BlackRock Owns the Fed

Author

Litquidity Capital
September 15, 2025

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Good Morning,

UBS is weighing moving to US, Albania appointed an AI bot as minister, Nepal Gen Z protestors elected a new PM on Discord, BofA shuffled exec ranks to prepare for a CEO succession, and a BlackRock CIO emerged as a lead candidate for Fed chair.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 9/12/2025 market close.

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

Markets

  • US stocks closed mixed on Friday as investors digested inflation data and sour consumer sentiment reports ahead of the Fed's meeting

    • Nasdaq hit an ATH

  • MSCI Asia-Pacific index is near an ATH

    • Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan stock indexes ended the week at ATHs

  • French corporate bond risk premiums turned negative amid political uncertainty

  • Dollar posted its worst week in a month on rate cut bets

  • Traders are looking ahead to rate decisions from the Fed, BOC, BoE, BOJ, and Norway this week

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Dave & Buster's

    • Wednesday: General Mills, Cracker Barrel, Bullish

    • Thursday: FedEx, Darden Restaurants 

  • Full calendar here 

Prediction Markets

  • Where's Vanderbilt?

  • Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

  • BlackRock fixed income CIO Rick Rieder is latest Fed chair candidate (CNBC)

  • Fed debate turns to pace of cuts amid Trump pressure (BBG)

  • Markets gear up for series of Fed cuts with bullish bets at risk (BBG)

  • Wall Street rides $1T cash wave as Fed test looms (BBG)

  • US IPO market bursts back to life with busiest week in four years (FT)

  • US SPAC engine restarts as deal volume hits post-2021 high (CNBC)

  • US funding markets enter new era of volatility as costs rise (BBG)

  • US consumer sentiment fell to the lowest since May on jobs concerns (BBG)

  • US and China officials met in Spain for trade talks (BBG)

  • China launched discrimination probes into US chips ahead of trade talks (RT)

  • Equity funds saw the biggest weekly outflow in five weeks (RT)

  • Hedge funds cut bullish oil bets to the lowest ever (BBG)

  • Hedge funds hunt commodity vol traders amid global market swings (BBG)

  • Munis sales hit a record $400B YTD (BBG)

  • Politics drive investment divide in Southeast Asia's top markets (BBG)

  • India tweaks IPO rules to allow easier listing for big firms (BBG)

  • China bond flow data suspended after market selloff deepens (BBG)

  • UBS is weighing moving to US to avoid new regulations (RT)

  • BofA shakes up exec ranks with eye on CEO succession race (BBG)

  • US will again extend deadline on TikTok sale or divestment (RT)

  • UnitedHealth is seeking a meeting with Trump (WSJ)

  • OpenAI will share just 8% of revenue with Microsoft by 2030 (TI)

  • Musk's xAI laid off 500 data annotators (RT)

  • Tencent poached a prominent OpenAI researcher (BBG)

  • Apple senior AI exec Robby Walker departed (BBG)

  • Nestlé investors call for chairman to step down over CEO turmoil (FT)

  • US charged two with pumping Chinese firms' US shares (BBG)

  • Apollo CEO Rowan urged leniency for Javice in JPMorgan fraud case (BBG)

  • US firms slam brakes on hiring amid tariffs (FT)

  • US under-employment and job seeking timelines are increasing (WSJ)

  • Albania appointed an AI bot as minister to tackle corruption (RT)

  • Nepal youth overthrows government and elects new PM on Discord (RT)

A Message from Mercor

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Italian lender UniCredit could sell its 26% stake in Germany's $43B-listed Commerzbank to a non-EU bank if a merger fails

  • Spanish bank Sabadell unanimously recommended shareholders to reject peer BBVA's $18B hostile takeover bid but requested a higher offer in support of a merger

  • Brookfield is in talks to acquire US landlord Yes! Communities from Singapore SWF GIC for over $10B

  • Shareholders of $3B-listed Danish vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic are pushing back against a PE bid by Nordic Capital and Permira

  • European PE firm CVC agreed to acquire domain registrar Namecheap for $1.5B, including debt

  • Blackstone is weighing a sale of a Spanish rental portfolio managed by Fidere Patrimonio Socimi at a potential $1.4B valuation

  • PE firm Apax Partners is seeking to sell European life insurer Gamalife at a potential $700M valuation

  • UK second-largest grocer Sainsbury's terminated talks with Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com to sell its general merchandise unit Argos

  • Chinese state-backed Shenyang Shengjing Financial sweetened its privatization offer for regional lender Shengjing Bank 

VC

  • Spacecraft manufacturer Apex raised a $200M Series D at a $1B+ valuation led by Interlagos

  • Brazilian cloud management software company Omie raised $160M in funding led by Partners Group

  • Aven, a machine banking platform, raised a $110M Series E at a $2.2B valuation led by Khosla Ventures

  • Micro1, a startup helping AI firms find and manage human contractors for data labeling and training, raised a $35M Series A at a $500M valuation led by O1 Advisors

