Sign of the Times

Investors are reaching for riskier assets, JPMorgan will expand back office recruiting to non-targets, Ray Dalio warned of US bond market threats, rate cut views remained steady on CPI data, and Microsoft asked China AI employees to relocate amid tensions.

Author

Litquidity Capital
May 17, 2024

Together with

Good Morning,

Investors are reaching for riskier assets, JPMorgan will expand back office recruiting to non-targets, Ray Dalio warned of US bond market threats, rate cut views remained steady on CPI data, and Microsoft asked China AI employees to relocate amid tensions.

Now’s your time to rejuvenate at the members club that’s good for you. Check out Bond Life Club, the newest private members club opening next Friday in East Hampton, co-founded by Litquidity!

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 05/16/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks closed slightly lower as investors continued to recalibrate rate cut expectations 

    • The Dow briefly topped 40,000 for the first time

    • Market are pricing in a ~72% chance of a Fed rate cut in September

  • Silver is up ~25% YTD as 2024's best-performing major commodities

  • Brent is set for its first weekly gain in three weeks

  • US dollar is headed for its biggest weekly fall versus the euro in over two months 

Earnings

  • Walmart surged ~7% on a Q1 beat-and-raise driven by gains in e-commerce and traffic from high-income shoppers (CNBC) 

  • JD.com reported better-than-expected Q1 revenue thanks to price cuts and discount coupons boosting sales (RT) 

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • JPMorgan investors weigh Dimon's strategy and succession after record year (RT)

  • Jefferies risk manager balked at Archegos cash plea (BBG)

  • Investors reach for riskier assets as fear fades (RT)

  • Fed remains cautious on cuts even as data improves (RT)

  • Major brokerages retain Fed rate cut view after inflation data (RT)

  • Microsoft asks hundreds of China AI staff to relocate amid tensions (WSJ)

  • JPMorgan to recruit from non-target schools for back office roles in diversity push (FN)

  • Ray Dalio warns of danger of US debt to Treasury market (FT)

  • High debt levels put Europe at risk of 'adverse shocks' (FT)

  • Starwood’s $10B property fund taps credit line as investors redeem (FT)

  • UPS tapped Goldman Sachs to manage its $43.4B pension (RT)

  • Reddit shares surge after content deal with OpenAI (FT)

  • Digitalization of banking may create new risks (RT)

  • Voluntary part-time work hit a record high (BBG)

  • Fewer Americans plan to buy EVs this year (RT)

  • NYCB's COO resigned (RT)

  • Delisted Toshiba will cut 4k jobs in restructuring drive (RT)

  • Sports Illustrated adds Drew Brees as investor (BBG)

  • Wayfair will open its first large store (CNBC)

A Message From Bond Life Club

What’s up people, it’s Hank from Litquidity again.

Bond Life Club, the newest private members club I co-founded, is set to open next Friday!

Situated in the heart of East Hampton, Bond Life Club caters to those looking for a break from stuffy country clubs and are seeking a modern, vibrant "third place" to gather, work, exercise, dine and socialize.

Our inaugural club will include a diverse mix of amenities including a diverse range of racquet sports, saunas, cold plunges, gym, wellness, recovery, fine dining, weekly programming, events, tournaments and more.

Memberships are now live and we are curating an exclusive cohort of founding members (early members include notable celebrities, athletes, investors, and entrepreneurs).

As members of the Exec Sum community, we are offering you the opportunity for priority review when you mention "Litquidity" in the application. Click the button below to apply and learn more.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Dutch grid operator Tennet plans to find other buyers for its $23.9B German business after negotiations with Germany fell through (BBG) 

  • China’s Ping An Insurance Group is weighing options to reduce its $13B, 8% stake in HSBC (BBG)

  • Nippon Life Insurance agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Corebridge Financial from AIG for ~$3.8B cash (BBG) 

  • Waste management firm WM is exploring a sale of its renewable natural gas business that could be worth ~$3B (RT) 

  • Oil and gas producer Crescent Energy agreed to acquire rival SilverBow Resources in a $2.1B all-stock deal (BBG) 

  • PE firm Roark Capital is exploring a sale of Primrose Schools at a ~$2B valuation, including debt (RT) 

