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Good Morning,

Jamie Dimon praised DOGE and reaffirmed DEI commitments, stocks FOMO is finally shifting from US to overseas, Citadel Securities is planning a foray into crypto trading, and CME wants to expand commodities trading to retail investors.

Invest in institutional-caliber private markets with 10 East, a membership-based investment platform offering targeted exposure to PE, VC, and more.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks continued to fall yesterday on economic and inflation jitters and doubts over massive AI infrastructure spending

  • Berkshire Hathaway shares hit a record high

• Gold hit a new ATH

• Dollar slipped to the lowest in two months 

• Yen volatility hit a six-week high ahead of Tokyo inflation data

Earnings

• Domino's missed Q4 earnings, revenue, and same-store sales expectations amid a challenging US macro environment (MW)

• Zoom beat Q4 earnings estimates but gave a weak Q1 and FY outlook amid market saturation and competitive pressures from Microsoft (BBG) 

• Hims plunged 18% despite beating Q4 earnings estimates as disappointing gross margins added to concerns about its GLP-1 business (CNBC) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Home Depot, Cava, Instacart, AMC

  • Wednesday: Nvidia, Salesforce, Snowflake, Lowe's

  • Thursday: TD Bank Group, Dell

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Bond market isn't convinced by DOGE efforts (BBG)

• Stocks FOMO breaks from US as momentum moves overseas (BBG)

• US firms sold $20B in high-grade debt in second-busiest day MTD (BBG)

• Hedge funds sold tech, media stocks at the fastest pace in six months (RT)

• Gold ETFs drew largest weekly inflows since March 2022 (RT)

• Investors call for shake-up of Europe’s 'failed' securitization market (FT)

• Asset managers embrace defense funds once viewed as toxic (BBG)

• CME targets retail traders with micro corn and soy derivatives (BBG)

• Jamie Dimon reaffirmed DEI commitments and praised DOGE (CNBC)

• JPMorgan set aside $50B more for private credit push (RT)

• JPMorgan exec called for 'more hustle' after RTO mandate (RT)

• WAMCO named four deputy CIOs after scandal and $120B outflows (BBG)

• Activist Palliser urged Rio Tinto to seek vote on dual listing (RT)

• FTI Consulting reels from staff exodus after rainmaker launches rival (FT)

• Apple will invest $500B in US (RT)

• Alibaba will spend $52B on AI CapEx over next three years (RT)

• Singapore's DBS Bank will cut 4k jobs over three years due to AI (RT)

• Starbucks will cut 1.1k corporate roles in turnaround push (RT)

• Chevron reorganized business structure and reshuffled leadership (RT)

• Nvidia sued EU antitrust regulators (RT)

• US economy is relying more than ever on rich people (WSJ)

A Message from 10 East

Where Sophisticated Investors Access Private Markets

10 East is a co-investment platform where sophisticated investors access private market investments alongside a veteran team with a 12+ year track record of strong performance across over 350 transactions. The firm is led by Michael Leffell, former Deputy Executive Managing Member of Davidson Kempner.

Members have the flexibility to participate on a deal-by-deal basis across private equity, credit, real estate, and venture capital.

Benefits of 10 East membership include:  

• Flexibility – members have full discretion over whether to invest on an offering-by-offering basis. 

• Alignment – principal commits material personal capital to every offering.  

• Institutional resources – a dedicated investment team that sources and diligences each offering.

There are no upfront costs or commitments associated with joining 10 East.

Exec Sum readers can join 10 East with complimentary access here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Blackstone agreed to acquire REIT Sun Communities' marina and yacht servicing business Safe Harbor Marinas for $5.65B

• Italian oil services firm Saipem agreed to merge with ​​Norwegian rival Subsea7 in a $4.6B stock deal

• Tech investment group Prosus agreed to acquire European food delivery group Just Eat Takeaway for $4.3B

• PE firm Genstar Capital is in talks to acquire First Eagle Investment Management from Blackstone and Corsair Capital at a $4B valuation

• Saudi agricultural and livestock investment firm SALIC agreed to raise its stake in Singapore agri giant Olam Group's agricultural products business Olam from 35% to 80% at a $4B valuation

• Thermo Fisher Scientific is nearing a deal to acquire healthcare company and 3M spinoff Solventum's purification and filtration business at a $3.5B-$4B valuation

• UAE-based Sidara is in fresh talks to acquire troubled UK-listed engineering firm Wood Group, which it offered to take private for $2B last year

• Gold miner Equinox Gold agreed to acquire peer Calibre Mining in a $1.8B all-stock deal

