Together with

Good Morning,

Global M&A volumes hit it highest since Covid, private markets fundraising is slowing while hedge funds and crypto booms, BP made its largest O&G discovery this century, Tesla approved a $30B stock award for Musk, and Index Ventures is truly on one of the most generational runs in VC after its Figma exit.

UpSlide recently released Track Changes for PowerPoint to help you stay organized with edits and versioning during fire drills. Easily track, review, and approve changes so no mistakes make it to the client. Check out more here.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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

Markets

• US stocks rallied yesterday to recover from last week's late losses sparked by economic data concerns

  • All three major indexes had their best day since May 27

  • S&P snapped a four-day losing streak 

• US high-yield spreads are less than 50 bps above their 10-year low

• EM stocks rallied 0.9% as sentiment for risk assets rebounded on speculation that the Fed will resume rate cuts next month

  • EM currencies index rose 0.4% in its best day in over a month

Earnings

• Berkshire Hathaway reported a 4% drop in operating earnings, dragged down by insurance underwriting losses despite gains in its railroad, energy, and manufacturing units; the firm also took a $3.8B charge on its Kraft Heinz stake and was a net seller of stocks for an eleventh-straight quarter, keeping its $344B cash pile near record highs (CNBC)

• Palantir beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates, topping $1B in quarterly revenue for the first time as sales surged 48% and commercial revenue doubled; the company cited an 'astonishing' impact from AI and raised its FY outlook after closing 66 deals, with total contract value up 140% (CNBC)

• Hims & Hers Health reported beating Q2 earnings estimates but missed on revenue despite a 73% YoY sales increase as shareholders remain skeptical of outlook amid ongoing controversy over its sale of compounded GLP-1s, which remain unapproved by the FDA following resolution of brand-name drug shortages (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Pfizer, AMD, Caterpillar, Supermicro, BP, Rivian, Snap

  • Wednesday: Uber, McDonald's, AppLovin, Shopify, Novo Nordisk, DraftKings

  • Thursday: Eli Lilly, Celsius, Vistra, Sony

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Can't leave anything off the table anything with this administration.

• 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

• Ray Dalio urged Trump to reveal why he fired top BLS official (RT)

• Wall Street is warning investors to get ready for stocks to drop (BBG)

• Wavering US consumer and job market show risks to economy (BBG)

• Big Tech earnings strength is bright light in murky stock market (BBG)

• Private markets boom cools as hedge funds, crypto nab billions (BBG)

• PE worries that Trump might bundle crypto into 401(k) order (WSJ)

• Hedge fund LPs look to load up on Europe (BBG)

• Global M&A hit $2.6T YTD, a four-year high (RT)

• L/S funds rose, quants suffered, and multi-strats stayed steady in July (RT)

• Corporate insiders were dumping stocks into July's record rally (BBG)

• Burned credit investors find relief in cleaner, reworked debt (BBG)

• EM ETFs snapped a nine-week streak of inflows as tariffs weigh (BBG)

• Hong Kong ETFs in China saw record inflows on dip buying spree (BBG)

• US will fine banks for dropping customers for political reasons (WSJ)

• Index Ventures is striking gold (WSJ)

• Figma's pursuit of long-term backers kept IPO price in check (BBG)

• Fitch downgraded Intel to just two notches shy of junk (RT)

• Tesla approved a $30B stock award for Musk (BBG)

• BP will report on cost cuts as activist Elliott steps up pressure (FT)

• H.I.G. Capital poached four Morgan Stanley execs in secondaries push (PEI) 

• Lyft partnered with Baidu to launch robotaxis in Europe (BBG)

• Chinese manufacturers rethink south-east Asia pivot after US tariffs (FT)

• Luxury brands hit by drop in tourist spending in Europe and Japan (FT)

• BP made its largest O&G discovery in 25 years in Brazil waters (FT)

• Iran proposed slashing four zeros from currency (FT)

A Message from UpSlide

Pitch decks, CIMs, teasers – what's your record for versions of a single deck?

You and your team are constantly making changes under pressure. But tracking edits is still extremely manual and time-consuming, leading to deck versions in the triple digits with errors that you'll take the blame for.

That's why we built Track Changes for PowerPoint, a new UpSlide feature that helps investment banking teams speed up their review process and ensure quality – so no mistake makes it to the client's side.

It's already helping leading deal teams reduce versioning errors and speed up MD sign-off.

