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US is keenly eyeing Ukraine's minerals, Meta reduced employee stock options despite trading at ATHs, Citigroup ended DEI hiring, Millennium made headlines with a high-profile talent poach, and private credit has fashionably emerged as the newest Wall Street billionaire factory.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 2/20/2025 market close.

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Markets

  • US stocks slid yesterday amid ongoing tariff and inflation jitters and a downbeat economic outlook from bellwether Walmart 

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 Bank index is up 18% YTD on robust earnings, buybacks, and consolidation efforts

    • The index is on track for a tenth-straight weekly gain for its best streak since 1997

  • Europe sovereign yields are rising as investors brace for a defense spending spree 

    • UK 10Y gilt yield is at 4.6%, 50 bps higher than the 2024 average of 4.1%

    • German 10Y bund yield is at 2.5%, up 50 bps from December

    • German 2Y-10Y yield curve steepened to 40 bps to the widest since 2022 

  • Gold hit a new ATH

Earnings

  • Walmart fell 7% despite beating Q4 earnings estimates as it gave a cautious economic outlook amid tariff and inflation headwinds (CNBC)

  • Alibaba rose 8% after beating Q3 earnings estimates on the back of China's AI frenzy (BRN)

  • Booking Holdings beat Q4 earnings and bookings estimates thanks to strong travel demand (MW) 

  • Block fell 5% after missing Q4 earnings and revenue estimates as its faces increased competition from rivals such as Toast and Fiserv (CNBC) 

  • Rivian beat Q4 earnings estimated but forecasted lower deliveries for 2025 due to uncertainty in the automotive industry (CNBC) 

  • Hasbro rose 13% after beating Q4 earnings and revenue estimates and unveiling a new growth and cost-cutting plan that includes a strategy on China and tariffs (CNBC)

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US doubled down on demand that Ukraine hand over mineral rights (BBG)

  • Japan inflation climbed to 4% (CNBC)

  • Private credit is shaking up ranks of the ultra-rich (BBG)

  • European IPOs show positive signs after bumpy start to 2025 (BBG)

  • Millennium offered $100M pay package to poach veteran PM (BBG)

  • Veterans drive SPAC IPO rebound as hunt for deals pick up (BBG)

  • Traders piling into VIX call hedges raise pressure on dealers (BBG)

  • Top quant funds are behind massive China ADR gains (BBG)

  • China left benchmark lending rates unchanged (RT)

  • Chinese builders lean on courts for overhaul as debt woes deepen (BBG)

  • US firms are swapping dollar bonds into euros amid diverging rates (RT)

  • Religious rule change threatens turmoil for $1T Islamic debt market (FT)

  • JPMorgan reclassified Qatar and Kuwait as developed markets (BBG)

  • US regulator withdrew court appeal of rule on Treasury markets (RT)

  • CFPB logo was removed from Washington HQ (RT)

  • FTC is seeking info on Big Tech user bans (RT)

  • US is speaking to China about TikTok (RT)

  • Meta reduced stock options for staff despite trading at ATHs (FT)

  • Goldman named three insiders as co-heads of healthcare IB (BBG)

  • Wells Fargo named JPMorgan's Rapkin as co-head of healthcare IB (BBG)

  • Mining giants are being pinched by low China demand (BBG)

  • Anglo American wrote down its De Beers stake again by $2.9B amid a diamond market slump (FT)

  • OpenAI weekly active users topped 400M (RT)

  • Citigroup ended DEI hiring (BBG)

  • PepsiCo joined list of firms slashing DEI (RT)

  • JPMorgan and Charlie Javice accuse each other of lying as trial begins (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Apollo, Sycamore Partners, and Brigade Capital are bidding for discount retail chain Family Dollar, which Dollar Tree acquired for $9B in 2015

  • KKR raised its stake in $4.4B Japanese software company Fuji Soft to 58%, paving way for a take-private and ending a bidding war with Bain Capital

  • Celsius will buy energy drink rival Alani Nu for $1.8B in cash and stock

  • Real estate data firm CoStar offered to buy property portal Domain Holdings Australia at a $1.7B valuation

