Together with
Good Morning,
Fortress' co-founder was sextorted by a Chinese situationship, Greenlight's founder wanted ladies in 'sexy party clothes' for his hedge fund's 30-year anniversary party, Broadcom is in talks for the biggest private credit deal ever, and US rejected Iran's latest peace offer.
On a totally unrelated note, here's a thoughtful quote to begin your week: "Smart men go broke three ways: liquor, ladies, and leverage" -Charlie Munger
Greenland Energy Company is preparing to drill in the biggest unexplored oil basin in the world – discovered in Greenland. Check em out.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 5/8/2026 market close.
Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks rallied on Friday on the back of a solid jobs report, Big Tech optimism, and progress in US-Iran talks
S&P and Nasdaq hit ATHs
S&P and Nasdaq gained for a sixth-straight week in their best win streaks since 2024
Intel is up over 400% since the US government took a stake in August
Earnings
What we're watching this week:
Today: Circle
Tuesday: JD.com
Wednesday: Cisco, Alibaba
Thursday: Brookfield, Klarna, Figma
Full calendar here
Prediction Markets
AOC says her 'ambition is way bigger' than the presidency and wants to 'change this country.' The presidency buzz is different in the White House however
Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market
Headline Roundup
Fortress co-founder in $1B sextortion scheme after giving STDs to Chinese woman who slid into LinkedIn DMs (WSJ)
David Einhorn wanted ladies in 'sexy party clothes' for hedge fund anniversary party (FT)
Trump rejected Iran's peace offer as 'totally unacceptable' (CNBC)
Putin says Russia-Ukraine war is coming to an end (RT)
US unemployment held steady at 4.3% but labor force shrunk (CNBC)
PE firms turn to dividend recaps in Europe as exits stall (BBG)
Banks win more business as private credit shrinks (BBG)
Fed sees private credit redemptions as 'manageable' risks (BBG)
Retail investors cool on PE as jitters spread (FT)
DoubleLine Capital is hedging for a US debt restructuring (BBG)
Jane Street raked a record-high $16B in Q1 (BBG)
Alphabet is set to overtake Nvidia as world's biggest company (BBG)
Apple and Intel signed a chips deal (WSJ)
Commerzbank will cut 3k jobs as it seeks to fend off a hostile takeover (BBG)
Dubai bankers and traders return to city contending with war (BBG)
'Super prime' credit score club is growing rapidly (WSJ)
A Message from Greenland Energy Company
Wall Street has a short memory. The Arctic doesn't.
Decades of seismic data. Two million acres. Fifty-eight prospects mapped on a basin most analysts couldn't find on a map.
Welcome to Greenland's Jameson Land Basin — and to the company that just made it investable from your brokerage account.
Greenland Energy Company (NASDAQ: GLND) is pairing decades of legacy seismic data with modern reprocessing to chase what independent engineers (Sproule ERCE) say could be up to ~13 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The first two wells are scheduled to spud in H2 2026. Halliburton is on logistics. Stampede Drilling is on the rig.
Frontier exploration carries risk. It also carries the kind of asymmetric upside that disappears the moment a basin is proven.
*This is a paid advertisement by Greenland Energy Company.
