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Good Morning,

AI is speeding market reactions to Fed messages, Wall Street is pushing for full-blown PE ETFs, Warren Buffet dropped yet another insightful annual letter, and Musk hit the entire federal workforce with his iconic 'what did you do last week?' email.

A team of Zillow execs founded Pacaso to democratize co-ownership of premier properties and while they've already raised capital from top VCs, they're inviting retail investors to help them expand. Check out the opportunity.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 2/21/2025 market close.

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

Markets

  • US stocks cratered on Friday as investors reacted to a drop in consumer sentiment and rising inflation expectations

    • S&P and Dow posted their worst day YTD

    • Nasdaq had its worst day since the January DeepSeek AI frenzy

    • All three major indexes ended the week lower

  • US-London aluminum premium surged to the highest level since 2022 as traders stockpile ahead of US tariffs

Earnings

  • Berkshire Hathaway reported record Q4 and FY operating profit and boosted its cash pile to a record $334B; the firm also warned on US debt after paying 5% of all US corporate taxes, emphasized investments in Japanese trading houses, and erased DEI mentions (CNBC) 

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Domino's, Zoom, Hims & Hers

    • Tuesday: Home Depot, Cava, Instacart, AMC

    • Wednesday: Nvidia, Salesforce, Snowflake, Lowe's

    • Thursday: TD Bank Group, Dell

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • DOGE emailed entire federal workforce 'what did you do last week?' (WSJ)

  • Business activity fell to a 17-month low as inflation expectations surge (RT)

  • AI is speeding market reactions to Fed messages (RT)

  • Companies are getting cold feet on IPOs (NYT)

  • Wall Street is selling ETFs that mimic the PE boom (BBG)

  • Wall Street is pushing back on tough margin rule for 0DTE options (BBG)

  • Equity funds attracted inflows for the first time in three weeks (RT)

  • Dollar reprieve brings global funds back to EM Asia stocks (BBG)

  • PIMCO now favors mortgage bonds over corporate debt (BBG)

  • Singapore launched a $3.7B program to boost stock market (RT)

  • China's local government bond rush is worsening liquidity strain (BBG)

  • China developers are buying land at 20% premiums in recovery bet (BBG)

  • US demanded EU antitrust chief to clarify rules on Big Tech (RT)

  • EU will charge Google for breaching Big Tech rules (RT)

  • EU will cut sustainability rules for companies (RT)

  • Shein profit dropped 40% last year in fresh challenge to IPO (FT)

  • US is investigating UnitedHealth's billing practices (WSJ)

  • Morgan Stanley toned down DEI emphasis in annual report (RT)

  • Zuckerberg's charity ended all DEI efforts (TC)

  • Boeing's chief aerospace safety officer will retire (RT)

  • Office occupancy hit a post-Covid high (WP)

A Message from Pacaso

Zillow's co-founder has a big new idea.

Spencer Rascoff co-founded Zillow, scaling it into a $16B real estate giant. But everyday investors couldn’t invest until after the IPO, missing early gains.

"I wish we had done a round accessible to retail investors prior to Zillow's IPO," Spencer later said. 

Now he's doing just that. Spencer has teamed up with another Zillow exec to launch Pacaso. Pacaso's co-ownership marketplace is disrupting the $1.3T vacation home market. And unlike Zillow, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.

With $100M+ in gross profits and rapid international expansion, Pacaso is scaling fast. Investors like Softbank, Maveron, and more are already on board. 

Join them as a Pacaso shareholder and lock in the $2.70 share price by Thursday.

*This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Japan's Seven & i Holdings selected Bain Capital over KKR and Japan Industrial Partners as its preferred buyer for a stake in its $4.7B York Holdings, which houses non-core assets

  • Asian tech firms Compal Electronics, Inventec, Pegatron, and Wistron are in talks to acquire AMD's data center manufacturing plants for $3B-$4B, including debt, which AMD inherited in its recent $4.9B acquisition of ZT Systems 

  • Apollo is looking to buy Spain's Fotowatio Renewable Ventures from Saudi parent Abdul Latif Jameel Energy & Environmental Services for $2.1B

