"No Right on Red" -PwC

Author

Litquidity Capital
August 14, 2025

In partnership with

Good Morning,

Trump is down to three or four potential Fed chair picks from a list of eleven, PwC UK installed a traffic-light dashboard to monitor office attendance, global investors are flocking to non-US markets, and PE LPs are pushing back against an over-reliance on continuation vehicles.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 8/13/2025 market close.

Click here to learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks rose yesterday on rising hopes for Fed rate cuts

    • S&P and Nasdaq hit fresh ATHs

  • MSCI All Country World Index hit a new ATH 

  • UK's FTSE 100 and Europe's Stoxx 600 are closing in on ATHs

  • Japan's Nikkei 225 rallied to another ATH now up 10% YTD

  • Oil hit a two-month low

Earnings

  • Cisco met on Q2 earnings, revenue, and guidance estimates as AI-related orders from major web companies began to pick up on new AI-ready networking products and partnerships, including the Stargate data center initiative with Microsoft, OpenAI, and SoftBank (CNBC)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: JD.com, John Deere, Applied Materials

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Lots of jockeying recently with some traders now betting on jumbo cuts

  • 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

  • Retail investors fight for right to bet on natural disasters (FT)

  • Trump threatened 'severe consequences' if Putin refuses cease-fire (WSJ)

  • Bessent urged Fed to lower rates to at least 3% (BBG)

  • Trump is considering 11 candidates to succeed J Pow (CNBC)

  • Trump is down to three or four potential Fed chair picks (BBG)

  • One in five PE exits this year are in the form of continuation vehicles (BBG)

  • Investors are jumping into riskiest assets after CPI report (BBG)

  • Global investors flock to non-US markets for better growth, valuations (RT)

  • Hedge funds piled back into Japan longs and added Korea shorts (RT)

  • UK companies in China buoyed by diplomatic thaw (FT)

  • Saudi's PIF AUM jumped 19% but annualized returns dipped to 7.2% (BBG)

  • PIF wrote $8B off from flagship megaprojects (FT)

  • Fidelity AUM jumped to $6.4T (BBG)

  • Citigroup poached two more veteran bankers in private credit push (RT)

  • PwC UK installed a 'traffic-light' dashboard to monitor office attendance (FT)

  • Commodities giant Cargill paid a record $1.5B dividend to shareholders (BBG)

  • Oracle will cut jobs in cloud infrastructure unit (BBG)

  • US embedded trackers in AI chip shipments to catch diversions to China (RT)

  • Pacifist Japan takes big step towards becoming major arms exporter (FT)

  • Ex-Goldman exec gambled away investor funds meant for startup (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • KKR will launch a sale of recycling group Viridor, which could attract interest from Brookfield, Equitix and Hong Kong's CK Hutchison, at a potential $9.5B valuation, including debt

  • Singapore's Temasek-backed ST Telemedia is weighing a sale of its 34% stake in $7.5B-listed Chinese data center operator GDS

  • PE firm Advent International agreed to take-private Israeli insurance software firm Sapiens for $2.5B at a 64% premium

  • Apollo agreed to acquire German cooling equipment maker Kelvion from PE firm Triton at a $2.3B valuation, including debt

  • Gildan Activewear agreed to buy US underwear maker Hanesbrands in a $2.2B cash-and-stock deal

  • Tech-focused PE firm Francisco Partners is exploring a multibillion-dollar sale of cybersecurity firm BeyondTrust Software, which it acquired for $740M in 2018

  • French lender BNP Paribas is in advanced talks to acquire Mercedes-Benz's leasing unit Athlon at a $1.2B valuation

  • Bain Capital agreed to acquire Dutch technology services company HSO from Carlyle for $1B

  • Bank of Montreal is exploring a sale of its transportation finance business, which could fetch $1B

  • Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi agreed to pay $600M for a 30% stake in a proposed US copper project being developed by Canadian minerals firm Hudbay Minerals

  • Aramco and DHL's JV are courting investors to finance and build a $267M distribution center in Saudi Arabia

  • Indian IT consultant Infosys agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Australian cloud services provider Versent Group for $153M

VC

  • Titan, an AI holding company transforming the IT services industry, raised a $74M funding round led by General Catalyst

  • Appcharge, a startup helping mobile game studios cut out App Store fees, raised a $58M Series B led by IVP

  • Hyphen, an automated meal production platform for foodservice, raised a $25M Series B led by CAVA

  • Freight orchestration and procurement platform GoodShip raised a $25M Series B led by Greenfield Partners

  • Protege, a platform enabling secure exchange of proprietary data for AI training, raised a $25M Series A led by Footwork

  • Fountain Life, a longevity company founded by Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis, raised an $18M Series B led by EOS Ventures

  • Generative engine optimization platform Evertune raised a $15M Series A led by Felicis Ventures

