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Good Morning,

PE may soon securitize ticket sales, recent IPO busts are threatening the next wave of listings, OpenAI's ex-CTO launched a new AI startup, investors are the most risk-on since 2010, and FTX started repaying creditors in a key moment for the crypto industry.

GACW is on a mission to future-proof tires utilized by earthmovers and mining giants and they're inviting retail investors to help them expand. Check out the offering.

Before we get into it, we're pleased to finally announce Litquidity's annual Wall Street comp survey is now available. With over 2,000+ submissions from the community, this is by far one of the most comprehensive and valuable data sets out there. This is a preliminary report, as several banks have yet to announce bonuses but we will continue to update you all as the data comes in. Check it out here. This one is free but more granular data will be available for purchase over the weekend!

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 2/18/2025 market close.

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

Markets

  • US stocks rose slightly yesterday as investors shook off global trade and inflation fears

    • S&P closed at a fresh record

    • Meta snapped a 20-day win streak

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a new ATH

  • Gold held near its ATH

Earnings

  • Baidu fell 8% despite beating Q4 revenue and earnings estimates on competition concerns for its search and AI businesses (WSJ)

  • Toll Brothers fell 5% after missing Q1 estimates but denied factors related to high costs or increased housing market competition (BRN)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Carvana, Etsy

    • Thursday: Walmart, Booking Holdings, Alibaba, Block, Rivian

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US floats 25% tariffs on autos, pharmaceuticals and chips (WSJ)

  • New Zealand cut rates for third time to 3.75% to boost economy (BBG) 

  • PE diversity project for Black students affirms commitment despite DEI backlash (FT)

  • PE may securitize ticket sales amid push into sports (BBG)

  • First-day IPO trading flops threaten next wave of US listings (BBG)

  • Foreign holdings of US Treasuries fall in December (RT)

  • Investors are the most risk-on since 2010 (BBG)

  • Investors turn bullish on European stock market rally (FT)

  • Investors went on January EM buying spree (RT)

  • Chinese investors bought the most Hong Kong stocks in four years (BBG)

  • Record earnings mask less robust outlook for Japanese firms (BBG)

  • SEC shifts power from investors to boardrooms (RT)

  • Australia regulator warns PE funds not to resist new oversight powers (FT)

  • BlackRock paused corporate meetings in wake of new ESG rules (RT)

  • Vanguard ETF is poised to overtake State Street's as world's biggest (RT)

  • Senate confirmed Cantor Fitzgerald's Lutnick to Commerce Department (RT)

  • Citigroup raised CEO Jane Fraser's pay by 33% to $35M (RT)

  • Goldman Americas ECM head Gabe Gelman will depart after 25 years (BBG)

  • Head of Saudi Arabia's $320B pension fund will step down (BBG)

  • OpenAI's ex-CTO Mira Murati launched Thinking Machines Lab and poached 30 from OpenAI, Meta and Mistral (TC)

  • Ford slashed stock bonuses for middle managers (RT)

  • J&J begins crucial battle over $10B baby powder settlement (RT)

  • KFC HQ will leave Kentucky (BBG)

A Message from GACW

One of TIME's best inventions might surprise you

Imagine an invention with the potential to help save lives, the environment, and millions of dollars. Those are just a couple of reasons why the Air Suspension Wheel (ASW) was named among Time magazine's best inventions in 2023 — and for a limited time, you can invest in the company behind it.

Today's mining tires frequently overheat and even explode. In addition to risking lives, they cost mining companies $7M over the lifetime of a single truck. But the ASW from Global Air Cylinder Wheels (GACW) is designed to last the vehicle's lifetime. That's why some of the world's top mining companies are adopting it.

With a $300B global tire market and the ticker "GACW" reserved, there's no better time to become a GACW shareholder.

This is a paid advertisement for Global Air Cylinder Wheels’ Regulation CF Offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.globalaircylinderwheels.com.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • PE firm Silver Lake is in exclusive talks to acquire a majority stake in Intel's programmable chips unit Altera, which Intel acquired for $17B in 2015

  • BP is weighing a $10B sale of its lubricants business amid pressure from Elliott

  • Diamondback Energy agreed to acquire subsidiaries Double Eagle IV Midco for $4.1B in cash and stock to expand in the Permian Basin

  • Equipment rental firm Herc Rentals agreed to acquire H&E Equipment Services in a $5.3B deal that was deemed superior to United Rentals' $3.4B offer

  • Swiss pharma manufacturer Lonza is exploring a sale of its $2.6B capsules and health ingredients business

  • Payments processor Shift4 Payments agreed to acquire tax-free shopping services provider Global Blue for $1.5B

  • Auto retailer Asbury Automotive will acquire automotive dealerships owned by Herb Chambers Companies for $1.35B 

  • Occidental Petroleum will divest some upstream assets to undisclosed buyers in two deals for a total $1.2B 

  • Bill Ackman's Pershing Square revised its offer to buy real estate firm Howard Hughes Holdings to provide a $900M equity infusion

  • Slot machine manufacturer Light & Wonder will acquire the charitable gambling business of Grover Gaming for $850M

