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Good Morning,

PE has a love affair with accounting firms, hedge funds are piling into copycat quant trades, 'anti-woke' activists are going after corporate boards, catastrophe bond issuance hit a record high, and WeWork officially emerged from bankruptcy.

We've officially cut the ribbon at the members club that's good for you! Check out Bond Life Club, the newest private members club inaugurated in East Hampton, co-founded by Litquidity.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 06/11/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks inched slightly higher as investors braced for the Fed's rate decision and CPI release due today

    • The S&P and Nasdaq continued their record rally

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 fell 0.9% amid region-wide far-right election shake-ups

    • The France-Germany 10-year yield spread jumped to its highest since October

  • Dollar hit a four-week high on track to its highest YTD 

  • Argentina soy futures bounced back to YTD highs as exports pick up

  • Bitcoin fell to its lowest level MTD

Earnings

  • Oracle jumped 9% despite missing Q4 earnings and revenue estimates on new Google and OpenAI cloud deals and a double-digit sales growth forecast (CNBC) 

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Broadcom

    • Thursday: Adobe

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Hedge funds pile into copycat quant trades they once mocked (BBG)

  • PE firms poised to own one in three top US accounting firms (FT)

  • ‘Anti-woke' shareholders are going after corporate boards (WSJ)

  • GameStop uses meme-stock rally to build cash hoard for no reason (FT)

  • Catastrophe bond issuance hit a record high (BBG)

  • Traders unwind long Treasuries bets ahead of Fed meeting and CPI release (BBG)

  • US equities made up half of global ETF flows in May (FT)

  • Bond investors are flocking to active fund managers (WSJ)

  • UK smashes bond demand record with $140B orderbook (BBG)

  • Investors flock to frontier EM bonds for high yields (FT)

  • Apple soared 7% to an ATH on AI software push (CNBC)

  • Invesco shuttered its UK equities team (FT)

  • Twenty states now involved in US monopoly lawsuit against Apple (RT)

  • Banks say CRE pain is confined to offices (BBG)

  • Musk dropped his suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman (CNBC)

  • Ryan Cohen beat Bed Bath & Beyond shareholder lawsuit (RT)

  • Ex-NatWest CEO Alison Rose joined UK PE firm Charterhouse (FT)

  • Wall Street backers see breakthrough moment for carbon offsets (BBG)

  • GM cut EV production forecast and approved a $6B share buyback (RT)

  • Google debuts streaming ad network (TV)

  • BNY Mellon will rename to 'BNY' (RT)

  • Hong Kong's identity crisis fuels $270B property wipeout (BBG)

A Message From Bond Life Club

The members club that's good for you.

What's up everyone, it's Hank from Litquidity here.

We officially cut the ribbon on Bond Life Club, the newest and finest private members club in the Hamptons!

Situated in the heart of East Hampton, Bond caters to those looking for a break from stuffy country clubs and are seeking a modern, vibrant "third place" to gather, work, exercise, dine and socialize.

Our inaugural club includes a diverse mix of amenities including tennis, padel, pickleball, saunas, cold plunges, gym, wellness / recovery, wining and dining, weekly programming / events, and more.

Memberships are now live and we are curating an exclusive cohort of founding members (early members include notable celebrities, athletes, investors, and entrepreneurs).

As members of the Exec Sum community, we are offering you all the opportunity for priority review when you mention "Litquidity" in the application. Click the button below to apply and learn more.

Learn More!

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • PE firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice emerged as the frontrunner to acquire German drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel from owners Bain and Cinven, who are seeking $11.8B (BBG) 

  • Shari Redstone's National Amusements, which controls $7.7B Paramount Global, ended talks with David Ellison's Skydance Media (WSJ)

  • National Bank of Canada will acquire rival Canadian Western Bank in a ~$3.6B stock deal (BBG) 

  • Bain-backed media exec Edgar Bronfman Jr. is weighing an up to $2.5B bid for Shari Redstone's National Amusements, which controls $7.7B Paramount Global (WSJ)

  • KKR will acquire a significant minority stake in Quick Quack Car Wash for $850M (RT) 

  • CRE company Whitestone REIT, which has a $653M market cap, rejected a takeover proposal from MCB Real Estate (MW) 

