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Good Morning,
BlackRock wants to conquer LBO financing, Oaktree raised the largest-ever distressed debt fund, SoftBank posted a surprise Q3 loss, Elliott is on an activism spree, emerging markets are getting cooked on tariff and economic woes, and Goldman ended a DEI policy of refusing work for all-White male boardrooms.
Invest in institutional-caliber private markets with 10 East, a membership-based investment platform offering targeted exposure to PE, VC, and more.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell

As of 2/11/2025 market close.
US stocks closed relatively flat yesterday as investors digested hawkish commentary from J Pow
UK's FTSE 100 hit a new ATH
Europe's STOXX 600 hit a new ATH
China-focused Hang Seng Tech index gained 25% from its mid-January low to enter a bull market following DeepSeek's AI breakthrough
India's NIFTY 50 hit an eight-month low as global investors flee
Rupee gained 1% in its best day since November 2022 amid a central bank FX intervention
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index hit a three-year low after losing over 17% from its September-peak
Rupiah is Asia's worst-performing currency YTD
Europe gas prices are at a record high price spread from US, with EU now weighing a temporary gas price cap
Coffee futures fell 5% after hitting an ATH
Vietnam dong fell to a record low on US tariff concerns
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Earnings
Carlyle missed Q4 distributable earnings estimates due to slow PE exits (RT)
SoftBank missed Q3 revenue estimates and posted a surprise Q3 loss on lower valuations (CNBC)
Supermicro missed Q2 earnings and cut its FY revenue guidance as 'continues to work diligently toward the filing' of its delayed FY and quarterly reports (YH)
Shopify beat Q4 revenue estimates but missed on earnings and provided mixed guidance for Q1 as its expect strong merchant momentum to carry into Q1, while recognizing seasonality (CNBC)
Coca-Cola beat Q4 estimates on rising global demand (CNBC)
DoorDash beat Q4 revenue and total orders estimates thanks to a holiday boost (RT)
Marriott International beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but forecast poor FY profits amid a China slowdown (RT)
What we're watching this week:
Today: Reddit, Cisco, CVS, Robinhood
Thursday: Coinbase, Airbnb, DraftKings
Friday: Moderna
Full calendar here
Headline Roundup
BlackRock wants to become key financier for PE LBOs (BBG)
US is eying a consolidation of bank regulators (WSJ)
J Pow sees no rush for more Fed rate cuts (CNBC)
'Trump trades' start to misfire as dollar weakens (FT)
China is at top of hedge funds' shopping lists YTD (RT)
Global money pivots from India to China as small caps rise (BBG)
China saw record M&A in $8T rural banking sector last year (RT)
Goldman is open to M&A in asset and wealth management (RT)
JPMorgan sees 15% rise in IB fees in Q1 (RT)
Bank of America expects record net interest income in 2025 (RT)
Active ETF inflows beat passive peers 3-to-1 in January (FT)
Annuity sales soared to a 10-year high (FT)
Global investors turn to Pakistan as 84% stock rally is set to extend (BBG)
MSCI ousts more Chinese stocks from indexes despite rebound (BBG)
Turkey may slow down IPOs after mixed demand for deals (BBG)
Big Tech lined up over $300B in AI spending for 2025 (FT)
Nissan-Honda merger failed due to 'pride and denial' (RT)
Goldman ended DEI policy of refusing work for White male boards (BBG)
Institutional Shareholder Services ended DEI criteria for US boardrooms (RT)
Disney tweaked DEI to focus on profit (RT)
Deloitte US government consultants will remove pronouns from emails (FT)
European defense tech VC funding surged to a record $5.2B last year (FT)
A Message from 10 East
Where Sophisticated Investors Access Private Markets
10 East is a co-investment platform where sophisticated investors access private market investments alongside a veteran team with a 12+ year track record of strong performance across over 350 transactions. The firm is led by Michael Leffell, former Deputy Executive Managing Member of Davidson Kempner.
Members have the flexibility to participate on a deal-by-deal basis across private equity, credit, real estate, and venture capital.
Benefits of 10 East membership include:
Flexibility – members have full discretion over whether to invest on an offering-by-offering basis.
Alignment – principal commits material personal capital to every offering.
Institutional resources – a dedicated investment team that sources and diligences each offering.
There are no upfront costs or commitments associated with joining 10 East.
Exec Sum readers can join 10 East with complimentary access here.
