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Good Morning,

US stock markets rounded off a positive Q2, Robinhood is going all in on crypto, TikTok's sale will have a PE component, big hedge funds are pushing into private credit, and Trump sent a hand-written note to J Pow demanding "the rate" be lowered to 1%.

Alexandr Wang, the new Chief AI Officer at Meta, also made Zuckerberg's "List" public, revealing the absurdity of the AI talent war and naturally stirring some hilarious reactions on Twitter.

Looking for the most comprehensive source of proprietary-scale historical markets data? Check out BMLL's free guide for to learn what truly matters when evaluating historical market data providers.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks rose yesterday as Canada folded on US trade talks and EU accepted key US tariff terms

  • S&P and Nasdaq hit new ATHs

  • S&P and Nasdaq had their best quarter in over a year

  • All three major indexes gained in Q2

• Europe stocks outperformed US by the most ever in dollar terms in H1

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 is up 6% YTD

• Dollar is on track for its worst H1 in fifty years after falling 18% YTD and hitting a four-year low vs euro

• Euro hit a decade high versus yuan

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Constellation Brands

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Musk called for a whole new political party amid disagreement with Trump's fiscal agenda. How the tables have turned lol.

• 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

• Trump sent a personal note to J Pow demanding rates at 1% (RT)

• EU accepted universal US tariffs but seeks key exemptions (BBG)

• Hedge funds sold energy stocks at the fastest pace in 10 years (RT)

• Dealmakers hit $1.8T as they get used to chaos (BBG)

• Larger deals powered global M&A in H1 (RT)

• Hedge funds seek to expand into private credit (FT)

• European markets are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore (BBG)

• US stock market comeback tests investor faith in rotation to Europe (FT)

• BlackRock says unpredictable US policy a boon for Europe credit (BBG)

• BlackRock's fixed income CIO prefers stocks over long-term debt (BBG)

• Circle's 500% IPO rally drew sell rating from bank that led its IPO (BBG)

• Foreign fund sold Korean bonds ending a record six-week buy streak (BBG) 

• PIF's AUM hit $1T last year, but profits fell 60% (RT) 

• ING plans to cut 230 jobs as it has 'too many' MDs (BBG)

• US public schools issued $45B of munis YTD, a 35% YoY increase (BBG)

• SCOTUS will hear case on whether activist investors can challenge corporate moves benefiting controlling shareholders (BBG)

• Apollo launched Olympus Housing Capital to finance home-builders (BBG)

• PwC named 20 new China and Hong Kong partners to revive firm (BBG)

• Europe pushes for more clarity on bank lending to SRT buyers (BBG)

• Meta debuted a new 'Superintelligence' group (BBG)

• Apple weighs using OpenAI or Anthropic to power Siri (BBG)

• Oracle signed the biggest cloud contract ever worth $30B annually (CNBC) 

• Starbucks beefed up interview process for baristas (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• TikTok's potential US buyer is a consortium of Oracle, Blackstone, and a16z

• Spanish lender BBVA is proceeding with its $16B takeover offer for Banco Sabadell despite Spain’s move to delay the merger for several years

• Home Depot, through its SRS Distribution unit, won a bidding war to acquire building products distributor GMS for $4.3B at a 13% premium

• Spanish lender Santander submitted a binding offer for Spanish peer Sabadell's British UK TSB, which could fetch a $3.15B valuation

• Pharma giant AbbVie agreed to acquire cell therapy developer Capstan Therapeutics in a $2.1B deal

• Tortuga Resorts, a JV of KSL Capital Partners and Rodin, agreed to acquire 15 Playa properties from Hyatt for $2B

• China's Zijin Mining Group agreed to acquire Kazakhstan's Raygorodok Gold Mine for $1.2B

• Canadian legal software firm Clio agreed to acquire legal research platform vLex in a $1B cash and stock deal

• Aerospace supplier TransDigm Group agreed to acquire proximity sensor maker Simmonds Precision Products from defense contractor RTX for $765M in cash

• US financial services firm StoneX offered to acquire US units of Intercam Banco, a Mexican bank previously accused of aiding drug-related money laundering

• French cosmetics giant L'Oreal will acquire haircare brand Color Wow

• Infrastructure investor I Squared Capital withdrew plans to make a takeover offer for Hong Kong broadband operator HKBN 

VC

• AI-driven enterprise security and networking startup Cato Networks raised a $359M Series G at a $4.8B+ valuation led by Vitruvian Partners and ION Crossover Partners

• American Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency venture associated with Trump raised $220M to fund Bitcoin mining

• Procurement software startup Levelpath raised a $55M Series B led by Battery Ventures

• Saudi Arabian fuel management platform PetroApp raised a $50M round led by Jadwa Investment

• AI healthcare startup Tandem Health raised a $50M Series A led by Kinnevik

• AI-powered accounting startup Campfire raised a $35M Series A led by Accel

• Portal Biotech, a UK AI-powered diagnostic device capable of detecting pathogens at the molecule level, raised a $35M Series A co-led by NATO Innovation Fund 

