It’s Gemini Season

Together with

Good Morning,

Anthropic's co-founder revolutionized workplace conflict management, Trump resumed his attacks on J Pow, Google employees are skeptical of their own latest model, and Sam Altman is asking for investors to be patient as it delays its IPO.

The team at my recruiting firm Litney Partners has been unusually productive this season and we have yet another incredible mandate for junior finance folks looking for a switch. We're helping hire a junior IR associate at one the most prestigious quant hedge funds globally and would love to connect with anyone interested in the role. You can learn more below

Today's letter is brought to you by F2, the agentic operating system for global credit. Golub Capital has selected F2 to power its next $100B in assets, bringing model-agnostic AI to one of private credit's most prominent firms.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stock indexes reversed gains to close mixed yesterday after strong economic data paved way for further Fed rate hikes

  • Equal-weight S&P 500 is set for a rare seventh-consecutive weekly drop

• Global stocks are just 2% off ATHs and up 12% YTD despite AI fears, oil woes, and soaring yields

• Global government bonds posted their worst quarter since 2024

  • US 10Y and 30Y yields hit their highest since 2002

• Korea's KOSPI index lost 20% in Q3 as the world's worst stock index

  • The index is nonetheless up 60% YTD

Earnings

• Micron beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates and gave strong guidance as data center revenue jumped 11x (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Nike, Accenture

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Traders reduced odds of a second Fed rate hike this month after a cooler than expected inflation reading. Though strong economic data could still incentivize tightening

• Deposit $10 and get a $20 bonus with code LIT on signup, only on the Polymarket US app

Headline Roundup

• Anthropic co-founder Daniela Amodei and husband use stuffed-animal 'advisory council' for workplace conflicts (NYP)

• Ken Griffin donates record $3B to Carnegie Mellon for Miami campus (CNBC)

• Once Goldman reject is set to become bank's next CEO (WSJ)

• US consumer spending jumped by the most in a year (BBG)

• Fed-favorite PCE index rose just 3.4% YoY (CNBC)

• US private payrolls growth picks up in September (RT)

• Trump says J Pow should be forced to resign from Fed board (BBG)

• US is set to unveil a $200B Korea investment from Korea (BBG)

• Wall Street's trading desks come down from a record high (WSJ)

• Munis managers tout equity-like returns after historic selloff (BBG)

• Bank lending to Europe businesses halved in August (WSJ)

• Record quarter primes India IPO market for blockbuster year (BBG)

• SEC proposes performance fees for retail funds in private markets push (FT)

• Robinhood will allow 24/7 trading of US stocks (RT)

• OpenAI investors are patient on IPO amid safety focus (BBG)

• Google grapples with employee skepticism about new Gemini model (BBG)

• Google announces Gemini 4 AI model after months of delays (CNBC)

• OpenAI blames Moonshot for mass data extraction on its AI models (BBG)

• College students flex their power in AI investment frenzy (NYT)

• Convicted insider trader arrested in Dubai after fleeing France (BBG)

• Omani pilot stabbed co-pilot to attempt plane hijacking for terrorist attack (NYP)

A Message from F2

Golub Capital chose F2 to power its next $100B in assets

Golub Capital is putting AI at the center of its next chapter. Its investment comes on top of it's purchase and firm wide rollout of F2, and aims to secure a strategic advantage in agentic solutions for direct lending.

The partnership reflects three priorities for global credit:

• Purpose-built AI: F2's operating system handles the complex workflows of private markets and global credit.

• AI sovereignty: F2's adaptive, model-agnostic harness accesses the latest frontier and open-source models while protecting proprietary data through zero data retention and zero model training.

• Unlocking trapped knowledge: F2's top-bucket deal agent, Adam, acts as a senior MD from day one. He draws on precedent deals and captures future decisions, keeping the firm's deal history in persistent, proprietary context.

Golub Capital's investment and rollout mark a turning point for how large firms deploy agentic AI across sensitive, proprietary workflows.

Schedule a demo with the F2 team.

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• The Weston family is close to acquiring UK ‌pharmacy chain Boots from Walgreens-owner Sycamore Partners for $9B, including debt

• French PE firm Harrison Street will acquire US-based Vicinity ​Energy from Antin Infrastructure at a $2.9B valuation, including debt

• UK real assets investor Actis plans to invest $2B into a new renewable energy business in India

• Partners Group is exploring a$1.7B sale of Finnish modular building maker Parmaco

• Japanese pharmaceutical wholesaler Toho Holdings is in talks to acquire KKR-backed medical device maker PHC Holdings Corp. for $1.3B, representing a 20% premium

• Hormel Foods will acquire chicken company Brakebush Brothers for $1B

• Singapore SWF GIC acquired 16 Marriott hotels in Japan for $800M

• French car parts supplier OPmobility agreed to buy Hyundai Mobis' lighting business for $444M

• Brazilian healthcare firm Hapvida is exploring a $290M sale-and-leaseback transaction of some of its hospitals

• Grindr will acquire HIV-prevention tele-health provider Freddie in a $250M cash-and-stock deal

• Slovakia approved a $214M funding to buyout Czech energy conglomerate CEZ's 49% stake in Jadrová energetická spoločnosť Slovenska, the company set up to build the country's new nuclear reactor

