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Lyft’s CEO took the L for their earnings typo, mortgage rates are surging again, Berkshire is trimming its Apple stake, Japan’s economy shrank in Q1 2023, Morgan Stanley is laying off hundreds in their wealth management division, and Burry bought Amazon and Alphabet.
Litquidity Capital
February 15, 2024
Together with
Good Morning,
Lyft’s CEO took the L for their earnings typo, mortgage rates are surging again, Berkshire is trimming its Apple stake, Japan’s economy shrank in Q1 2023, Morgan Stanley is laying off hundreds in their wealth management division, and Burry bought Amazon and Alphabet stock.
Looking to diversify your portfolio outside of just stocks and bonds? Today’s sponsor, Percent, helps accredited investors access exclusive private credit deals.
Let’s dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 2/14/2024 market close.
Markets
US stocks rose, recouping some losses after higher-than-expected January inflation drove a sell-off
The Nasdaq led indices with a 1.3% gain
European stocks rose after UK’s January inflation remained unchanged at 4%, defying expectations
Bitcoin prices rose 4% past $52,000, pushing its market cap above $1T for the first time since December 2021
Earnings
Cisco shares fell ~5% despite beating Q2 earnings and revenue forecasts due to a light forecast; Cisco will also let go 5% of its employees (CNBC)
Sony shares fell ~4%, despite reporting strong quarterly earnings, after cutting its PS5 sales forecast (CNBC)
What we're watching this week:
Today: Coinbase, DraftKings, John Deere, Applied Materials
Friday: Cinemark
Full calendar here
Headline Roundup
Lyft’s CEO says ‘my bad’ on margin error, ‘it was one zero’ (BBG)
Mortgage rates surge higher again, causing homebuyers to pull back (CNBC)
Warren Buffett’’s Berkshire Hathaway trims its massive stake in Apple (CNBC)
UK economy fell into recession in second half of 2023 (RT)
Japan’s economy shrinks unexpectedly in final quarter of 2023 (WSJ)
Morgan Stanley is laying off several hundred in wealth-management division (WSJ)
Yen bets climb to near six-year high amid intervention chatter (BBG)
TSMC shares hit record high after Morgan Stanley lifts client Nvidia’s price target on AI chip demand (CNBC)
SpaceX rocket lifts off with US craft bound for moon landing (BBG)
Michael Burry buys Amazon, Alphabet and a dozen other new stocks (CNBC)
Putin claims he prefers Biden over Trump (AX)
A Message From Percent
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Attractive yields.The weighted average APY for deals on Percent was 18.83% in 2023
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Liquidity. Deals can mature in less than a year, with some offering liquidity after a few months.
Join the investing platform that’s funded over $1B in private credit deals.
Deal Flow
M&A / Investments
Colorado filed a lawsuit seeking to block Kroger's $24.6B acquisition of of rival supermarket chain Albertsons, citing consumer harm (BBG)
KKR agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Cotiviti from PE manager Veritas Capital in a deal valuing the healthcare-technology business at ~$11B; the two firms will own equal ownership stakes in Cotiviti (WSJ)
Japanese semiconductor maker Renesas Electronics will acquire Australia-listed software firm Altium for $5.9B (BBG)
CVC Capital Partners is the last remaining candidate in German football's planned media rights partnership after Blackstone dropped out; CVC and Blackstone recently offered ~$1.1B for the rights stake (RT)
Healthcare REIT Welltower will acquire a portfolio of 25 properties from Affinity Living Communities, a housing developer for older adults, for $969M (RT)
UK fiber-optic network Hyperoptic, which is backed by KKR, is seeking to raise $502M in fresh funding, to fund expansion (BBG)
Asset manager CC&L Infrastructure will acquire an 80% stake in a Canadian wind farm from Portugal's EDP Renováveis for $443M (RT)
VC
Latigo Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company developing non-opioid pain medicines, raised a $135M Series A led by Westlake Village BioPartners (PRN)
cPacket Networks, an intelligent observability platform, raised a $67M round led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Trinity Capital (BW)
