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Good Morning,

Amazon is building a fully in-house supercomputer, South Korea vowed unlimited liquidity amid 'martial law' political turmoil, Zuckerberg is seeking an active role in Trump's tech policies, BlackRock acquired HPS, and Nomura execs took voluntary pay cuts after the most bizarre employee crash-out ever.

Move on from the daily deluge of tedious tasks and streamline all your investment processes with BlueFlame AI, a bespoke enterprise GenAI for private markets.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed mixed yesterday as investors digested Fed comments and this week's early economic data

  • S&P and Nasdaq notched fresh ATHs

• South Korea's KOSPI index fell 1.3% after the president declared then lifted martial law

Earnings

• Salesforce jumped 10% after beating Q3 revenue estimates and forecasting a strong Q4 as it successfully pivots its AI strategy to focus on 'agents' (BBG) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Dollar Tree, RBC

  • Thursday: TD Bank Group, Kroger, lululemon, Dollar General

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Nomura CEO apologized after ex-banker was charged with arson, attempted murder and robbery of clients (FT)

• Job openings rose while layoffs dropped to a 1.5 year low (RT)

• Fed policymakers steered clear of December rate cut guidance (RT)

• South Korea vowed 'unlimited' liquidity amid political turmoil (RT)

• Bankers prepare for globalization 'reset' in second Trump presidency (RT)

• JPMorgan clients boosted long US bond bets to the highest in a year (BBG)

• Developing countries' record $1.4T debt service bill squeezes budgets (RT)

• China tech stocks are losing out in hunt for AI winners (BBG)

• China retaliated against US chip restrictions (FT)

• Chinese industry groups say US chips are 'no longer safe' (RT)

• China-Saudi ties are being buoyed by green tech (FT)

• Amazon announced a supercomputer, powered by in-house AI chips (WSJ)

• Nvidia is looking to M&A deals as use for growing cash hoard (RT)

• Amazon announced a new slate of AI models (RT)

• Intel is considering handful of outsiders for CEO (BBG)

• Zuckerberg is seeking an 'active role' in Trump's tech policies (FT)

• Fidelity marked up the value of its X / Twitter stake (AX)

• StanChart is targeting $200B in new wealth assets over next five years (RT)

• Utah ordered three insurers to cease new business after 777 Partners' debacle (FT)

• Meta says GenAI had minimal impact on global elections this year (RT)

• Meta is seeking nuclear power to meet AI demand (RT)

• Nearly 100k Volkswagen worked striked across Germany (RT)

• Microsoft was sued for $1.3B over cloud antitrust in UK (WSJ)

• Chinese hackers are still lingering inside telecom firms (BBG)

• Campbell CEO was named president of Washington Commanders (BBG)

A Message from BlueFlame

Unlock the Power of Your Firm's Collective Knowledge with BlueFlame AI

BlueFlame AI is a GenAI solution for private markets, designed to harness the vast knowledge accumulated within your firm.

• Search everywhere: access and aggregate information from all sources

  • Entire shared drives (Box, Dropbox, Egnyte)

  • CRM systems (Deal Cloud, Salesforce)

  • Outlook emails and calendar

  • Market data platforms (CapIQ, PitchBook, Grata)

  • Google and news feeds

  • Pre-loaded 10-Ks/Qs and earnings transcripts

• Knowledge management:

  • Build and organize libraries of CIMs, board decks, expert network transcripts, C-suite candidate resumes, and more

  • Quickly retrieve prior deal data and portfolio company financials

  • Identify research insights and trends across your firm's data

• Intelligent output:

  • Generate reports in template PowerPoint or Word formats

  • Automate tedious tasks like data aggregation for valuations / comps

BlueFlame AI empowers your team to effortlessly navigate your firm's collective intelligence, enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency.

