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Good Morning,

Apollo will delay associate recruiting after JPMorgan banned analysts from recruiting too early, Moelis' incoming CEO pledged to push hazing out of banking culture, Musk regrets attacking Trump on Twitter, and private market funds underperformed the S&P 500 over all time horizons for the first time in 25 years.

With summer in full effect, we're bringing back the annual Litquidity Classic on June 28th in NYC. It's going to be an epic weekend of padel, music, food, and fun as Wall Street folks compete for a shot at glory. Join us if you're around!

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks closed lower as traders digested fresh inflation data US-China trade talks progress

  • S&P snapped a three-day win streak

• Canada's TSX index hit a new ATH

• US 2Y yield fell below 4%

• Oil climbed to a two-month high

• Egg prices fell to lowest since December 

• Dollar hit its lowest since 2023

Earnings

• Oracle beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates on strong demand in cloud infrastructure and cloud services (CNBC)

• Chewy beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates and reaffirmed FY guidance on rising active customers and net sales per user, and minimal tariff impacts (MW)

• Victoria's Secret beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates despite a 1% comparable sales decline, but issued a weak Q2 profit outlook dealing a setback to its ongoing turnaround under a freshman CEO (BBG)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Adobe

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Inflation came in lower-than-expected despite all the tariff turmoil, causing traders to raise odds of a September Fed rate cut from 57% to 68%.

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Headline Roundup

• Apollo will delay associate recruiting after Jamie Dimon's comments (BBG)

• Moelis' new CEO pledged to push 'hazing' out of banking culture (BBG)

• US inflation rose to 2.4% YoY (CNBC)

• China will temporarily supply rare earths to US as trade talks progress (WSJ)

• EU will likely be at 'very end' of US trade deals (BBG)

• Private market funds lag US stocks over short and long term (FT)

• Gold overtook euro as global reserve asset (FT)

• 'Bond King' Jeff Gundlach says 'reckoning is coming' for US debt (BBG)

• AI and lender battles are seen as the biggest risks in private credit (BBG)

• Investors are moving money from US stocks to EM and Europe assets (RT)

• Hong Kong funds plan to cut Treasuries if US loses AAA rating (BBG)

• Japan bonds are a tactical buy for PIMCO after yields hit record (BBG)

• BofA expects thirteenth-straight quarter of S&T growth but dip in IB (BBG)

• Kirkland & Ellis' top RX lawyer says creditor pacts are 'anticompetitive' (BBG)

• Europe banks have spent over $1B on axing senior staff (FT)

• Fitch sees worsening outlook for North American firms (BBG)

• Warner Bros. Discovery was downgraded to junk on split-up plans (RT)

• Nvidia CEO says quantum computing is reaching an 'inflection point' (CNBC)

• Pop Mart's Labubu doll fetched $150k at China auction (BBG)

• Musk 'regrets' Trump attacks after call with Trump (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Italian lender UniCredit ruled out a bid for $37B-listed German peer Commerzbank at current valuations

• UniCredit will withdraw its takeover bid for $15B-listed smaller peer Banco BPM if Italy doesn’t clarify deal conditions

• Owners of French towers company TDF Infrastructure, including Brookfield, chose are planning a sale at an ~$11B valuation, including debt

• Bain Capital, KKR, and Lone Star Funds advanced to the second bidding round for Japan's Sapporo Holdings' real estate unit, which could fetch a $2.8B valuation

• KKR and Stonepeak raised their bid for UK healthcare landlord Assura to $2.3B, a 39.2% premium, in an ongoing takeover battle

• Apollo and Irth Capital offer to take-private Papa John's for $2B 

• Golf course operator Arcis Golf is now valued at $2B, including debt, after acquiring three Atlanta-area golf clubs from rival Invited to become the second-largest US golf facility operator

• PE owners Durational Capital and TJC are exploring a sale of fried chicken chain Bojangles at an over $1.5B valuation

• Canadian shipbuilder Chantier Davie agreed to acquire assets of Texas-based Gulf Copper & Manufacturing for over $1B

• UK real estate manager Long Harbour proposed an $852M bid for UK's PRS REIT at a 3.3% discount

• Japan's Mizuho Financial is close to acquiring a majority stake in Indian investment bank Avendus Capital at an ~$800M valuation, including debt

• Japan's Mitsubishi Estate will acquire a majority stake in European real estate PE firm Patron Capital and will commit $686M equity to support new strategies

