The Week Ahead Of Us 🔍

Welcome back.

In what comes as a surprise to no one, the U.S. and Iran traded strikes again while the markets were closed. The U.S. conducted its largest set of strikes since the initial April ceasefire, focusing primarily on military targets, with Iran retaliating against U.S.-aligned Middle East countries. Futures are down slightly and Oil up is 3% to nearly $74/bbl.

On the AI side, Anthropic is keeping increased Fable 5 Access through July 19th. While we have not seen a confirmed ARR number from Anthropic in a while, SemiAnalysis believes Anthropic ARR is >$60B and Yipit estimates its $69B which is well above the $47B number estimated back in May. Model enhancements, coupled with this dramatic ARR growth, are why we remain broadly constructive despite recent AI-related pullbacks.

On a separate note, Satya Nadella’s note this morning on X is front of mind for us. The Microsoft CEO echoed many of the points angrily brought up by Palantir’s Alex Karp recently - covering the fact that Enterprises shouldn’t be throwing their data into an LLM that could potentially disrupt and compete with their business. Satya is arguing that buyers are risking revealing their own IP to model providers and that companies need a “trust boundary” to exist to retain IP and finetune their own models so they’re not locked into one model. Obviously, Microsoft wants to serve as the orchestration layer, and also benefits as a cloud computing provider.

Clearly, a storm is coming. Anthropic is growing rapidly, but C-Suites may value decentralization, being model-agnostic, and control more. This is going to be a crucial narrative over the next year.

We’ve got a big week ahead with 2Q earnings dropping from the Banks plus inflation numbers.

Let’s get into it.

Here’s a look at earnings this week.

• Tuesday: J P Morgan Chase & Co, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citigroup

• Wednesday: ASML, Johnson & Johnson, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, The Bank Of New York Mellon, PNC Financial Services, Elevance, Cintas, United Airlines

• Thursday: Taiwan Semiconductor, UnitedHealth Group, GE Aerospace, Netflix, Abbott Laboratories, State Street, Citizens Financial,

• Friday: The Travelers Companies, Truist Financial

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Monday: Monthly U.S. federal budget (-126.0B)

• Tuesday: NFIB optimism index (95.8), Consumer price index (-0.2%), CPI y/y (3.8%), Core CPI (-0.2%), Core CPI y/y (2.8)

• Wednesday: Producer price index (-0.2%), Core PPI (0.3%), PPI y/y, Empire State manufacturing survey (9.4), Fed Beige Book

• Thursday: U.S. retail sales (0.2%), Retail sales minus autos (0.0%), Initial jobless claims (218,000), Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey (9.5), Pending home sales (-0.1%), Business inventories (0.3%)

• Friday: Import price index (0.8%), Import price index minus fuel, Housing starts (1.31M), Building permits (1.41M), Industrial production (0.3%), Capacity utilization (76.3%), Consumer sentiment prelim (50.5), Home builder confidence index (35)

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Today’s Jobs:

1. Rallyday Partners is hiring a Private Equity Associate (Denver, Colorado)

2. A Family Office is hiring a Private Equity Associate or VP (Dallas, TX)

3. Goldman is hiring a Healthcare IB Associate and FIG IB Associate (NY)

4. Antares is hiring a Loan Operations Lead (Chicago)

Read our Long-Form and Credit Research Newsletter

Have you read High Yield Harry’s Newsletter yet? It’s a twice-a-week newsletter covering credit research, restructuring content, and educational investment content.

Very detailed investment banking recruiting resources will be added to the newsletter soon:

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Delta $DAL ( ▼ 1.81% ) revenue beat at $17.67B vs. $17.53B, while EPS beat at $1.56 vs. $1.48. Results were driven by strong travel demand, particularly for premium and corporate travel, as strong travel demand and limited industry capacity kept airfares elevated, allowing Delta to pass about 60% of its higher fuel costs on to customers despite recording its highest quarterly fuel expense ever. Revenue also outpaced capacity growth, reflecting continued pricing power rather than aggressive expansion. Management reaffirmed full year EPS guidance of $6.50–$7.50, expecting fares to remain firm as disciplined industry capacity allows airlines to recover an even greater share of higher fuel costs through the remainder of the year.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Ondas $ONDS ( ▼ 5.1% ) fell after announcing an $875M acquisition of DZYNE Technologies, which expanded its defense capabilities and manufacturing scale but triggered dilution concerns.

• Cerebras $CBRS ( ▲ 8.34% ) extended its rally on continued momentum from a Flex partnership that targets ~7x CS-3 supercomputer production by 2026 and European AI infrastructure plans backing OpenAI workloads.

• Advance Auto Parts $AAP ( ▲ 5.85% ) rose after expanding its OneRail partnership to enable AI-powered same-day delivery across its 4,000+ store network.

• Cheesecake Factory $CAKE ( ▲ 5.53% ) hit an all-time high after a Citi upgrade highlighted the new mobile app, refreshed rewards program, and promotional offers as potential customer traffic drivers.

• CCC Intelligent Solutions $CCCS ( ▲ 10.04% ) a car-insurance claims software provider, rose after Elliott Investment Management built a stake in the Company; which is now in the early stages of exploring a potential sale. They previously drew take-private interest from Bain Capital and TPG in 2023.

• Moderna $MRNA ( ▼ 10.83% ) slid toward its worst week since August 2025 as profit-taking followed June’s 48% rally, with BofA, RBC, and Morgan Stanley all raising PTs but keeping cautious ratings intact.

