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Good Morning,

Tesla offered Musk a $1T pay package, Wall Street is warming to music-backed securities, Trump issued a last warning to Hamas, margin buying in China hit a record high, and US unemployment rose to 4.3% amid a struggling jobs market.

Transform your sleep for the better with Eight Sleep, technology trusted by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Lewis Hamilton.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks closed lower on Friday as weak jobs data fueled economic concerns

• China's CSI 300 slid 2.1% in its worst day since April's tariffs as traders reacted to Beijing's military parade

  • The index is up 14% YTD at a three-year high

• Greece, Italy and Spain stock indexes are beating Germany, France and the Stoxx 600 indexes YTD

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 is up 7.5% YTD

• Saudi's TASI index is down 11% YTD with foreign buying picking up

• Spreads between highest-rated US junk bonds and the lowest-rated investment-grade bonds are ~80 bps at the lowest since 2019

• Japanese yen slid 0.7% versus the dollar as investors brace for volatility amid PM Ishiba's resignation

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Tuesday: Oracle, GameStop

  • Wednesday: Chewy

  • Thursday: Adobe, Kroger

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• We're headed for the most crucial FOMC meeting of the year next week.

• Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

• Tesla offered Musk a $1T pay package (BBG)

• US unemployment rate rose to 4.3% as job creation sputters (CNBC)

• Fed chair potential said Fed should be fully independent from Trump (RT)

• Trump threatened trade actions on EU over Google fine (BBG)

• US bond market may be too sanguine about fiscal and inflation risks (RT)

• US public pensions are cutting allocations to private credit (FT)

• Macro hedge funds play index versus index in niche option trades (BBG)

• 'Periphery' stocks are leading Europe's market rally (FT)

• Stock funds continue to score (WSJ)

• September bond market deluge continues into second week (WSJ)

• Highest yields in decades lure buyers to Europe long bonds (BBG)

• 'Bowie bonds' go mainstream as investors chase music-backed debt (FT)

• Emerging markets rush to debt markets to seize risk-on moment (BBG)

• Margin financing in China hit record $322B (RT)

• China's world-beating stock rally is making investors anxious (BBG)

• Chinese funds look to government to engineer rally that keeps going (BBG)

• China will reopen domestic bond markets to Russian energy giants (FT)

• Foreign investors are making a bigger bet on Saudi stocks (BBG)

• Robinhood and AppLovin will join the S&P 500 (CNBC)

• America's largest active ETF issuer launched in Europe (FT)

• Global banks rush into Credit Suisse vacuum to serve Swiss firms (FT)

• Anthropic will pay $1.5B to settle author class action (RT)

• Anthropic stopped selling services to Chinese-owned firms (BBG)

• Americans face biggest increase in health insurance costs in 15 years (FT)

• Mystery of Kugler's Fed resignation deepens amid real estate records (CNBC)

• Japan's PM resigned (CNBC) 

• US issued 'last warning' to Hamas (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Spanish lender BBVA submitted a $17.5B takeover bid to acquire rival Banco Sabadell after months of talks

• An undisclosed consortium of bidders submitted offers to acquire a stake in Starbucks' China operations at a $5B valuation

• UK PE firm Permira is seeking to sell contract drugmaker Cambrex for $4B

• Evernorth, the health services division of insurer Cigna, invested $3.5B in specialty pharmacy solutions company Shields Health Solutions

• VSP Vision, the owner of Marchon Eyewear agreed to acquire rival Italian eyewear manufacturer Marcolin from PAI Partners, who was seeking a $1.2B valuation

• IKEA-linked foundation Interogo Foundation is seeking to sell a portfolio of UK hotels for $673M

• Building materials giants CRH and Heidelberg Materials are among suitors for Nordic construction firm NCC's asphalt and paving unit

• Australia's Macquarie acquired a 40% stake in Portuguese hospital operator Luz Saude for $363M

VC

• French AI startup Mistral raised a $2B Series C at an $11.7B valuation led by ASML; ASML will become the largest shareholder 

• AI agent startup Sierra raised a $350M round at a $10B valuation led by Greenoaks

• Mexican EV charging infrastructure startup VEMO raised $250M in a round led by Vision Ridge Partners

• Tessolve, a global leader in semiconductor and embedded engineering services, announced a $150M investment from TPG

• Baseten, an AI inference platform, raised a $150M Series D at a $2.15B valuation led by BOND

• Ronovo Surgical, a startup building next-gen surgical robots, raised a $67M Series D led by JJDC

• ProRataAI, a startup building ethical AI solutions for publishers, raised a $40M Series B led by Touring Capital

• Recall.ai, a startup building the API for meeting recordings, raised a $38M Series B at a $250M valuation led by Bessemer Venture Partners

• Healthcare conversational AI startup Hello Patient raised a $22.5M Series A led by Scale Venture Partners

