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LinkedIn Stays Entertaining

A fired SocGen trader is beefing on LinkedIn, hedge fund Segantii was criminally charged, high yield spreads are still tight, Goldman UK scrapped bonus caps, Tesla rescinded summer intern offers, and blacklisted Huawei is secretly funding US research.

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Good Morning,

A fired SocGen trader is beefing on LinkedIn, hedge fund Segantii was criminally charged, high yield spreads are still tight, Goldman UK scrapped bonus caps, Tesla rescinded summer intern offers, and blacklisted Huawei is secretly funding US research.

Having partnered with likes of Airbnb and Expedia, AI-powered hospitality manager Jurny is exclusively inviting Exec Sum readers to invest and expand. Check 'em out!

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 05/02/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks recovered yesterday as investors digested yesterday's Fed rate guidance and further corporate earnings 

    • The S&P broke a three-day losing streak 

  • Gold is headed for its worst week since February

Earnings

  • Apple gained ~6% after reporting slightly better than expected Q2 earnings, though overall revenue fell 4% on a 10% decline in iPhone sales; they also announced the biggest-ever share buyback of $110B (CNBC

  • Coinbase rose 9% on better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue driven by the crypto rally (CNBC)

  • Apollo Global rose ~4% after reporting a 26% YoY increase in Q1 adjusted net income on growth in management fees and its flagship annuities business (RT

  • Block jumped ~8% on a Q1 beat-and-raise driven by strong performance and growth in its Cash App business  (CNBC

  • DraftKings issued a Q1 beat-and-raise on improving customer acquisition and engagement (MW)

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US high yield spreads still tight despite pick-up in distress (RT)

  • SocGen trader fired for 'unauthorized' bets blames risk team and bosses (FT)

  • Hong Kong charged hedge fund Segantii with criminal insider trading (FT)

  • Goldman scraps bonus cap for UK bankers (FT)

  • TD Bank probe is related to laundering of fentanyl profits (WSJ)

  • Tesla is rescinding summer intern offers (BBG)

  • IRS targets higher audit rates on big firms, partnerships and millionaires (RT)

  • Russian court cancels seizure of some JPMorgan funds (RT)

  • Blue Owl targets infrastructure investors in hunt for acquisitions (FT)

  • UK private bank Coutts will shift investments away from UK equities (FT)

  • Macquarie profit slumped by one-third as commodity windfall fades (RT)

  • Eurozone manufacturing activity slump deepened in April (RT)

  • Canada reported a surprise nine-month high trade deficit (WSJ)

  • Huawei is secretly funding US research (BBG)

  • Insurer Chub will pay $350M for Baltimore bridge collapse (WSJ

  • Peloton CEO to step amid fresh layoffs (WSJ)

  • FTC accused Pioneer's ex-CEO of colluding with OPEC (WSJ)

  • Gazprom sees worst loss in 25 years as sales to Europe collapse (FT)

  • The job market is tougher than it looks (WSJ)

  • NCAA is facing fresh legal challenges (RT

A Message From Jurny

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Jurny’s property management system uses specialized AI agents to handle everything from concierge services and guest communications to quality assurance and upselling. These agents work together seamlessly, mimicking a real-world team, to provide guests with an exceptional experience and property managers with unmatched efficiency.

By building the infrastructure to harness this level of next-gen AI, companies like Jurny are poised become the titans of tomorrow who change entire industries.

Check out Jurny’s stats: 5x growth last year, $35M in bookings processed, and over $12M raised from top VCs and 1,100 individual investors. 

And since they’re only growing, this is your chance to invest in a disruptive AI company alongside top VCs.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • FTC approved ExxonMobil’s $60B acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources contingent on excluding Pioneer’s CEO from its board (NYT

  • Commodities giant Glencore is studying a bid for miner Anglo American, which recently rejected BHP Group’s $39B takeover proposal (RT) 

  • Japan’s Sony and PE firm Apollo intend to make a $26B cash offer for Paramount Global (FT)  

  • Global Infrastructure Partners and Canada's CPP are nearing a deal to buy utility Allete for ~$5B (FT)

  • Energy Capital Partners is in advanced talks to acquire Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure, currently listed at $2.5B (BBG

  • A PE consortium led by Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners is in advanced talks to acquire the software integrity unit of chip designer Synopsys for over $2B (RT

