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US stocks continued their painful slide, high-yield bond funds saw record outflows, hedge funds missed out on Wednesday's historic rally, Norway's SWF cut all small EM stocks exposure, and OpenAI's ex-CTO plans to raise the biggest VC seed round ever.

Accelerate and streamline your M&A workflows like never before with SS&C Intralinks.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 4/10/2025 market close.

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Markets

  • US stocks resumed their selloff as US-China tariffs reignited investor concerns

    • S&P and Nasdaq gave up half of Wednesday's historic gains

  • Asia EM stock indexes are down deep YTD amid tariff wars

  • US 10Y yield climbed to its highest in two months

  • Gold hit another ATH

  • Dollar posted its biggest drop since 2022 to hit a new YTD low

    • Euro leaped to a three-year high

    • Swiss franc rose to a decade-high 

Earnings

  • CarMax beat Q4 revenue estimates but missed on earnings and pulled timelines on financial goals as tariff uncertainty grows (BBG) 

  • What we're watching this week:

    • Today: JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, BlackRock

  • Full calendar here 

Prediction Markets

  • Seems like people are actually taking a US downgrade seriously…

  • Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

  • US CPI inflation slowed to 2.4% YoY to the the lowest since 2021 (WSJ)

  • Scott Bessent emerges as man-of-the-hour trade negotiator (BBG)

  • Howard Marks says Trump tariffs are reminiscent of Brexit (BBG)

  • High-yield bond funds saw record outflows last week (FT)

  • Private credit secondary sales set to rise amid hunt for cash (RT)

  • L/S hedge funds gained only 1% in Wednesday's historic rally (RT)

  • Norway's $1.8T SWF cut all small EM stocks from portfolio (BBG)

  • Pentagon canceled $5B in consulting contracts (RT)

  • Intel's new CEO is invested in 600 Chinese companies (RT)

  • McKinsey's latest partner class is only 11% women (BBG)

  • UK saw sharpest rise in jobseekers since the Covid (BBG)

  • Indian startup unveils system to run AI without advanced chips (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Singapore's SC Capital is in talks to acquire UK data center group Global Switch ata $4B-$5B valuation

  • IT giant Capgemini is in advanced talks to acquire $3B-listed outsourcing firm WNS

  • Luxury fashion house Prada agreed to acquire peer Versace from Capri Holdings for $1.38B

  • Harley-Davidson is considering a sale of its financing arm for over $1B

  • Italian PE firm Clessidra is exploring a sale of software firm Impresoft at an $885M valuation

  • Blackstone agreed to buy an industrial real estate portfolio in Texas from real estate firm Crow Holdings for $718M

  • SIngapore real assets investor Keppel is exploring a sale of regional waste firm 800 Super at a $448M valuation

  • Abu Dhabi's SWF Mubadala will acquire a 24% stake in O&G firm SoTex from PE firm Kimmeridge

  • UAE renewable energy firm Masdar fully acquired Greece's Terna Energy after buying a majority stake last year

VC

  • Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup of ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, plans to raise a $2B seed round at an over $10B valuation in the biggest seed round ever

  • Home backup battery startup Base Power raised a $200M Series B led by Addition, a16z, Lightspeed, and Valor Equity Partners

  • Jobandtalent, a startup using AI to connect companies with hourly workers, raised a $103M Series F at a $1.5B valuation led by Atomico, BlackRock, DN Capital, and more

  • Aiper, a cordless robotic pool cleaning company, raised a $100M round from Fluidra

  • Incident.io, an AI platform speeding up incident management and response, raised a $62M Series B at a $400M valuation led by Insight Partners

  • nEye Systems, an optical switch startup, raised a $58M Series B led by CapitalG

  • LiveKit, an open-source package for apps to transmit real-time audio and video, raised a $45M Series B led by Altimeter

  • Bitcoin life insurance firm Meanwhile raised a $40M Series A led by Framework and Fulgur Ventures

  • Israeli cloud monitoring startup Groundcover raised a $35M Series B led by Zeev Ventures

  • Solix, a German developer of decentralized physical infrastructure networks, raised $29.5M in funding led by Eclip Foundation

  • Sparrow Quantum, a European supplier of photonic quantum chips, raised a $24M Series A led by PensionDanmark

  • Bliss Aesthetics, an AI platform for cosmetic enhancement, raised a $17.5M seed round led by Shine Capital

  • Cybersecurity automation platform Outtake raised a $16.5M Series A led by CRV

  • Rulemapping Group, a startup transforming regulatory texts into machine-readable rules, raised a $13.5M round from SPRIND, Hidden Peak Capital, and others

  • Bio-based materials startup Simplifyber raised a $12M Series A led by Suzano Ventures

  • AI insurtech Ominimo raised an $11M round at a $220M valuation from from Zurich Insurance Group

  • Remedy Scientific, an environmental remediation automation company, raised an $11M seed round from Eclipse, Refactor, Cantos, and Box Group

  • Treble Peak, a platform streamlining access to private markets, raised a $6.4M round from European finance execs

  • Medtech compliance startup REMATIQ raised a $6.1M seed round led by Project A Ventures

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Chinese tea brand Chagee kicked off a US IPO to raise $411M at a $5.1B valuation

  • ​Aerospace and defense firm Airo plans to raise $80M in an IPO

Debt

  • Investment firm Neuberger Berman sold $1.2B of securities backed by fund cash flows 

  • BlackRock subscribed to one-third of Indian conglomerate Adani Group's $750M offshore private bond offering, which will support Dubai-based Renew Exim's acquisition of ITD Cementation India

  • Berkshire Hathaway priced yen-denominated bonds totalling $627M

  • Juice-maker Tropicana will raise $400M from a group of lenders in exchange for pushing up seniority 

  • BoE paused a sale of long-dated gilts and will sell shorter maturities instead

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Bankruptcy Chinese property developer Country Garden reached a restructuring agreement with creditors holding 30% of its offshore debt and is close to a deal with another group of bank lenders

  • State-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development is facing increasing financial pressure as it faces an asset seizure by Amaplat Mauritius

Fundraising

  • Travel-focused PE firm KSL Capital Partners raised $1.44B for a second tactical opportunities fund

  • French asset manager ODDO BHF raised ~$225M for its Technology Opportunities fund

  • German VC Revent launched its second fund at ~$115M

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Trump signed a bill to nullify expanded IRS crypto broker rule

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

Exec’s Picks

  • WSJ sat down for an interview with Ron Vachris, a 40-year Costco veteran who went from forklift driver to CEO.

  • Litquidity is seeking multiple interns to assist with the Exec Sum newsletter, social media, and other things involving Litquidity Media. This is a great opportunity to gain thorough knowledge and understanding of global financial and capital markets, while also getting to grow a disruptive financial media venture. Click here to get more information and access the application. We look forward to connecting!

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

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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.