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Good Morning,

Hedge funds are shorting US stocks while loss-making retail degens are doubling down, US markets chaos is boosting appeal of Chinese corporate debt, EM investors are raising FX risk, and JPMorgan renamed DEI to DOI.

With March Madness in full effect, BlueFlame AI and Litquidity are hosting a watch party on March 27th from 6-9pm at Stag's Head, NYC! It's gonna be a great time with an open bar and food. Shut those laptops early and join us if you're in town! RSVP here. Powered by Palm & Park, a Litquidity venture

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 3/21/2025 market close.

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Markets

  • US stocks inched slightly upwards on Friday as US hinted at tariff flexibility

    • S&P and Nasdaq snapped four-week declines

  • Wholesale egg prices have dropped 40% since February

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: OKLO

    • Tuesday: GameStop

    • Wednesday: Dollar Tree, Jefferies, Chewy

    • Thursday: lululemon

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US hints at 'flexibility' on reciprocal tariffs (CNBC)

  • US policies shatter 'US exceptionalism' trade (FT)

  • Hedge fund short exposure on US stocks hit the highest since Covid (RT)

  • Wall Street banks sweetened leveraged loan deals amid volatility (BBG)

  • Volatility traders are focused on jobs and inflation over tariffs (BBG)

  • South-east Asian markets roiled as investors turn to China (FT)

  • US chaos is boosting appeal of China corporate debt (BBG)

  • EM investors are switching global yields for local currency debt (BBG)

  • Hedge funds crowded into UK bond positions, raising instability risk (RT)

  • Loss-making retail degens keep buying stocks as market teeters (BBG)

  • US tech rout fuels wild bets from Korean retail degens (BBG)

  • Turkey banned short-selling to stem market slide (BBG)

  • ECB officials question Fed reliability for dollars under Trump (RT)

  • Goldman is preparing for regulatory scrutiny in private credit (BBG)

  • Canada's OTPP to focus on partnerships than LBOs in PE risk mitigation (BBG) 

  • UAE committed to investing $1.4T in US (RT)

  • Activist Jana settled with ​​cybersecurity firm Rapid7 with three board seats (RT)

  • Activist Elliott met several BP shareholders to discuss reform (RT)

  • Chevron raised CEO Michael Wirth's pay to $33M (RT)

  • JPMorgan renamed DEI to DOI (BBG)

  • JPMorgan asset management quit industry climate coalition (RT)

  • China's top law firms are poaching partners from US rivals (FT)

A Message from Brex

Banking That Takes Every Dollar Further

Brex knows runway is everything, so they built a banking solution that helps companies take every dollar further.

Unlike traditional banking solutions, Brex has no minimums and give companies access to 20x the standard FDIC protection via program banks.

Plus, companies can earn industry-leading yield from their first dollar – while being able to access their funds anything.

If you want to make sure your company and/or your portfolio companies have a place to save, spend, and grow capital, check out Brex.

Bank with Brex

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Existing ByteDance investors are emerging as front-runners in the discussions to acquire TikTok US 

  • Building materials company James Hardie Industries agreed to acquire home-decking provider AZEK in an $8.75B cash-and stock-deal

  • SWF Temasek and PE firm Warburg Pincus plan to sell healthcare supply chain management company Global Healthcare Exchange at a $5B valuation 

  • Crypto trading platform Coinbase is in advanced talks to acquire crypto derivatives exchange Deribit, valued at $4B-$5B

  • PE firm Clearlake is nearing a $4B take-private of business data analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet

  • Apollo is exploring a potential $4B sale of Cox Media Group at a $4B valuation

  • A court recommended Contrarian Funds' $3.7B offer for Citgo parent PDV as a floor for bidding

  • Italian manufacturer Iveco is seeking $1.6B in a sale of its defense unit

  • Apollo will acquire a 25% non-controlling stake in BP Pipelines from BP for $1B

  • Brazil Iron offered to acquire a South American mine project owned by Eurasian Resources for $1B

  • Carlyle terminated a $945M assets purchase in UK gas producer Energean over approval delays

  • Swedish telecom operator Tele2 is exploring the sale of its wireless towers in the Baltics at a ~$540M valuation

  • Italian holding company Moltiply acquired German media firm ProSiebenSat.1's comparison website Verivox for $250M

  • PE firm Regent will acquire tech news website TechCrunch from Yahoo 

  • Kim Kardashian's SKIMS will acquire a 20% stake in her beauty products brand SKKN from peer Coty

  • Abu Dhabi renewable energy firm Masdar is exploring a stake purchase in TotalEnergies' Portuguese renewables assets

  • Trafigura-backed Congo miner Chemaf Resources abandoned a deal to sell itself to China's Norin Mining

VC

  • At-home robotics startup The Bot Company raised a $150M round at a $2B valuation led by Greenoaks

  • Commercial services tech startup BuildOps raised a $127M Series C at a $1B valuation led by Meritech Capital

  • StrongRoom AI, a medication management software startup, raised $17M in funding led by EVP

  • Browser Use, a startup making websites more readable for AI agents, raised a $17M seed round led by Felicis

  • Pluralis Research, an Australian AI startup developing open-source AI through decentralized training, raised a $7.6M seed round led by USV and CoinFund

  • Qlarifi, a UK fintech startup providing credit reporting for BNPL, raised a $1.6M pre-seed round led by HoneyComb, Carthona Capital, and others

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Thailand's Gulf Energy Development amassed a $370M stake in commercial lender Kasikornbank

  • Ticket marketplace StubHub filed for an IPO

  • French conglomerate Vivendi reduced its stake in Telecom Italia to ~18% from 24%

  • Insurance startup Ethos, last valued at $2.7B in 2021, is exploring an IPO for this year

  • Activist TOMS Capital acquired a stake in J&J's consumer health spinoff Kenvue and is pushing for a sale

SPAC

  • Trump-linked SPAC Renatus Tactical Acquisition Corp I raised $179M for crypto and blockchain deals

Debt

  • IMF will consider a $20B loan for Argentina 

  • Robert Bosch signed an $11.9B loan financing package with banks, including bridge financing for its M&A activities

  • Carlyle and KKR sold securities backed by a portion of a $10B student loan portfolio that they bought from Discover Financial Services

  • Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are leading an $8.1B debt sale to finance PE firm CD&R's acquisition of a stake in French pharma giant Sanofi's consumer health unit

  • Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and UBS are offloading $2.9B in debt used to finance Bain Capital's LBO of German facility-management firm Apleona

  • Citigroup and JPMorgan are looking to sell $2.2B in debt financing to support Canadian auto parts maker ABC Technologies' acquisition of TI Fluid Systems

  • X / Twitter plans to repurchase the remaining $1.2B in debt from Elon Musk's LBO, potentially using funds from a recent equity raise

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Ethiopia and creditors agreed on an $8.4B debt restructuring

  • Bankrupt Swedish EV battery maker Northvolt's trustees are hopeful on a business continuation

Fundraising

  • VC firm Haun Ventures is aiming to raise $1B to invest in crypto startups

  • CalPERS alum Nicole Musicco and Morgan Stanley's Peter Ma are looking to raise $1B for a new opportunistic credit fund Square Nine Capital

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • SEC held its first crypto task force roundtable 

  • US scrapped sanctions on crypto 'mixer' Tornado Cash, accused of laundering for North Korea 

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

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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.