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Good Morning,

US CEO pay hit a record high on soaring stock awards, Andurand's legendary commodities fund is down 52% YTD, Norway's $1.7T wealth fund is bucking institutional investor trends by doubling down on US stocks, and Yahoo is willing to buy Google Chrome if Google is forced to sell.

Tune in to a conversation with partners at Lightspeed and Salesforce Ventures to discuss how VC investors can adapt their dealmaking strategies to stay ahead.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 4/24/2025 market close.

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

Markets

  • US stocks continued to rise on signs of progress on trade

    • All three major indexes rose for a third-straight day

  • UK's FTSE 100 rose for a ninth-straight day for its best streak since 2019

Earnings

  • Alphabet smashed Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on strong search advertising performance and growth in its AI-driven search updates and expanding cloud business; the firm announced a $70B share buyback and a 5% dividend increase (BBG)

  • Intel beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates but issued weak guidance and announced plans to slash FY OpEx and CapEx under its new CEO (CNBC)

  • Southwest beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates but pulled its 2025 and 2026 guidance and announced flight cuts for H2 citing macroeconomic uncertainty and weaker domestic bookings (CNBC)

  • T-Mobile beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates but missed on new wireless subscriber additions despite raising its FY profit forecast (BBG)

  • PepsiCo beat Q1 revenue estimates but missed on earnings and cut its FY forecast amid tariffs, economic volatility, and growing consumer spending uncertainty (CNBC)

  • Vale missed Q1 earnings estimates on lower iron ore prices, though cost-cutting efforts and FX tailwinds helped soften the impact (RT)

  • What we're watching this week:

    • Today: AbbVie, Phillips 66

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Seems like traders aren't too optimistic on economic data.

  • Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

  • China may exempt some US goods from tariffs (BBG)

  • Norway's $1.7T SWF fell 0.6% for its biggest quarterly loss in 1.5 years (BBG)

  • Franklin Templeton CEO sees institutional investors ditching US stocks (BBG)

  • Private credit LPs are shifting allocations from US to Europe (BBG)

  • PE is making a splash into the marketing sector (WSJ)

  • Japan assets drew record inflows in sign funds are ditching US (BBG)

  • Japan investors bought overseas bonds for the first time in seven weeks (RT)

  • Median US CEO pay hit a record $16.8M on soaring stock awards (RT)

  • Andurand's commodities hedge fund is down 52% YTD (BBG)

  • Balyasny offered a $30M pay package for a top rates trader (BBG)

  • Franklin Templeton boosted WAMCO risk oversight after $120B outflows (BBG)

  • Hedge funds are seeking ways to navigate Trump's anti-climate agenda (BBG)

  • Canada eased IPO and capital raising rules (BBG)

  • Europe fixed-maturity junk bond funds are booming (BBG)

  • Apollo launched 'New Markets' group for everyday investors (BBG)

  • Activist Starboard settled with Autodesk with two board members (RT)

  • JPMorgan promoted 227 to MD in its investment bank (RT)

  • OpenAI projects a 1000% revenue increase in five years (TI)

  • Intel plans homegrown challenge to Nvidia after years of failed deals (RT)

  • Apple will source all US iPhones from India in shift from China (FT)

  • Financials reveal evolving Twitter / X business model BBG)

  • Blackstone-backed Jersey Mike's named Wingstop CEO as new CEO (WSJ)

  • Nasdaq partnered with Amazon to move more markets to cloud (BBG)

  • MVP QB Josh Allen joined VC Cashmere as partner (AX)

  • Intel and TSMC CEOs met to discuss collaboration (RT)

  • Google threatened to fire employees who don't RTO (CNBC)

  • Home sales fell to the slowest pace since 2009 (CNBC)

  • Just 19 households created $1T in wealth last year (WSJ)

  • California became the world's fourth-biggest economy (BBG)

A Message from Affinity

Market consolidation is reshaping venture capital, with fewer firms capturing the lion's share of deals. How can investors adapt their dealmaking strategies to stay ahead?