  • KKR is preparing to sell IT management firm BMC Helix at a $2B valuation, including debt

  • Blackstone is in advanced talks to acquire vaccine management company VaxCare from Summit Partners for $1.7B, including debt

  • KKR's revived $1.5B sale of logistics services provider Goodpack attracted interest from investment firms Apollo, Brookfield, I Squared Capital, and Stonepeak as well as China Merchants Group and China International Marine Containers

  • Australian wealth manager Perpetual rejected KKR's $1.4B bid for its wealth management and corporate trust units but confirmed plans to pursue a sale of its wealth management business separately

  • Shell will acquire interests in Ursa and Europa Fields and Ursa Oil Pipeline Company from ConocoPhillips for $735M

  • Carlyle and SK Capital Partners agreed to acquire cash-strapped gene-therapy company Bluebird bio for up to $96M

  • Apollo's structured credit affiliate Redding Ridge agreed to acquire $11B AUM CLO manager Irradiant Partners

  • PE firm JC Flowers acquired Infinite Investment Systems, a provider of portfolio management solutions to the Canadian wealth management industry

  • Goldman Sachs Alternatives acquired Trackunit, a SaaS and operating data platform for the construction ecosystem, from European PE firms Hg and GRO Capital 

VC

  • Fiber-optic internet company Surf Internet raised $175M in funding led by Macquarie

  • AI search startup Genspark raised a $100M series A at a $530M valuation led by a group of US and Singapore-based investors

  • Healthy soda brand Olipop raised a $50M Series C at a $1.85B valuation led by JPMorgan Asset Management

  • Unit Network, a UK-based DeFi for RWA and digital assets trading, raised $18M in funding led by Blockchain Founders Fund and Outlier Ventures

  • Emtar Technologies, a wireless edge intelligence solutions company, raised a $13M angel round

  • Onetab.ai, a workplace SaaS startup simplifying software development processes, raised a $3.3M seed round led by LIT Fund and Orbit

  • Fomo, a fintech empowering technology and strategic partnerships, raised a $2M pre-seed round from numerous entrepreneurs and angels

  • Wall Street Prep received an investment from The Riverside Company

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Abu Dhabi's ADNOC sold $2.84B of shares in ADNOC Gas to increase the subsidiary’s free float from 5% to 9%

  • New Zealand retirement village owner Ryman Healthcare is seeking to raise $570M in a discounted share sale to reduce debt

  • Chinese trading card and collectible toy company Kayou revived plans for a Hong Kong IPO that could raise $500M

  • Cineworld Group, which operates the Regal chain of theaters in the US, is considering an IPO and US merger opportunities

  • Military defense system supplier KNDS is weighing a Germany IPO this year

  • Offshore driller Constellation Oil Services is planning a Norway IPO

SPAC

  • Thai telecom Bangkok Tellink agreed to merge with Arogo Capital Acquisition Corp. in a $350M deal

Debt

  • Barclays, BBVA, and UBS were among European banks that sold $8B in dollar AT1 bonds to boost capital levels

  • India's Adani Green Energy is in talks with local lenders including Power Finance to refinance $1.1B of dollar debt in rupees

  • Energy drink-maker Celsius secured $1B of financing from lenders led by UBS to support its acquisition of Alani Nutrition

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Hong Kong's CK Infrastructure made an $8.9B bid to take a majority stake in troubled UK water utility Thames Water

  • Troubled Chinese developer China Vanke will receive another $579M from its largest state shareholder Shenzhen Metro Group to repay debt

  • Hooters, the beloved sports bar and diner backed by Nord Bay Capital, is in talks to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to address debt and liquidity concerns

Fundraising

  • Sculptor Capital Management raised $3B for its fifth flagship real estate fund

  • UK-based Gemcorp Capital is raising $2B for a new EM private credit fund

  • Cambridge-backed VC Cambridge Innovation Capital launched a new $125M fund to invest in start-ups in the region

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Crypto exchange Bybit lost $1.5B in crypto's largest hack ever

  • SEC dropped its high-profile lawsuit against Coinbase

  • Crypto firms boost sports spending amid Trump bump

  • Franklin Templeton filed for a Solana ETF as interest expands beyond Bitcoin

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"