Colombian fintech startup Bold raised a $50M Series C led by General Atlantic (TC)
Automated testing platform Antithesis raised a $47M seed round at a $215M valuation from Amplify Partners, Tamarack Global, and more (TC)
NextPoint Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on oncology, raised a $42.5M Series B extension led by Catalio Capital Management (BW)
Vast Renewables, a renewable energy company, raised $40M in funding for its solar methanol plant SM1 from Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Projektträger Jülich (PtJ) (BW)
Rasa, a startup developing a dev platform for conversational GenAI, raised a $30M Series C led by StepStone Group and PayPal Ventures (TC)
Kenyan EV startup Roam raised a $24M Series A led by Equator (TC)
Lettuce grower and robotic indoor farming startup Hippo Harvest raised a $21M Series B led by Standard Investments (TC)
Diraq, a startup building quantum processors, raised a $15M Series A-2 led by Quantonation (FN)
Derivatives brokerage services and trading technology startup Architect Financial Technologies raised a $12M round led by BlockTower Capital and Tioga Capital (PRN)
Overworld, a startup building multiplayer RPGs, raised a $10M seed round led by Hashed (BW)
KTrust, a startup building an automated red team for Kubernetes security, raised a $5.4M seed round led by Awz Ventures (TC)
Civic Roundtable, a collaboration platform for government workers, raised a $5M seed round led by General Catalyst (FN)
Ultiverse, an ‘AI-powered’ platform for crypto game production and publishing, raised $4M in funding at a $150M valuation led by IDG Capital (TC)
Artie, a startup helping companies sync data in real time, raised a $3.3M seed round led by Exponent Founders Capital (TC)
Aplantex, a startup using photosynthetic plant replicators to produce molecules for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and agri-food industries, raised a $2.6M seed round (BW)
Spacegoods, a functional beverage startup, raised a $3.1M seed round led by Five Seasons Ventures (TC)
Newcells Biotech, a startup building 3D models of the body, raised a $2.9M round from North East Venture Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Mercia Ventures, and Northstar Ventures (FN)
Parlay, a small business loan readiness platform, raised a $1.3M pre-seed round led by Fenway Summer (PRN)
IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Intel is seeking to raise at least $2B in equity to help fund a semiconductor fabrication facility in Ireland (BBG)
Vedanta Resources, the parent of Indian miner Vedanta, may sell ~$1B worth of shares to investment firm GQG Partners (RT)
PE firm Roark Capital is in the early stages of weighing an IPO of Inspire Brands, the owner of fast-food chains Dunkin’, Arby’s and Jimmy John’s (BBG)
Sony Group plans to list its financial business next year to focus on entertainment and sensors (RT)
Indian electric scooter company Ather Energy is seeking to hire investment banks for a potential IPO as early as this year at a ~$2B valuation (BBG)
Turkish energy firm Palmet Enerji is preparing for an IPO next year (BBG)
Debt
Bankruptcy / Restructuring
Developer China South City Holdings defaulted on a dollar bond for the first time, as the builder only has enough cash for daily operations (BBG)
Fabric and crafts retailer Joann is in confidential discussions with lenders for fresh capital to bolster its cash reserves, which could circumvent a potential Chapter 11 filing (BBG)
WeWork is seeking fresh financing to finish negotiating rent cuts with landlords and exit bankruptcy (BBG)
Fundraising
PE firm General Atlantic closed its Atlantic Park Strategic Capital Fund II at $2.7B (BBG)
Fund of funds investor Accolade Partners raised over $1B across three funds that will invest in venture capital and growth equity funds (WSJ)
PE firm CORE Industrial Partners raised $887M for two new industrial-focused funds (WSJ)
Crypto Corner
Exec’s Picks
Derek Thompson published an interesting piece on the relationship between the decline in time spent “hanging out” and increased depression in the US.
The New York Times explored whether the US’s recent productivity boom can continue.
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