See it in action alongside other investment banking-focused automation features here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Fiber-optic cable maker Amphenol agreed to acquire the broadband and cable equipment division of CommScope in a $10.5B all-cash deal

• Singapore SWF GIC agreed to acquire a 25% stake in a fiber broadband JV owned by Europe's Masorange and  Zegona Communications' in a reported ~$8B deal

• PE firm Warburg Pincus joined Singapore-based SC Capital Partners in pursuing a potential acquisition of data center operator Global Switch Holdings, which could be valued at $6B-$7B, including debt

• PE firm Genstar is exploring a sale of Ford and GM‑backed automotive software provider OEConnection at a $5B valuation

• European investment firm LGT Capital Partners acquired a minority stake in communications and consulting firm Teneo at a ~$2.3B valuation

• Malaysia state-owned energy giant PETRONAS is seeking $1B for its 50% stake in Brazil's Tartaruga Verde oil field

• Crop trader Andersons acquired the remaining stake in its ethanol JV with Marathon Petroleum for $425M

• Apple-supplier Foxconn agreed to sell its Ohio plant for $375M

• Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca offered to buy WNBA team Connecticut Sun and move the team to Boston, valuing the franchise at a record $325M

• Bahrain's SWF Mumtalakat acquired a stake in Abu Dhabi investment firm BlueFive

VC

• OpenMind, a startup building an OS for humanoid robots, raised a $20M round led by Pantera Capital

• Streamline AI, an AI-powered intake and matter management platform for in-house legal teams, raised an $8.6M Series A led by Blumberg Capital

• Canadian cybersecurity startup Cavelo raised a $3.8M seed extension round led by Inovia Capital

• Mobile app and API security startup Approov raised a $6.7M Series A led by Maven Capital Partners

• PhnyX Lab, a GenAI startup for life science companies, raised a $4M seed round led by SK Networks

IPOs / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• French lender Credit Agricole raised its stake in Italy's Banco BPM to 20.1% after Italy's UniCredit dropped its takeover bid for Banco BPM

• Northrop Grumman-backed space startup Firefly raised its IPO target to $697M at a $6B valuation

• Crypto platform Bullish is seeking to raise $630M at a $4.2B valuation in a US IPO

• Spanish utility Naturgy is selling a 5.5% stake via a $578M treasury share offering

• Miami International Holdings, the parent of bourse operator MIAX, is seeking to raise $315M at a $1.67B valuation in a rare IPO

• Nigerian lender First HoldCo will sell shares held in a SPV as part of plans to raise 350 $230M in private placements this quarter

• Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi is seeking to acquire an additional 13.81% stake in seafood producer Thai Union for $205M

• Blockchain-based lender Figure Technology Solutions confidentially filed for an IPO

• Energy solutions company Lummus Technology confidentially filed for a US IPO

SPAC

• Trump family-backed manufacturing SPAC New America Acquisition I Corp filed for a $300M IPO

Debt 

• Pet products chain PetSmart launched a $1.7B leveraged loan as part of a $4.7B debt raise to refinance existing obligations

• Singapore-based SC Capital is lined up a $3B loan facility from Goldman Sachs for its possible Global Switch offer

• Godrej Properties, the real estate unit of Indian conglomerate Godrej, plans to raise $230M in its largest debt sale to date

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• NYC live music venue and festival owner Avant Gardner filed for Chapter 11 after failing to reopen its flagship outdoor stage Brooklyn Mirage

• Teen accessory chain Claire’s skipped the last two months of rent payments, paving the way for a Chapter 11 filing as soon as this week

Fundraising / Secondaries

• Carlyle raised $9B for its tenth real estate fund

• Healthcare investment firm OrbiMed $1.9B for its fifth royalty and credit fund to target growth-oriented healthcare companies across biopharma, medical devices, diagnostics, and tech-enabled health services

• PE firm New Mountain Capital is considering raising $1B for a continuation fund for water infrastructure firm Azuria Water Solutions

• MM PE firm Dextra Partners raised $825M for its seventh co-investment fund

• CRV, one of the world's oldest VC firms, raised $750M for its twentieth flagship fund

• Ex-JPMorgan private bankers launched Alta Vera Global Capital Advisors with $400M

• Cambridge Innovation Capital, the VC firm affiliated with University of Cambridge, pledged to invest $132M to invest in Cambridge-spinouts, part of the launch of its $330M Fund III

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Strategy acquired $2.5B in Bitcoin in its third-largest purchase ever

• CFTC is exploring letting futures exchanges trade spot crypto

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

Exec’s Picks

• Still spending more time cleaning data than using it? BMLL delivers clean, ready-to-use historical market data for trading and research.

  Download their free guide to learn what matters when choosing a data provider.

• For a few CEOs, pay keeps growing–by the billions.

• In a somewhat unpopular opinion, Craig Coben explained why Figma's IPO was actually fine.

• Trace Cohen shared some summary return multiples of Figma's VC backers.

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.

Meme Cleanser

🛒 Merch Store: Visit our merch store to shop our latest apparel, shoes, bags, accessories and more. 

💵 Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity's brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what's up? Buy his time here.

📧 Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend Beehiiv to get started.

*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.