Jensanity in Taiwan

An SEC rule targeting PE and hedge funds was struck down, A&M is raiding Big Four in an expansion push, Walmart will pay bonuses to wage workers, Rishi Sunak put forward Jamie Dimon for knighthood, and Jensen Huang is making waves in Taiwan.

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Litquidity Capital
June 06, 2024

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Good Morning,

An SEC rule targeting PE and hedge funds was struck down, A&M is raiding Big Four in an expansion push, Walmart will pay bonuses to wage workers, Rishi Sunak put forward Jamie Dimon for knighthood, and Jensen Huang is making waves in Taiwan.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 06/05/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks rallied yesterday on growing hopes for a Fed rate cut 

    •  The S&P and Nasdaq closed at ATHs

  • Traders priced in a 69% chance of a September rate cut, up from 50% last week

  • MSCI Asia-Pacific index rose 1.1% and is on course to snap a two-week losing streak

  • US 10Y yields fell to the lowest since April 1

  • Yen dropped 1% to its lowest in a month versus the dollar

  • Bitcoin posted its longest win streak since March

Earnings

  • lululemon rose ~13% after beating Q1 earnings and revenue estimates but posted weak Q2 guidance as it revealed more work to do in America (CNBC) 

  • Dollar Tree fell ~5% despite beating Q1 earnings estimates after announcing a potential sale of its grocery-focused Family Dollar brand (CNBC) 

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: DocuSign, Nio

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US appeals court strikes down SEC PE, hedge fund oversight rule (RT)

  • Alvarez & Marsal raids Big Four in push to expand deal advisory (FT)

  • Nvidia overtakes Apple after crossing $3T market cap (RT)

  • Nvidia CEO Huang sparks 'Jensanity' in Taiwan (RT)

  • China exchanges weigh withholding 'certain' data from quant funds (RT)

  • Rishi Sunak put forward Jamie Dimon for UK honors (FT)

  • TD money-laundering fines may reach $4B (BBG)

  • KKR, GIP and Indo-Pacific group form $25B regional infrastructure tie-up (RT)

  • Investors pull cash from ESG funds as performance lags (FT)

  • Traders desperate for copper deals as miners cash in (BBG)

  • Fund managers give cool reception to prospect of Shein London IPO (FT)

  • US bond buyback program expected to improve liquidity (RT)

  • SEC chair welcomes competition on multiple clearing houses for Treasuries (RT)

  • Alphabet named Lilly exec Anat Ashkenazi as CFO (RT)

  • Chemours hired a new CFO after accounting scandal (WSJ)

  • Walmart offers bonus program to ~700k US wage workers (RT)

  • Elliott rebuilt a stake in SoftBank (FT)

  • US private payroll growth slowed to a four-month low (RT)

  • Australia GDP grew 0.1% QoQ (RT)

  • Eurozone business activity grew at fastest rate in a year (RT)

  • Musk’s xAI plans to build supercomputer in Memphis (WSJ)

  • Americans have more investment income than ever before (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • PE firm Clearlake Capital is exploring a sale of  financial SaaS and data management firm Confluence Technologies at an over $3B valuation, including debt (RT) 

  • Glencore is considering selling its ~70% stake in Kazakh mining company Kazzinc that could be valued at several billion dollars (BBG) 

  • UK's John Wood Group began talks with Dubai-based engineering firm Sidara after Sidara's $2.03B final takeover offer (RT) 

  • SAP will acquire Israeli SaaS firm WalkMe in a $1.5B cash transaction (BBG) 

  • Private capital database provider Preqin is exploring a sale and could fetch at least $1.3B (BBG) 

  • Authentic Brands will acquire the HanesBrands' sportswear business Champion in a $1.2B deal (BBG) 

  • FTC lost a bid to block Novant Health’s $320M acquisition of two hospitals in North Carolina from Community Health Systems (RT) 

  • Discount retailer Dollar Tree is weighing a potential sale or spinoff for its troubled Family Dollar business (BBG) 

VC

  • Sword Health, an AI-powered virtual PT startup, raised $130M at a $3B valuation from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, and more (TC)

  • Nium, a real-time cross-border payments provider, raised a $50M Series E at a $1.4B valuation led by an unnamed SWF (PRN)

  • M^0, a decentralized infrastructure layer for crypto dollar issuances, raised a $35M Series A led by Bain Capital Crypto (FN)

  • LiveKit, a platform for building and scaling voice applications, raised a $22M Series A led by Altimeter Capital (FN)

  • Kanastra, a Brazilian tech-driven back office for private credit funds and securitizations, raised a $21M Series A led by Kaszek (FN)

  • Spiideo, a Swedish startup building AI automated sports video solutions, raised a $20M growth round led by Cipio Partners (FN)

  • XREX, a Taiwanese blockchain-enabled financial services provider, received an $18.8M investment from Tether (FN)

  • AI-powered search and content discovery platform Vantage Discovery raised a $16M Series A led by Lobby Capital (FN)

  • Climate risk-solver insurance provider Understory raised a $15M Series A led by True Ventures and Prelude Ventures (PRN)

  • Materials recovery startup SiTration raised an $11.8M seed round led by 2150 (FN)

  • AI-powered, low-code test automation platform Testsigma raised an $8.2M round led by MassMutual Ventures (PRN)

  • Inventive, an embedded AI for SaaS products, raised a $6.5M seed round led by Wing VC (FN)

  • Botsync, a Singaporian integrated automation solutions, raised a $5.2M Series A led by Capital 2B and Betatron Venture Group (FN)

  • Liminal, a startup securely deploying GenAI across use cases, raised a $5M seed round led by Fin Capital (PRN)

  • Hoop, a to-do list that updates itself, raised a $5M seed round led by Index Ventures (BW)

  • Alinia, an alignment platform for companies, raised a $2.4M pre-seed round led by Speedinvest and Precursor (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Softbank-backed genetics-testing firm Tempus AI is targeting a $6.1B valuation in a US IPO (RT) 

  • Indian aluminum producer Novelis postponed plans for a $945M US IPO (BBG) 

  • Saudi health-care group Dr. Soliman Abdel Kader Fakeeh Hospital’s shares rose 9.9% in its trading debut after its $763M IPO, Riyadh’s biggest YTD (BBG) 

  • Perfume retailer Arabian Oud hired Emirates NBD Capital and SNB Capital for a Saudi Arabia IPO (BBG) 

Debt

  • Chinese travel agency giant Trip.com is seeking to raise $1.3B through a convertible bond issuance (BBG) 

  • Struggling Singapore developer Oxley is seeking an up to $120M private loan (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

  • Rubio’s Restaurants filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in four years with plans to sell to its current lender (WSJ) 

  • Opportunistic credit firm Strategic Value Partners is proposing a deal to fix OQ Chemicals balance sheet and take control of the company (BBG)

Fundraising

  • US private markets firm StepStone  raised $3.3B to buy stakes in existing VC funds (FT) 

Crypto Corner

  • Crypto miner Riot targeted by short seller on ‘flawed’ business model (BBG)

  • Trump's crypto portfolio surpassed $20M after $8.5M memecoin gift (YH)

  • US crypto advocacy group tops 1M members after Biden veto (YH)

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