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Trump sued WSJ for $10B over Epstein claims, Astronomer's CEO resigned, Blackstone dropped out of the bid to acquire TikTok US, JPMorgan expanded research coverage to private firms, EU is cracking down on state meddling in bank M&A, and University of California divested its entire hedge fund portfolio.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks closed flat on Friday as traders digested major earnings and reports of Trump's push for greater tariffs on EU

Earnings

• American Express beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates on record revenue driven by a 20% YoY jump in card fees and resilient premium customer spending (RT)

• Charles Schwab beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates on a 60% YoY profit surge driven by record trading activity amid tariff-fueled volatility (WSJ)

• 3M issued a Q2 beat-and-raise as easing US-China trade tensions led the firm to cut its expected 2025 tariff impact in half, boosting profit expectations despite continued weakness in consumer demand (RT)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Verizon, Domino's Pizza

  • Tuesday: Lockheed Martin, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Capital One, RTX, Texas Instruments

  • Wednesday: Tesla, Alphabet, AT&T, IBM, Chipotle, General Dynamics

  • Thursday: American Airlines, Intel, Blackstone, Honeywell

  • Friday: Booz Allen Hamilton

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Forget Coldplay, Astronomer's ex-CEO has the chance to do the funniest thing ever.

• 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

• Trump sued Wall Street Journal for $10B over Epstein report (RT)

• Astronomer CEO resigned after cheating incident at Coldplay concert (CNBC)

• US economy is regaining its swagger (WSJ)

• Foreign holdings of US Treasuries rose in May despite China drop (RT)

• JPMorgan expands research coverage to private firms such as OpenAI (BBG)

• EU cracks down on state meddling in bank M&A (FT)

• Investors in top-rated Europe CMBSs face losses for just second time since 2008 (FT)

• $190B UC Investments ditches hedge funds with scathing rebuke (FT)

• Hedge funds hunt for hedges against Trump's threats to J Pow (BBG)

• Hedge funds lured record inflows in H1 (RT)

• Stellar stock market run increases risks of earnings misses (BBG)

• Share of US stock funds flows plunged this year (BBG)

• Global equity funds saw their first weekly outflow in a month (RT) 

• Juicy dividends tempt investors into lagging high-yield stocks (BBG)

• Investor hunger for yield drives S&P 500 dividend option growth (BBG)

• Tiny Beijing stock exchange has become an IPO hub (FT)

• China bond ETFs topped $50B in deflation-spurred frenzy (BBG)

• Foreign investors are warming to London's unloved stocks (RT)

• London Stock Exchange is considering launching 24-hour trading (BBG)

• BoE is scrutinizing lenders for dollar risk amid Trump worries (RT)

• HSBC renewed search for chair after struggling to find candidates (FT)

• Hedge funds hunt for record amount of London office space (BBG)

• UK profit warnings citing geopolitics hit a record high (BBG)

• US is investigating collusion in CLO market during LIBOR transition (BBG)

• China rare-earth magnet shipments jumped 158% after trade truce (BBG)

• Meta poached two more Apple AI researchers (BBG)

• Fintech Block will join the S&P 500 (BBG)

• Musk's xAI will make kid-friendly app called Baby Grok (BBG)

• Atlanta's growth streak has come to an end (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Blackstone dropped out of the Oracle, a16z, and General Atlantic-backed consortium seeking to acquire TikTok's US unit

• Chevron won a 20-month battle against ExxonMobil to acquire Hess for $53B, marking an unprecedented and significant victory in the Big Oil sector

• BlackRock-backed Global Infrastructure Partners is nearing a deal to acquire a roughly $10B stake in Saudi Aramco's midstream infrastructure in the Jafurah natural gas project

• Tata Motors, the automotive unit of Indian conglomerate Tata, is courting the Agnelli family to acquire a controlling stake in $5.3B-listed Italian truck-maker Iveco, excluding its defense business

• PE firm Advent agreed to acquire a 70% stake in UK consumer goods giant Reckitt's home care business at a $4.8B valuation, including debt

• A Goldman Sachs Asset Management-led consortium is set to acquire a majority stake in compliance software firm Navex from BC Partners in an over $2.5B deal

• UAE retail conglomerate Al Futtaim Retail agreed to buy a 49.95% stake in Saudi's Cenomi Retail for $666M

• European PE firm Perwyn is nearing a deal to acquire a 15%-20% stake in French software firm SoftNext at a ~$540M valuation

• LS Power agreed to acquire BP's US onshore wind business as BP continues to refocus on its core O&G operations

