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Good Morning,

JPMorgan is betting on weight-loss drugs, PE firms have made over $1T in performance fees, Wells Fargo fired employees for faking work, producer prices unexpectedly declined, and European bond markets are on the verge of fracture.

Summer weather means it’s time for a wardrobe upgrade…and what better way than to start with a fresh pair of amberjacks.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 06/13/2024 market close.

Markets

US stocks continued to inch higher after US PPI unexpectedly declined in May
- The S&P and Nasdaq closed at ATHs for a fourth-straight day
Argentina markets had their best day since Milei's election on the back of economic reform bill
EU 10Y yield rose 7 bps to 3.13% after MSCI excluded EU bonds
France-Germany 10Y yield spread widened to 70 bps to its highest since 2017
France 5Y CDS widened to 31 bps to a twenty-month high
Canada 10Y yield hit a three-month low of 3.32%

Earnings

Adobe jumped ~15% on a Q2 beat-and-raise driven by early monetization of AI functionality across its flagship applications (CNBC)
Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

Wells Fargo fired over a dozen employees for faking work (BBG)
PE firms amass $1T in carry as taxation debate mounts (FT)
A major Segantii insider trade was probed by US in 2018 (FT)
Russia halts FX trading as US sanctions sow confusion (FT)
European CLO issuance hit a record rate as investors chase yields (FT)
Goldman to double lending to UHNW wealth clients (RT)
US PPI fell to 2.2% YoY to its lowest since October (CNBC)
US weekly jobless claims hit a ten-month high (RT)
Argentina inflation fell for a fifth-straight month in May (YH)
Yellen sees US job market resembling pre-Covid environment (RT)
Fiera CEO says BoC has clear path to 3% interest rate (BBG)
Canada parliament grilled bank CEOs on climate policy in rare meeting (RT)
Tesla shareholders approved Musk's $56B pay package and firm's move to Texas (RT)
Private bank Edmond de Rothschild is expanding into Saudi Arabia (RT)
Tyson Foods suspends CFO after drunk driving arrest (RT)
'Roaring Kitty' exited all GameStop call options (RT)
Apple sued in class action over unequal pay for women (WSJ)
Ransomware attacks surge after $22M UnitedHealth Group ransom (AX)
Worker dissatisfaction gap is growing between young and old workers (BBG)

A Message From amberjack

Rated #1 Best Overall Dress Shoes

Warmer weather means it’s time to upgrade your dress shoes, and there’s no better place to look than Amberjack.

Amberjack is the modern footwear brand started by former executives from Adidas, Cole Haan, & McKinsey. They've created the world's most advanced dress shoes, made with proprietary athletic materials that deliver incredible comfort and A-grade leather vertically sourced from one of the world’s leading tanneries.

They’ve been featured in Forbes, GQ, and Wall Street Journal and Men’s Health named them the most comfortable business casual shoe of 2024. The only downside is they constantly sell out – get yours today before they're gone!

Shop the collection

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

NYCB acquired failed Signature Bank assets for a $37.8B fair value (RT)
Investment firms DigitalBridge and Silver Lake led a $9.2B equity investment in hyperscale data center provider Vantage Data Centers (BW)
German bus and train operator Flix is rethinking IPO plans and is in talks with investors including EQT on a potential stake sale at a $3.4B valuation (RT)
Battery Ventures and Silver Lake are exploring a sale of club-management-software provider Clubessential at a ~$3B valuation (RT)
Ambuja Cements, which is owned by Adani Group, agreed to acquire Penna Cement Industries for $1.2B (BBG)
UK homebuilder Crest Nicholson rejected an $830M all-share merger offer from rival Bellway (RT)
Abu Dhabi SWF Mubadala proposed selling troubled insurance tech startup Wefox to UK insurance broker Ardonagh against its German founders wishes at a $595M EV (BBG)
Lufthansa's $321M investment into Italy’s ITA Airways is set to receive EU approval (BBG)
PE firm BC Partners is seeking bids for Eastern European telecoms firm United Group with Apax Partners, Warburg Pincus and Mideast carriers weighing in (BBG)
Ares Management is exploring a potential deal for real assets investor GLP Capital Partners (BBG)
Liberty Global will buy out the remaining 65% stake in Formula E from Warner Bros. Discovery (RT)

Cloud-based accounting platform AccountsIQ raised a $64M Series C led by Axiom Equity (BW)
Niobium-based battery tech startup Echion Technologies raised a $37M Series B led by Volta (EU)
Findigs, a PropTech simplifying rental screening and leasing decisions, raised a $27M Series B led by Nyca Partners (BW)
Unigrid Battery, a startup developing advanced sodium-ion batteries, raised a $12M Series A led by Transition VC and Ritz Venture Capital (FN)
YourSix, a cloud physical security company, raised a $10.5M Series A led by Vocap Partners (PRN)
Wealth management platform Sidekick raised an $11M seed round led by Pact VC and TheVentureCity (FN)
GPTZero, a startup building a responsible AI adoption platform, raised a $10M Series A led by Footwork VC (PRN)
Fuuse, an EV charge point management platform, raised an $11.1M Series A led by YFM Equity Partners (FN)
AI fintech EnFi raised a $7.5M seed round led by Unusual Ventures (FN)
Japanese expert knowledge-sharing platform Arches raised $3M in funding led by KUSABI (FN)
AI research and product company Zeta Labs raised a $2.9M pre-seed round led by Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

Saudi fintech Rasan's shares jumped 30% (the maximum allowed) in its trading debut after its $224M Riyadh IPO (BBG)

Debt

Blackstone shelved a $1.3B CMBS sale backed by industrial CRE debt (BBG)
PE-owned recycling services provider Gopher Resource is in talks with private credit lenders for an over $500M package as it struggles with liquidity (BBG)
Adani Group's North Queensland Export Terminal, which controls a major Australian coal port, received a $333M private credit loan from Farallon Capital and King Street (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

Investors will re-engage Ghana on a $13B restructuring of international bonds (RT)
Spanish gambling firm Codere will cut its $1.7B debt load by 92% in a restructuring that will hand super senior note holders control of the company (BBG)

Fundraising

Asia’s biggest alternative asset manager PAG raised $4B for its latest Asia buyout fund, less than half of its $9B target (BBG)
Index Ventures is set to raise $2.3B for two funds (WSJ)
Coatue's Aaron Weiner will leave the firm to launch his own hedge fund with a multi-billion dollar commitment from Millennium (BBG)
VC Paradigm raised $850M for its third fund to invest in early-stage crypto projects (BBG)
Asset manager MidOcean Partners closed its third opportunistic credit fund at $765M (BW)
JPMorgan Asset Management raised a $500M biotech VC fund to invest in weight-loss drugs (BBG)

Crypto Corner

Binance CEO Teng sees 'landmark' year aa crypto goes mainstream (BBG)
SEC chair said Ether ETFs could be approved this summer (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

FT recently interviewed veteran VC and Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer, who believes 'the talent is what's going to drive the difference.'
WSJ published a take on how the the richest league on Earth, i.e. the Premier League, is tearing itself apart.

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