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Good Morning,

Musk departed DOGE, Delaware hired an investment bank to advise on OpenAI's conversion, UK will force pensions to invest in PE, Shein may now IPO in Hong Kong, and Trump blasted a journalist for accusing him of fueling the Wall Street 'TACO' trade.

The implications of that accusation would likely be severe if a federal court didn't also strike down all US reciprocal tariffs anyway. But here we are back to square one.

The summer Wharton Online-Wall Street Prep Private Equity Certificate Program is right around the corner! Level up your PE skillset in the globally acclaimed Private Equity Certificate Program and save with our Litquidity discount! Learn more below.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks slipped yesterday as investors digested corporate earnings and Fed meeting minutes

• Gold fell for fourth-straight day

Earnings

• Nvidia beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on a 73% rise in data center sales despite US export restrictions to China (CNBC)

• Salesforce issued a Q1 beat and raise on strength in its Agentforce platform; the firm announced an $8B acquisition of Informatica in its largest M&A since Slack (CNBC)

• Macy's beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates with a smaller-than-expected drop in comparable-store sales and maintained its FY outlook despite tariffs and weak discretionary spending as its expects modest price hikes (BBG)

• DICK'S Sporting Goods beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on a 4.5% rise in comparable sales and reaffirmed FY guidance despite tariffs and plans to acquire Foot Locker, expecting $100M-$125M in cost synergies (CNBC)

• Abercrombie & Fitch beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates as Hollister sales jumped 22% to a record Q1 high; it raised its FY outlook despite tariff headwinds and said it does not plan broad-based price hikes (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Dell, Costco, BestBuy, Foot Locker, Kohl’s

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Everything is always priced in, nothing ever happens, etc. etc.

• 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 fumed at accusations of fueling stock market 'TACO' trade (CNBC)

• Federal court struck down US reciprocal tariffs (CNBC)

• Elon Musk departed DOGE (CNBC)

• Fed warned of 'difficult tradeoffs' if tariffs stoke inflation (CNBC)

• US banking industry profits rose 5.8% in Q1 (RT)

• BOJ's bond paper losses rose 300% YoY to a record high (BBG)

• Small-cap IPO deals are up 28% YoY (BBG)

• US 5Y Treasuries auction saw solid demand (BBG)

• Japan's 40Y bond sale drew weakest demand since July (FT)

• UK plans to force UK pensions to invest in private markets (BBG)

• LVMH warned Chinese consumers are pulling back on spending (BBG)

• Delaware is hiring an investment bank to advise on OpenAI conversion (WSJ)

• Jefferies poached four senior tech bankers from Guggenheim (RT)

• OpenAI's new structure opens door for potential IPO (RT)

• Meta AI hit 1B MAU (CNBC)

• Musk tried to block OpenAI's big Middle East AI deal (WSJ)

• NJ's American Dream mall value fell by $800M to $2.5B (BBG)

• Pension fund investors demanded Musk work 40-hour week at Tesla (FT)

• Anthropic named Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to the board (BBG)

• Instacart named insider Chris Rogers as new CEO (BBG)

• Robinhood is expanding desktop trading platform to UK customers (BBG)

• Fed survey found about 73% of Americans are doing at least 'OK' (BBG)

• US said Harvard should cap foreign students at 15% (BBG)

• US will 'aggressively' revoke Chinese student visas (FT)

A Message from Wall Street Prep

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You've built the models, sat in on the deals, and proven yourself in high-stakes environments.

But if the next step in your career feels unclear, you’re not alone.

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• Develop skills to assess and execute private transactions with the same depth and rigor used by leading firms.

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• Train like the pros at Blackstone, Carlyle, and KKR, using the same frameworks and LBO models they use to structure deals, forecast performance, and drive portfolio returns.

It's a globally recognized credential you can complete in just 8 weeks–on your schedule, with content you'll apply long after the program ends.