• UK PE firm Aspirity Partners will acquire a majority stake Danish IoT infrastructure and connectivity company Onomondo in an over $110M deal

• Lufthansa and Air France-KLM submitted improved final offers for a 49.9% stake in the privatization of Portuguese airline TAP

• Altor-backed Norwegian battery materials supplier Vianode is exploring a partnership or sale

• Belgium will extend negotiations to buy the nuclear utility ​assets from French power ‌utility Engie

• Legal AI company Clio acquired judge-focused AI startup ​Learned ​Hand

• UK's regulator will accept remedies offered by retailer ​Co-operative Group to address the concerns ‌raised over its takeover of regional operator Southern Co-operative

• Glencore, Peabody Energy, and investment firm Heeney Capital and miner Drummond are weighing bids for coal producing assets in Venezuela

VC

• AI voice startup ElevenLabs sold $300M of secondary shares at a $22B valuation led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price

• Novig, the sports-focused prediction market that partnered with Sydney Sweeney, raised new funding at a $2B valuation

• Humaitech, a document intelligence startup, raised a $25M Series A from Vertex Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures

• OuterSignal, the agentic customer intelligence platform, raised a $22M Series A co-led by Long Journey Ventures and Abstract Ventures

• Zenithon AI, an AI startup developing world models for extreme physics, raised $10M from BACKED, Lunar, Seraphim, MMC and others

• Blue Fire AI, a Singapore-based developer of neuro-symbolic AI decision engines for financial markets, raised $9M in funding from Asset Management One and others

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Largest shareholder RAG Foundation could sell its entire 43% stake in $11B-listed German chemicals firm Evonik as peer BASF pursues a takeover

• Coca-Cola is considering filing for an India IPO of its Indian bottling unit Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages in December, which could raise $1B at a $10B valuation

• India's Inox Clean Energy filed for a $1B India IPO

• Olympus Partners-backed data center infrastructure firm Accelevation raised $540M for a $4B valuation in an IPO priced below its marketed range

• Barrick Mining Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mark Hill said the company's planned North American gold IPO could slip into January.

• Bill Ackman is looking to raise third-party capital to help boost returns at $4.4B-listed real estate developer Howard Hughes Holdings

Debt

• Paramount Skydance is set to raise $44B in bond sales, part of a $52B debt package for its $110B acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery

• Tesla lined up $30B of new loans and credit lines to dial up investments in AI and robotics

• A group of banks led by Bank of America and Deutsche Bank offered a rare omniblocker concession to help get a $3.2B financing deal for Platinum Equity's $2.9B acquisition of a 50% stake in Nestle's water business

• Deutsche Bank is working on a SRT tied to $2B of fund financing

• European Investment Bank and French lender BNP Paribas will mobilize a combined $800M in guarantees for European electricity ‌grid manufacturers

• Gabon is again seeking to raise $580M in dollar bonds

• Brazilian iron ore giant Vale is considering raising $520M in a debut panda bond sale

• PGIM, the asset management arm of Prudential Financial, secured limits on AI-related debt for a $500M CLO issued by insurer Allstate that it anchored last week

• Canadian hedge fund Polar Asset Management Partners entered the residential MBS market with a $305M

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Banks postponed an offering to amend and extend a $4.13B loan for CD&R-backed construction supplies distributor White Cap

• Nuveen dumped $190M of debt of bankrupt Florida high-speed rail Brightline at 45¢

• Pool supplier Leslie's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to cut 90% of debt and hand control to creditors including Grey Helm Capital, Axar Capital Management, Cerberus, and Contrarian Capital Management

• China Evergrande entered an exclusivity agreement for a potential sell-down of its stake in its property services unit

• Car rental firm Hertz Global hired PJT Partners to extend debt maturities as $2.7B comes due in 2028

Funds / Secondaries

• TPG raised $10B for its second climate-focused PE fund

• Windrise Capital, the new hedge fund of ex-GIC commodities PM Hao Dong, is seeking to raise $200M-$300M to invest in raw materials and other assets

• France's Access Capital plans to launch a second secondaries fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Visa, Stripe, Shopify, Coinbase, and Mastercard launched a new crypto stablecoin Open USD

• Papertrade, a perps exchange that rewards you for losing, launches this month

• SEC accused two firms of fake WhatsApp-fueled trades that bilked investors

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

Junior IR Associate - Quant Hedge Fund

We are working with one of the most renowned global quant hedge funds to help hire a motivated Sales and Relationship Management Associate to join its Investor Relations team in NYC.

This individual will play a critical role in cultivating and managing relationships with clients and prospects, supporting commercial initiatives, and contributing to the firm's business development efforts in a collegial, fast-paced environment.

The ideal candidate will have:

• 1-4 years of financial markets experience with a strong record of academic and professional achievement

• Well-developed written and verbal communication skills, proven project management skills, and keen attention to detail

• Ambitious, business-minded approach with a readiness to take initiative and grow professionally in a rigorous environment

• Familiarity with financial concepts and language

If this sounds like you, we'd love to get in touch. You can learn more, pass it along to friends, or apply below.

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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.