• Isotopes, an AI agent helping users run big data infrastructures needed to use the data, raised a $20M seed round led by NTTVC

• Flex, a platform enabling health and wellness retailers to accept HSA/FSA payments, raised a $15M Series A led by First Round and Core VC

• Korean all-in-one entertainment tech platform BIGC raised a $14M Series A led by Stonebridge Ventures and BonAngels Venture Partners

• Dutch hybrid printed electronics startup TracXon raised a $5.5M seed round led by Invest-NL, DeepTechXL, and Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij

• Koah, a startup helping AI apps monetize through ads, raised a $5M seed round led by Forerunner

• SCOREalytics, a legal intelligence platform powered by AI, raised a $3M+ seed round led by Moneta Ventures

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• $6.6B-listed Legend Biotech is weighing a second listing outside the US

• PE firm Livingbridge selected banks for a London IPO of online travel agent Loveholidays, which may fetch a $1.3B valuation

• Brookfield-backed Indian clean-energy company Avaada is considering raising $1B in an India IPO of its solar cell unit

• French state-owned utility EDF is considering re-listing its Italian unit Edison in Italy

• Hanwha Impact Partners, a US-based investment firm owned by Korean conglomerate Hanwha, sold a $1B stake in shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean

SPAC / SPV

• Sora Ventures, a Taiwan-based VC firm specializing in crypto, launched Asia's first $1B Bitcoin treasury fund

• StablecoinX, a stablecoin protocol, raised $530M from Brevan Howard, Susquehanna Crypto, Dragonfly, and more to expand crypto holdings

Debt 

• Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil giant ADNOC is seeking $10B in debt financing to back an $18.7B takeover of Australian O&G firm Santos

• Banks including Goldman Sachs are competing with private credit firms to provide $3.5B in financing to back a potential $5.5B acquisition of generic drugmaker Zentiva from PE firm Advent

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Blue Water Acquisition Corp submitted a $10B offer for the parent of Venezuela-owned refiner Citgo Petroleum, which includes a $3.2B settlement proposal to holders of a defaulted Venezuelan bond

• Portugal set conditions for the 49.9% sale of struggling Portuguese air carrier TAP

Fundraising / Secondaries

• Fintech investor Motive Partners is seeking to raise $3.25B for its third PE fund

• Biotech VC Atlas Venture raised $400M for a third opportunity fund to invest in drug companies

• VC CoreNest launched a $125M tokenized VC fund to transform El Salvador into the Silicon Valley of Latin America

• Investment firm Irth Capital Management plans to raise a new vehicle focused on 'constructivist' activist campaigns

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Stablecoin group Tether held talks to invest in gold miners

• Top Trump crypto backer Justin Sun says his WLF tokens were 'unreasonably' frozen

• Crypto dev claims WLF 'stole his money' in the 'scam of all scams' 

• Trump family added $1.3B of wealth in weeks with WLF and American Bitcoin Corp. ventures

Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

• It's US Open season! Spice up your wardrobe this tennis season with Wilson's new collection. From tennis to leisure, they've got some epic stuff for everyone. Shop the collection here.

• Check out Misitrano Consulting's report on the state of padel in US, detailing everything from its 50% YoY growth to rapid national expansion and huge market potential.

• The 'Einstein of Wall Street' Peter Tuchman took to WSJ to share how he became the face of the Wall Street trader.

Upcoming Events🥂

• Farsight x Litquidity Happy Hour – Tuesday, 9/30 in Midtown Manhattan.

  Join Litquidity, Farsight, and our community of investment bankers in Midtown Manhattan for after work drinks and charcuterie! RSVP here.

• ​Litquidity x NEXUS Indoor Golf Classic – November-December in Tribeca Manhattan. ​Grab your team of four and compete against some of NYC's top finance, tech, and investing pros for bragging rights, prizes, and the title of the first-ever Litquidity & NEXUS Indoor Golf Classic Champion. Expect an afternoon of competitive play, networking, drinks, and big wins. RSVP here.

• BlueFlame AI x Litquidity Play & Pour #2 – Wednesday, 10/15 in Midtown Manhattan. Lit, BlueFlame, and our network of PE associates are getting together at T Squared Social to test their skills on the multi-sport golf simulator. Lot of golf this fall! RSVP here.

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Finance & Startup Recruiting 💼

Litney Partners

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting venture between Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm), Litney Partners places talent at leading firms in PE, hedge funds, VC, growth, credit, IB, and fintech and is currently recruiting for some incredible roles. Head over to our website to drop your resume and we'd love to get in touch!

Next Play

If you're down bad, realizing finance isn't for you, and want to explore the world of startups (BizOps, chief of staff, strategic finance, etc.), fill out this form. Next Play will reach out to schedule a 1:1 video call if they think they can help as your own, personal startup matchmaker. They've grown their community to over 50k talented professionals and have deep relationships across the tech ecosystem.

Meme Cleanser

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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.