• Brookfield agreed to acquire National Grid's US onshore renewables unit for $1.7B

• Apollo agreed to acquire publicly-traded real estate investment manager Bridge Investment Group in a $1.5B all-stock deal

• Bain Capital offered to acquire UK-listed defense contractor Chemring Group for $1.4B

• Plantro, a major shareholder of Dye & Durham, is seeking to take the software company private at a $912M valuation

• Abu Dhabi’s state-run Emirates Nuclear Energy Co. is in talks to invest ~$520M in French-Italian operator Newcleo 

• Boeing is exploring a $500M sale of its drone manufacturing unit Insitu

• RedBird Capital Partners is looking to sell its 15% stake in Indian cricket team Rajasthan Royals at a $500M valuation 

• KKR is nearing an acquisition of a majority stake in India's Healthcare Global Enterprises from CVC for $400M

• Developer data platform MongoDB will acquire AI search startup Voyage AI in a $220M cash-and-stock deal

• Mexican cement maker Cemex is exploring a sale of its Colombian business

VC

• OpenAI-rival Anthropic is seeking to raise $3.5B at a $61.B valuation from ​​Lightspeed, General Catalyst, Bessemer, and MGX

• OrganOx, a UK-based organ medtech company, raised $142M in equity funding led by HealthQuest Capital

• Ethena, a developer of synthetic stablecoin USDe, raised a $100M round from Franklin Templeton, Fidelity's VC arm F-Prime Capital, and more

• Flow48, a Turkish fintech providing revenue-based financing solutions for SMEs in emerging markets, raised a $69M Series A led by Breega

• Sparta, a provider of real-time intelligence for commodity traders, raised a $42M Series B led by One Peak

• Aerial surveillance platform AirQtel raised a $27M Series A

• AI-enabled patent analytics platform Patlytics raised a $14M Series A led by Next47

• Cloud security infrastructure startup RAD Security raised a $14M Series A led by Cheyenne Ventures

• Fello, a peer support platform for loneliness, raised $10.4M in funding led by 62Ventures, The Capital Factory Fellowship Fund, and others

• Pet healthcare startup Tandem raised a $10M pre-seed round

• BitDCA, an app to simplify crypto investment for everyday consumers, raised $8.3M in funding led by numerous financial services founders and execs

• QDI Systems, a startup developing imaging devices for medical applications, received a $2.8M grant from the European Innovation Council

• AppStorys, a platform offering in-app and web engagement tools, raised a $5M round

• Kapta Space, a space tech startup, raised a $5M seed round led by MetaVC Partners

• Yope, a photo-sharing app that lets users share images in private groups, raised a $4.65M seed round at a $50M valuation led by Goodwater Capital

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese AI chipmaker Biren Technology is considering a $300M Hong Kong IPO

Debt

• A subsidiary of Chevron raised $5.5B in a bond sale 

• Marriott International raised $2B in a bond sale

• Angola is in talks to raise a $1B loan from Spanish lender BBVA 

• Kenya plans to sell new dollar bonds to finance the repurchase of $900M eurobonds

• Illinois is planning a $725M munis sale backed by sales tax revenue

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Chinese property developer Shimao secured creditor backing to restructure ~$11B in offshore debt

• Lenders led by US hedge fund Whitebox are fighting to raise their creditor claim from 30% to 45% and take an up to 20% equity stake in insolvent European motorbike maker KTM over a shareholder plan backed by CEO Stefan Pierer and Indian conglomerate unit Bajaj Auto 

• A group of term loan lenders and Oaktree-backed liquidation firm GA Group won the bankruptcy auction for fabric and crafts retailer Joann and will close all stores

Fundraising

• Indonesia launched a new $900B SWF Danantara, which will host dozens of state-owned firms and be separate from SWF Indonesia Investment Authority

• Brookfield is seeking to raise $7B for its fourth infrastructure debt fund

• SWF Qatar Investment Authority is studying eight VC firms to add to its $1B VC FOF program

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Citadel Securities is planning to enter crypto trading

• SEC closed its probe into Robinhood's crypto arm 

• Crypto exchange OKX will pay $500M in fines after guilty plea 

• Strategy's latest convertible bond spurs talk of crypto fatigue

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

Exec’s Picks

• With a bunch of 13Fs being filed last week, Yellowbrick Investing posted an informative thread revealing the updated portfolio holdings of 20 prominent hedge funds and investment firms.

• Bloomberg published a short but insightful piece on why China has been unable to sort out its 4-year long property crisis.

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"