  • Citrix Systems is exploring a sale of content-collaboration platform ShareFile that could fetch ~$1.5B (BBG) 

  • Johnson & Johnson will acquire biotech Proteologix in an $850M cash deal (RT) 

  • Blackstone agreed to buy a majority stake in Israeli enterprise SaaS company Priority Software at an $800M valuation (BBG) 

  • Brookfield India REIT will acquire a 50% stake in four Bharti Enterprises properties for $719M, including debt (RT) 

  • Lufthansa's $348M bid to buy a stake in Italian peer ITA is set to be vetoed by EU (RT) 

  • PE firm MBK Partners is considering selling Chinese spa and beauty clinic operator Siyanli in a several hundred million dollar deal (BBG) 

  • Palo Alto Networks will buy IBM’s QRadar cloud software assets for an undisclosed sum (CNBC)

VC

  • Vercel, a startup building a frontend cloud platform, raised a $250M Series E at a $3.25B valuation led by Accel (BW)

  • Cloud analytics platform Sigma raised a $200M Series D led by Spark Capital and Avenir Growth Capital (BW)

  • CRMBonus, a provider of a marketing automation platform, raised a $75M Series B led by BOND (FN)

  • PolyAI, a provider of enterprise voice assistants, raised a $50M Series C led by Hedosophia, NVentures, and Zendesk (PRN)

  • Agora, a provider of real estate investment management solutions, raised a $34M Series B led by Qumra Capital (FN)

  • Voxel51, a visual AI startup, raised a $30M Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners (PRN)

  • CoLab Software, a collaboration solutions for engineering and hardware dev teams, raised a $21M Series B led by Insight Partners (BW)

  • Aeropay, a provider of Pay-By-Bank solutions for businesses, raised a $20M Series B led by Group 11 (FN)

  • Maritime software startup Harbor Lab raised a $16M Series A led by Atomico (EU)

  • AI-powered presentation platform Gamma raised a $12M Series A led by Accel (FN)

  • NuLink, a data privacy solutions for Web3 dApps, raised $11.3M in funding led by DWF Labs, Poolz, and ViaBTC (FN)

  • Leya, a Swedish legal tech startup, raised a $10.5M seed round led by Benchmark (FN)

  • Home upkeep membership service Honey Homes raised a $9.3M Series A-1 led by Era Ventures (BW)

  • Battery technology startup Bedrock Materials raised a $9M seed round led by Trucks Venture Capital, Refactor Capital, and Version One Ventures (PRN)

  • Freight orchestration and procurement platform GoodShip raised an $8M Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BW)

  • ULEMCo, a startup converting commercial vehicles to run on hydrogen fuel, raised a $6.5M round led by Mercia Ventures (FN)

  • AI sizing technology startup Laws of Motion raised a $5M seed round from Corazon Capital, Sequoia Capital, and more (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Istanbul is planning to privatize their $10B Igdas gas grid in what could be Turkey's largest ever IPO (BBG) 

  • KKR-backed software company OneStream confidentially filed for a US IPO and is seeking an up to $6B valuation (BBG) 

  • GSK sold its remaining 4.2% stake in consumer healthcare company Haleon to raise ~$1.26B (FT) 

  • Chinese restaurant operator Super Hi raised $52.7M at a $1.26B valuation in its US IPO (RT)

Debt

  • Churchill Asset Management received $425M in financing from Dawson to fund PE LP liquidity (WSJ)

  • Carlyle agreed to buy ~$450M of consumer solar panel loans from financing company Sungage Financial (BBG) 

Crypto Corner

  • Millenium, Point72 and Elliot are among Bitcoin ETF buyers (BBG)

  • World’s largest futures exchange CME Group is planning to launch bitcoin trading (FT) 

Exec’s Picks

Litney Partners - Financial Recruiting 💼💼

If you're currently a junior investment banker looking to break into the buy side, considering lateraling to another investment bank, or have recently been impacted by widespread layoffs, it's time you check out Litney Partners, a partnership between Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates at leading private equity, hedge fund, venture capital, growth equity, and credit funds, as well as investment banks.

To get started, simply head over to the Litney website and create your profile by dropping your resume / filling out the form:

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