Perilous Credit

Jamie Dimon is skeptical of private credit, PE recruiting continues to lag, Cleveland Fed named a Goldman exec as president, CalPERS opposed Musk's pay package, and food delivery apps are drowning in losses.

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Litquidity Capital
May 30, 2024

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Good Morning,

Jamie Dimon is skeptical of private credit, PE recruiting continues to lag, Cleveland Fed named a Goldman exec as president, CalPERS opposed Musk's pay package, and food delivery apps are drowning in losses.

It’s time to relax with BILL—check out BILL's automated expense management platform and they’ll send you a Yeti cooler!

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 05/29/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks fell yesterday on pressure from rising yields, driven by weak demand in yesterday's US Treasurys auction

    • The Dow hit its lowest level in nearly a month

  • US 10Y yield hit a four-week high

  • Pound hit to a 21-month high versus euro as rate cut bets fade

  • OJ futures hit an ATH, up ~100% YoY

Earnings

  • Salesforce shares plunged 16% after reporting it's first revenue miss since 2006 and a weak Q2 forecast due to weak client spending on cloud and enterprise products (CNBC) 

  • HP beat on Q1 top and bottom lines thanks to recovering PC demand (YF)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Costco, Dell, Dollar General, Kohl’s

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Cleveland Fed named Goldman's ex-head of lending as president (FT)

  • PE execs tout industry comeback, but hiring lags (WSJ)

  • Dimon warns 'could be hell to pay' if private credit sours (BBG)

  • Europe bond sales exceed €1T in record time (BBG)

  • US firms grow more pessimistic on economy (RT)

  • US bank profits jump 80% as lenders shake off failed bank costs (RT)

  • BoE QT blamed for cash shortage (FT)

  • HSBC making mideast wealth push after hiring 100 bankers (BBG)

  • Wells Fargo CEO blames asset cap for stagnant growth (RT)

  • Banco Sabadell rules out M&A defense against BBVA bid (RT)

  • BOJ hints at rate hike if yen value leads to inflation (RT)

  • CalPERS opposed Musk's $56B Tesla pay package (RT)

  • Food delivery apps racked up $20B in losses since going public (FT)

  • Exxon prevailed in their shareholder revolt (FT)

  • Invesco launched fixed maturity bond ETFs in Europe (FT)

  • PwC set to become largest ChatGPT enterprise customer (WSJ)

  • Toyota unveiled new combustion engines in challenge to Tesla (FT)

  • Visa and Mastercard will settle consumer ATM fee lawsuit for $197M (RT)

  • Activist Peltz sold entire Disney stake after losing proxy battle (CNBC)

  • Tyson Foods was accused of hiring migrants over US citizens (RT)

  • Yale named Stony Brook's Maurie McInnis as new president (BBG)

A Message From BILL

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • BHP Group abandoned a $49B bid for miner Anglo American after Anglo refused further talks (BBG) 

  • US oil giant ConocoPhillips agreed to buy Marathon Oil in a $22.5B all-stock deal (RT) 

  • Czech billionaire Daniel KÅ™etínský agreed to acquire the Royal Mail-owner International Distribution Services at a $6.7B valuation (FT) 

  • Oil and gas developer Double Eagle is exploring a $6.5B sale of its latest Permian Basin-based producer Double Eagle Energy Holdings IV (RT) 

  • US pharmaceutical giant Merck agreed to acquire privately held biotech EyeBio for ~$3B (RT) 

  • $2.6B IT software provider N-Able is exploring a sale after attracting interest (RT) 

  • Dubai-based engineering firm Sidara raised its proposed takeover offer for UK’s John Wood Group for a third time to $2.03B, its final offer (RT)  

  • Sony Music is in talks to acquire Queen’s music catalog in a potential $1B deal (BBG) 

  • REIT Host Hotels & Resorts will acquire Hawaiian hotel Turtle Bay Resort from Blackstone REIT for $725M (BW) 

  • Independent British producer Viaro Energy is nearing a ~$500M deal to acquire jointly-owned gas fields in the southern North Sea from Shell and ExxonMobil (RT) 

  • Oil and natural gas company Aethon Energy will acquire Tellurian's upstream assets for $260M (RT) 

VC

  • Solutions by Text, a platform for compliance-first messaging and payments, raised a $110M round led by Edison Partners and StepStone Group (PRN)

  • Natural Cycles, a developer of the world's first contraceptive app for women, raised a $55M Series C led by Lauxera Capital Partners (EU)

  • Relay, a business banking platform providing cash flow clarity to SMBs, raised a $32.2M Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures (PRN)

  • TraceAir, a startup providing site intelligence software for builders and developers, raised a $25M Series B led by PeakSpan Capital (PRN)

  • AI customer support startup Maven AGI raised a $20M Series A led by M13 (FN)

  • Authentic, an insurtech helping SaaS platforms and franchisors offer captive insurance policies to SMBs, raised an $11M Series A led by FirstMark Capital (FN)

  • GaiaNet, a startup building a decentralized AI infrastructure, raised a $10M seed round from Generative Ventures, Republic Capital, and more (FN)

  • Odyssey, a startup helping families access high-quality education, raised a $10M Series A led by Tusk Venture Partners (VC)

  • AI-powered 'auto-aiming' defense tech startup ZeroMark raised a $7M seed round led by Ground Up Ventures and a16z (BW)

  • SmartPM Technologies, a construction project controls platform, raised a $5.5M Series A led by Building Ventures (BW)

  • Crypto asset financial services firm SCRYPT raised a $5M strategic round led by Braza Bank (BW)

  • AI-powered second hand shopping assistant Faircado closed a $3M pre-seed round from World Fund, Slush VC, and more (EU)

  • IoT sensing and data analytics platform Wavelogix received a $3M investment from Rhapsody Venture Partners (FN)

  • Spanish treasury management software startup Banktrack raised a $2.2M seed round led by Kfund, 4 Founders Capital, and LifeX (EU)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Saudi Arabia is preparing to launch a ~$10B share sale of Saudi Aramco as soon as Sunday (BBG) 

  • Greyhound bus owner Flix postponed its Frankfurt IPO that was originally planned for June (BBG) 

  • Battery maker Northvolt is aiming to list in Sweden next year (BBG) 

Fundraising

  • Goldman Sachs Asset Management raised ~$20B for its latest direct lending fund targeting PE-backed global businesses (WSJ) 

  • Early stage VC Clean Energy Ventures closed its Fund II at $305M to invest in decarbonization technology (AX) 

Crypto Corner

  • BlackRock’s ~$20B Bitcoin ETF is now the world's largest Bitcoin fund (BBG) 

  • Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis and crypto exchange Gemini returned over $2B in crypto to over 232k retail customers (RT) 

Exec’s Picks

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