  • Althea Limited, a purpose-built blockchain transforming payments for broadband, utilities, and critical infrastructure, raised $25M from GEM Digital

  • Energy optimization startup TrueMeter raised a $4M seed round led by Ulu Ventures

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Blackstone, H&F, and Carlyle-backed medical supply group Medline Industries is planning to raise $4B-$5B at an over $50B valuation in an IPO

  • $50B-listed agri-chemicals company Corteva is mulling a breakup that would separate its seed and pesticide businesses into two separate companies

  • Chinese gold miner Zijin Gold is gauging interest for a Hong Kong IPO which could fetch an over $3B valuation

  • Auto fintech Lendbuzz filed for a US IPO; the company was last valued at $2B in 2023

  • Ticket reseller StubHub's $850M IPO is over 20x oversubscribed 

  • Billionbrains Garage Ventures, the parent of India's largest investment platform Groww, is planning to raise $650M-$800M at an $8B valuation in an India IPO

  • Public transportation software maker Via Transportation raised $493M at a $3.7B valuation in a US IPO priced above a marketed range

  • Indian tech startup Urban Company raised $216M in an India IPO that was over 100x oversubscribed

  • BDT & MSD Partners-backed laundry equipment company Alliance Laundry Holdings filed for an IPO

  • Dubai property developer Binghatti began preparations for a UAE IPO

Debt

  • Saudi fintech Tamara is set to raise $1.4B in an ABF deal from lenders including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Apollo

  • Leonard Green and TSG-backed residential services company Wrench Group raised $1.3B in private credit from Blue Owl and Oak Hill to replace bank debt

  • H.I.G. Capital-backed Vantage Specialty Chemicals raised $900M in private credit from Apollo and Silver Point to replace bank debt

  • Indian renewable energy giant ReNew Energy is seeking to raise an $815M loan

  • Chinese developers Logan Group and KWC Group are seeking an $800M credit facility secured by a luxury residential project in Hong Kong

  • Pakistan will raise $250M in a yuan bond sale

  • Majority of chemicals giant DuPont's bondholders agreed to block part of a proposed debt exchange

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • UAE-based agri-commodities giant IFFCO is exploring a $1.5B debt restructuring

  • Bankrupt rooftop solar firm Sunnova won court permission to send its payout plan to creditors for a vote, under which creditors will collect only 2% of the $2.3B owed

  • Apollo took an OTC short position on debt of automotive parts supplier First Brands Group, who is under scrutiny for accounting and financing techniques

Fundraising / Secondaries

  • Ares is planning a credit secondaries transaction of LP stakes worth $1.8B

  • Hedge fund Taconic Capital Advisors will shut its $1.8B flagship multi-strat fund, spinning out its European credit strategy and reworking its C-suite

  • VCUK Financial Services is launching a $60M structured PE and VC arm to invest in European deeptech

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Coinbase dominance at risk as Trump crypto embrace entices new entrants

  • Investment firm WisdomTree launched its first tokenized fund

Read our dedicated Crypto Sum newsletter for the most important stories on crypto.

Upcoming Events 🥂

My events company Palm & Park is hosting some exciting community-building events this fall for the NYC finance community. From happy hours to indoor golf, we're planning a good time for everyone around and we'd love for you folks to join!

  • ​Litquidity × NEXUS Indoor Golf Classic – November-December

    Compete against some of NYC's top finance, tech, and investing pros for bragging rights, prizes, and the title of the first-ever Litquidity & NEXUS Indoor Golf Classic Champion. Expect an afternoon of competitive play, networking, drinks, and big wins. Bring your team of four or simply show up for the vibes!

    Team registration here. General admission tickets here.

  • Farsight × Litquidity Happy Hour – Tuesday, September 30

    Join Litquidity, Farsight, and our community of investment bankers in Midtown Manhattan for after work drinks and charcuterie. RSVP here.

  • Blueflame × Litquidity Play & Pour #2 – Wednesday, October 15

    Lit, Blueflame, and our network of PE professionals are getting together at T Squared Social to test their skills on the multi-sport golf simulator. Lots of golf this fall! RSVP here.

  • Olivia & Vijay's Sip & Socialize #5 – Sunday, October 12

    ​Join us for an intimate evening of music, drinks, art, and great conversation alongside a curated crowd for a relaxed, art-centric vibe. Perfect for reconnecting with friends and meeting new ones. RSVP here.

Finance & Startup Recruiting 💼

Litney Partners

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting venture between Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm), Litney Partners places talent at leading firms in PE, hedge funds, VC, growth, credit, IB, and fintech and is currently recruiting for some incredible roles. Head over to our website to drop your resume and we'd love to get in touch!

Next Play

If you're down bad, realizing finance isn't for you, and want to explore the world of startups (BizOps, chief of staff, strategic finance, etc.), fill out this form. Next Play will reach out to schedule a 1:1 video call if they think they can help as your own, personal startup matchmaker. They've grown their community to over 50k talented professionals and have deep relationships across the tech ecosystem.

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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.

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