US stocks powered higher yesterday as traders weighed AI optimism against uncertain Iran talks

Korea's KOSPI is doing a KOSPI

Traders priced in a 92% chance of a 25 bps ECB rate hike next week as yields spike

EM FX snapped an eight-day win streak

Hewlett Packard Enterprise posted its biggest beat-and-raise in six years on blockbuster sales in cloud & AI and especially its server unit (CNBC)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

Anthropic also filed confidentially for an IPO. What a year it's turning out to be for capital markets. About $6T in value on the table

Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

Trump announced partial Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire to keep talks alive (BBG)

Trump says 'I don't care' if 'boring' peace talks with Iran are over (CNBC)

Hedge funds bought stocks at the fastest pace in six months (BBG)

AI bubble debate gets real as chip stocks rally turns historic (BBG)

AI data centers are dominating the leveraged finance space (BBG)

AI debt sales reshape global corporate bond markets (RT)

Private credit has lent $560B to US businesses since 2023 (RT)

Unrealized losses at US private credit lenders deepen (RT)

Europe junk firms look to cut loan Costs in hot market (BBG)

LPs are fine-tuning their use of secondaries (BOI)

Illinois passed a bill to prevent PE firms from controlling law firms (WSJ)

Bernie Sanders introduced bill for government to take 50% stakes in biggest AI firms (NYT)

Citadel Securities posted a record $4.3B in Q1 trading revenue (FT)

Global asset managers captured just 0.1% of China market since Covid (FT)

SoftBank overtook Toyota to become Japan's largest company (FT)

Nvidia launched a new AI chip for personal computers (RT)

SEC seeks to end corporate disclosures on climate risk (FT)

Fifteen people pleaded not guilty in massive M&A insider trading ring (BBG)

Quant failed to get $1B source-code theft charge tossed (BBG)

Japan is facing a banana shortage crisis (BBG) 

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Barry Diller's People Inc (fka IAC) offered to acquire the remaining portion of MGM Resorts International it doesn't already own at a $19B valuation, including debt, at a 10% premium

Activist Toms Capital urged $7.4B-listed insurance/investment firm Voya Financial to ​explore a sale

Investment firm Castlelake said any offer for UK budget airline EasyJet would be above its $4.1B last closing price

CVC, Cinven, and PAI Partners are among initial bidders ​for Advent-owned Italian dessert ingredients maker IRCA, which could fetch $2.7B-$3.2B

New Mountain Capital agreed to buy ​residential property management firm Asset Living from Roark ⁠Capital for over $2B

Electronics firm Motorola Solutions will buy Israeli counter-drone defense tech startup D-Fend Solutions for $1.5B

Finnish industrial machinery company Hiab agreed to acquire Canadian refuse collection vehicle manufacturer Labrie Environmental from Wynnchurch Capital in a $1.04B cash deal, including debt

Neuberger and Onex-backed tax firm Ryan agreed to acquire Nordic tax advisor Svalner Atlas Advisors for over $400M, including debt

Portuguese utility EDP will launch a $233M sale of its 49% minority stake in its Iberian distributed-generation assets

US DOD will take a $36M stake in critical minerals miner Trilogy Metals

French dairy giant Lactalis acquired UK's Protein Works

Salesforce's stake in Anthropic is worth $5B following its $65B Series H

DriveNets, an Israeli networking software firm, raised a $410M round at an $8.5B valuation led by Bessemer Venture Partners ‌and Atreides Management

Defense startup Mach Industries raised a $300M round at a $1.8B valuation led by Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital

Mecka AI, an embodied AI/data-for-robotics startup, raised $60M across a $25M Series A and a $35M follow-on financing led by Framework Ventures 

Gray Swan, a developer of AI security platforms, raised a $40M Series A co-led by Wing Venture Capital and Madrona

Omniscient Neurotechnology, an AI-driven brain analysis company, raised a $27M Series D co-led by OIF Ventures and the Australian National Reconstruction Fund Corporation