• European PE firm Oakley Capital acquired a majority stake in UK strategic advisory firm G3 at a $340M valuation

• DoorDash agreed to acquire ad tech firm Symbiosys for $175M

• Payments fintech Stripe agreed to acquire crypto wallet provider Privy, following its recent acquisition of stablecoin firm Bridge

• Food processing giant General Mills is considering selling its 250 Häagen-Dazs ice cream stores in China

• French banking group BPCE emerged as the leading bidder to acquire Portuguese lender Novo Banco from Lone Star Funds, pulling ahead of rival CaixaBank

• Starbucks received significant interest in a potential stake sale of its China business, which includes 8k stores 

• NFL team Chicago Bears are exploring a sale of late Andrew McKenna Sr.'s minority stake to PE 

VC

• Data-security startup Cyera raised a $540M Series E at a $6B valuation led by Georgian, Greenoaks and Lightspeed Venture Partners

• Wealthbox, a CRM platform for financial advisors, received a $200M strategic investment from Sixth Street Growth

• AI-powered productivity platform Glean raised a $150M Series F at a $7.2B valuation led by Wellington Management

• German nuclear fusion startup Proxima Fusion raised a $148M Series A led by Balderton Capital and Cherry Ventures

• Protein splicing company SpliceBio raised a $135M Series B led by EQT Life Sciences and Sanofi Ventures

• Project management Enterprise software startup Linear raised an $82M Series C at a $1.25B valuation led by Accel

• Coco Robotics, a robotics startup building last-mile delivery robots, raised an $80M round from Sam Altman, Max Altman, Pelion Venture Partners, and more

• Product analytics platform PostHog raised a $70M Series D at a $920M valuation led by Stripe

• Spanish business fintech Abacum raised a $57M Series B led by Scale Venture Partners

• Fermat, an AI-native commerce platform, raised a $45M Series B led by VMG Partners

• Nuclear fuel startup Standard Nuclear raised a $42M round led by Decisive Point

• Tebi, a startup building an all-in-one financial OS for hospitality businesses, raised a $34M round led by CapitalG

• Farsight, an AI startup automating workflows at financial institutions, raised a $16M Series A led by SignalFire

• Remarcable, a procurement platform for the construction industry, raised a $15M Series A led by Insight Partners

• Space computer and autonomous spacecraft startup Aethero raised an $8.4M seed round led by Kindred Ventures 

• OpenTrade, an institutional-grade infrastructure platform, raised $7M in strategic funding led by Notion Capital and Mercury Fund

• Arlequin AI, a French startup building a sovereign European data operations platform, raised a $5M seed round led by Vsquared Ventures

• AI-powered building permit platform Shovels raised a $5M seed round led by Base10 Partners

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Defense tech firm Voyager Technologies surged 139% in its trading debut after raising $383M in an upsized IPO, giving the firm a $3.9B market cap

• Prudential's Indian asset management JV is nearing an IPO filing that could raise up to $1.2B

• No-fee banking fintech Chime raised $864M at an $11.6B valuation in an IPO priced above a marketed range 

• SoftBank-backed Indian e-commerce platform Meesho plans to confidentially file for an India IPO aiming to raise $700M-$800M

• India's oldest depository National Securities Depository plans to launch a $400M IPO in July

• Biotech MediLink Therapeutics hired CICC, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley for a planned Hong Kong IPO that could raise over $100M

• Insomnia Cookies investors Verlinvest and Mistral Equity Partners acquired Krispy Kreme's remaining 34% stake in the cookie chain for $75M

• Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange Bullish Global filed for a US IPO

• Indian conglomerate Adani Group plans to list its Adani Airport Holdings unit within two years

Debt

• Bitcoin miner IREN will raise $450M in a convertible debt offering

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• KKR-owned Japanese auto parts supplier Marelli has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with lenders, who are set to take over, committing $1.1B in DIP financing 

Fundraising / Secondaries

• Ares plans to raise over $2B for a new Asia special situations fund to boost Asia credit investments

• VC Geodesic Capital launched a $250M fund targeting tech startups that strengthen the US-Japan alliance

• Investment firm Nuveen raised $196M from Canada's CPPIB for its flagship commercial property credit fund in Australia,

• European family office Yaday is launching a $115M fund targeting high-potential tech startups driving transformative change

• High-frequency trading firm Tower Research Capital plans to launch a fund for external investors 

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• New generation of crypto ETFs edge closer to reality after SEC scrutiny

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

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• Joachim Klement shared an insightful piece on how companies react to tariffs.

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.