  • UK tech group Epos Now is exploring options including a minority stake sale that could value the company at ~$1.5B (RT

  • Swiss pharma giant Novartis agreed to acquire US radiopharmaceutical company Mariana Oncology for $1B upfront and up to an additional $750M (RT

  • Hyundai acquired a $1B majority stake in self-driving startup Motional (TC)

  • PE firm Permira acquired a majority stake in Israeli fraud-protection company BioCatch at a $1.3B EV (BBG

  • French PE firm PAI Partners will acquire a 67% stake in Fresenius' rehabilitation business of its Vamed unit in a $914M deal (BBG

  • Active ETF giant Janus Henderson acquired London-based Tabula Investment Management (FT)

  • PE firm Sycamore Partners expressed interest in taking Nordstrom private (RT)

  • Bain Capital is looking to buy some key assets of French tech company Atos (RT

VC

  • Financial management platform Altruist raised a $169M Series E at a $1.5B valuation led by ICONIQ Growth (BW)

  • Transcarent, a health and care platform, raised a $126M Series D led by General Catalyst and 7wireVentures (BW)

  • Genomic diagnostics startup Karius raised a $100M Series C led by Khosla Ventures and 5AM Ventures (BW)

  • Stargate Hydrogen, a startup providing green hydrogen solutions, raised a ~$47M seed round led by UG Investments and IPCEI (FN)

  • Data and AI consultancy Indicium raised $40M from Columbia Capital (FN)

  • Zero trust privileged access management startup StrongDM raised a $34M Series C led by Anchor Capital (PRN)

  • Ransomware defense company Mimic raised a $27M seed round led by Ballistic Ventures (PRN)

  • LayerX, a browser security platform, raised a $26M Series A led by Glilot Capital Partners (BW)

  • Lamini, a platform helping enterprises deploy GenAI, raised a $25M round from Stanford’s Andrew Ng, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, and more (TC)

  • World View, a global leader in stratospheric exploration and flight, raised $25M in funding from Breakthrough Victoria (BW)

  • Monocle, an AI-powered promotion platform for consumer brands, raised a $7.5M seed round led by F2 Venture Capital (BW)

  • AI security startup Apex raised a $7M seed round led by Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures (FN)

  • Ikerian, am AI-powered software solution for medical image and data management in healthcare, raised a $6.2M Series A extension led by Topcon Healthcare (FN)

  • Danti, a natural language search engine for Earth data, raised a $5M round led by Shield Capital (TC)

  • Tuza, a comparison site for business card payments, raised a $5.2M seed round led by Connect Ventures (FN)

  • Bricklayer AI, an autonomous security platform, raised a $2.5M pre-seed round from Sovereign’s Capital, Dreamit Ventures, and more (PRN)

  • Automotive tech startup Potential Motors raised a $2M round from Brightspark Ventures, Build Ventures, and more (FN)

  • Renda, a Nigerian startup facilitating order fulfillment for businesses, raised a $1.9M pre-seed round led by Ingressive Capital (TC)

  • Symbe, an AI-powered automation platform for sales teams, raised a $1.4M pre-seed round led by Concept Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Saudi hospital group Dr. Soliman Abdul Kader Fakeeh Hospital's $763M IPO sold out within an hour (BBG

  • French night-vision technology company Exosens is planning a Paris IPO potentially this month that could raise $322M-$429M (BBG

  • Games Global, a UK-based maker of online casino-styled games, is seeking to raise up to $276M at a $2.1B valuation in its US IPO (RT

Debt

  • Indian telecom Vodafone Idea is seeking to raise $1.8B in loans in the next two years (BBG

  • Materials company Kymera International is in talks with lenders including private credit firms to refinance debt and pay for a potential acquisition; Goldman Sachs and Piper Sandler were hired to prepare a ~$790M debt package (BBG

  • PE firm Cinven is seeking to refinance business services firm JLA after shelving a $1.3B sale of the company (BBG)

Fundraising

  • KKR raised $1.8B for its KKR Infrastructure Conglomerate from over 12k wealth individuals (BBG

  • Diameter Capital Partners raised $1.6B for its debut private credit fund (BBG

Crypto Corner

  • Crypto market sell-off was driven by retail investors (CD)

Exec’s Picks

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