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Good Morning,

It's finally March Madness folks! BlueFlame AI and Litquidity are hosting a watch party on March 27th from 6-9pm at Stag's Head, NYC. It's gonna be a great time with an open bar and food. Shut those laptops early and join us if you're in town! RSVP here. Powered by Palm & Park, a Litquidity venture

Also, what the hell is going on at UBS???

Plaid released their latest report on lending and a future that sees little role for credit scores. Read it for free.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 3/19/2025 market close. Litquidity portfolios as 3/18.

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

Markets

  • US stocks climbed despite as investors brushed off the Fed's concerns over slower growth and higher inflation

    • Fed reaffirmed projection of two 25 bps rate cuts this year

  • Chinese stocks premium to Hong Kong peers is set to hit the lowest since Covid

  • China 10Y yield fell for a third-straight day to 1.84% after PBOC stepped up cash support

  • Gold hit a new ATH 

  • European power prices turned negative amid a surge in solar generation

  • Pound hit its highest since early-November

Earnings

  • Five Below topped earnings and revenue estimates but warned of rising costs due to tariffs (MW)

  • Williams Sonoma beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but issued a cautious sales outlook amid an 'unpredictable' macroeconomic and policy backdrop (INV)

  • General Mills beat Q3 earnings estimates but cut its FY sales outlook on a slowdown in snacking and weaker consumer confidence (YH)

    • Today: Micron, Nike, FedEx, Accenture, Darden Restaurants, Lennar

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • UBS client sued after his wife moved in with wealth advisor (UBS)

  • Fed held rates steady at 4.25%-4.5% (BBG)

  • Fed will slow pace of QT (BBG)

  • J Pow sees tariff impact as 'transitory' (BBG)

  • Eurozone inflation cooled to to 2.3% YoY (WSJ)

  • New Zealand exited a recession with 0.7% Q4 GDP growth (RT)

  • SEC made solicitation easier for PE and VC (AX)

  • Syndicated loan market is striking back with private credit refinancings (PB)

  • Southeast Asian 'safe haven' bets collapse amid Indonesia selloff (BBG)

  • Hong Kong plans IPO margin loan cap amid retail degens (BBG)

  • Chinese banks held benchmark lending rates for a fifth-straight month (BBG)

  • Canada's OTPP will shut Hong Kong office as it cuts China exposure (BBG)

  • Oppenheimer no longer expects IB revenue growth amid tariffs (RT)

  • US and Abu Dhabi formed a $25B AI energy venture (BBG)

  • Deutsche Bank will cut 2k jobs (RT)

  • Unilever fired Ben & Jerry’s CEO over social activism (RT)

A Message from Plaid

Cash (flow) is king

The future of consumer lending is not what you may think… unless you think it's cash flow underwriting, in which case wow, quite the brain you've got there.

Yes, with the increase in cash flow data – and the subsequent rise in sharing, use cases, and associated technologies – cash flow underwriting is about to take over… and that means huge opportunities for the people smart enough to recognize it. 

If you want to be part of that crowd, check out this free report from Plaid. It contains all the predictions, insights, and analysis from industry experts that you need to become an expert on cash flow underwriting and get ahead of the curve. 

You'll thank us later. Download the free report right here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Building products distributor QXO agreed to acquire Beacon Roofing Supply for $11B, including debt

  • Brookfield emerged as a frontrunner to acquire Colonial Pipeline in a deal valued at over $10B, including debt

  • SoftBank will acquire semiconductor designer Ampere Computing in a $6.5B all-cash deal

  • A consortium of BlackRock, German insurance giant Allianz, and Japanese insurer T&D agreed to acquire European life insurance consolidator Viridium from PE firm Cinven for ~$3.8B, including debt

  • Macquarie-backed telecom company Vocus won approval to buy TPG Telecom's enterprise, government, and wholesale fixed business and fibre network assets for $3.3B

  • Swiss family office Investor will acquire medical device maker Nova Biomedical for $2.2B

  • Energy trading giant Vitol agreed to acquire stakes in energy projects in Ivory Coast and the Congo from Italian energy firm Eni for over $1.7B

  • Crypto exchange Kraken is nearing a $1.5B deal for US retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader

  • The Doctors Co. agreed to buy specialty insurer ProAssurance for $1.3B

  • Citadel agreed to acquire assets from US natural gas firm Paloma for ~$1B

  • Musk's X / Twitter raised $1B in equity at a $44B valuation 

  • German media group Axel Springer is considering selling its affiliate marketing unit Awin for ~$436M

