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Good Morning,

Wall Street bonuses are set to hit another high, Citigroup is leading global IPO league tables, Anthropic's CEO took home $18M last year, a whistleblower who revealed Lutnick-Epstein ties died by suicide, SpaceX is raising $40B in debt to purchase Nvidia chips, and BofA is advising clients to pile in to what they see as a tech bubble.

Plaid's latest whitepaper explores what leaders at Databricks, Brex, and Plaid are doing differently to make AI work in production, considering that everyone has access to the same suit of models. It's an insightful read.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

• US stocks rallied yesterday as the yield surge to multi-year highs cooled

  • S&P hit a new ATH in its first since August

• Japan 10Y yield rose above 3% for the first time in 30 years

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Levi's

  • Thursday: PepsiCo

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Looks like the Republicans are speedrunning their way out of DC, especially with Trump's comments on the Iran war and Los Angeles and San Diego

• Get a $25 bonus with code LIT on signup, only on the Polymarket US app

Headline Roundup

• Wall Street bonuses are set to hit another high this year (WSJ)

• US trade gap widens to $105.6B as imports hit record (BBG)

• Companies have raised over $1T in ECM YTD for the second time ever (WSJ)

• Citigroup leads global IPO league tables YTD (BBG)

• BofA analysts see tech bubble brewing, advises clients to pile in (BBG)

• Traders reload bets on even higher bond yields after brief jolt (BBG)

• Surge in borrowing costs hits corporate America (FT)

• Deeply distressed US loans rise to highest level since Covid (BBG)

• IMF says hedge funds' market footprint is growing (RT)

• Bridgewater emerges as advocate for 'little guy' in AI debate (NYP)

• Apollo weighs larger role in sovereign lending as debt soars (BBG)

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei made $18M last year (RT)

• JPMorgan named ex-Goldman exec Rob Sweeney as ​a global chair of IB (RT)

• Palmer Luckey's Erebor surges to $7B in deposits since launch (FT)

• Companies are cutting jobs as investments shift toward AI (RT)

• Goldman Sachs and Man Group exposed in EY data breach (FT)

• Countries weigh banning smart glasses over privacy concerns (RT)

• The only billionaires making money this year are in tech (BBG)

• Trump will speak with Putin about pneumonic plague (AP)

• Whistleblower who revealed Lutnick-Epstein ties died by suicide (TT)

A Message from Plaid

It's not the AI, it's how you use it

Nowadays, pretty much everyone has access to the same AI models. And while that's great for the democratization of artificial intelligence (say that five times fast), it also means that using AI is no longer a method to get ahead. You need to build something different underneath it to stand out.

In their latest free whitepaper, leaders from Brex, Databricks, and Plaid explore what leading teams in the industry are doing differently to make the most of AI in finance. From leveraging behavioral data to opting for multiple agents to even 12x-ing output with a little thing called "AI governance," this free download covers everything any finance team needs to make the most of AI.

Download the whole Plaid whitepaper for free right here!

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• Paramount Skydance closed its historic $110B acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery

• CVC raised its take-private offer for Italian pharma firm Recordati SpA to $11.8B

• Hedge fund Blue Duck is pushing $10B-listed Snap to raise capital by selling a stake in its nascent Specs unit

• Blackstone, Bain Capital, and Warburg Pincus are preparing final bids for the real estate unit of Japanese broadcaster Fuji Media, which could fetch $6.3B

• Canadian utility Emera agreed to acquire Canadian Utilities in a $10B all-stock deal

• Drug distributor McKesson and PE firm CD&R will acquire infusion services provider ‌Option Care Health for $5.8B, including debt

• RedBird Capital Partners contributed $4B in new equity to fund Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery

• Publishing group Informa agreed to buy events business Clarion from Blackstone for $3B, including debt

• Energy Transfer agreed to buy Vaquero Midstream for $2.63B in cash and stock

• Uber will acquire catering firm ezCater for $2.3B cash

• Memory firm Seagate Technology and Toshiba are competing to acquire TDK's magnetic-heads business for hard-disk drives, which could fetch several billion dollars

• BDT & MSD Partners will acquire a majority stake in luxury senior-housing operator Sunrise Senior Living in a $1B deal

• The founding Fotovat family reacquired a minority stake in Canada-based snack maker Riverside Natural Foods from Prelude Growth Partners at a $1B valuation

• Trafigura and partners agreed to build a $300M high-voltage transmission line linking Zambia's power grid to the DRC copperbelt

• Abu Dhabi's International Resources Holdings made a cash bid for $280M-listed Irish minor Kenmare Resources

• Malaysian lender CIMB Group is exploring a sale of its Philippines business at a potential $200M valuation

• Portuguese investment firm Draycott will acquire Portuguese investment firm ECS from hedge fund Davidson Kempner