  • MMG Singapore Resources agreed to acquire Anglo American's nickel business for up to $500M cash

  • Stablecoin issuer Tether submitted a bid for a majority stake in South American agricultural and energy production firm Adecoagro at a $385M valuation

  • One Equity Partners agreed to acquire engineering services company VSE's fleet business segment Wheeler Fleet Solutions for up to $230M

  • HP will acquire assets from Humane, the maker of a wearable AI Pin, for $116M

  • Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait agreed to acquire HSBC's retail bank in Bahrain

  • Foods giant Kraft Heinz is exploring a sale of its Italy-based infant food product brand Plasmon

  • Dairy giant Fonterra will engage with potential buyers for its global consumer business and integrated businesses in preparation for an IPO

VC

  • Terra CO2, a low-carbon building materials company, raised an $82M Series B led by Just Climate, Eagle Materials, and GenZero

  • Customer data platform Hightouch raised an $80M Series C at a $1.2B valuation led by Sapphire Ventures

  • Legal AI startup Luminance raised a $75M Series C led by Point72 Private Investments

  • Blockchain security firm Blockaid raised a $50M Series B led by Ribbit Capital

  • Cambridge GaN Devices, a developer of gallium nitride (GaN) power devices, raised a $32M Series C led by a strategic investor

  • Frontera Health, a startup helping children with autism, raised a $32M seed round led by Lux Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners

  • Capi Money, an international payments fintech platform for SMEs in emerging markets, raised a $18.5M Series A led by Creandum

  • Avandra, a a network of de-identified medical image data for researchers, raised a $17.8M round led by Aegis and SpringRock Ventures

  • Non-surgical nanoparticle-based brain-computer interface startup Subsense raised a $17M seed round led by Golden Falcon Capital

  • Pharmaceutical company Perceive Pharma raised a $15M Series A led by Deerfield Management, Johnson & Johnson, Braidwell, and more

  • CRM startup Koala raised a $15M Series A led by CRV

  • Posterity Health, a male reproductive and hormonal health solutions, raised a $13M Series A led by Georgetown Equity Partners

  • Vema Hydrogen, a startup using stimulated geologic hydrogen technology to produce clean hydrogen, raised a $13M seed round led by Extantia Capital and Propeller Ventures

  • DiligentIQ, an AI-powered platform for PE due diligence, raised a $12M Series A led by FINTOP Capital and JAM FINTOP

  • Wooptix, a semiconductor metrology startup, raised a ~$11M Series C led by Samsung and Spanish Society for Technological Transformation

  • Imperia, a Spanish startup building a SaaS platform for supply chain management, raised a $12M Series A led by Burda Principal Investments and Samaipata

  • Singulr AI, an enterprise AI governance and security platform, raised a $10M seed round led by Nexus Venture Partners and Dell Technologies Capital

  • MirrorTab, a provider of advanced web application protection, raised an $8.5M seed round led by Valley Capital Partners

  • Fetii, a group rideshare app for young people, raised a $7.35M seed round led by Mark Cuban

  • Level Zero Health, a startup developing a device for continuous hormone monitoring, raised a $6.9M pre-seed round led by redalpine

  • Warmly, an AI-fueled pipeline acceleration platform, raised a $6M Series A+ led by RTP Global

  • Cycloid, a software provider for platform engineering, raised a $5.2M Series A led by Reflexion Capital and five angel investors

  • Lingo.dev, an app localization engine for developers, raised a $4.2M seed round led by Initialized Capital

  • AI-powered compliance startup for nuclear and industrial operations Everstar raised a $4M pre-seed round led by Third Prime VC

  • Legal tech startup Augmetec raised a $2.5M seed round led by Fuel Ventures

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • UK utility Southern Water is seeking to raise $1.1B in new equity to protect its credit rating and fund new investments

  • GQG Partners, Fidelity, Lazard, SBI Life Insurance and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance bought a 0.8%, $976M stake in Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel from billionaire-founder Sunil Bharti Mittal 

  • Asyad Group, a conglomerate back by SWF Oman Investment Authority, is seeking to raise $333M from a local IPO of its shipping business Asyad Shipping

  • Restaurant Brands International bought an additional $158M stake in Burger King China to give it total ownership

Debt

  • Italian lender UniCredit is working on a SRT linked to a $4.2B portfolio of German corporate loans

  • Mining giant BHP raised $3B in a US bond sale

  • Brazil sold $2.5B in international bonds markets in the first offering in over six months 

  • Strategy plans to offer $2B of convertible debt in a private offering to buy more Bitcoin

  • Brookfield is in talks to make $1B structured debt investment in private school operator Spring Education

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • A UK judge approved a $3.8B rescue loan for cash-strapped UK water utility Thames Water

  • Truck maker Scania agreed to buy distressed Swedish battery maker Northvolt's heavy industry business

Fundraising

  • Investment firm Neuberger Berman closed its third specialty-finance fund at $1.6B

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX began creditor distributions (BBG) 

  • Abu Dhabi SWF Mubadala revealed a $460M Bitcoin purchase (YH)

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

Exec’s Picks

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"