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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

• 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.

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

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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.