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Good Morning,

PE funds and LPs are squabbling over ESG fees, Elliott named its first female partner, risk-arbitrage funds are optimistic of a Trump M&A environment, and the crypto rally is once again at the center of markets.

Check out Plaid's free report uncovering the secrets behind the rapid growth of five fintech startups.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks inched upwards yesterday as the election rally pressed ahead

  • All three major indexes rose to new record highs

• Europe's Stoxx 600 rose 1.1% in its best day in six week after logging a third-straight weekly decline

  • Defense sector index hit a record high

• China's chip index hit a near three-year high

• Oil posted its biggest drop in two weeks 

• Gold fell to a one-month low 

• Dollar rose to its highest in one year 

• Global crypto market cap topped $3T for the first time since 2021

  • Bitcoin surged to a new ATH

Earnings

• Live Nation Entertainment beat Q3 earnings estimates on record-high concert profitability boosted by cost controls and high ticket prices despite cautious customer spending (RT)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Home Depot, Shopify, Cava, Spotify, Hertz

  • Wednesday: Cisco

  • Thursday: Walt Disney, Applied Materials

  • Friday: Alibaba

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• PE firms and LPs are fighting over ESG bills (WSJ)

• Merger-arbitrage funds are hoping for smoother ride under Trump (WSJ)

• Hedge funds are piling into banks at the fastest pace in three years (RT)

• Investors see safety in India as Trump win casts shadow on EM (RT)

• Leveraged Treasury ETFs are seeing record inflows (BBG)

• Hong Kong finance jobs rebound to record after talent drain (BBG)

• SoftBank is expected to book a $1.9B Q3 profit on IPOs boost (RT)

• BlackRock targets money-market funds in new ETF push (BBG)

• UN countries agreed to a global carbon trading deal (FT)

• UAE is overtaking China in Africa investments (WSJ)

• Citadel poached Nabeel Bhanji from activist hedge fund Elliott (FT)

• Elliott named its first female partner (RT)

• Chipotle named Scott Boatwright as permanent CEO (RT)

• Southwest is offering to pay employees to leave (BBG)

• Deutsche Bank fired 111 private bankers in cost-cutting drive (FT)

• 23andMe cut 40% of jobs and discontinued all therapy programs (RT)

• Boeing's quality chief will depart (WSJ)

• Japan's PM pledged over $65B to support chip and AI sectors (BBG)

A Message from Plaid

How 5 Top Startups Are Scaling Up

In fintech, standing still is not an option—if you're not growing, you're falling behind.

The path upward is fraught with complexities, confusion, and constant hurdles, but these 5 fintech startups have nailed it – and Plaid breaks down exactly how in their latest ebook:

"The Scale Up with Plaid"

In this free report, you’ll unlock the secrets behind the rapid growth of five up-and-coming companies, including what they’re doing right, what mistakes they avoided, and how Plaid helped them scale successfully. 

It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes insight you rarely get in this industry… especially for free. But hey, what can we say – Plaid loves to help our readers out. 

Download your free copy of their ebook right here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Health insurer Cigna will not pursue a merger with peer Cigna 

• Triton Partners is considering a takeover bid for $1.7B-listed German biotech Evotec

• European asset manager Aermont Capital will acquire Spanish data center operator Nabiax from Spanish infrastructure investor Asterion Industrial Partners and Telefonica for ~$1.1B

• Abu Dhabi's SWF ADIA will acquire a 10% stake in data analytics software firm Qlik from PE firm Thoma Bravo for $1B 

• Singapore's biggest lender DBS is exploring a purchase of Temasek's 29% stake in Alliance Bank Malaysia at a $460M valuation

• Management-led OB Global will acquire Endeavor's OpenBet and IMG Arena businesses for $450M

• Blackstone is in advanced talks to acquire a minority stake in $16B AUM PE firm American Industrial Partners

• Canadian money managers Davis Rea and GlobeInvest agreed to merge

• PE firm Tristan Capital Partners is nearing the sale of three Lisbon office buildings

• Lufthansa is nearing a deal to take over ITA Airways

• Goldman Sachs Alternatives will acquire HVAC business Sila Services from Morgan Stanley's PE arm 

• Herbert Smith Freehills will merge with Kramer Levin to form a T20 global law firm

VC

• Italian mobile payments startup Satispay raised a $60M round from Addition, Greyhound, and Lightrock 

• Kardome, an Israeli voice technology startup, raised a $20M Series A led by Korea Investment Partners 

• Cogna, a UK precision solutions provider, raised a $15M Series A led by Notion Capital

• Brazilian fintech Tako raised a $13.2M seed round led by Ribbit Capital and a16z 

• General Galactic, a system converting CO₂ to green fuel, raised an $8M seed round led by Harpoon Ventures and Refactor Capital

• Talli, a digital payments platform for the legal industry, raised a $4M seed round led by Vestigo Ventures 

• Deckmatch, an Norwegian AI startup streamlining private market workflows, raised a $3.1M seed round led by Alliance VC and Luminar Ventures 

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Australia's HMC Capital will IPO its data centers REIT DigiCo at a $2.6B valuation

• Indian supply chain startup Zetwerk is considering a $1B IPO

• South Africa's Pick n Pay Stores is seeking to raise $449M in an IPO of discount retailer Boxer Retail in what would be Africa's largest listing this year

• Canadian women's clothing retailer Groupe Dynamite is seeking to raise $215M at a $1.7B valuation in a local IPO

• PE firm Partners Group is preparing an IPO of European conveyor belt maker Ammega

• Brand holding company IAC is exploring a spin-off of home services marketplace Angi 

Debt 

• Dutch lender ABN Amro Bank is seeking to sell a $3.2B portfolio of infrastructure loans to private credit funds

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• CD&R-backed tax and immigration services firm Vialto Partners and lenders including HPS agreed to a restructuring to slash $700M of debt and inject $225M of equity

• Australia will lend airline Regional Express $53M to continue operations during administration

• H.I.G. Capital-backed prison healthcare firm Wellpath filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Fundraising

• Canadian PE firm Onex raised $5.6B YTD for structured credit and is nearing a close on two PE funds

• MM PE firm Transom Capital closed its fourth fund at $675M

• VC FOF Cendana Capital is eyeing $350M for its sixth fund

Crypto Corner

• FTX sued Binance and ex-CEO CZ to claw back $1.8B (BBG)

• Trump is eyeing pro-crypto candidates for key federal financial agencies (WP)

• MicroStrategy acquired $2B worth of Bitcoin (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• REX Shares structures a range of leveraged and inverse ETFs across a bunch of assets, and with stocks and cryptos rallying in full force, you might want to check out their funds. Explore T-REX ETFs today.

• Bloomberg Odd Lots sat down with Yale SOM director Steven Kelly to discuss private credit and de-risking the banking system.

• Scott Sumner shared some insightful thoughts on recent politics, including why political success leads to failure.

Hedge Fund Analyst Opportunity

• We are working with Pantera Capital to hire an Investment Analyst for their Liquid Token Fund, an open-ended fund focused primarily on liquid tokens.

• With $5B total firm AUM, Pantera was the first US institutional asset manager focused exclusively on blockchain technology.

• If you are crypto native and have deep fundamental analysis skills with 1-4 years of investment banking, private equity, hedge funds, consulting, or equity research analysis, this is the perfect opportunity for you!

• Bonus points if you manage your own portfolio of digital assets and can discuss your investment strategy.

• Learn more and apply below:

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