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Marc Rowan emerged as a top contender for Treasury Secretary, Citadel Securities set its sights on Europe bond markets, Bill Hwang was sentenced to 18 years, DOJ proposed a forced sale of Google Chrome, and Nvidia's profit doubled in another strong earnings report.

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

Markets

• US stocks closed mixed as investors digested earnings and geo-political developments

Earnings

• Nvidia beat Q3 estimates and Q4 sales forecasts on strong demand for AI chips; revenue growth has slowed from 265%, 262% and 122% YoY in previous quarters to 94% in Q3 and a projected 70% in Q4 (CNBC) 

• Target plunged 22% after posting its largest earnings miss in two years and cutting FY guidance due to minimal increase in customer traffic despite price cuts and discounts (CNBC) 

• Palo Alto Networks beat Q1 EPS and revenue estimates on healthy demand for cybersecurity service but failed to impress with Q2 and FY guidance (RT) 

• Snowflake jumped 20% after beating Q3 estimates and Q1 sales forecast thanks to strong reception for new products (BBG)

• TJX issued a Q3 beat-and-raise but their Q4 guidance failed to match expectations for a strong holiday quarter (CNBC) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: John Deere, Baidu, Gap

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Apollo's Marc Rowan emerged as top candidate for Treasury Secretary (FT)

• Goldman expects credit valuations to hold strong in 2025 (BBG)

• Eurozone risks another debt crisis if unable to boost growth (FT)

• Citadel Securities is targeting European sovereign bond markets (FT)

• AIMCo named ex-Canadian PM Stephen Harper as chair two weeks after firing entire board (BBG)

• ECB warned of a 'bubble' in AI stocks (RT)

• Speculative fever in Chinese stocks is running red hot (RT)

• China funds slash ETF fees amid intense price competition (RT)

• DOJ asked a judge to force Google to divest Chrome and Android (BBG)

• Apple urged a judge to end DOJ smartphone monopoly case (RT)

• Bill Hwang was sentenced to 18 years in prison (WSJ)

• US charged Gautam Adani in a massive bribery and fraud scheme (CNBC)

• News Corp defeated activist Starboard to cement Murdoch control (BBG)

• Activist Effissimo stirs speculation with stake in struggling Nissan (BBG)

• Nvidia is helping Google design quantum computing processors (BBG)

• Ford will cut 4k Europe jobs as EV sales slow (NYT)

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 – principals commit 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

• Blackstone emerged as the frontrunner to buy a mixed-use office complex in Tokyo from Seibu Holdings in a potential $2.6B deal

• A consortium including PSG Equity and Golub Capital agreed to acquire a minority stake in data center monitoring firm LogicMonitor from Vista Equity Partners at a $2.4B valuation, including debt

• PE firm Cinven acquired a stake in accounting firm Grant Thornton UK at a reported $1.9B valuation, beating out rivals including New Mountain Capital-owned Grant Thornton US who hoped for a three-way merger with the UK and Ireland affiliates

• Canada's OTPP agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Swedish financial adviser Max Matthiessen from PE firm Nordic Capital at a $1.1B valuation, including debt

• Thompson Street Capital Partners is exploring a sale of Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers chain for over $1B, including debt

• Starbucks is considering selling a stake in its Chinese business

VC

• Musk's OpenAI-rival xAI raised a $5B round at a $50B valuation from Qatar's QIA, Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia and a16z 

• Open-source ERP startup Odoo raised $527M in a secondary share sale at a $5.26B valuation led by CapitalG and Sequoia 

• Data security startup Cyera raised a $300M Series D at a $3B valuation led by Accel and Sapphire Ventures 

• Fusion energy company Tokamak Energy raised $125M led by East X Ventures and Lingotto

• Aquaria, a startup building communities and cities supplied with rain water, raised $112M from Mistletoe, Ciri Ventures, Soma Capital, and more

• Portuguese drone startup Tekever raised $74M led by Baillie Gifford and NATO Innovation Fund 

• Inversion, a startup delivering goods from space, raised a $44M Series A co-led by Spark Capital and Adjacent 

• Magma Math, a K-12 instructional math platform, raised a $40M Series A led by Five Elms Capital 

• Zarminali Health, an outpatient pediatric destination, raised a $40M seed round led by General Catalyst 

• European snacking brand KoRo raised a $38.8M Series C led by Coefficient Capital 

• Online gaming platform Monkey Tilt raised a $30M Series A led by Pantera Capital 

• AI-powered logistics startup Class8 raised a $22M Series A led by Xplorer Capital 

• AI radiology startup New Lantern raised a $19M Series A led by Benchmark 

• Prompt Security, a startup specializing in GenAI security, raised an $18M Series A led by Jump Capital 

• Cardo AI, a next-gen ABF and private credit tech platform, raised a $15M Series A led by Blackstone, FINTOP Capital, and JAM FINTOP 

• Twine, a cybersecurity startup building digital employees, raised a $12M seed round led by Ten Eleven Ventures and Dell

• Cloud-native identity infrastructure startup Zitadel raised a $9M Series A led by Nexus Venture Partners 

• Four Growers, a startup building robots to serve as greenhouse labor, raised a $9M Series A led by Basset Capital 

• API software provider Apideck raised a $7.5M Series A led by Airbridge Equity Partners 

• Distru, a cannabis supply chain platform, raised a $6M Series A led by Global Founders Capital 

• Shinami, a developer platform for Move-based blockchains, raised a $5.6M seed round led by Race Capital 

• Converge Bio, a startup building an 'everything store' for biotech LLMs, raised a $5.5M seed round led by TLV Partners 

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• EQT, ADIA, and Auba Investment are offering to sell a 6.7% stake in Swiss skincare group Galderma to raise ~$1.5B

• SoftBank-backed Indian B2B e-commerce firm OfBusiness is preparing a $1B India IPO

• Chinese autonomous driving startup Pony AI is seeking to raise $260M at a $4.6B valuation in an upsized US IPO  

• Chinese solar-energy materials supplier Qinghai Lihao is preparing a $138M Hong Kong IPO for H2 2025

Debt 

• EU raised $7.4B via a syndicated sale of conventional and green bonds

• AppLovin, a marketing platform for app developers, is planning a debut $3.5B high-grade bond sale

• MicroStrategy upsized its 0% convertible note offering by 50% to raise $2.6B as part of plans to buy Bitcoin

• Taiwan’s Nvidia partner Foxconn raised a $1.1B syndicated bank loan

• India's Adani Green Energy raised $600M in a dollar bond offering

• Canadian budget airline Flair is seeking to raise $150M in senior debt

• Clearlake-backed healthcare software firm FinThrive raised $155M in a refinancing 

Fundraising

• Frazier Healthcare Partners raised $2.3B for its eleventh growth-buyout fund

• Real estate investment firm Belveron Partners raised $354M for its seventh flagship fund

• Seed VC Bling Capital raised $270M for its fourth flagship fund

• German VC Extantia Capital raised $215M to invest in early-stage climate startups

Crypto Corner

• FTX co-founder Gary Wang will avoid jail time for cooperating (BBG)

• Trump is weighing creating a White House crypto role (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

Greg Obenshain wrote a great piece explaining why shorting junk debt isn't the same as shorting equity.

Mark Rzepczynski briefly summarized new research on what the VIX tells us about corporate bond spreads.

In another piece on debt, Larry Swedroe explained why publicly traded vehicles for private credit don't work as well.

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