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SoftBank joined OpenAI's fundraise, Nvidia-rival Cerebras filed to go public, California banned legacy admissions, debt markets saw some serious activity last month, and Chinese stocks caught fire in one of the wildest market rallies since the GFC.

We recently dove deep into Frec's unique market opportunity that incorporates tax-loss harvesting and lower fees in traditional index investments. Check 'em out.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed higher yesterday as investors digested J Pow's commentary

  • S&P and Dow notched record highs

  • Markets reduced odds of a second 50 bps rate cut to 35%

• Chinese stocks entered a bull market

  • SZI surged 11% in its best day since 1996 to cap its best month since 2007

  • CSI 300 rallied 8.5% in its best day since 2008 to hit a one-year high

  • China 10Y bonds extended their biggest weekly drop in a decade as investors shifted to riskier assets

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Nike 

  • Wednesday: Levi's 

  • Thursday: Constellation Brands

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• J Pow hinted at smaller rate cuts going forward (CNBC)

• Week of shock and awe ignites China's stock market (WSJ)

• China pledged to boost their ETF industry (FT)

• Asia cross-border M&A recovery boosted by Japan boom (RT)

• Borrowers smash global records to sell $600B in debt last month (BBG)

• Investors sold US equity funds for fifth-consecutive week (RT)

• Money funds saw their biggest weekly inflows in six months (RT)

• US oil giants paid $42B to foreign governments last year (RT)

• SoftBank is joining OpenAI's $6.5B fundraise (TI)

• EY named Anna Anthony as UK managing partner (FT)

• CVS is exploring a potential break-up amid activist pressure (RT)

• Epic Games sued Google and Samsung over antitrust violations (WSJ)

• Americans are more reliant than ever on Government aid (WSJ)

• California bans legacy and donor admissions, 30 years after banning AA (AX)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• FTC cleared Chevron's $53B merger with Hess and banned John Hess from the board (CNBC)

• ADNOC is nearing a deal to acquire German polymer producer Covestro for $13.1B (WSJ) 

• PE firm TPG will acquire AT&T's remaining 70% in pay-TV firm DirecTV for $7.6B cash and merge it rival Dish from EchoStar in a $9.8B debt deal (WSJ) 

• Australian property listings firm REA abandoned its $8.3B pursuit of UK rival Rightmove (FT) 

• Insurance giant Marsh McLennan agreed to acquire McGriff Insurance Services for $7.8B (RT)  

• TPG is nearing a $7.8B deal to acquire German metering company Techem from Partners Group (FT) 

• Kimberly-Clark is exploring a sale of its international tissue arm at a ~$4B valuation (BBG) 

• Tower firm Vertical Bridge will acquire leasing rights for thousands of Verizon's towers for $3.3B (WSJ) 

• PepsiCo is in advanced talks to acquire Siete Foods for over $1B (WSJ)

• UK retail group Frasers Group made a conditional $111M offer for luxury brand Mulberry (FT) 

• Qatar Airways agreed to buy a 25% stake in airline Virgin Australia from Bain Capital (FT) 

• PE firm Ridgeview Partners will buy a majority stake in payments software firm PayRange (BBG) 

• Brand manager Bluestar Alliance acquired designer brand Off-White from LVMH (FT)

• Canada’s Fairfax Financial will acquire control of hockey equipment maker Peak Achievement Athletics from Canadian investment firm Sagard (BBG) 

VC

• The Celestia Foundation, a project aiming to scale blockspace, raised a $100M round led by Bain Capital Crypto (PU)

• HungryPanda, a delivery app for Asian food/products, raised a $55M round at a $500M valuation led by Mars Growth Capital (TC)

• HPC-AI Tech, a startup specializing in AI software infrastructure, raised a $50M Series A from Singtel Innov8, Sinovation Ventures, and more (BW)

• Qodo, a startup helping developers build code logic tests, raised a $40M Series A led by Susa Ventures and Square Peg (TC)

• GenAI video game studio Series Entertainment raised a $28M Series A from a16z, Netflix, Dell, and others (TC)

• Apono, a cloud-based privileged access platform, raised a $15.5M Series A led by New Era Capital Partners (PRN)

• EV charging platform AmpUp raised a $15M Series A led by Touchdown Ventures (PU)

• ESG platform Atlas Metrics raised a $13.6M Series A led by MMC Ventures (EU)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Pfizer will raise $3.6B in a share sale of UK consumer health giant Haleon (BBG)

• Platinum Equity-backed IT firm Ingram Micro plans to raise ~$1B at a $10B valuation in a US IPO (BBG)

• Partners Group-backed childhood learning company KinderCare Learning filed for a $648M IPO that could fetch a $3.1B valuation (BBG) 

• Greece is selling a 10% stake in National Bank of Greece for up to $810M (BBG) 

• Republican-favorite Chain Bridge Bank is targeting a $167M valuation in its IPO (RT)

• Abu Dhabi National Hotels is planning a local IPO of a 40% stake in its catering unit (RT) 

• AI chipmaker and Nvidia-rival Cerebras filed for an IPO (CNBC)

• Sports supplement maker Applied Nutrition is weighing a London IPO (BBG)

SPAC

• Investments fintech Linqto terminated its $700M merger with Blockchain Coinvestors Acquisition Corp. (RT)  

Debt

• Darden Restaurants sold $750M in high-grade debt to fund its planned acquisition of Tex-Mex chain Chuy's (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Thai Airways plans to issue over $1.3B in new shares to stakeholders as part of a restructuring (BBG) 

• German commodities giant BayWa is set to receive a short-term $558M bank loan while it seeks to restructure (BBG)  

• Cinema operator Cineworld's restructuring plan was approved despite opposition from landlords (RT) 

• BlackRock is set to become the largest shareholder in SellerX as part of a restructuring (BBG)

• Thai conglomerate Central Group will take control Swiss luxury department store chain Globus from insolvent real estate firm Signa (BBG)

Fundraising

• GIP plans to raise $3B for a third infrastructure debt fund (BBG) 

• Morgan Stanley raised $750M for its 1GT climate-focused PE fund (WSJ)  

Crypto Corner

• Binance founder CZ pledged to keep investing in blockchain (BBG) 

• FTX creditors will receive only 10-25% of their crypto back (CT)

Exec’s Picks

• Litquidity is helping bring Tech Week to California this October 7-20. To kick things off, we're giving away limited-release merch and reserving a few guest spots for exclusive events! To enter, simply 1) like this post, 2) tag a friend in comments and 3) follow @litquidity and @techweeka16z on Instagram.

• Check out this mind-blowing breakdown of China's historic market rally.

• FT did a deep dive exploring how trading firms stole a march on big banks.

Investment Banking Opportunity

Cascadia Capital - Investment Banking Analysts & Associates

• Cascadia Capital is hiring experienced IB associates and analysts in Austin, Minneapolis and Seattle

• The firm is expanding after a significant investment from ex-Barclays CEO Bob Diamond and several senior banker hires.

• Seeking associates and analysts across technology, industrials, consumer, and business services coverage, and analysts in capital markets and generalist roles

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