• Europe's top pro basketball league Euroleague rejected a merger offer from the NBA to create NBA Europe

• AT&T will form a fiber JV with BlackRock's GIP and Canada's CPPIB Pension Plan Investment ‌Board, as America's largest fiber provider looks to expand

VC

• Crypto exchange OKX raised new funding at a $25B valuation from Circle, Ripple, SC Ventures and Qube Research & Technologies

• Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is close to raising a $15B funding round led by CATL and Tencent

• AI cloud computing startup Lambda is raising a final $4B pre-IPO round at a $14.5B pre-money valuation before its listing

• Vinci, a physics AI foundation model and simulation software company, raised a $250M Series B at $1.5B valuation led by Advent, Temasek, and Xora

• Capitolis, a fintech for global capital markets, raised $220M comprising a $120M Series E at a $1.9B valuation led by Citi

• Type One Energy, a fusion power startup, raised a $200M Series B led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Clutterbuck Capital

• General Medicine, a nationwide healthcare store, raised a $120M Series B led by a16z

• Spiko, a provider of tokenized cash funds, raised a $90M Series B led by NEA

• Multiply Labs, a physical AI company automating complex biologics manufacturing processes, raised a $75M Series B led by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong

• Flai, an AI dealership software company, raised a $27M Series A led by Base10 Partners

• Furientis, a missile interceptor manufacturer, raised a $25M seed round at a $125M valuation led by Benchmark

• Melius, an AI creative production startup, raised $25M across a $5M seed led by General Catalyst and a $20M Series A led by CRV

• Navra, a financial technology company bridging traditional finance and blockchain, raised a $19M Series A led by Ribbit

• Avarra, an AI avatar platform for GTM teams, raised a $17M Series A led by Duration Ventures

• Mogul, a real estate investing platform, raised a $15.5M Series A at a $125.5M valuation led by Draper Associates

• Ampersand, an integration infrastructure for enterprise agents, raised a $15M Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners

• FYDY, an AI research startup, is in advanced talks to raise $12M from Lightspeed and General Catalyst

• Outer Spaces, a residential energy and modular outdoor-architecture company, raised an $8M pre-seed round led by Upfront Ventures

• Comparables.ai, an AI platform for private and public market intelligence, raised a $6M seed round led by Pragmatech and Araya Ventures

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Jio Platforms, the telecoms unit of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, may seek a $114B valuation in its record India IPO

• Chinese AI startup Moonshot plans to IPO in Hong Kong in Q1 after raising a pre-IPO round at a $50B valuation

• Bain Capital and Singapore SWF GIC are exploring an IPO or sale of for Japanese HR software firm WHI Holdings at a ‌$3.2B valuation

• Market values 7% stake in Sabadell at around €1.2 billion

• French lender BPCE took a 7% stake in Spanish lender Sabadell for $1.35B and will seek a board seat but not go beyond 9.9%

• Chinese AI video startup Kling picked banks for a $1B Hong Kong IPO

• Egyptian fintech unicorn MNT-Halan is seeking to raise $150M in an Egypt IPO of its Egypt unit in what could be Egypt's biggest IPO in five years

• Norway-based ASP Data Center is considering raising $100M in a Norway IPO

SPAC / SPV

• Stablecoin firm First Digital will merge with CSLM Digital Asset Acquisition Corp III in a $250M deal

Debt

• SpaceX is seeking ​to raise $40B in investment grade debt led by Apollo to purchase Nvidia chips

• Water tech firm Xylem sold $1.5B of senior notes to fund two pump acquisitions

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Ares is set to lose 50% of its ~$270M interest in TalkTalk after UK telecoms BT Group agreed to buy the telecoms firm out of insolvency.

• Global packaging firm Ardagh Group is weighing a sale of its African glass business following a takeover by creditors

Funds / Secondaries

• Dutch biotech VC Forbion raised $2.6B for Europe's largest life-sciences fund this year

• Quant hedge D.E. Shaw is seeking to raise $1B for its second Voltaic VC and growth fund

• Primavera Capital is in talks to raise a $1B CV anchored by a 30% discounted stake in Chinese tech giant ByteDance and fintech Ant Group with backing from SWF ADIA and EQT's Coller

• South African PE firm Infinite Partners raised $170M for its second fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Crypto custodian BitGo bets on prime brokerage for growth

• 'Most dangerous product in crypto' perps vexes Singapore

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

Exec's Picks

• ICYMI: Deal teams on F2 go from data room to term sheet in hours, with sensitivities and downside cases still run on every deal. Screening now takes an afternoon.Book a demo.

• Ever wonder why all the major insurance companies have mascots? You're not alone. Check out Jeff Maurer's take on this mystery.

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.