- Exec Sum
- Posts
- Bad Day To Be a Block
Bad Day To Be a Block
Together with
Good Morning,
Yesterday was another calm day on the headline front, with the China craze and Mideast stealing much of markets' attention.
In other interesting news; US is weighing breaking up Google, Pfizer's CEO will meet its activist investor, and Hindenburg shorted Roblox.
Master all your valuation methods and stand out as a top valuation expert with the FMVA® Certification from CFI, the #1 rated finance training provider.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 10/08/2024 market close.
Markets
US stocks rose yesterday to rebound from Monday's sharp losses
China's CSI 300 dropped 8% after its recent 35% rally as stimulus optimism ebbed
MSCI China ETF fell 11%
KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF tumbled 10%
Hong Kong's HSI index dropped 9.4% in its worst day since 2008
UK-Germany 10Y yield spread rose to 1.94% to its highest since August 2023 on UK fiscal policy concerns
Earnings
🇺🇸 Election Forecast
Kamala has pulled back ahead as Kalshi just launched over 20 new election markets. See live odds and place your trade!
Headline Roundup
US budget deficit topped $1.8T in FY 2024 (WSJ)
New Zealand cut rates by 50 bps in second cut (CNBC)
US bank profits to shrink on interest income, focus shifts to Fed cuts (RT)
Gold ETFs saw inflows for a fifth-straight month (RT)
UK pledged to reduce barriers for specialist trading firms (FT)
Indians pour their family savings into IPOs, stoking bubble fear (BBG)
Pfizer's CEO plans to meet activist Starboard Value (FT)
Hindenburg posted their short report on Roblox (RT)
US is weighing breaking up Google following illegal monopoly ruling (CNBC)
BofA named a new co-head of global M&A (RT)
Princeton reversed ban on oil companies funding research (FT)
A Message From CFI
Have You Mastered Comparable Valuation Analysis?
If you haven't developed your comparable valuation analysis skills to the highest possible level, you may not be maximizing your career potential (and also leaving money on the table!).
Here's the good news: Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) offers an industry-recognized certification that can take your skills to the next level: Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®) Certification. This highly-sought training equips you with financial modeling and valuation skills critical to investment banking, private equity, corporate development, and more.
Still not sure about it? CFI's FMVA® Certification is trusted by over 2 million people worldwide and rated 4.9/5 stars, based on 40,000 reviews.
So, ready to accelerate your career? Get certified with CFI today.
Deal Flow
M&A / Investments
Ares will buy the international arm of real estate investment firm GLP Capital Partners for $1.8B in cash and stock
Singapore's GIC is considering a sale of its 50% stake in India's Greenko Energy for ~$5B
Tokyo Gas is in talks to acquire Chevron's Texas natural gas assets for ~$1B
China's Zijin Mining will buy a Ghana gold mine from Newmont for $1B
BlackRock and JPMorgan Asset Management made a minority investment in back-office services firm Dynasty Financial Partners at an $800M valuation
Berlusconi family is in talks to sell a stake in football club AC Monza
Innovation Network Corp. of Japan is reviving the sale of its 21% stake in Malaysian telecom tower company Edotco
Cannae and KDSA Investment Partners acquired a majority stake in spices maker Watkins
VC
Maven Clinic, a virtual clinic for women's and family health, raised a $125M Series F led by StepStone
Gropyus, a startup that prefabricates buildings using robots, raised a $109M round led by Semapa and Practical Venture Capital
Auger, an AI-powered tool for supply chain-dependent businesses, raised a $100M seed round led by Oak HC/FT
Blue Energy, a startup building modular nuclear power plants in shipyards, raised a $45M Series A led by Engine Ventures and At One Ventures
Resolve AI, an AI startup for engineers to automate software operations, raised a $35M seed round led by Greylock
AI testing platform Distributional raised a $19M Series A led by Two Sigma Ventures
MarqVision, an AI-driven IP protection startup, raised a $16M Series A+ from Altos Ventures, QuantumLight, and more
VESSL AI, an MLOps platform to reduce GPU costs, raised a $12M Series A from A Ventures, Ubiquitous Investment, and more
Claim, a social app for Gen Z to discover brands, raised a $12M Series A led by VMG Technology
Lightdash, an open source BI platform, raised an $11M Series A led by Accel
Bitlayer, a Bitcoin Layer 2-based startup, raised a $9M Series A extension co-led by Polychain Capital and Franklin Templeton
Driver, an AI helping firms create technical documentation, raised an $8M seed round led by GV
Third Dimension AI, a 3D GenAI startup, raised a $7M seed round led by Felicis
Data management platform Kiva AI raised a $7M seed round led by CoinFund
Edtech Revyze raised a $6M seed round led by Speedinvest and Moonfire
IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Honeywell will spin off its advanced materials unit at an $11B valuation
Japan's largest oil refiner Eneos is planning to spin off its metals division JX Advanced Metals at an over $4.7B valuation
CVC-backed Polish convenience store chain Zabka is expected to price its IPO at the top of a marketed range to raise $1.6B
Partners Group-backed KinderCare Learning raised $576M in an IPO priced toward the bottom of a marketed range
AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems will likely postpone its IPO on national security concerns
Spanish bakery firm Europastry postponed its IPO for a second time this year
Debt
Verizon lined up $10B of short-term debt to help fund its $9.6B acquisition of Frontier Communications
Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol is seeking to raise $2B in dollar bonds to repurchase debt
Saudi Arabian lender Al Rajhi Bank raised a $1.9B sustainability-linked Islamic syndicated loan
Banks led by UBS sold a $1B leveraged loan to help finance Vista Equity Partners' buyout of software company Jaggaer
Chinese biotech WuXi AppTec raised $500M via a convertible bond issuance
Utility services firm Wateralia is nearing raising a $329M debt package from Blackstone to refinance existing debt
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
Fundraising
PE firm Renovus Capital Partners raised $875M for its fourth fund
Crypto Corner
Crypto.com will sue the SEC for suing them
Exec’s Picks
Alt Managers, stop wasting your time managing vendors, contracts, invoices, and expense allocations manually in Excel. StavPay was built to automate and streamline this process and now has over 90 managers with $2T AUM leveraging the system daily. Get more details at stavpay.com and schedule a demo today.
Callie Cox shared yet another great piece, explaining how the time to prepare for a bear market is before it is on the horizon.
Check out this brief but cool explanation on the counter-intuitive difference between volatility and anxiety.
Financial Services Recruiting 💼
If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, an executive search partnership between 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 and are currently hiring 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
🛒 Merch Store: Visit our merch store to shop our latest apparel, shoes, bags, accessories and more.
💵 Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.
☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity’s brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what's up? Buy his time here.
📧 Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend Beehiiv to get started.
Reply