Together with

Good Morning,

Walmart rolled back DEI, Citigroup cut back on promotions, a Macy's employee was caught hiding $150M in expenses, and GM will join F1 as a full American team.

Scoop some of your favorite Litquidity merch with fresh collections accompanying The Lit Holiday Sale! Receive 20% off your order now through December 2nd.

Finally, we have an investment opportunity with Chicago Atlantic's Digital Mining Fund, whose dividends are outpacing every public mining stock.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rose as investors reacted to Trump’s Treasury secretary pick, Scott Bessent

  • Dow and S&P closed at fresh ATHs

  • Small caps Russell 2000 notched a new record

Earnings

• Zoom beat Q3 EPS and revenue estimates and forecast another quarter of single-digit growth as the firm continues to integrate and evolve into an AI-first work platform (CNBC) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Dell, CrowdStrike, Best Buy, Macy's, Abercrombie & Fitch

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Trump Treasury pick Scott Bessent will prioritize tax cuts (WSJ)

• Investors see Scott Bessent as calming US bond market worries (WSJ)

• Trump pledged tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China (WSJ)

• Indian stocks lured $70B from local investors in 10 Months (BBG)

• Citigroup slashed number of promotions (FT)

• Citigroup awarded special retention bonuses for dozens of bankers (BBG)

• Blackstone invested over $500M in southern European hotels (FT)

• US charged ex-WAMCO co-CIO Kenneth Leech with fraud (RT)

• Macy's says accounting employee hid ~$150M in delivery expenses (CNBC)

• Europe's Mistral AI expands in Silicon Valley in hunt for talent (FT)

• Kohl's CEO will depart after less than two years on the job (RT)

• Walmart rolled back DEI programs (WSJ)

• Tesla was excluded from California EV tax credit proposal (BBG)

• GM / Cadillac will join F1 in 2026 (ESPN)

A Message from Chicago Atlantic

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Open to accredited investors, the Chicago Atlantic Digital Mining Fund provides a stable structure for investors to explore bitcoin mining opportunities, offering real assets, monthly distributions, tax depreciation benefits and attractive returns.

Submit your interest below to learn more.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Italian lender UniCredit made a $10.5B unsolicited bid for domestic rival Banco BPM

• Building materials firm Quikrete agreed to acquire peer Summit Materials for $11.5B, including debt

• US pipeline operator Oneok will acquire the remaining 56% stake of EnLink Midstream  it doesn't already own for $4.3B stock

• Peabody Energy will acquire miner Anglo American's steelmaking coal business for up in a $3.8B deal

• Blackstone will invest $3.5B in a new JV with US natural gas producer EQT to acquire stakes in Mid-Atlantic gas pipelines

• Abu Dhabi SWF Mubadala will take Canadian mutual fund manager CI Financial private in a $3.4B deal

• French investment firm Wendel is weighing a $2.1B sale of French chemical maker Stahl

• Swiss pharma giant Roche will acquire US-based Poseida Therapeutics in a $1.5B deal

• PE firm Advent is considering reviving a sale of $1.1B Dutch medical supplier Mediq

• Global Schools Holdings, a network of international schools backed by Apollo, is exploring a minority stake sale at an over $1B valuation

• Indian financial services firm Edelweiss is seeking to sell a 25%-35% stake in its mutual funds business at a $700M-$800M valuation

• France offered to buy troubled French tech firm Atos' advanced computing assets for $653M

• Canaccord Genuity is exploring options for its UK wealth management unit

VC

• Halcyon, an anti-ransomware platform, raised a $100M Series C at a $1B valuation led by Evolution Equity Partners

• Pyramid Analytics, an AI-driven analytics and decision intelligence company, raised $50M from BlackRock

• Appcharge, a startup helping gaming apps monetize, raised a $26M round at a $100M valuation led by Creandum

• PlayAI, a 'voice interface of AI,' raised a $20M seed round led by 500 Startups and Kindred Ventures

• Capitolis, a startup creating safer capital markets, raised a $20M round led by Citi

• Cloud management platform emma raised a $17M Series A led by Smartfin 

• Boosted.ai, a startup using GenAI to automate financial analysis workflows, raised a $15M round from Fidelity Investments Canada

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese GoPro-rival Insta360 is considering a Hong Kong IPO at a $2.1B valuation

• Blackstone plans to raise $730M-$1.1B in a Spain IPO of Spanish gambling firm Cirsa

• ​​South African grocery retailer Pick n Pay raised $471M in an IPO of discount chain Boxer

• EQT is considering a $400M Indian IPO of IVF clinic operator Indira IVF

• Home retailer Daya Intiguna Yasa, the Indonesian affiliate of Malaysia's Mr DIY Group, plans to raise $297M in a Jakarta IPO

• Unilever's India unit plans to spin off its ice cream business

Debt

• Wells Fargo will provide a $9.2B debt package to help finance Quikrete's $11.5B acquisition of Summit Materials

Crypto Corner

• Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun invested $30M in Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto project (BBG)

• Crypto miners must report power demand under new Texas rule (TT)

• Telegram propped up by crypto gains as founder fights charges (FT)

Exec’s Picks

• We've revived the Litquidity merch store with some incredible apparel and accessories for the holiday season and The Lit Holiday Sale means all the more reason to snag your favorites. Receive 20% off all orders now through December 2nd. Shop the collection here!

• Financial Times published their Big Read on Jared Kushner's Thrive Capital: the VC firm staking billions on a few big bets.

• Jack Raines took to his blog to talk about the challenges that arise AFTER hitting it big.

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!

Meme Cleanser

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