  • HBM Healthcare Investments is exploring a $1.7B of Swixx Biopharma

  • Carlyle, TA Associates, and Thoma Bravo are shortlisted bidders to acquire French software firm smartTrade Technologies from UK PE firm Hg at a $577M-$620M valuation

  • Saudi Arabia's Aramco agreed to acquire a 25% stake in Unioil Petroleum Philippines

VC

  • Nvidia-backed AI cloud services startup Together AI raised a $305M round at a $3.3B valuation led by General Catalyst

  • AI recruiting startup Mercor raised a $100M Series B at a $2B valuation led by Felicis

  • AI observability platform Arize AI raised a $70M Series C led by Adams Street Partners

  • Specialty Risk Re, a collateral reinsurance company, raised a $50M institutional funding round led by NMS Capital Group

  • Lumotive, a startup building programmable optical semiconductors, raised a $45M Series B led by Swisscom Ventures, East Bridge, EDOM, and more

  • Neobank fintech Varo raised a $29M Series G

  • Small modular nuclear reactor startup Valar Atomics raised a $19M seed round led by Riot Ventures

  • Resynergi, a modular plastic recycling technology company, raised an $18M Series B led by Taranis

  • CredCore, a vertical-AI company transforming DCM for lenders and borrowers, raised $16M in funding led by Avataar Ventures

  • METYCLE, a digital platform for international secondary metal trade, raised a $14.1M Series A led by 2150

  • Maternity care clinic Millie raised a $12M Series A led by TMV and Foreground Capital

  • AI-enabled insurance customer management and risk advisory startup COVU raised a $10M Series A extension led by Benhamou Global Ventures

  • SingleFile, a legal and compliance tech company, raised a $9M Series A led by Foundry Group

  • CTGT, an enterprise AI risk management and performance platform, raised a $7.2M seed round led by Gradient

  • AI-enabled ad agency Valid raised a $5.5M seed round led by Canaan Partners

  • Variational AI, an advanced foundation model for small molecule drug discovery, raised a $5.5M seed extension round led by Nimbus Synergies

  • Safe Intelligence, a provider of deep validation AI systems, raised a $5.2M seed round led by Amadeus Capital Partners

  • Relativity Networks, a provider of fiber-optic technology, raised a $4.6M pre-seed round from private investors

  • Henry AI, an AI analyst for commercial real estate, raised a $4M seed round led by Susa Ventures and 1Sharpe Ventures

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Shareholders of Italian lender UniCredit will vote to issue new shares to finance a $10.5B all-stock takeover bid for rival Banco BPM

  • ADNOC plans to raise up to $3B in a 4% stake sale of ADNOC Gas

  • A unit of Chinese consumer electronics firm Haier will acquire a 41.9% stake in online auto services platform Autohome from financial conglomerate Ping An Insurance for $1.8B to end Ping An's control of the firm 

  • Billionaire investor Ryan Cohen increased his stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to $1B 

  • China's largest bubble tea firm Mixue Group is seeking to raise $444M in a Hong Kong IPO

  • Sports team investor Eagle Football is planning a US IPO

  • Saudi Arabia's SMC Hospitals is planning a local IPO

  • Walmart-backed Indian fintech PhonePe is preparing for an India IPO 

Debt

  • Qatar sold $3B of dollar bonds after signaling budget gap

  • India canceled a $3B treasury bill sale amid tight cash

  • Morocco plans to raise $2B in euro debt in its first foreign bond sale in two years

  • Philippines' top property developer Ayala Land plans to raise $1.3B in debt to focus on high-end homes

  • Citigroup's India unit is set to buy record $1B in ABSs

  • Blackstone-owned Australian data center operator AirTrunk is considering issuing ABS bonds to fund expansion in Asia

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Spirit Airlines won court approval to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy via a lender-backed take-private deal that will convert $795M of debt into equity and hand control to lenders including PIMCO, WAMCO, Citadel, and UBS

  • An Australian steelworks owned by tycoon Sanjeev Gupta will receive a $1.5B government bailout package after being forced into administration

  • Administrators for Australian collapsed airline Regional Express began a sales process

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • SEC approved yield-bearing stablecoins

  • Innovations are expected to turbo-charge crypto ETF industry

  • Crypto firms asked Congress to roll back IRS rules for DeFi

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

Exec’s Picks

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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"