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Chip-design company Synopsys received conditional FTC approval for its $34B acquisition of software developer Ansys, contingent on selling assets to Keysight Technologies

• Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, and PE firms Apollo and Lone Star Funds are showing interest in acquiring BP's Castrol lubricant unit, which could be valued between $8B-$10B

• Warburg Pincus is in talks to team up with KPS Capital Partners on a bid for $2.5B-listed German pharma packaging firm Gerresheimer

• PE firm Advent is in exclusive talks to acquire French broker Kereis from Bridgepoint Group for over $2.3B, including debt

• $2B UK-listed data analytics firm GlobalData extended a deadline for PE firm ICG to make a takeover offer after ending talks with KKR 

• PE firm Vista Equity Partners is nearing deal to acquire software maker Acumatica from EQT for a $2B, including debt

• Belgian oil tanker group CMB Tech agreed to acquire shipping firm Golden Ocean Group in a $1.5B stock-for-stock deal, with CMB shareholders owning 70% of the merged entity

• Asian PE firm FountainVest is seeking to raise up to ~$1.3B by selling ~50% of its stake in sporting goods maker Amer Sports 

• Insurance firm Acrisure agreed to acquire software provider Heartland Payroll Solutions from Global Payments for $1.1B in cash to expand its fintech services

• Cosmetics firm Elf Beauty will acquire Hailey Bieber’s Rhode beauty brand in a $1B, cash and stock deal

• North Atlantic France is in exclusive talks to buy ExxonMobil’s 82.89% stake in French unit Esso for ~$350M

• AMD acquired silicon photonics startup Enosemi

• Cantor Fitzgerald acquired UBS's alternatives investment platform O'Connor, which manages ~$11B across private credit, hedge funds, and commodities

VC

• Elon Musk's brain implant startup Neuralink raised a $600M round at a $9B valuation from Founders Fund, GV, and several SWFs

• Messaging app Telegram received a $300M investment from Elon Musk’s xAI ()

• Grin Therapeutics, a startup developing therapies to treat neuro-developmental disorders, raised a $140M Series D led by Angelini Pharma and Blackstone Life Sciences

• Hex, an AI-powered workspace for data science and analytics, raised a $70M Series C led by Avra

• CloudZero, a startup helping companies optimize cloud costs, raised a $56M Series C led by BlueCrest Capital Management and Innovius Capital 

• Wander, a startup centralizing vacation rental management, raised a $50M Series B led by QED Investors and Fifth Wall

• Cerby, a platform for identity security automation, raised a $40M Series B led by DTCP

• Conduit, a payments firm building a global payment infrastructure using stablecoins, raised a $36M Series A led by Dragonfly and Altos Ventures

• Bloq.it, a Portuguese smart locker company providing end-to-end services for out-of-home delivery and e-commerce businesses, raised a $31.5M Series B

• Rillet, a startup using AI to automate accounting reports, raised a $25M Series A led by Sequoia

• Creatify, an AI platform for video advertising, raised a $15.5M Series A led by WndrCo and Kindred Ventures

• Palla, a payments platform enabling instant cross-border payments for global financial institutions and fintechs, raised a $14.5M Series A led by Revolution Ventures

• Amplitude Studios, a French game studio, raised a $13.5M Series A led by Griffin Gaming Partners

• Inven, a Finnish AI startup building a deal sourcing platform, raised an $12.5M Series A led by Ventech and Vendep Capital

• Applied Computing, a UK AI startup for O&G and petrochemicals, raised a $12M seed round led by Stride.VC

• AI-powered office suite startup Context raised an $11M seed round at a $70M valuation led by Lux Capital

• Unleash live, an Australian real-time video analytics and ML AI platform for infrastructure and field operations, raised an $11M Series B

• Fintech infrastructure platform Velocity raised a $10M pre-seed round led by Activant Capital

• Swedish construction logistics startup Alrik raised a $7.8M round led by People Ventures

• AI-driven neurological diagnostic platform Brainreader raised a $7.4M round led by Dahlgren Capital

