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Good Morning,

We hope you took some time away from work to relax and catch up with loved ones this Memorial Day Weekend. While most of us were offline, my intern worked around the clock to cover developments in the Iran situation. We might just have some good news (at least according to markets)🇺🇸🇺🇸

Transform your sleep for the better with Eight Sleep, technology trusted by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Lewis Hamilton.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 5/22/2026 market close.

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks rallied on Friday on reports of a US-Iran breakthrough 

    • Dow hit an ATH

    • S&P gained for an eighth-straight week for its best win streak since 2023

    • Nasdaq notched its seventh weekly gain in eight

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 gained 3% in its best week in a month 

    • The index recovered all Iran war losses yesterday

  • Canada's TSX index hit a fresh ATH yesterday

  • MSCI EM stocks index rose 1.6% yesterday in its third-straight daily gain

    • The index is up 22% YTD

  • US 2Y yield hit the highest since February 2025

  • UK 10Y yield slipped 28 bps to 4.9% in the biggest weekly relief rally since 2023 after hitting 2008 highs

    • UK 35Y gilt slid to a record low

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Wednesday: Salesforce, DICK'S, HP, Marvell Technology

    • Thursday: Dell, Best Buy, Costco, Kohl's, Gap

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Trump missed his son's wedding for this. This better be worth it 🇺🇸

  • Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

Headline Roundup

  • Trump says US-Iran talks are 'proceeding nicely' (CNBC)

  • S&P 500 is on track for strongest earnings growth since 2021 (BBG)

  • Mega IPOs risk bubble like roaring '20s (BBG)

  • Buyout bankers go big on debt pre-sales to thwart fickle markets (BBG)

  • Private credit's unthinkable becomes reality as trading revs up (BBG)

  • AI mega rounds boost US VC dominance despite flat deal flow (AA)

  • AI rally drives best ever run in global momentum stocks (BBG)

  • Resurgent political risk derails EM rallies (BBG)

  • World's most volatile stock market will get risky new tools (BBG)

  • Copper is trading like an AI stock (BBG)

  • SpaceX completed twelfth Starship test flight (NYT)

  • DeepSeek avows AGI goal ahead of $10B funding round (BBG)

  • Cursor hit $3B ARR ahead of SpaceX takeover (BBG)

  • UBS hit back over Nazi accounts probe (BBG)

  • StanChart CEO apologized for dystopian AI comments (RT)

  • Walmart shakes up leadership under new CEO (WSJ)

  • Bolt fired entire HR team for 'creating problems that didn't exist' (TT)

  • Surf Lodge partnered with Popeyes on iconic Chicken Tender Towers (PRN)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

  • Uber will submit a third improved takeover offer for German peer Delivery Hero after two cash bids valuing the firm at $11.6B and $13.4B were rejected

  • Dutch tech investor Prosus asked EU to drop a requirement that it sell down its 17% stake in Delivery Hero as part of antitrust approval for its acquisition of another delivery platform amid Uber's deal for Delivery Hero

  • Germany is dissatisfied with the $23B valuation to acquire a 40% stake from German investors in Franco-German tank maker KNDS ahead of its IPO

  • Belgian conglomerate Groupe Bruxelles Lambert agreed to back European PE firm CVC's $12.4B cash offer to for Italian drugmaker Recordati at a 13% premium

  • CapVest-backed radio pharma firm Curium offered to acquire peer Lantheus at a $7B valuation

  • FedEx and PE firm Advent's $9B cash buyout offer for Polish ​parcel locker company InPost will run till July-end

  • Centerbridge Partners is in talks to acquire a minority stake in CRE developer Merritt Properties from Neuberger Berman for $3B, including debt

  • Shale ​producer Devon ⁠Energy acquired 16.3k undeveloped acres in the Delaware Basin ​for $2.6B

  • Hong Kong conglomerate Jardine Matheson agreed to buy Australian medical diagnostic imaging provider I-MED Radiology Network from UK PE firm Permira at a $2.4B valuation, including debt

  • A US consortium led by Underdog Global Partners is in talks to acquire Italian soccer club Napoli the De Laurentiis family for $2.3B

  • Apollo offered to acquire UK thermal processing services firm Bodycote for $2B cash at a 27% premium

  • O&G firm Matador Resources ​acquired 5.1k undeveloped acres in the Delaware Basin for $1.1B

  • China PE firm FountainVest is considering a $1B sale of Swiss high-precision tools maker Small Precision Tools 

  • Danish renewables giant Orsted is exploring a $1B sale of its US onshore renewables assets 

  • TotalEnergies is exploring a 50% stake sale in some of its European renewables assets for several hundred million dollars

  • German supermarket chain Rewe may sell some or all of its Penny Market stores in Italy, with German discounters Lidl and Aldi seen as ideal acquirers

  • Brazilian conglomerate Itausa, Singapore SWF GIC, and sanitation firm Equipav plan to jointly bid to become strategic investors in the privatization process for water utility Copasa; utility conglomerate Equatorial may not bid after water treatment company Sabesp pulled out of talks

VC

  • AI infrastructure startup Amp raised $1.3B from a16z, Y Combinator, and various cloud computing firms