• Brazilian fuel retailer Vibra began talks to acquire the CVC-backed lubricants unit of logistics/infrastructure conglomerate Cosan

• Valentino-owner Mayhoola denied plans to sell the Italian fashion house alongside partner Kering

VC

• 38 Degrees North, a community solar and distributed renewable energy platform, raised a $230M growth equity investment from Climate Adaptive Infrastructure and Kimmeridge Energy and also acquired U.S. Light Energy

• AI startup Perplexity raised a $100M round at an $18B valuation from Nvidia, SoftBank, NEA, and IVP

• NWTN, a UAE-based clean energy and high-end manufacturing startup, raised $100M in funding from Medad Holding

• Hong Kong insurer Bowtie Life Insurance raised a $70M Series C led by Sun Life Financial's Hong Kong unit

• BrightAI, a startup integrating AI into physical infrastructure, raised a $51M Series A co-led by Khosla Ventures and Inspired Capital

• GeologicAI, a startup using AI to enhance decision-making in the critical minerals mining industry, raised a $44M Series B led by Blue Earth Capital

• GigaIO, a startup building scalable AI inferencing infrastructure, raised a $21M Series B led by Impact Venture Capital

• BiomEdit, a startup building an animal health biotech platform, raised an $18.4M Series B led by Anterra Capital

• Blockchain infrastructure company JA Mining raised a $17M Series A

• Folio, a FinOps platform for the hospitality industry, raised a $14M Series A led by Thrive Capital and Construct Capital

• H2Ok Innovations, a provider of inline sensors for factory operations, raised a $12.42M Series A led by Greycroft

• Billee Technologies, a utility management platform, raised a $9.2M seed round led by RET Ventures

• StrongestLayer, a cybersecurity company specializing in AI-driven email security, raised a $5.2M seed round led by Sorenson Capital

IPOs / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• EQT and Vitruvian Partners-backed UK cyber insurance specialist CFC is exploring a UK or US IPO or a sale at a $6.7B valuation

• India's National Securities Depository is set to raise ~$500M in its India IPO this week

• Bank holding company Avidbank filed for an IPO to support a balance sheet restructuring and bolster its financial position

• Warburg Pincus-backed exchange operator Miami International Holdings filed for a US IPO

Debt 

• A consortium including UK insurer Rothesay Life agreed to acquire $7.8B of French loans from HSBC

• Banks completed an upsized $4.5B debt sale backing Sycamore Partners' $4.3B acquisition of Boots, part of Sycamore's $10B LBO of pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance

• PE-backed independent brokerage firm Osaic is pursuing a $4.3B debt raise to partially fund its $850M acquisition of $14B AUM RIA CW Advisors

• Egypt plans to issue $4B in international bonds

• Spain's state-controlled asset manager Sareb began marketing a ~$1.8B portfolio of soured loans to investors

• Grubhub-owner Wonder is seeking to raise $400M-$500M in private credit to refinance Grubhub's existing debt

• European PE firm CVC launched a debt refinancing of its sports assets portfolio valued at over $12B

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Fiber network firm Zayo Group is nearing a restructuring deal with creditors to extend maturities on nearly $5B of secured debt due, offering partial payments to secured lenders and higher coupons to unsecured creditors

Fundraising / Secondaries

• UK-based Pollen Street Capital raised $2.3B for its fifth PE fund

• Six of China's most prominent VC firms, namely Qiming Venture Partners, LightSpeed China Partners, Monolith Management, Ince Capital, Source Code Capital, and Ba Capital, are seeking to raise a combined $2B in dollar-denominated funds from global investors

• Apollo won the mandate to manage Singapore's $780M private credit fund targeting local high-growth enterprises

• Stacy Brown-Philpot launched VC Cherryrock Capital with a debut $172M fund focused on supporting underrepresented founders

• Apollo is considering launching a permanent capital vehicle to invest in sports

• Secondaries specialist Coller Capital launched a private credit secondaries fund for individual investors

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Trump signed stablecoin bill into law

• Crypto market cap topped $4T

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

Exec’s Picks

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• Mercor is looking for experienced IB / RX / PE folks to help train AI models in excel, complex valuations, modeling, etc. for Magnificent 7 firms, OpenAI and others. The role is part-time, fully remote, asynchronous, and pays $150/week and they're also offering a $1000 referral bonus. If you or anyone you know looks like a fit, consider reaching out here!

• WSJ published an exclusive report exposing Trump's ties to Epstein. This is the same report that caused Trump to file a $10B defamation lawsuit against WSJ.

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.