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EU officials raided Nasdaq and Deutsche Börse, big hedge funds are tightening their grip on industry AUM, Trafigura named their third-ever CEO, and KKR's co-head of PE is pushing for workers' ownership in companies.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 09/24/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks rose as markets shook off weak consumer confidence data

    • S&P and Dow closed at fresh records

    • Swaps markets see a 50% chance of another 50 bps Fed rate cut 

  • China's CSI 300 rallied 4.3% for its best day in four years on stimulus measures

  • France-Spain 10Y spread converged to 0 bps at 2.98% for the first time since 2008

  • Dollar continued to fall after three-straight weeks of decline

  • Yuan surged to a sixteen-month high 

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Micron

    • Thursday: Costco, CarMax

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • A top KKR exec is pushing for workers' stake in US companies (WSJ)

  • US consumer confidence dropped by the most in three years (CNBC)

  • Germany, Canada join US and UK with un-inverting yield curves (BBG)

  • OPEC expects oil demand to continue climbing over next two decades (WSJ)

  • EU raided Nasdaq and Deutsche Börse in antitrust investigation (FT)

  • Big hedge funds' share of industry hit an eight-year high (RT)

  • US bond ETF launches are up 50% YoY (RT)

  • Trafigura named Richard Holtum as new CEO (BBG)

  • Legal & General named Eric Adler as CEO of new asset management arm (FT)

  • Commerzbank named Bettina Orlopp as new CEO amid UniCredit threat (FT)

  • China threatened to blacklist Calvin Klein over cotton boycott (FT)

  • DOJ pushes companies to consider AI risks (WSJ)

  • Spain called for disaster 'pause clauses' for developing nation debt (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • PE firms CD&R and PAI Partners made binding bids for Sanofi's $16.7B consumer health division (BBG)  

  • Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners agreed to take private collaboration software provider Smartsheet for ~$8.4B (BBG) 

  • KKR and Singapore SWF GIC are seeking to sell a majority stake in Philippine hospital group Metro Pacific Health at a $3.2B valuation (RT) 

  • Italy is preparing to sell a 15% stake in postal service Poste Italiane for $2.7B (BBG) 

  • Macquarie Asset Management agreed to acquire a minority stake in D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments for $1.73B (BBG) 

  • Abu Dhabi state-owned clean energy firm Masdar will buy Spanish peer Saeta Yield from Brookfield at a $1.4B valuation (FT) 

  • London Stock Exchange Group is seeking to sell its 4.9% stake in Belgian financial services company Euroclear for $670M (RT) 

  • UK's NewRiver REIT will acquire smaller rival Capital & Regional in a $196M cash-and-stock deal (RT) 

  • Octopus Energy Generation acquired clean energy storage developer Exagen (RT) 

  • Diamondback Energy and Kinetik acquired a combined 30% stake in Epic Midstream unit Epic Crude (BBG)

VC

  • Fitness equipment startup EGYM raised a $200M Series G at a $1.2B+ valuation from L Catterton and Meritech (TC)

  • Italian payroll automation startup Jet HR raised a $12.5M seed round led by Picus Capital (EU)

  • Nmbr, an embedded payroll software provider, raised a $5.6M seed round from Panache Ventures, Golden Ventures, and more (BW)

  • Desia, an AI system for investment professionals, raised a $3.3M pre-seed round led by Dig Ventures (TFN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • AI services firm Fractal Analytics is considering raising $500M at a $3.5B valuation in a Mumbai IPO (BBG) 

  • Hawaiian Electric Industries plans to raise $500M through a stock offering to help fund its Maui wildfire settlement (RT)

  • Bain-backed Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia scrapped plans for a $500M local IPO amid a market slump (RT) 

  • FrontView REIT is seeking to raise $277M at a ~$600M valuation in a US IPO (BBG)  

  • Warburg Pincus sold its entire 8.6% stake in Indian car sales platform CarTrade for $45M (RT)

Debt

  • Blue Owl Capital led the $3.2B private credit deal to back Blackstone and Vista's $8.4B LBO of Smartsheet (BBG)

  • Saudi Aramco plans to raise $3B in a dollar-denominated bond sale (BBG) 

  • Telecom provider Windstream launched a $1.3B debt sale to refinance existing loans (BBG) 

  • Indian lender IIFL Finance plans to raise $1.2B in bonds (RT) 

  • Investment firm Castlelake raised over $1B in bank financing for its purchase of over 60 aircraft (BBG) 

  • India's Shriram Finance plans to raise $500M via dollar-denominated bonds (RT) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Complete Solaria won bankruptcy court approval to acquire rival SunPower's solar panel business for $45M (BBG)  

Fundraising

  • HSBC Asset Management plans to raise $1.1B for a NAV financing fund to help PE firms borrow against their portfolios (BBG) 

Crypto Corner

  • Diddy and SBF are sharing a room in jail (MSN)

  • Caroline Ellison was sentenced to two years for role in FTX collapse (AX)

  • SEC chair Gensler faced heat in Congress over crypto regulation (TB)

  • BNY Mellon is planning to launch crypto ETF custody services (BBG) 

  • BlackRock sees Bitcoin as a 'risk-off' asset (BBG)

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