  • Ukraine's largest telecoms Kyivstar will acquire a 97% stake in ride-hailing firm Uklon for $155M

  • PE firm CVC is exploring an acquisition of Mubadala-backed Fortress Investment Group to expand its private credit business

  • European PE firm BlackFin Capital Partners is in advanced talks to acquire HSBC's German fund administration business Inka

  • NBA players Chris Paul acquired a stake in Tiger Woods' TGL golf team Jupiter Links

  • Sports technology company Sportradar is set to acquire IMG Arena and its global sports betting rights portfolio from sports and entertianemnt giant Endeavor

VC

  • Data analytics company Dataminr raised $85M in pre-IPO convertible financing led by NightDragon and HSBC

  • Proscia, a startup improving pathology's transition to digital and AI, raised $50M in funding led by Insight Partners

  • Mortgage employee benefit startup Multiply Mortgage raised a $23.5M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins

  • German cleantech C1 Green Chemicals  raised a $22M round led by family office denkapparat

  • Prezent, a GenAI for slide decks, raised a $20M round at a $100M+ valuation led by Greycroft

  • Digital asset operations platform Utila raised an $18M Series A led by Nyca Partners

  • Web3 wallet infrastructure startup Privy raised a $15M round led by Ribbit Capital

  • Privacy-first mobile plan startup Cape raised a $15M Series B from A*, Costanoa, Point72, and XYZ Ventures

  • Swedish nuclear fusion startup Novatron Fusion raised an $11M Series A1 led by St1

  • Tera AI, a startup providing visual navigation for robots, raised a $7.8M seed round from Felicis, Inovia, Caltech and others

  • Product lifecycle management SaaS startup Aletiq raised a $6.5M round led by Point Nine

  • Maritime intelligence startup Kaiko Systems raised a $6.5M Series A led by Hi inov and Flashpoint Venture Growth

  • AI-based data protection platform Orion Security raised a $6M seed round led by Pico Partners and FXP 

  • Italian cleantech startup Resilico raised a $5.5M Series A led by 360 Capital

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Italian family office Exor raised its stake in Philips to 18.7%, worth ~$4.6B

  • AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave plans to raise ~$2.5B in its IPO

  • Microchip Technology plans to raise $1.35B in a convertible stock offering

Debt

  • Founders of Indian clean energy producer Greenko Energy received commitments from Keppel Credit, SeaTown, BlackRock, Ares, and Nomura for an $800M private credit package to back a 20% stake purchase in Greenko from Japanese financial services firm ORIX for $1.45B

  • Santander plans to offload a $1.1B infrastructure loans portfolio 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Purdue Pharma filed a new bankruptcy plan for its $7.4B opioid settlement

  • Oaktree acquired ~$400M in distressed solar provider Sunnova Energy's debt ahead of creditor talks

Fundraising

  • European PE firm Vendis Capital raised ~$570M for its latest consumer-focused fund

  • African PE firm Alterra Capital Partners is raising $400M for its Alterra Accelerator Fund

  • Hedge fund Balyasny is looking to raise $350M for a debut VC fund BAM Corner Point to invest in Series B to Series D tech 

  • PE firm Carr's Hill Partners raised a $210M debut fund to invest in industrial and infrastructure services sectors

  • VC SemperVirens raised a $177M fund focused on healthcare and workforce tech

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • SEC dropped its case against Ripple

  • Crypto brokerage Bakkt named Akshay Naheta as co-CEO

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

Exec’s Picks

  • The Chicago Atlantic Digital Mining Fund provides a stable structure for Bitcoin mining investing with real assets, monthly cash flows and targeted net annualized return of 25%1 . Now open to all accredited investors.

    1There can be no assurance that investment and return objectives will be achieved.

  • RacquetX is organizing the largest conference for all things racquet sports – tennis, padel, pickleball – literally any sport with a racquet. Clubs, tech startups, and players in the ecosystem are uniting in Miami Beach from March 22-24 to listen to panels, meet others in the space, and watch top players compete. I'm a judge for the startup competition they're hosting and would love for you to join!

    RSVP here and use code litquidityrx25 for 25% off!

  • WSJ did a deep dive into Morgan Stanley's DEI efforts, where nobody on either side of the aisle seemed to be happy out it.

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.