  • Global payments infrastructure provider ONERWAY raised a $10M Series A+ at a ~$200M valuation led by Yunqi

  • NeoLogic, a startup building energy-efficient CPUs for AI data centers, raised a $10M Series A led by KOMPAS VC

  • Inclined Technologies, a platform that helps consumers maximize the cash value of whole life insurance policies, raised an $8M Series B led by HSCM Ventures

  • Xpand, a retail tech startup developing AI-based autonomous stores, raised a $6M round led by Ibex Investors and Emerge

  • Qloud Games, a game studio behind the upcoming MMO 'Loftia,' raised a $5M seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures and GFR Fund

IPOs / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Czech defense firm CSG lined up BNP Paribas, Jefferies, JPMorgan, and Unicredit for a potential Dutch IPO that could fetch a $35B valuation

  • Crypto exchange Bullish surged 85% in its trading debut after raising $1.1B at a $5.4B valuation in an IPO priced above a marketed range

  • Exchange operator Miami International Holdings raised $345M at a $2.5B valuation in an IPO priced above a marketed range

  • Blackstone-backed Indian real estate company Horizon Industrial Parks is weighing an India IPO that could raise $500M at a $4B valuation

  • Fleet-tracking startup Motive hired JPMorgan for a US IPO; the startup was last valued at $2.85B in 2022

  • Carlyle-owned Japanese beer maker Orion Breweries is planning a Tokyo IPO, six years after Carlyle acquired it for $386M

  • Centurium Capital-backed Chinese AI chipmaker Iluvatar CoreX is considering raising $300M-$400M in a Hong Kong IPO

Debt 

  • Thoma Bravo-owned Flexera Software raised $3B in private credit from KKR, Ares, Blackstone, Golub, HPS, and Thoma Bravo for refinancing and a dividend recap

  • Apollo is in talks with private credit firms including HPS to revive a sale of over $2B in hung syndicated debt from Citigroup and JPMorgan tied to an LBO of Canadian auto parts maker ABC Technologies 

  • Blackstone-backed data center operator QTS raised $1.65B of debt to build out data centers

  • Goldman Sachs priced a $1.4B loan for Hyatt's Playa Hotels & Resorts' sale of 15 all-inclusive resorts

  • Cardinal Health is selling $1B of investment-grade bonds to help fund its $1.9B acquisition of Solaris Health

  • Blackstone and Goldman Sachs Asset Management are leading a $1B private credit deal to help fund Adent International's $2.5B LBO of Israeli insurance software provider Sapiens

  • SoftBank plans to sell $675M of subordinated bonds

  • Thoma Bravo is seeking $600M in private credit to finance its $2B LBO of hospitality software company Olo

  • DigitalBridge Group-backed Southeast Asia telecom tower operator EdgePoint Infrastructure is seeking $475M in private credit to fund a dividend recap

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • A Brazilian court suspended enforceability of obligations in struggling telecom firm Oi's recovery plan, easing the way for a Chapter 11 filing

  • Budget jewelry retailer Claire's placed its UK and Ireland business in insolvency after a failed sale

  • Elliott-affiliate Amber Energy submitted a last-minute bid in the court-ordered auction for Citgo Petroleum's parent

Fundraising / Secondaries

  • PE firm JMI Equity raised $3.1B for its latest growth equity fund

  • Corporate carve-outs focused ME PE firm Pacific Avenue Capital Partners raised $1.65B for its second fund

  • Global investment manager Nuveen raised $1.3B for a targeted $2.5B second energy and power infrastructure credit fund

  • Millennium-backed relative value-focused hedge fund Kedalion Capital is exploring raising $1B in external capital after its exclusivity deal expires

  • Porsche and Deutsche Telekom are in talks to anchor DTCP's new $590M VC fund focused on European defense technology companies

  • Australian PE firm Community Capital raised $200M for its latest PE fund

  • VC firm Hatteras raised $200M across two funds for early-stage life sciences investments

  • Investment manager GCM Grosvenor closed its latest secondary fund\

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • NYT published an insightful deep dive into Wall Street's abrupt flip on crypto

Some interesting crypto stories on the daily…read them on our Crypto Sum newsletter!

Exec’s Picks

  • Got solid experience in IB, PE, equity research, consulting, Big Law or other technical roles? Mercor is offering up to $140/hour to train AI models in these fields. The work is completely async, part time, and remote and they're even offering $1000 for referrals. Reach out here.

  • Larry Swedroe published an insightful case study on the importance of diversification in private credit.

Finance & Startup Recruiting 💼

Litney Partners

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out our recruiting firm, Litney Partners. Established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm), Litney Partners has placed strong candidates across leading firms spanning private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, private credit, investment banking, and fintech. Head over to our website to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

We are able to move faster than most firms due to our paralleled reach, decades of industry expertise, and ability to attract top caliber candidates.

Next Play

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

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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.

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