Unastella, a South Korean rocket startup, raised a $24M Series B led by Altos Ventures 

Sekai, a 'TikTok for mini-apps' AI-powered no-code app creation platform, raised a $20M Series A from Khosla Ventures, a16z, Mayfield, and A* 

Gradient Labs, a European AI startup using AI agents for financial customer operations, raised a $13M Series A extension led by Octopus Ventures and CommerzVentures

SpeedLabs, a sports real-time market engine startup, raised a $6.5M seed round led by Parlay Capital 

Nomo, a behavioral/social app to reduce youth screen time, raised a $5.85M round from angel investors, UChicago-linked funds, and others

Anthropic confidentially filed for an IPO

Google is raising $80B in equity offerings, including a $10B investment from Berkshire Hathaway, for AI infrastructure spending

SpaceX reserved 5% of IPO shares for staff and friends with no lockup period

Shareholders approved a proposal to split up the non-production customer assets of $30B-listed Czech state-owned power utility CEZ as a step towards Czech Republic's plan to buy out minority investors

Gold miner Barrick Mining is weighing a London listing for ‌its African business in a potential $30B all-share merger with UK-listed Endeavour Mining as it explores a sale

Shares of FedEx Freight fell 12% after spinning off from FedEx at a $25B valuation

Honeywell-backed quantum computing company Quantinuum boosted its IPO size and price from $1B to seek $1.5B at a $14.3B valuation

Dutch tech investor Prosus is seeking to raise its stake in Germany's Delivery Hero to thwart Uber's $14B takeover attempt 

SK Capital-backed Canadian generic drugmaker Apotex is seeking to raise $830M at a $4B valuation in Canada's biggest IPO since 2021 

Energy Impact Partners-backed power company ERock is seeking to raise $642M in an IPO

UK payments infrastructure firm OpenPayd will merge with Titan Acquisition Corp. at a $1.1B equity value

Citadel Securities is seeking to extend and upsize a $4B loan to $4.3B

Banks led by Wells Fargo kicked off a $3B leveraged loan sale as part of a larger debt package to finance building products distributor QXO's $17B purchase of rival TopBuild

Jaguar Land Rover, the luxury car unit of India's Tata Motors, is raising a $2B loan to refinance debt

A group of holders of Zambia's dollar bonds is challenging a $1.36B bond buyback

Elk Grove Village Property, a CoreWeave-linked subsidiary of Prime Data Centers, is seeking to sell $850M of junk bonds

KKR private credit FS KKR is looking to sell $400M of junk bonds

Optimum Communications reached a deal to raise $300M in pref equity at an unrestricted unit out of the reach of lenders that were sued by the company in hopes to reach a debt-overhaul agreement with the creditor group

UAE's ​​International Holding Co. and billionaire Mohamed Alabbar expressed interest in acquiring troubled UAE conglomerate IFFCO Group for several billions of dollars as it faces insolvency petitions in Isle of Man and Singapore

Japan's SMBC Nikko Securities is considering launching a $630M Japan mezzanine fund

Gigascale Capital, the VC firm of ex-Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer, launched a new $250M fund to back startups 'rebuilding the physical economy for climate impact'

Binance rolled out trading in US stocks and ETFs

Strategy sold $2.5M of Bitcoin in its first sale since late-2022

WSJ interviewed real estate billionaire and ex-Goldman analyst Fernando De Leon to find out whether climbing to the top of an investment bank is luck or skill.

Also, the viral 'salami incident' that has JPMorgan on the hook for $4.25M.

DFIN x Litquidity World Cup Viewing Party – Thursday, June 25 – NYC

We're partnering with DFIN to bring the investment banking community together for a World Cup Watch Party on Thursday, June 25 in Midtown Manhattan. Come join us for an afternoon of drinks, networking, and gameday energy! RSVP here🫡