Deal Flow
M&A / Strategic
UK product testing firm Intertek rejected a third improved $12.1B takeover offer from Swedish PE firm EQT and will pursue a spinoff of unit Intertek Energy & Infrastructure
Architect Capital acquired a 16% stake in OnlyFans at a $3.15B valuation
Apollo is in talks to sell its MidCap private credit BDC for $3B
Jardine Cycle & Carriage, the Singapore-listed unit of Asian conglomerate Jardine Matheson Group, is considering selling its car dealership unit in Malaysia and Singapore for $250M-$350M
Fortress Investment Group acquired a $125M stake in Arizona personal injury law firm Rafi Law Services
Fashion house Armani may split the 15% stake that is up for sale equally among preferred buyers L'Oreal, EssilorLuxottica, and LVMH
Asian PE firm Hillhouse Investment agreed to acquire Mercer's Private Client Services, an Asia-led business offering wealth protection and life insurance
VC
DRW-backed blockchain firm Digital Asset Holdings is raising a $300M round at a $2B valuation led a16z crypto
Isomorphic Labs, an AI drug discovery startup spun out from Google DeepMind, is set to raise over $2B in new funding led by Thrive Capital
German drone and defense tech startup Helsing is set to raise a $1.2B round at an $1B valuation led by Dragoneer
Tessera Labs, an AI-native enterprise ERP modernization startup, raised a $60M Series A led by a16z
ReFiBuy, an agentic commerce optimization (ACO) platform for brands and retailers, raised a $13.6M seed round led by NewRoad Capital Partners
Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable
IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Hedge fund TCI dumped its entire $8B stake in Microsoft
Franco-German tank maker KNDS revised its valuation for its $5.8B Europe IPO downwards to ~$23B
AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems will increase the price of its IPO after receiving over 20x in demand to raise $5B at an over $30B valuation
Baidu's chip unit Kunlunxin is planning a dual IPO in China and Hong Kong at a $15B valuation
Uber-backed electric scooter rental startup Lime filed for an IPO targeting a $2B valuation
Inspire Brands, the PE-backed owner of BWW, Jimmy John's, Arby's, Baskin-Robbins, Dunkin', Sonic, and others filed confidentially for a $2B IPO
Airtel Africa, the African telecoms unit of Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises, delayed plans for a $1.5B-$2B London IPO of its mobile money business Airtel Money to H2 due to the Iran war
Saudi delivery startup Ninja picked banks for a $1B Saudi IPO
Goldman-backed Japanese ride-hailing app Go Inc. is seeking to raise $575M at a $1.3B valuation in a Japan IPO
Hong Kong-based activist investor Oasis Management built a 15% stake in $500M UK-listed outsourcing firm Capita
Immune system-focused biotech Odyssey Therapeutics raised $280M in an upsized IPO
Space and defense engineering firm Applied Aerospace & Defense filed for an IPO
Florida insurance specialist Safepoint Holdings filed for an IPO
Telecoms giant Vodafone is working on a proposal to shore up capital of its India-listed unit Vodafone Idea
SPAC / SPV
Enhanced Games, a PEDs-permitted alternative to the Olympics, climbed 20% in its trading debut after merging with A Paradise Acquisition Corp. in a $1.2B deal
Oil driller Greenland Energy Company recently merged with Pelican Acquisition Corporation at a $215M valuation
Debt
Broadcom is in talks with Apollo and Blackstone for a $35B financing package to fund AI chip development
SoftBank downsized plans for a margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake from $10B to $6B
Goswami Infratech, a unit of Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji, is seeking to raise $3B, including ~$1B in a dollar bonds, from investors including BlackRock despite ongoing balance sheet struggles
Indian shadow lender Piramal Finance is looking to raise $1B in FX loans
Apollo-backed Yahoo raised $1.6B in a loan and bond sale to refinance debt tied to its $5B acquisition
Pakistan is looking to raise $260M in a debut panda bond sale
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
German lenders Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and Münchener are looking to sell a non-performing loan on The CalEdison building in Los Angeles
Funds / Secondaries
University of Michigan's endowment is up 100x on its $20M OpenAI bet
MM construction lender S3 Capital raised $1.3B for its third fund
Eric Trump and Trump Jr invested in Dominari Holdings unit American Ventures, a $1B vehicle targeting sectors championed by Trump
Hedge fund Corbin Capital raised $342M for a debut commercial litigation finance fund
AI-powered VC Global Millennial Capital raised $100M for a debut mid-cap IPO Opportunities Fund
University of California's $200B endowment UC Investments revealed a 6% stake in Blue Owl's tech private credit BDC and slashed its position in Blue Owl
Crypto Sum Snapshot
Binance founder CZ says Musk is an 'alien who wants to return to his home planet, and Mars is just a stepping stone'
Crypto industry throws lap-dance party in Miami in middle of bear market
BlackRock readies launch of two tokenized money-market funds
Kraken applied to become a federal bank to offer crypto custody services
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Exec’s Picks
ICYMI: F2 just launched their biggest update yet with Institutional Knowledge. F2 is quietly emerging as the go-to platform for private market workflows and their latest update is tackling a decades-old challenge of the PE industry. If you work in private markets, you should try a demo.
WSJ published a profile on the one and only Chirayu Rana.
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.