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Good Morning,
Meme stock traders are rallying around Wendy's, Asian teens are borrowing money to YOLO into AI stocks, Micron overtook Meta and Tesla in market cap, Apple raised prices on Mac and iPads by over 20%, and JPMorgan named two co-presidents in a major step towards CEO Jamie Dimon's succession.
But don't let the succession drama distract you from what's really going on at JPMorgan…
Blueflame has upgraded its specialized AI platform for dealmakers with Amp: an agent that works alongside you throughout deal lifecycles, helping your team move faster, stay organized, and make decisions with greater confidence. You can try a demo here.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 6/25/2026 market close.
Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks closed mostly flat yesterday as the chip selloff continued to weigh
Nasdaq fell for a fourth-straight day
Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a fresh ATH
Bitcoin hits 20-month low
Earnings
Prediction Markets
Genuinely being serious when I say USA is being underpriced here. We're gonna go far.Never mind, we just got Turkey-moggedTrade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market
Headline Roundup
US Q1 GDP growth was revised sharply higher to 2.1% YoY (RT)
Fed-favorite PCE index rose 4.1% YoY (CNBC)
Private credit arbitrage trade gains momentum as redemptions rise (BBG)
Investment grade bond sales broke records again this month (BBG)
Companies are buying more private corporate debt (BBG)
Asian teens are borrowing cash from family to YOLO AI stocks (BBG)
Germany is on track for its best M&A year in decades (BBG)
Chinese banks rein in retail gold trading on volatility (BBG)
Micron overtook Meta and Tesla in market cap (RT)
SpaceX credit derivatives are set to hit markets after debut bond sale (BBG)
JPMorgan named two new co-presidents as succession race heats up (WSJ)
Meme stock traders rally around Wendy's (WSJ)
Apple raised prices on some Mac and iPad models by over 20% (WSJ)
Micron joins rivals seeking long-term deals to end boom-bust cycle (RT)
K&E's top RX lawyer James Sprayregen will join Paul Weiss (RT)
MBA pay is drifting down (WSJ)
Attack in Strait of Hormuz halts evacuation plan for stranded ships (FT)
A Message from Blueflame AI
Amplify your dealmaking with Blueflame AI
There are only so many hours in your day – and your valuable time shouldn't be spent managing multiple tools, engineering prompts, or babysitting rogue agents.
Blueflame AI's dealmaking agent Amp takes the guesswork out of AI. It works alongside you throughout the deal lifecycle, helping you move faster, stay organized, and make decisions with greater confidence. Whether you're evaluating opportunities, preparing for meetings, setting up a data room, conducting diligence, or managing active transactions, Amp helps you get to answers faster and focus on the work that keeps deals moving.
Blueflame is now powered by Amp across all surfaces, including the web and mobile apps, Blueflame Excel Add-In, and Blueflame AI assistant in Datasite data rooms.
Your judgment, relationships, and expertise close deals. Amp helps you apply them more effectively across every opportunity.
See how Amp can help you move faster on every deal. Schedule a demo today.
Deal Flow
M&A / Strategic
French lender Credit Agricole plans to increase its stake in $25B-listed Italian peer Banco BPM to 30%
German pharma giant Merck agreed to buy Bio-Techne Corporation for $11.3B cash at a 24% premium
Bain Capital won a bidding war for a 51% stake in Volkswagen's heavy diesel engine unit Everllence at an over $10.2B valuation
ON Semiconductor will acquire chip firm Synaptics in a $7B all-stock deal at a 20% premium
Investment firms including Blackstone and Bain Capital advanced to the second round of bidding for the real estate unit of Japan's Fuji Media Holdings, which could fetch $6.3B
Blue Owl is in advanced talks to buy a 5%-10% stake in NBA team Cleveland Cavaliers through its Dyal HomeCourt Partners fund at a potential $5B valuation
Sky, the UK pay TV group of Comcast, will acquire ITV's broadcast and streaming unit in a $2.1B deal
PE firm Advent International will acquire elderly care service provider Japan Well-being from Asian PE firm MBK Partners for $1.25B, including debt
$1.2B-listed Canadian vitamins and supplements maker Jamieson Wellness is exploring a sale
Thai family office Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi will acquire $850M worth of hospitality assets from a developer their family controls
Adhesives manufacturing firm H.B. Fuller Co. is close to acquiring UK's Advanced Medical Solutions Group for $830M at a 35% premium
Slovenia lender NLB raised the price it's willing to pay for Austria-based Addiko Bank for a second time to $820M, 40% higher than Austria's Raiffeisen's
Spain's Audax Renovables will launch a voluntary $455M takeover bid for Norway's Elmera Group at a 35% premium
$440M-listed dating app Bumble is exploring a sale
The Lewis family is preparing a $132M cash injection into Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur
DigitalBridge Group is considering options for Malaysia's AIMS Data Centre Holding
Chile's state-owned copper giant Codelco is considering asset sales
VC
Intel-backed AI chip firm SambaNova is in talks to raise an $800M-$1B Series F at a $10B valuation
Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform, raised a $320M Series H at an $11B valuation led by Addition
Trase, a full-stack AI company building an agentic OS for regulated industries, raised $107M seed round led by ARCH Venture Partners
Arca, an AI-native wealth management company, raised $64M across a seed and Series A led by Venrock and General Catalyst respectively
Ornn, an AI compute marketplace, raised a $33M seed round led by a16z
Sazabi, the AI-native observability platform for fast-moving engineering teams, raised an $8M seed round led by J2 Ventures, Village Global, and Y Combinator
Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable
IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
OpenAI may push its IPO to 2027
Mynt, the company behind Philippine fintech GCash, is seeking to raise $1.5B in Philippine's biggest IPO ever
Chinese electronics-components maker Lingyi iTech rose 16% in its Hong Kong debut after raising $1.06B for a $19B market cap
UK aerospace parts supplier Doncasters raised $920M in a US IPO priced above a marketed range
Permira-backed celebrity-favorite retailer Reformation filed for an IPO
$212M UK-listed lithium developer Savannah Resources is pursuing a secondary listing in Portugal or Australia
SPAC
Delivery drone startup Elroy Air is in advanced talks to go merge with Columbus Circle Capital Corp. II at a $1B valuation
Debt
China raised $5.7B in its biggest ever euro-denominated bond sale
Mexican lender Banorte raised $1.35B in international hybrid debt sale
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
Rental car chain Hertz Global announced a concurrent $100M stock issuance and $300M convertible PIK issuance
Stellantis and Nissan are in talks to take over some assets of bankrupt PE-backed auto parts maker Marelli Holdings
Canadian telecoms Quebecor urged Canada regulators to hold a public hearing on the proposed takeover of media company Corus Entertainment by its lenders as it seeks to acquire the firm itself
Crypto Sum Snapshot
Over $1B in crypto longs were liquidated in 24 hours as leverage wiped out 138k traders
Cathie Wood's bet on football group turned crypto hoarder backfired
Pumpfun is hiring a chief legal officer with up to a $5M base salary
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Exec’s Picks
Go from data room to conviction faster with Due Diligence Workspace from AlphaSense. Connect your VDR and run specialized agents across documents and content libraries to surface gaps, risks, and insights, and generate fully-cited, IC-ready memos directly from your Workspace. Evaluate more opportunities, uncover deeper insights, and move confidently from first look to close with our platform purpose-built for M&A due diligence. Get access to Due Diligence Workspace.
Bloomberg published an insightful conversation on three new ETFs to watch (with one closely related to SpaceX's debut). Tune in here.
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.