Meal Controversies at Meta

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Good Morning,

Harvard donations are down sharply, Israel killed Hamas' leader, PIMCO says private credit is overvalued, McKinsey is overhauling is China operators, and Meta fired staff for abusing their meal stipend.

Supercharge your investment research and streamline all your analysis and diligence work with Rogo, the leading GenAI platform for finance.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 10/17/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks ticked upwards as investors reacted to strong economic data and corporate earnings

    • Dow closed at a fresh all-time high

    • Swaps markets priced in 42 bps of rate cuts over next two Fed meetings

  • Investors turned short on most Asian FX amid hawkish Fed expectations

Earnings

  • TSMC rose 10% after beating Q3 earnings estimates on a 54% increase in net profit thanks to soaring demand from AI applications (CNBC)

  • Netflix rose 5% after beating Q3 subscriber, earnings, and revenue estimates on strong growth in its advertising business (CNBC

  • Blackstone rose 6% after beating Q3 distributable earnings estimates and reporting $41B of net inflows to reach $1.1T AUM, while reporting its highest fund appreciation in three years (RT)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: P&G

  • Full calendar here

🇺🇸 Election Forecast

As of 10/17/2024.

  • Trump's lead reaches an all time high of 14% on Kalshi. Get $20 to trade the election when you deposit $100 or more. See live odds and bet now!

Headline Roundup

  • ECB cut rates for a third time to 3.25% (CNBC)

  • Traders dialed back rate cut bets on solid economic data (BBG)

  • PIMCO says private credit is overvalued (BBG)

  • India domestic private credit is fueling competition with giants like KKR (BBG)

  • Foreign holdings of US debt surged to a record high (RT)

  • Regional banks capitalize on rising deal fees to counter high deposit costs (RT)

  • Recovery of FDIC bank failure fund is ahead of schedule (RT)

  • UK plans to place BNPL lenders under FCA rules (FT)

  • Blackstone plans to list some of its largest investments (FT)

  • Robinhood launched a platform for more sophisticated traders (CNBC)

  • OpenAI and Bain expand AI partnership to sell ChatGPT to clients (WSJ)

  • Meta fired ~20 employees for abusing $25 meal credits (FT)

  • Amazon AWS CEO tells employees to quit if unwilling to RTO (RT)

  • McKinsey cut one-third of its China workforce (WSJ)

  • EY trimmed its workforce for the first time in 14 years (FT)

  • EU is considering Musk's business empire to calculate potential X fine (FT)

  • Harvard donations slid sharply amid antisemitism uproar (BBG)

  • Israel killed Hamas' leader in Gaza (AP)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • PE firm PAI Partners submitted an improved offer for Sanofi’s ~$16B consumer health business Opella

  • PE firm Silver Lake and Singapore SWF GIC agreed to acquire billing software firm Zuora for $1.7B

  • Spanish power company Acciona Energia is considering a sale of its $1.1B hydroelectric business

  • Schneider Electric will acquire a controlling stake in data center cooling firm Motivair for ~$850M cash

  • Saudi Arabia’s The King Abdullah Financial District is seeking to raise up to $750M of equity for further development

  • PE firm American Industrial Partners agreed to acquire paint manufacturer PPG's America architectural-coatings business for $550M

  • Sanofi agreed to acquire a $300M stake in cancer treatment developer OranoMed, a subsidiary of nuclear biotech Orano, at a $2.1B valuation

  • Japanese drugmaker Otsuka is considering a ~$300M sale of its 21% stake in Hong Kong-listed medtech MicroPort Scientific 

  • BP is considering a minority stake sale in its offshore wind business

  • Fintech Stripe is in advanced talks to acquire stablecoin platform Bridge

  • Danish brewer Royal Unibrew will acquire Pernod Ricard's local Nordic liqueur and spirits brands

  • Platinum Equity-founder Tom Gores purchased a 27% stake in the Los Angeles Chargers

VC

  • LatAm online grocery startup Justo raised $50M led by General Atlantic 

  • Everstage, a sales performance management SaaS, raised a $30M Series B led by Eight Roads Ventures

  • Cambri, an AI consumer insights and innovation platform, raised $8.6M in funding led by Octopus Ventures, S4S Ventures, and more

  • Firefighting innovation startup HEN Nozzles raised an $8M seed round led by O'Neil Capital Partners, Cthulhu Ventures, and others

  • Zerve, a data science and AI dev platform, raised a $7.6M seed round led by Paladin Capital Group 

  • Clerk Chat, an AI telecom platform for enterprises, raised a $7M seed round led by Race Capital 

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • PE firm Partners Group is exploring a Swiss IPO for European conveyor-belt manufacturer Ammega at a $4.6B valuation

  • Hyundai India's $3.3B IPO was oversubscribed, marking India's biggest-ever IPO

  • Oman’s state energy company OQ raised $2B at an $8B valuation in a local IPO of its OQ Exploration & Production unit

  • Carlyle-backed x-ray technology firm Rigaku priced its Japanese IPO at the top of the marketed range to raise $751M

  • Chinese autonomous driving firm Pony AI filed for a US IPO

Debt

  • Jane Street plans to sell $4.2B of debt for expansion

  • JPMorgan completed a $1B debt-for-nature swap deal for El Salvador 

  • Goldman and Blackstone sold $475M of private fund loans packaged in bonds

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Troubled battery developer Northvolt is nearing a $300M debt-and-equity rescue package from various stakeholders

  • Platinum Equity-backed prison-phone firm Aventiv Technologies received takeover interest from multiple parties ahead of a potential bankruptcy filing

Crypto Corner

  • Sam Altman's crypto project Worldcoin is rebranding to World Network (RT)

  • Trump gets 75% of coin revenue with no liability in WLF (CNBC)

  • FBI arrested the man responsible for hacking SEC's X account (BBG)

  • EU pushes for extra cyber defenses in new crypto rules (FT)

Exec’s Picks

  • Rogo and Litquidity are hosting a happy hour in NYC next Thursday to bring together young IB and PE professionals and offer an inside look into a leading GenAI for finance. It's a great way to celebrate Friday Eve and a pleasant opportunity to meet with fellow industry peers. RSVP here.

  • Bloomberg Odd Lots sat down with Apollo partner Rob Bittencourt to hear his insights into how big tech is disrupting credit markets.

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, an executive search partnership between 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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