  • App developer Voodoo will acquire social media platform BeReal for $537M (FT) 

  • Italian oil company Eni began the sale of a 10% stake in offshore drilling services company Saipem worth $440M (BBG) 

  • British Airways parent IAG offered new concessions to EU regulators for its $430M takeover of Air Europa (BBG) 

  • Engineering consultant Alten entered exclusive negotiations to acquire debt-laden French tech group Atos' Worldgrid unit for a $290M EV (RT) 

  • Investment management firm Mercer agreed to acquire $66B AUM UK pension manager Cardano (RT) 

VC

  • Market intelligence and search platform AlphaSense raised a $650M round at a $4B valuation led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners (VC)

  • French OpenAI-rival Mistral AI raised a $644M round at a $6.2B from investors including Nvidia, Samsung and Cisco (BBG) 

  • Cognigy, an AI-first customer service automation platform, raised a $100M Series C led by Eurazeo Growth (BW)

  • Data detection and response startup Cyberhaven raised an $88M Series C led by Adams Street Partners and Khosla Ventures (PRN)

  • Bug bounty and vulnerability management platform YesWeHack raised a $28M Series C led by Wendel (BW)

  • Parity, a startup helping buildings optimize energy consumption, raised a $19M Series B led by Idealist Capital (FN)

  • Astrocade AI, an AI-powered social gaming platform, raised a $12M seed round from AME Cloud Ventures, NVIDIA Ventures, and more (FN)

  • Sales automation startup Zeliq raised a $10M seed round led by Exor Ventures (EU)

  • AI-powered research assistant Brightwave raised a $6M seed round led by Decibel Partners (BW)

  • Cardino, a used EV sales platform, raised a $4.4M seed round led by Point Nine (BW)

  • Sloyd, a 3D model creation tech provider, raised a $3.3M seed round from a16x Games Speedrun, Autodesk, and more (FN)

  • WorkL, a startup helping teams improve happiness and engagement, raised a $2.5M Series A led by Calculus Capital (FN)

  • Motion Gestures, an AI software for hand tracking and gesture recognition, raised a $2M pre-Series A led by CCAA (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Logistics giant Lineage is seeking to raise up to $3.5B in a US IPO as soon as July (BBG) 

  • Luxury sneaker brand Golden Goose is seeking to raise $600M in what may be Milan’s largest IPO in a year (BBG) 

  • Low-cost computer maker Raspberry Pi's shares jumped ~38% in its trading debut after its $211M London IPO (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

  • Bankrupt hospital operator Steward Health Care secured $225M in emergency debt funding to keep hospitals open (BBG) 

  • Bankrupt ventilator maker Vyaire Medical received multiple indications of interest from potential buyers (BBG) 

  • Miner Nevada Copper will borrow up to $60M from activist investor Elliott after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (BBG) 

  • WeWork emerged from Chapter 11 and named a new CEO (CNBC) 

  • Chinese developer Dexin China entered court-ordered liquidation (BBG) 

Fundraising

  • Swiss private markets firm Partners Group closed is fifth PE fund with over $15B (PI)

  • Vsquared Ventures, a German early-stage deep tech fund, closed its second fund at $230M (TFN) 

  • Beverage investor InvestBev raised $150M for its fifth PE fund (AX)

Crypto Corner

  • Basis trade pushes short interest in Bitcoin futures to record high among leveraged funds (BBG)

  • Tether will invest over $1B in deals over next year (BBG)

  • NFTs fail to regain appeal as investors turn to Ether ETFs (BBG) 

Exec’s Picks

  • Bloomberg released a short yet insightful video explaining how PE ate Britain.

  • Roger Federer's Dartmouth commencement speech was probably the most inspiring in recent memory…truly a must-listen.

Litney Partners – Financial Recruiting 💼💼

If you're currently a junior investment banker looking to break into the buy side, considering lateraling to another investment bank, or have recently been impacted by widespread layoffs, it's time you check out Litney Partners, a partnership between Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates at leading private equity, hedge fund, venture capital, growth equity, and credit funds, as well as investment banks.

To get started, simply head over to the Litney website and create your profile by dropping your resume / filling out the form:

LITNEY PARTNERS

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