank (BBG)

Observe, an AI-based SaaS observability startup, raised a $145M Series B from Evolution Equity Partners and Madrona Ventures (PRN)
Marvel Fusion, a startup building laser-powered fusion reactors, raised a $70M Series B led by HV Capital (TC)
Dinii, a cloud-based restaurant management platform, raised a $45M Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Hillhouse Investment (TC)
Gladly, an AI-powered unified customer service platform, raised a $40M round led by AVP (PRN)
Global debt collection fintech InDebted raised a $40M Series C led by Airtree, Australian Retirement Trust, and Premier Capital Partners (PU)
Prepared, a technology 'revolutionizing' 911 calls, raised a $27M Series B led by a16z (TC)
Bot Auto, an autonomous vehicle tech startup, raised a $20M pre-A round led by Brightway Future Venture, Cherubic Venture, and more (BW)
DeepOpinion, an Austrian enterprise GenAI automation platform, raised an $11M Series A led by Red River West and AIpha Intelligence Capital (EU)
Tetrix, a startup helping LPs optimize private market investments, raised a $5M seed round led by Innovation Endeavors (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

Fintech Chime, which was valued at $25B in 2021, hired Morgan Stanley to lead a 2025 IPO (BBG)
SoftBank-backed Indian food-delivery platform Swiggy filed for a $1.3B IPO at a targeted a $15B valuation (RT)
Bakery firm Europastry is planning a $234M Spain IPO at a $1.7B valuation (BBG)
Saudi Arabia's Fourth Milling Company is set to raise $229M in a local IPO (RT)
Healthcare firm Guardian Pharmacy raised $112M in its US IPO (RT)

Debt

Turkey raised $3.5B in a record dollar-bond sale (FT)
Saudi Aramco sold $3B in dollar-denominated sukuk bonds (BBG)
Telecoms firm Windstream sold a $1.3B debt package to refinance debt (BBG)
India's HDFC Bank offloaded $1.8B in housing and car loan portfolios to a range of asset managers and state-controlled banks to plug margins (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

US-listed oil refiner Vertex Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to sell (BBG)
UK cinema chain Cineworld's restructuring is being challenged by its landlords (BBG)
Troubled French telecom Altice held talks with funds including Apollo about raising new debt to repay upcoming maturities (BBG)

Crypto Corner

Robinhood and Revolut are weighing launching stablecoins (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

Gain insights into the latest trends in private and public markets, and network with leaders in data, tech, finance and operations at S&P Global's flagship Interact conference in New York on October 15-16. Hear the latest on private credit, the role for AI, and more. Register here.
Matt Phillips wrote an insightful piece on how Covid served as a boon for US corporate profitability. A great piece in light of raging stock valuations…

Litquidity x Tech Week Giveaway

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Investment Banking Opportunity

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