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Big banks are pulling down DEI language, BlackRock tied CEO Larry Fink's pay to private markets efforts, Norway's SWF CEO role received 82 applications, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia joined DOGE, and smaller PE firms are struggling to raise money as mega funds expand dominance.

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Before The Bell

As of 2/14/2025 market close.

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

Markets

  • US markets were closed yesterday in observance of Presidents' Day

  • US stocks closed relatively flat on Friday as investors weighed global trade and inflation news 

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 futures hit a record high 

  • Hong Kong's HSI index is near a three-year high

  • EM stocks rose to a three-month high amid China tech boost

  • Silver hit their highest since late-October on track to hit a 10-year high

    • Silver is up 14% YTD, following 21% rise last year

  • Pound climbed to a YTD high after its worst start to year among peers

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Baidu, Toll Brothers

    • Wednesday: Carvana, Etsy

    • Thursday: Walmart, Booking Holdings, Alibaba, Block, Rivian

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Xi Jinping voiced support for Jack Ma and China private sector chiefs (BBG)

  • Australia cut rates by 25 bps to 4.1% in their first cut since Covid (FT)

  • Unicorn boom is over and startups are getting desperate (BBG)

  • PE firms are struggling to raise money amid mega fund competition (WSJ)

  • US stock market pessimism hit a one-year high (WSJ) 

  • Big banks are scrubbing mentions of DEI (WSJ)

  • JPMorgan snubs regulators over disclosure of PE loans (FT)

  • Bullish investors cut cash levels to the lowest since 2010 (RT)

  • US firms are defaulting at the fastest pace in eight years (FT)

  • Hedge funds target quick profit from obscure corporate bond clause (FT)

  • China has record foreign investment outflow as $168B leaves (BBG)

  • China January bank lending hit a record high amid stimulus (RT)

  • BlackRock tied CEO Larry Fink's pay to private market expansion (RT)

  • Norway SWF CEO role received 82 applications (RT)

  • HSBC investors back firm's IB pullback (RT)

  • HSBC laid off 40 bankers in Hong Kong (RT)

  • Deutsche Bank went on hiring spree while failing to deliver on costs (FT)

  • TikTok bidders talk directly with White House, not ByteDance (RT)

  • Shein execs rush to reassure investors after Trump tariffs (RT)

  • Samsung canceled $2B worth of shares (RT)

  • Samsung canceled $2B worth of shares (RT)

  • OpenAI weighs special voting rights to guard against hostile takeovers (FT) 

  • Meta plans investments into AI-driven humanoid robots (RT)

  • Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia joined DOGE (NYT) 

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Honda is ready to revive takeover talks if Nissan CEO Uchida leaves

  • Broadcom and TSMC are studying bids for Intel's chip-design and marketing business and chip plants, respectively

  • PE firm CD&R is exploring a stake sale in UK gas station operator Motor Fuel Group at an $8.8B valuation

  • Diamondback Energy is in talks to acquire Permian producer Double Eagle at an over $5B valuation

  • UK healthcare REIT Assura rejected a $2B takeover offer from KKR

  • Bain Capital agreed to acquire German facility management company Apleona from PAI Partners in a $4.2B deal

  • Bain Capital dropped its ~$4B pursuit of Japanese software company Fuji Soft, ending a bidding war with KKR

  • Glencore held preliminary talks to sell its multi-billion dollar copper and cobalt mines in DRC

  • Blackstone is exploring a $2B sale of natural gas explorer Olympus Energy

  • KKR made a $1.4B takeover offer for Australian financial services company Perpetual's wealth management and corporate trust businesses

  • Sherwin-Williams agreed to acquire BASF's Brazilian paints unit Suvinil for $1.15B 

  • Popcorn and snack brand LesserEvil is exploring a $1B sale

  • BC Partners is exploring a $577M sale of Dutch puzzle provider Keesing

  • Spanish telecom Telefonica is looking to sell its Mexican business

  • SURJ Sports Investment, a unit of Saudi's PIF, agreed to acquire a minority stake in billionaire Len Blavatnik's streaming service Dazn Group

  • General Atlantic agreed to buy a stake in the KAYALI perfume unit of cosmetics company Huda Beauty

  • A consortium led by HMC Capital  approached Australia's HealthCo Healthcare and Wellness REIT for a possible buyout of Healthscope hospitals

  • The Mara and Tisch families are exploring a minority stake sale in the NFL's New York Giants

  • Tether Holdings acquired a minority stake in Italian football club Juventus

VC

  • Elon Musk's xAI is in talks to raise $10B at a $75B valuation from Sequoia, a16z, Valor Equity Partners and others

  • Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup co-founded by OpenAI's ex-chief scientist, is raising over $1B at a $30B valuation in a round led by Greenoaks Capital Partners

  • Abridge, a GenAI platform for clinical conversations, raised a $250M Series D co-led by Elad Gil and IVP

  • Dream, an Israeli AI company providing cyber resilience for nations and critical infrastructure, raised $100M in funding led by Bain Capital Ventures

  • Kinto, an on-chain financial network built on top of Ethereum, received a $20M investment from Brevan Howard Digital

  • ATMOS, a startup building infrastructure to enable cargo return from space, raised a $13.1M seed round from EIC

  • WiseLayer, a startup building AI-powered digital workers for finance and accounting teams, raised a $7.2M seed round led by Canaan Partners

  • Menstrual underwear startup snuggs raised a $5.2M round led by TripleB

  • Workplace management and procurement startup TimeFlow raised a $4.5M round led by EU, Vertis SGR, Azimut, and X-Equity

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Shein is under pressure to cut its UK IPO valuation to $30B

  • Temasek-backed meat delivery startup Licious is targeting a $2B India IPO

  • Chinese manufacturer Sany Heavy Industry is planning to raise $1.5B in a Hong Kong listing 

  • Carlyle-backed Indian IT exporter Hexaware Technologies' raised $1B at a $5B valuation in India's largest IPO this year

  • KKR will buy an additional 5% stake in Eni's biofuel business Enilive for $615M, bringing its total stake to 30%

  • PIF-backed developer Umm Al Qura for Development & Construction is seeking to raise $523M in a local IPO

  • American miner Ivanhoe Atlantic is seeking to raise $190M in an Australia IPO

Debt

  • Marina Bay Sands secured a $9B multi-tranche loan to fund casino-resort expansion in Singapore

  • Insight Partners-backed IT company Kaseya is seeking to refinance $4B of debt in leveraged loan sale

  • Brazil will offer $3B in a dollar auction with a repurchase agreement to roll over debt due in March 

  • UAE's ADNOC Drilling plans to borrow $1B from banks to refinance debt and fund growth

  • JPMorgan is in talks with investors to refinance slot machine operator United Gaming's private credit debt

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • WW International, fka WeightWatchers, began restructuring talks with lenders to address $1.6B of debt

  • A Hong Kong judge ordered the liquidation of HNA Group (International), an  investment arm of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co.

  • A Hong Kong judge ordered the liquidation of Evergrande unit Tianji Holding

Fundraising

  • KKR raised over $850M for an opportunistic real estate credit fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Argentina president Javier Milei helped launch a memecoin for small businesses that surged to a $4B market cap before crashing

  • Hong Kong left door open to use of cryptocurrencies as proof of wealth

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

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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"