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Good Morning,
Air Canada's CEO resigned over his failure to speak French, Delaware's top corporate judge reassigned Musk's cases after expressing bias on social media, Blackstone is planning a multi-strat hedge fund for individual investors, and SpaceX is considering blacklisting Robinhood from its historic IPO.
F2's AI platform for private markets is putting the most advanced LLMs to work inside purpose-built deal infrastructure to help Wall Street's leading deal teams automate diligence workflows up to 75% faster. You should try it out.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 3/30/2026 market close.
Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks continued to drag lower as oil prices gained
US bonds rallied from its deepest selloff in 17 months after traders ditched Fed rate hike bets
US oil closed above $100/bbl for the first time since July 2022
Dollar rose 3% in its best month since September 2022
Euro fell 2% in its worst quarter since 2022
Earnings
What we're watching this week:
Today: Nike
Full calendar here
Prediction Markets
Not a good day for the Duke/Cowboys/Yankees/Lakers/Alabama fans. March Madness delivers once again
Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market
Headline Roundup
Pete Hegseth tried insider trading before Iran strikes on an ETF which still lost money (FT)
Trump threatened to obliterate Iran's energy if deal not reached shortly (WSJ)
J Pow says Fed can 'wait and see' how war affects inflation (RT)
US Treasury will consult with insurance regulators on private credit (RT)
US paves way for private assets to be included in 401(k) plans (BBG)
Nasdaq will allow immediate index inclusion of SpaceX post-IPO (BBG)
SEC semi-annual reporting plan advanced to White House for review (BBG)
AI satellite startups gain traction with investors ahead of SpaceX IPO (FT)
Controversial Delaware judge reassigned Musk's cases after expressing bias on social media (RT)
Air Canada CEO will resign over failure to speak French (FT)
A Message from F2
Claude this, Claw that…How 'bout you claw back your weekends?
Virtually everyday there's an LLM development that absolutely nerfs sector stocks. And while Claude and ChatGPT are going at it in innovation, very few are successfully converting that to useful applications.
F2.ai is one of them. F2 is hyper-focused on private markets workflows, turning the latest AI advances into applications that actually meet the demands of deal teams.
Their platform is specifically tailored around the rigor of buy side work and incorporates industry-grade structure, accuracy, and auditability to help automate key DD workflows up to 75% faster.
Some of their best features?
An integrated financial modeling environment
The ability to preview and define assumptions and workflows upfront, so outputs aren't a black box
A dedicated 'Databook' to track structured, Excel-native analyses that are fully source-linked, editable, traceable, and actually defensible in IC
Leading deal teams already use F2 to save hours on diligence workflows. Try it for yourself.
Deal Flow
M&A / Strategic
UK consumer goods giant Unilever is in advanced talks to combine its food business with seasonings giant McCormick in a cash-and-stock deal to create a $60B enterprise, including debt
Food distributor Sysco Corp. will acquire peer Jetro Restaurant Depot in a $29.1B cash-and-stock deal, including debt
Apollo is nearing a deal to acquire private jet fixed-base operator Atlantic Aviation from KKR at a $10B valuation
Industrial plant builder SMS Group and PE firm Altor Equity Partners are exploring a $2.3B sale of German industrial services company Kaefer
Uber agreed to acquire chauffeur booking app Blacklane
Paris plans to complete a sale of the Parc des Princes stadium to soccer club Paris Saint-Germain by this year
VC
Nxtra Data, an Indian data center firm owned by Indian telecom Bharti Airtel, raised $1B at a $3.1B valuation from Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle, Anchorage Capital, and Airtel
Orbital compute infrastructure startup Starcloud raised $170M at a $1.1B valuation led by Benchmark and EQT Ventures
British Space Foundry, a UK startup building AI-powered satellites, raised a $170M Series A led by Seraphim Space
ScaleOps, autonomous cloud and compute management software, raised a $130M Series C at an $800M valuation led by Insight Partners
Qodo, an AI agents startup for code review, testing and governance, raised a $70M Series B led by Qumra Capital
Sycamore, a trusted agent OS for enterprise AI agents, raised a $65M seed round led by Coatue and Lightspeed Venture Partners
IQM Quantum Computers raised $58M in funding from BlackRock ahead of its planned dual listing in US and Finland
Midas, a platform for composable on-chain investment products, raised a $50M Series A led by RRE Ventures and Creandum
Mars Men, a natural men's wellness and testosterone-focused supplement brand, raised a $27.5M Series A led by L Catterton
Valinor, a modern credit institution at the intersection of credit and blockchain, raised a $25M seed round led by Castle Island Ventures
Create Wellness, a creatine brand known for creatine gummies, raised a $20M Series B led by Alliance Consumer Growth
Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable
IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Morgan Stanley's E*Trade retail brokerage unit is in talks to lead the retail portion of SpaceX's record $75B IPO, with peers Robinhood and SoFi expected to be cutoff
Chinese specialized electronics manufacturer Victory Giant Technology is gauging investor interest for a $2B Hong Kong listing
Chinese industrial robot maker Inovance Technology picked banks for a $2B Hong Kong listing
Debt
Banks led by JPMorgan sweetened pricing on a $7.2B debt deal backing CD&R's $10.3B LBO of packaging firm Sealed Air by 50 bps to a 4% premium amid investor pushback
Citigroup is approaching other lenders to join a $4.8B financing to back water treatment firm Ecolab's $4.75B purchase of data center cooling company CoolIT Systems from KKR
Harvard will sell another $675M of tax-exempt bonds in its third major debt sale in one year
Banks led by JPMorgan sold a $500M leveraged loan for specialty materials manufacturer Mativ Holdings at 95¢ in one of the biggest discounts YTD
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
A judge ruled JPMorgan must face Wells Fargo's lawsuit on a defaulted $480M CRE loan to Manhattan developer Chetrit Group, accusing the bank of ignoring inflated financials
Struggling Aussie casino operator Star Entertainment secured a $390M refinancing commitment from WhiteHawk Capital Partners
Blackstone acquired Stanly Ranch, a luxury resort in California's Napa Valley, in a foreclosure sale after the previous owners defaulted on a $220M loan
Brand manager American Exchange Group will acquire all assets and liabilities of footwear maker Allbirds for $39M
Fortress Investment Group plans to restructure struggling UK discount retailer Poundstretcher in a deal that would cut or eliminate rent on numerous stores in exchange for equity upside
UK is close to fully nationalizing loss-making British Steel one year after taking control
Funds / Secondaries
Blackstone raised $6.3B for its sixth life-sciences fund
European PE firm Inflexion raised $4.7B for its seventh buyout fund in just six months
Credit investor Antares Capital raised a $1.7B private credit continuation vehicle led by Ares
Swiss family office Infinitas Capital plans to launch a new investment firm Aureon Capital with $20M to acquire stakes in private tech companies
Blackstone plans to debut a multi-strategy hedge fund targeting HNWIs
Carlyle plans to launch a defense-focused fund
Crypto Sum Snapshot
Strategy paused Bitcoin buying after a thirteen-week buying spree
US rule change may open trillions in 401(k) funds to crypto
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Exec’s Picks
WSJ published an interesting article on 'the Algorithm' that Musk relies on to turn his business visions into reality.
WSJ also published some insightful charts on the state of gas prices.
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.