Deal Flow
M&A / Investments
OpenAI will reject an Elon Musk-led $97.4B takeover offer
PE firms Advent, Apollo, and Lone Star Funds are bidding for package of home-care assets being sold by UK consumer goods giant Reckitt for $6.2B
Italian lender Banca Popolare di Sondrio rejected a $4.6B all-share takeover offer from rival BPER
Novartis agreed to acquire blood clot treatment developer Anthos Therapeutics from Blackstone in an up to $3.1B deal
French grocer Carrefour is exploring a take-private of its $2.6B-listed Brazilian subsidiary Atacadao
Italian lender Banco BPM raised its takeover offer for asset manager Anima to a $2.3B valuation as it seeks to fend off a takeover attempt by peer UniCredit
Temasek-backed Cuscaden Peak offered to take retail-focused Paragon REIT private for $2.1B
Novonesis agreed to buy the stake of its partner, chemical manufacturer DSM-Firmenich, in its enzymes JV for $1.6B
Johnson & Johnson is seeking to sell stroke care business Cerenovus for $1B-$1.5B
Indian conglomerate Bajaj Group earmarked $1.1B in an initial investment to establish a hospital chain in India
Italian insurance group Unipol is considering a $1B sale of its hotels chain Una Hotels
Dave's Hot Chicken is exploring a sale at a $1B valuation, including debt
$673M-listed Anterix, a broadband solutions provider to utilities, is exploring options after receiving takeover interest
iPhone assembler Foxconn is interested in Renault's Nissan stake
VC
EV aircraft startup Archer Aviation raised a $300M round from BlackRock, Wellington, and others
Quantum computing startup QuEra raised a $230M round led by Google
AI automation startup Tines raised a $125M Series C at a $1.1B valuation led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives
Australian health tech startup Harrison.ai raised a $112M Series C led by Aware Super, ECP Asset Management, and Horizons Ventures
3D spatial biology company Stellaromics raised an $80M Series B led by Catalyst4
Sardine, an AI risk platform for fraud, compliance, and credit underwriting, raised a $70M Series C led by Activant Capital
Eclairion, a startup building modular HPC infrastructure, received a $55M investment from Tikehau Capital
Indian banking software provider Zeta raised a $50M round at a $2B valuation from Optum
Ana, a mobile power and air solutions company, received a $50M investment from S2G Investments
Voyantis, a startup helping companies calculate the value of their customers, raised a $41M round led by Intel Capital
EV bus startup Endera raised a $36M equity round led by Magnetar
Moderne, a startup helping companies solve technical debt across complex codebases, raised a $30M Series B led by Acrew Capital
Proxymity, a digital proxy voting platform, raised $26M from BNP Paribas, Citi, Computershare, JPMorgan, State Street, and others
Mast Reforestation, a startup helping restore wildfire-ravaged forests, raised a $25M round led by Pulse Fund and Social Capital
AI chip startup Positron raised a $23.5M round from Flume Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and others
Andesite AI, a startup enhancing cybersecurity operations through human-AI collaboration, raised a $23M round led by General Catalyst and Red Cell Partners
Insurance tech startup Comulate raised a $20M Series B led by Bond and Workday
ConverzAI, an AI-driven recruitment solutions company, raised a $16M Series A led by Menlo Ventures
ScorePlay, an AI-powered platform for sports media management, raised a $12.5M Series A led by 20VC
Nigerian fintech Raenest raised an $11M Series A led by QED Investors
Phynd, a subscription-free cloud gaming platform, raised a $10M seed round led by Wellington Management
Italian AI-powered cloud company Akamas raised a $10M round led by United Ventures
Cloud-native security and policy automation startup Nirmata raised a $9.6M round led by Peak XV Surge
Ghanaian fintech Affinity raised an $8M seed round led by Grazia Equity and Backed VC
Pinkfish, an AI agent startup, raised a $7.6M pre-seed round led by Norwest Venture Partners
Taager, a social e-commerce platform for the MENA region, raised a $6.75M pre-Series B led by Norrsken22
Kodiak Hub, an AI-powered supplier relationship management platform, raised a $6M round from Oxx
Datalign, a UK AI platform matching consumers with leading financial advisors, raised a $5M seed round led by Link Ventures
ETFbook, a Swiss data and analytics platform specializing in the ETF market, raised a $4.4M Series A led by BlackFin Capital Partners
Web3 development studio Mirai Labs raised a $4M seed round led by Mechanism Capital
IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Chinese battery giant CATL is expected to raise over $5B in its Hong Kong listing
Activist Farallon took a 3%, ~$500M stake in Japanese pharma giant Astellas
Japan's largest oil refiner Eneos plans to raise over $2.6B in a 50% IPO of its JXAM metals unit in potentially Japan's biggest IPO in seven years
Activist Elliott built a $2.5B stake in refiner Phillips 66 and is pushing for a spinoff of its pipeline business
Consumer intelligence firm NielsenIQ, which is backed by Advent and KKR, is considering a $1.25B US IPO
Thoma Bravo-backed cybersecurity firm SailPoint is seeking to raise up to $1.15B at a $12.6B in an upsized US IPO
China's largest bubble tea firm Mixue is seeking to raise $500M in a Hong Kong IPO
PE firms Rhone and Chatterjee Group are preparing a US IPO of O&G technology company Lummus Technology at an over $5B valuation
Apollo-backed German lender Oldenburgische Landesbank is preparing an IPO at a $1.6B-$2.1B valuation
Crypto custody firm BitGo, last valued at $1.75B in 2023, is weighing an IPO
Deutsche Boerse is preparing an IPO of its governance data and analytics unit ISS STOXX
Debt
Bread maker Flowers Foods is launching an $800M bond sale to finance its acquisition of natural foods brand Simple Mills
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
China is weighing a $6.8B funding package to help distressed developer Vanke repay debt
Bankrupt budget airlines Spirit rejected another takeover offer from rival Frontier
Fundraising
Oaktree raised $16B for its twelfth distressed debt fund, the largest ever
KKR raised $14B for its fourteenth $20B-targeted North American buyout fund
Tech-focused investment firm Coatue raised $249M for its second climate fund
EQT is seeking to raise a new infrastructure fund from wealthy individuals
Crypto Sum Snapshot
J Pow is worried about debanking that strained US crypto
Binance and SEC are seeking to pause lawsuits amid new administration
Wall Street banks plot crypto future in bet on IPO boom
Central African Republic launched a memecoin
Trump's World Liberty Financial launched a strategic 'token reserve'
Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!
Exec’s Picks
Joachim Klement shared some insights on why political stability matters for investors.
CFA Institute published an interesting blog piece on whether real assets actually hedged post-Covid inflation shocks.
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