Join Mercedes Bent, Venture Partner at Lightspeed, and Brian Murphy, Lead Data Scientist at Salesforce Ventures on May 8 for key insights on evolving dealmaking trends, the behaviors of top-performing firms, and the strategies investors are using to thrive in a competitive market.

Register Now

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Italian lender Banco BPM formally rejected a takeover bid by bigger rival UniCredit's 'hostile' $14.8B takeover offer

  • Asia's Royal Golden Eagle, Asia Pulp & Paper, and Brazilian paper and pulp producer Suzano are final bidders for Kimberly-Clark's international tissue business, valued at $4B

  • Pharma giant Merck is nearing a deal to acquire SpringWorks Therapeutics for ~$3.5B

  • GTCR-backed healthcare marketing firm Klick Health is exploring a minority stake sale at a $2B-$3B

  • PIMCO, KKR, Bain Capital, and Centerbridge Partners are interested in acquiring UK consumer credit provider NewDay at a $2B-$2.7B valuation

  • Equinox Gold sweetened its all-stock takeover offer for Calibre Mining to a $2B equity valuation

  • Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners is exploring a majority stake sale of its Brazos Midstream II Permian pipeline at a $2B valuation, including debt

  • UPS agreed to acquire Canadian healthcare logistics firm Andlauer Healthcare for $1.6B cash

  • Real estate giant Hongkong Land is selling part of its One Exchange Square for $810M

  • Authentic Brands Group is considering a rival bid for Guess, countering WHP Global's ~$675M cash offer

  • Eastern Bankshares will acquire HarborOne Bancorp in a $490M stock and cash deal

  • Software payment infrastructure firm Flex acquired a16z-backed fintech firm Maza for $40M

  • UAE fuel-delivery startup Cafu is exploring its first-ever stake sale to raise funds

  • TPG's GP stakes strategy will acquire a minority stake ex-Eurazeo CEO Virginie Morgon's new $566M climate-focused PE firm Ardabelle Capital

  • $6B AUM structured credit investor Axonic Capital is exploring a majority stake sale

  • Unilever scraped plans to sell ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's

  • Apollo-backed Yahoo is ready to buy web browser Google Chrome if Google is forced to sell

VC

  • Electra, a startup decarbonizing iron and steel production, raised a $186M Series B led by Capricorn Investment Group and Temasek

  • Adam Neumann's proptech startup Flow raised a $100M+ round at a $2.5B valuation led by a16z

  • Ant Bank, a Hong Kong-based virtual banking services and products company, received a $100M investment from its parent company, Ant International

  • Omnidian, a comprehensive protection and performance plans for solar and energy storage systems, raised $87M in funding led by B Capital

  • Windfall, a people intelligence and AI workflow solutions provider, raised a $65M Series B led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital

  • Push Security, a cybersecurity company focused on identity theft in the browser, raised a $30M Series B led by Redpoint Ventures

  • Steadily, a landlord insurance provider, raised a $30M Series C at a $335M valuation led by Two Sigma Ventures

  • Singaporean fintech solutions firm Surfin raised a $26.5M funding round led by Woori Venture Partners, WashU, and Phillip Private Equity

  • Alternative Payments, a B2B payments and checkout platform, raised $22M in funding led by MissionOG and Third Prime

  • Theo, a crypto infrastructure startup, raised $20M in a round from Hack VC, Anthos Capital, Citadel, Jane Street, JPMorgan, and others

  • SquareX, a startup turning any browser into an enterprise-grade secure browser by using a simple extension, raised a $20M Series A led by SYN Ventures

  • Semiconductor materials startup ChEmpower raised $18.7M in funding led by M Ventures and Rhapsody Venture Partners

  • RepAir Carbon, a startup building a new form of carbon capture, raised a $15M Series A extension led by Exantia Capital and Taranis Carbon Ventures

  • European space traffic management solutions company OKAPI:Orbits raised a $14.7M seed round led by Ventech

  • Isembard, a UK startup reshoring manufacturing for critical industries, raised a $9M seed round led by Notion Capital