  • Prediction market platform Kalshi raised a $200M Series F extension at a $22B valuation led by Coatue 

  • allO, an AI-native restaurant OS, raised $14M in a Series A led by Zigg Capital

  • Sports tech software startup Coachbetter raised an $8.2M pre-Series A from Brighteye Ventures, Swiss Founders Fund, and numerous soccer personalities 

  • Sports-tech sponsorship analytics platform Trajektory raised an $8M Series A 

  • Foundation, a human authority hardware company, raised $6.4M in funding led by Fulgur Ventures

  • Arito AI, an enterprise AI company building AI tools for finance and revenue teams, raised a $6M seed round led by Amplify Partners 

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Hong Kong infrastructure conglomerate CK Hutchison is pushing ahead with plans to raise $2B at a $30B valuation in a dual London and Hong Kong IPO of its global retail unit AS Watson

  • $8.5B-listed Madison Square Garden Sports is preparing to spinoff NHL team New York Rangers from NBA team New York Knicks to unlock shareholder value

  • Indian rapid-commerce startup Zepto is set to file for a $1B India IPO; the firm was valued at $7B in October

  • CDP Equity, the investment arm of Italian state-owned lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, is set to raise its stake in $5B-listed payments firm Nexi to 29.9%

    Lender First Carolina Financial Services filed for an IPO

  • GameStop asked shareholders to approve a massive increase in its authorized share count as it pursues an acquisition of eBay

Debt

  • JPMorgan is seeking to offload risk tied to over $4B of PE NAV loans

  • Biotech Danaher raised $3B in a record Swiss franc bond private placement to help finance its $9.9B takeover of diagnostics firm Masimo

  • Indonesian state-owned lender Bank Tabungan Negara acquired $1.1B worth of pension loans from Bank SMBC Indonesia, a unit of Japan's SMBC

  • SoftBank plans to raise $1.6B in another yen bond sale aimed at retail investors

  • Toyota's finance unit set terms for a $630M bond sale, with the five-year coupon climbing to its highest since its yen bond debut in 1999

  • Malaysian aircraft maintenance firm Asia Digital Engineering secured a $100M bank loan to help refinance private credit after parent Capital A exited distressed status

  • Spanish utility Cox took a 54% $70M bridge loan to help fund a $4.2B asset acquisition in Mexico from Spanish renewables firm Iberdrola 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Israeli AI infrastructure startup SQream was ordered to pursue a sale after collapsing under heavy debt

Funds / Secondaries

  • Investment firm Barings raised over $19B for its global private credit strategy in two years

  • Canada's CPPIB and La Caisse paused a $3B sale of Chinese PE LP stakes amid valuation disagreements 

  • Private markets FOF StepStone raised $2.2B for its sixth PE secondaries fund and $200M for its debut GP-led fund 

  • European PE firm Eurazeo raised $1.2B for its fifth lower MM PE fund

  • Media and entertainment-focused PE firm Shamrock Capital raised $813M for its fourth fund

  • European health tech investor Lauxera Capital raised $600M for its second fund

  • Mouro Capital, the fintech VC spun out of Spanish lender Santander, raises $400M for its third fund

  • UK investment firm ICG will launch its sixth large cap GP-led secondaries fund and shelved plans for a similar MM vehicle

  • French private markets firm Elevation Capital Partners launched its second secondaries FOF

  • A JV of Fortress and UK hedge fund Arrow Global will acquire a non-performing European loan portfolio from CPPIB

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • SEC delayed plan for tokenized assets linked to stocks

  • Nasdaq won SEC approval to list Bitcoin index options

  • US Bitcoin ETFs posted their ninth-largest weekly outflow since launch

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

Investment Banking Analyst Opportunity 💼 

Investment Banking Analysts (1-3 years experience) – NYC

My recruiting firm Litney Partners is working with a leading capital markets firm in NYC to hire IB analysts. The firm offers strategic advisory and tailored capital solutions to a diverse clients across a range of transactions, including M&A, equity offerings, and structured financings.

The firm is seeking analysts to support advisory and capital markets transactions as a generalist across various sectors. As an analyst, you will play a key role in financial analysis and transaction execution, working closely with seniors to ensure high-quality deliverables across engagements.

We are currently speaking with folks who possess:

  • 1-3 years of experience in IB, PE, CorpFin, or a related field

  • A bachelor's degree in finance, economics, business, or a related field

  • Demonstrated experience executing M&A, capital markets, or strategic advisory transactions

  • Strong financial modeling and valuation skills, including DCF, comps, and precedents analysis

  • Strong attention to detail, robust analytical and problem-solving skills, and a proactive and adaptable approach to work

If this sounds like, we'd love to get in touch!

If you're a senior banker looking to lateral, we're working on something for you too.

Apply here 🤝

Exec’s Picks

  • Jeff Bezos endorsed an insightful article on Twitter on the debate of 'effective tax rates.' Read it here.

  • Stanford GSB professor Ilya Strebulaev published an informative post on how founders unintentionally lose control to dilution. A great piece for anyone raising.

Meme Cleanser

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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.