Experience the transformative power of BlueFlame AI. Request a demo today and revolutionize how you leverage your firm's knowledge.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• BlackRock agreed to acquire $150B AUM private credit firm HPS Investment Partners in a $12B all-stock deal

• Apollo-owned packaging firm Novolex is exploring a potential takeover offer for $2.6B-listed peer Pactiv Evergreen

• PE firm JC Flowers and SWF QIA are exploring a $2.5B sale for UK specialist insurance group Inigo

• Trinity Investments is considering an acquisition of $2.4B-listed hotel REIT Sunstone Hotel Investors

• TotalEnergies is nearing an acquisition of German renewable project developer VSB Group from PE firm Partners Group for ~$2.1B

• TPG is weighing a sale of gym chain Crunch Fitness at an over $1.5B valuation, including debt

• Kazakhstan's RG Gold is considering a minority stake sale at a $1B-$2B valuation

• French infrastructure PE firm InfraVia is in talks to acquire a 50% stake in telecom group Iliad's data center business OpCore at a $904M EV

• Real estate brokerage Compass agreed to buy Christie's International Real Estate, @properties and other businesses in a $444M cash-and-stock deal

• Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining will buy a 30% stake in Rio Tinto's Winu copper-gold project in Australia for $399M 

• Carlsberg agreed to sell its Russian Baltika Breweries business to management in a $321M deal

• Canada's OMERS will acquire a majority stake in cybersecurity and IT consultant Integris from PE firm Frontenac Company

• US spirits company Sazerac will acquire the Svedka vodka brand from Constellation Brands

• Carlyle, King Street and Davidson Kempner are reviving a sale of the world's biggest seaplane firm Trans Maldivian Airways 

• Wells Fargo will sell its San Francisco HQ 420 Montgomery St.

VC

• KPay, a financial management platform for SMEs, raised a $55M Series A led by Apis Partners 

• Last mile delivery solutions provider OneRail raised a $42M Series C led by Aliment Capital

• Yurts, an AI chatbot for US DOD, raised a $40M Series B led by XYZ Venture Capital

• DPL Financial Partners, a platform for commission-free annuities, raised a $23M Series C led by Eos Ventures

• Konsileo, a chartered commercial broker, raised an $11M round led by Committed Capital and ACF Investors

• Brighty, a Swiss digital finance platform, raised a $10M round from Futurecraft Ventures

• bananaz, a startup redefining design change management for R&D teams, raised a $5.3M seed round from 10D and Cardumen Capital

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• The proposed $60B MBO of 7-Eleven-owner Seven & i includes plans for a potential $6.7B IPO of its US 7-Eleven locations

• Home service software firm ServiceTitan is seeking to raise $502M in a US IPO

• Saudi financial services firm United International Holding jumped 30% in its trading debut after its $264M IPO

SPAC

• AI-powered retail solutions provider VenHub Global will merge with Target Global Acquisition I Corp. in a $715M deal

Debt 

• CVS is in talks to raise $2B-$2.5B in a bond sale

• Brookfield acquired a ~$1B portfolio of property loans from Valley National Bank

• Blackstone is refinancing $550M of munis tied to NYC skyscraper 8 Spruce St.

• Prudential Financial acquired a $500M portfolio of consumer loans from BNPL lender Affirm 

• Hong Kong real estate developer Parkview Group is seeking to raise $360M in private credit to refinance a bank loan

Fundraising

• South African-Australian PE firm LeapFrog Investments closed its fourth fund at $1B to invest in EM healthcare and financial services

Crypto Corner

• Asset managers are rushing to file for 'risk-averse' crypto ETFs (FT)

• Defunct crypto lender Celsius' founder Alex Mashinsky pleaded guilty to fraud (BBG)

• XRP, Bitcoin and Dogecoin volatility drove crypto liquidations to $588M (DC)

Exec’s Picks

• Invest in the backbone of the digital economy fueling Bitcoin, AI and global data centers. Chicago Atlantic Digital Mining Fund offers 32% historical annualized returns with monthly distributions, leveraging appreciating energy infrastructure in a power-starved market – Invest now to lock in 2024's 60% bonus depreciation.

• WSJ uncovered how Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle with no ties to Michigan, helped the Wolverines land the nation's #1 QB.

• Bloomberg published an interesting opinion piece on how investment banks are poised to lose billions to private credit rivals.

• Larry Swedroe wrote another great piece on how to find and capitalize on asset-pricing anomalies.

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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