• Outmin, an Irish startup automating financial data production, raised $4.5M in funding led by Praetura Ventures

• Ankar, a UK AI platform for inventors, raised a $4M seed round led by Index Ventures

• Oncade, a platform for game distribution, raised a $4M seed round led by a16z

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• BlackRock will anchor stablecoin issuer Circle's $624M IPO with a 10% share purchase

• Dubai Holding's $584M residential REIT IPO surged 14% on debut as strong demand led to an upsized offering from $487M amid a booming property market

• Cybersecurity firm Netskope plans to raise over $500M in an IPO

• China's Tencent Music will become the second-largest shareholder of major K-pop agency SM Entertainment after a $177M share purchase from Korean entertainment firm Hybe 

• Shein is weighing a switch of its planned IPO from London to Hong Kong amid delays with Chinese regulatory approvals; its earlier US listing plan was also derailed

Debt

• Struggling Hong Kong developer New World Development is in talks to raise $11B in debt refinancing from over 50 banks, with failure to reach a deal risking destabilization of Hong Kong's financial system

• Elite colleges including Harvard and MIT raised over $4B in new debt since March amid US funding freezes

• Messaging app Telegram is set to raise $1.5B in a US bond sale to investors including Citadel, BlackRock, and Mubadala despite its CEO facing a criminal investigation in France

• Argentina sold ~$1B in peso-denominated bonds offered in dollars to foreign investors in its first such sale since 2019

• India's Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone plans to raise $585M in its largest local bond sale yet

• Real estate credit investment platform Bravo Property Trust partnered with a Middle East SWF to finance $400M in US property loans

• European PE firm EQT raised a $162M loan from 16 banks to fund a dividend recap to shareholders of Indian fertility services provider Indira

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Brazilian airline Azul filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeking to restructure over $2B in debt with $1.6B in financing and plans to raise up to $650M in an equity offering upon exit; United Airlines and American Airlines plan to invest up to $300M in equity

• Fiber-network provider Everstream filed for bankruptcy with ~$1.1B in debt and 21x leverage; Bluebird Fiber made a stalking-horse bid at $285M and lenders pledged $55M in DIP financing

• US canceled a $3B loan guarantee to solar developer Sunnova Energy, which has used less than $400M of the facility and is preparing for an imminent bankruptcy

Fundraising / Secondaries

• LVMH-backed PE firm L Catterton raised a record $11B across a tenth $6.75B flagship buyout fund, a fifth growth fund, a fifth Europe fund, new Japan and China onshore funds, and its credit fund 

• Saudi Arabia's state-owned AI company Humain plans to launch a $10B VC fund to invest in US, Europe, and Asia startups

• Taiwanese insurer Fubon sold PE and infrastructure LP stakes across nine funds worth over $1B to investment firm Hamilton Lane

• Secondaries specialist Coller Capital is securitizing ~$1B of PE secondary fund stakes in its second collateralized fund obligation deal this year

• L Catterton plans to raise $600M for its first India-dedicated fund

• LatAm alternative asset manager Patria Investments raised $314M for its first LatAm-focused private credit fund, deploying half to lend US dollars to regional companies

• Dutch software focused PE firm Main Capital raised a $585M multi-asset continuation fund for three PortCos co-led by Lexington Partners, StepStone Group, and Trinity River Holdings

• Canadian PE firm TriWest Capital raised $235M for its sixth middle-market fund

• MM PE firm Virent Capital debuted, with L2 co-founder Bob Levine serving as an anchor investor

• Dutch wealth manager Van Lanschot Kempen launched a new secondaries-focused evergreen PE fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• US axed Biden-era barrier for crypto in 401(k) plans

• Bitcoin rally is encouraging more firms to acquire crypto

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

Exec’s Picks

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• While the memes of retails degen TikTok options traders are always hilarious, the reality is that financial education is actually working. Dumb money isn't so dumb anymore.

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.

We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

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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.