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Biden admin 'repeatedly pressured' Meta to censor content, France released a statement on Telegram co-founder's arrest, Dow closed at a record high, and Eurizon's CEO sees currency as the only market risk that's not priced in.

Diversify beyond volatile stocks and bonds with today's sponsor, Percent, a highly democratized private credit market for exclusive private credit deals.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks ended mostly lower after being dragged down by tech ahead of Nvidia's potential blockbuster earnings

  • Dow closed at a record high

• Canada's TSX posted another ATH on a rotation into commodity stocks

• UK markets were closed for the Summer Bank Holiday

Earnings

• Heico reported record Q3 EPS and revenue for a sixteenth-straight quarter of growth on sustained demand for the majority of its products; their stock is near a mega ATH (MW) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Wednesday: Nvidia, CrowdStrike, Salesforce

  • Thursday: Dell, Best Buy, Dollar General, lululemon

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Biden admin repeatedly pressured Meta to censor COVID content (WSJ)

• US business equipment spending shows loss of momentum (RT)

• Fed cuts may send $1T FX 'avalanche' to China (BBG)

• Temu-parent stock tanks as China growth slows, competition intensifies (TI)

• China export curbs on chip materials stoke chip output fears (FT)

• Mining bosses warned against M&A as dealmaking forecasts boom (FT)

• UK shop prices showed deflation for first time in three years (FT)

• Locked-in mortgages have saved US consumers $600B (BBG)

• Canada joined US to impose 100% tariff on Chinese EVs (CNBC)

• France released a statement on Telegram co-founder's arrest (AP)

• Ken Griffin revealed flashy plans for Citadel’s Miami HQ (WSJ)

• Apple's CFO is stepping down (BBG)

• JPMorgan was sued over low rates on cash sweeps (RT)

A Message From Percent

Why add private credit to your portfolio?

In 2023, private credit averaged a 12% return¹ and the asset class is expected to grow to $2.3T by 2027. It’s a resilient asset class that has outperformed high yield bonds and equities in the last 3 market corrections.

As an investor, adding private credit can bring diversified return potential to a portfolio, as well as monthly income through interest payments. 

On Percent, accredited investors can access unique private credit opportunities, with over $1 billion funded on the platform to date. Here's more of what you'll find:

• Double-digit yield potential: Percent’s Q2 LTM net APY was over 14%.

• Shorter term offerings: The average investment term is 9 months.

• Diversification: Investors can choose from domestic or international deals in small business loans, trade finance, merchant cash advances, and other forms of direct lending.

• Low minimums: Investments can start with as little as $500.

• Monthly cash flow: Most deals offer cash flow through monthly interest payments.

Visit Percent to create an account and view all offerings - plus earn a welcome bonus of up to $500 with your first investment.² 

²Alternative investments are speculative and possess a high level of risk. No assurance can be given that investors will receive a return of their capital. Investments in private placements are highly illiquid and investors who cannot hold an investment for an indefinite term should not invest. Private credit investments may be complex and are subject to default risk.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Media veteran Edgar Bronfman Jr. dropped his $6B bid for Paramount Global, clearing the way for Skydance Media to acquire the business (RT)

• Healthcare giant McKesson will acquire a controlling stake in Florida Cancer Specialists' business and administrative services unit for $2.5B in cash (RT) 

• PE owners Summit Partners and Vista Equity Partners are exploring a sale of financial software firm Trintech at a ~$2B valuation, including debt (RT) 

• A JV between Warburg Pincus and Australian real estate firm Lendlease acquired upscale CRE assets in Singapore from Blackstone for $1.2B (RT)

• Paramount Global is exploring a sale of 12 local TV stations that could fetch $500M-$1B (BBG) 

• Singaporean healthcare investor CBC and Abu Dhabi SWF Mubadala will acquire Belgian biopharma firm UCB's Chinese neurology and allergy business for $680M (RT) 

• KKR is considering raising fresh capital for Sylvan, the world’s largest mushroom grower (BBG) 

• Chinese state-backed maps/navigation firm NavInfo's AutoAi is in talks to acquire Didi Global's smart driving and cockpit assets in a stock deal (RT) 

VC

• Physical AI startup Butlr raised a $38M Series B led by Pacific Alliance Venture, DNX Ventures, and more (FN)

• AI mental health startup Slingshot AI raised a ~$30M seed round led by a16z (FN)

• Home Run Dugout, a 'Topgolf' for baseball, raised a $22.5M Series A led by Lagniappe Capital Partners (FN)

• Sunswap, a clean tech startup decarbonizing cold chain logistics, raised a $21.4M round led by BGF (FN)

• HomeLight, a platform supporting real estate agents and lenders, raised a $20M Series D extension led by Zeev Ventures (BW)

• Viggle AI, a GenAI character animation platform, raised a $19M Series A led by a16z (BW)

• SatLayer, a BTC re-staking platform developer, raised an $8M pre-seed round led by Castle Island Ventures and Hack VC (FN)

• Revenew, a payment operations and optimization platform, raised a $4.6M seed round led by Fika Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Icahn Enterprises will sell $400M of depository units in an at-the-market offering (RT) 

Debt 

• Apollo and BlackRock are in talks to provide debt financing for the merger of Amazon aggregators Branded and Heyday (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Chinese office park operator Tuspark called off its offshore debt restructuring plan (BBG) 

Fundraising

• SeaTown, the alternative investment subsidiary of Singapore's Temasek, raised $1.3B for a second private credit fund (FT)

• VC G Squared raised $1.1B to acquire discounted startup stakes (FT) 

• MM PE firm CenterOak Partners raised $1.1B for its third fund (BW) 

Crypto Corner

• Toncoin lost $2.7B in market value after Telegram co-founder's arrest (BBG)

• Tokenized treasury funds crossed $2B (CD) 

• Crypto firm Abra settled SEC charges over unregistered securities (BBG) 

Exec’s Picks

• Chicago Atlantic is pioneering profitable Bitcoin mining with their new Digital Mining strategy. There are opportunities for all accredited investors.

• The House Judiciary released Zuckerberg's letter detailing the Biden admin's role in Meta's content censorship.

• The luxury watch market slump may be due to the lack of crypto bros' enthusiasm…at least according to WSJ's Carol Ryan.

• Callie Cox wrote another great piece on why pessimism sells on Wall Street.

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

If you're currently a junior banker looking to break into the buy side, lateral to another investment bank, or consider new paths amid changing market dynamics, 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 across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, debt funds, and investment banking.

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

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