• Natech Banking Solutions, a Greek banking tech platform, raised a $33M Series B

• Tailor, a 'headless' ERP startup, raised a $22M Series A led by ANRI, JIC VGI, NEA, YC, and more

• Gallant, a startup creating stem cell therapies for pets, raised an $18M Series B led by Digitalis Ventures

• Skynopy, a startup providing ground station services for low Earth orbit satellites, raised a $17.5M round led by Alven

• CRED, a startup bringing predictive intelligence to the enterprise, raised a $15M seed round led by defy.vc

• Bonx, a startup building operational software for European industry, raised an $8.6M seed round led by 9900 Capital

• Build Concierge, an AI-driven customer engagement platform, raised a $5.1M seed round from a consortium of private investors

• North.Cloud, an AI-powered cloud optimization platform, raised a $5M Series A led by Companyon Ventures

• Airial, a startup building an AI tool to plan travel, raised a $3M seed round led by Montage Ventures

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• UBS began its planned $2B share buyback program amid Swiss capital requirements uncertainty

• Japanese telecom NTT is aiming to raise up to $812M in a Singapore IPO of its data center REIT NTT DC REIT in what could Singapore's largest listing in eight years

• Blackstone-backed Spanish casino operator Cirsa Enterprises aims to raise ~$534M at a $3B valuation in a set-price IPO in Spain’s second-largest listing this year

• Thai coconut-water maker IFBH rose 42% in its Hong Kong trading debut after raising a $148M in its IPO

• Italian bank Banca Mediolanum is selling its 3.5% stake in Mediobanca amid a takeover bid by rival BMPS

• Specialty insurance marketplace Accelerant filed for an IPO

Debt

• Indonesian SWF Danantara is seeking a $10B multicurrency loan in potentially Southeast Asia's largest financing deal

• UK telecoms giant Vodafone launched a $2.35B debt tender alongside new multi-currency bond sales to fund a buyback

• India's Torrent Pharmaceuticals secured a $2.3B credit line from Barclays, HSBC, and Standard Chartered to support its $3B acquisition of JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals from KKR

• Poland raised $1.4B in its first green bond sale in six years

• Founders of Indian clean energy producer Greenko signed a $650M private credit deal to help fund their $1.3B buyback of Japanese investment firm Orix's 20% stake in the company

• Barbados raised $500M in bonds that allow for suspending payments if the country is hit by a natural disaster 

• KKR-backed Dutch food maker Flora Food launched a $470M bond sale in Europe's junkiest debt sale in over a year

• Real estate investor Starwood Capital and Blackstone are lending $389M to finance a new residential tower in NYC

• India's Adani Ports unit is weighing a $351M local bond issuance to raise long-term funding

• Fintech DailyPay sold $200M in bonds backed by fees from its instant wage access app

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Struggling Hong Kong developer New World Development closed a record $11.2B loan refinancing deal, marking Hong Kong’s largest-ever such transaction

• Hong Kong developer Emperor International reported over $2.1B in overdue bank loans

• Private lenders including Antares, KKR, and BlackRock proposed a debt restructuring for pallet management company 48Forty Solutions, which carries ~$1.8B in private credit less than a year after Summit Partners acquired the firm

• Semiconductor maker Wolfspeed filed for files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, causing shares to rally 70% 

• Argentina was ordered to give up its controlling stake in energy company YPF within two weeks to help satisfy a $16B US court judgment

Fundraising / Secondaries

• 26North Partners, the investment platform led by Apollo co-founder Josh Harris, raised over $3B for a targeted $4B debut PE fund 

• Recognize, a PE firm focused on next-gen digital services, raised $1.7B for its second fund

• Menlo Ventures plans to raise $1.4B for a new set of funds to invest in AI 

• Credit investor King Street Capital Management raised ~$1B to target distressed European real estate

• European PE firm Seven2 raised $470.8M for an oversubscribed continuation fund targeting minority stakes in its PortCos Marlink and Crystal

• Motion Equity Partners raised $253M for a continuation fund for natural health and nutrition firm Olyos led by Coller Capital

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Robinhood tokenized US company shares for European traders as it goes all in on crypto

• Circle is seeking to create a national trust bank in US

• Circle's 500% IPO rally drew sell rating from bank that led its IPO

• Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

• Bitcoin Depot: Strong Q1 Results Fuel Infrastructure Growth

  Bitcoin Depot (Nasdaq: BTM), the world's largest Bitcoin ATM operator, soared in Q1 2025: Revenue up 19% and Net Income hit $12.2M. The best part? Their growth hasn't historically been tied to Bitcoin's price.

  Get investor information today.

• Alexandr Wang, the founder of Scale AI, will be the next Chief AI Officer at Meta. Alex also made public The List of AI talent that Zuckerberg poached with supposed nine-figure pay packages for Meta's AI efforts.

The above is for general informational purposes only and is not investment advice nor does it constitute an offer, recommendation, or solicitation to buy or sell a particular financial instrument. Bitcoin Depot is not a registered investment adviser under the U.S. Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Nothing contained herein constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Bitcoin Depot to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments

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.