  • Cybersecurity startup Augur raised a $7M seed round led by General Advance

  • Belgian medtech Nuclivision raised a $5.5M seed round co-led by LUMO Labs and Heran Partners

  • Poppins, a video game app to help dyslexic kids learn at home, raised a $5.3M seed round led by Racine2

  • Autonomous user security startup Amplifier Security raised a $5.6M seed round led by Cota Capital and WestWave Capital

  • ALT Sports Data, a startup providing engagement solutions and official data for emerging sports, raised a $5M round led by Relay Ventures and Eberg Capital

  • AI-powered comment activation platform Respondology raised a $5M Series A-1 led by Iron Gate Capital, SJF Ventures, Zelkova Ventures, and more

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Chinese insurance broker Yuanbao is targeting a $676M valuation in a US IPO

  • Pfisterer Holding, a German manufacturer of high-voltage cable insulators, plans to raise $115M at a $568M valuation in a Frankfurt IPO

  • Tekscend Photomask, the Japanese chip-material unit of Toppan Holdings, plans to raise several hundred million dollars in a Tokyo IPO

  • UAE online property platform Dubizzle is sounding out investors for an IPO

  • UAE online property platform Property Finder is sounding out investors for a potential IPO

Debt

  • India's Axis Bank plans to raise $6.4B in a bond and equity sale

  • The Philippines raised $5.3B in a local bond sale

  • Chinese tech giant Huawei raised $2.7B in a record ultra-short-term commercial paper issuance

  • India's state-owned infrastructure lender NaBFID plans to raise $2B in a debt sale

  • Morgan Stanley launched a sale of the final $1.23B of debt tied to Elon Musk's LBO of Twitter at 98¢ for a 9.5% YTM

  • Hertz Global is seeking to raise $500M in secured debt, while also considering equity options in an at-the-market offering to fund a creditor litigation settlement

  • AI platform Dataminr raised $100M in convertible debt from Fortress Investment Group

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Ukraine and a group of creditors including hedge funds Aurelius Capital Management and VR Capital failed to reach a deal to restructure $3.2B in GDP-linked debt ahead of next month's payment

  • Production house Village Roadshow Entertainment received court approval for a $417.5M stalking horse deal to sell its film library rights to Alcon Media Group

  • Defaulted property developer Sunac China urged creditors to support its proposed debt swap plan as 'the only viable' option amid China's property crisis, with hopes to restructure by early-2026

  • Advisory PJT Partners approached Brazilian airline Azul's creditors to drum up fresh capital to backstop an equity raise as part of a debt restructuring plan

Fundraising / Secondaries

  • Clearlake Capital secured an extension for its latest PE fund, with has raised $13B of a targeted $15B

  • Private markets investment firm StepStone raised $4.5B for its fifth real estate secondaries fund, the largest ever

  • Lower MM PE firm LLR Partners raised $2.45B for its seventh fund

  • Hong Kong real estate investment firm Gaw Capital Partners plans to raise $2B for an eight fund to invest in APAC real estate PE and private credit

  • Secondaries investor Lexington Partners is in advanced talks to acquire ~$1B in PE fund stakes from Harvard University’s endowment

  • Abu Dhabi SFW Mubadala plans to invest $1B in Fortress Investment Group's private credit, ABF, and real estate funds

  • South Korea launched a $420M VC fund backed by major corporates like Posco and  LX Semicon

  • Real estate PE firm KHP Capital Partners raised $300M for its sixth fund which will focus on hotels

  • VC CIV raised a $200M debut fund to invest in manufacturing and energy startups

  • Kompas, a European VC focused on manufacturing and the built environment, raised $170M for its second fund

  • Crypto VC RockawayX raise a $125M fund to invest in Solana-based projects

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Fed withdrew anti-crypto banking guidance

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

Exec’s Picks

  • We recently published a Deep Dive into Bigdata.com, exploring how the specialized AI for finance platform streamlines, automates, and executes nuanced investing/trading workflows to help seamlessly handle day-to-day challenges of active portfolio management. I highly recommend checking out their platform.

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.