• Circle $CRCL ( ▲ 4.97% ) rose after the OCC approved Circle’s national trust bank charter, allowing the company to manage its own USDC reserves under a single federal regulator instead of state-level supervision.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Tailored Brands Inc. filed publicly for a US IPO, marking the return of the Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank owner to public markets after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020. The Silver Point Capital controlled menswear company eliminated $686M in debt through the bankruptcy process and Silver Point is set to retain voting control post-IPO. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Jefferies are leading the offering.

• SK Hynix $SKHYV ( ▲ 12.76% ) climbed in its Nasdaq debut Friday after raising $26.5B in the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company. The South Korean memory chipmaker’s ADRs traded 106M shares on day one at a 16% premium to the Seoul-listed common stock, narrowing the valuation gap with rival Micron. BofA, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan led the offering.

• Holtec Nuclear Corp. filed for a US IPO joining other nuclear listings tied to AI data center power demand. The company makes storage casks for nuclear waste and is developing small modular reactors after landing a $400M DOE grant, with the first reactor planned for its Palisades plant in Michigan. JPMorgan, Guggenheim Securities, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and BofA are leading the offering.

For deeper research upgrade to the WSR Investing Club. New Piece drops later this week.

Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• A Vinod Khosla-led group agreed to buy the Seattle Seahawks for $9.6B, setting a new NFL record above the $6.05B Washington Commanders sale price in 2023.

• Letterboxd is in early acquisition talks with Netflix, Paramount Skydance, Sony Pictures Entertainment, TPG, and Reddit’s co-founder Alexis Ohanian. The film-review platform has 30M+ users and is currently valued above $50M, though LionTree is floating a $250M valuation for the sale.

• Warburg Pincus is nearing a deal to buy specialty pharmacy Pantherx Rare for over $7B including debt, in partnership with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The rare and orphan disease pharmacy is currently owned by General Atlantic, Nautic Partners, and Vistria Group, who acquired it from Centene in 2022.

• Big tech is targeting Native American land for data centers because tribal sovereignty lets projects bypass the 3-10 year permitting delays common on non-tribal land. Oklahoma is “ground zero” with 38 federally recognized tribes, and the Caddo Nation is already in talks with Colusa Indian Energy to power a data center by year-end.

• Big private equity firms are pulling in more cash while smaller players get squeezed out, with funds over $1Bn capturing 80% of all money raised in 2026 so far, the highest share in over a decade. Global fundraising hit $260Bn in H1 2026, 17% ahead of last year’s pace, but only 310 vehicles closed versus 830 in 2025.

• Jones Day settled its $9.6M lawsuit against private equity firm Centre Lane Partners over allegedly unpaid legal fees, with the case dismissed with prejudice and settlement terms undisclosed. Jones Day had represented Centre Lane since 2018 before the firm allegedly stopped paying invoices in 2024.

• UBS advised clients to trim oversized private credit positions, prompting Q4 withdrawals from Blue Owl Technology Income. Blue Owl says the fund’s credit quality remains resilient, citing a 0.2% non-accrual rate and a 9.2% distribution yield despite the outflows.

• Planview’s push to refinance its debt in the private credit market has failed, pushing owners TPG Capital and TA Associates toward talks with existing lenders who want junior capital injected as part of any maturity extension. S&P cut Planview’s outlook to negative over AI-driven financing risk.

• Blackstone and TPG are seeking over $4Bn for Hologic’s Surgical unit, just months after closing their take-private of the medical device maker in April in the largest PE take-out in medtech this year.

M&A Transactions💭 

Copia Power, developer of renewable energy assets, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $2.6B by EQT Partners.

Autronica Fire and Security, manufacturer of fire and gas detection and prevention equipment, was acquired for $555.0M by MSA Safety (NYS: MSA).

Alfagomma, manufacturer of hydraulic and industrial fluid handling systems, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 1.0B by Danfoss.

Waldorf Production, operator of oil and gas exploration plants, was acquired for $163.0M by Harbour Energy (LON: HBR).

Nkoyi Leopard Mining and Investment, operator of a copper-cobalt mine, was acquired for $300.0M by Chengtun Mining Group Company (SHG: 600711).

easyJet (LON: EZJ), a leading European low-cost airline, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 5.2B by Castlelake. EV/EBITDA was 3.39x and EV/Revenue was 0.42x. Evercore Group, Panmure Liberum, and BNP Paribas advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Gauntlet, operator of a financial modeling and simulation platform, raised $125.0M of venture funding from SBI Holdings.

Elliptic, developer of a blockchain analytics platform, raised $120.0M of Series D venture funding led by One Peak Partners at a pre-money valuation of $550.0M.

Restructuring Updates💭 

Dish DBS (EchoStar subsidiary)

• Type: Chapter 11 (prepackaged)

• Debt: Approximately $2.0B of secured debt being restructured.

• What happened: Dish DBS' Chapter 11 case advanced rapidly following its filing, with creditors voting on the restructuring plan while litigation from Charter Communications and other unsecured creditors challenged elements of the proposed recovery structure.

• Scale signal: One of the largest telecommunications bankruptcies of 2026, involving Dish TV, Sling TV, and billions of dollars of satellite and spectrum assets.

Whitewater Amphitheater (Kona Coast Venture Ltd.)

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: More than $12M in secured loans; assets estimated between $10M and $50M.

• What happened: The Texas concert venue filed Chapter 11 immediately before a scheduled foreclosure sale to halt creditor action while pursuing a sale and recapitalization. The venue expects concerts to continue during the restructuring.

• Scale signal: One of Texas' premier outdoor music venues, hosting nationally recognized touring artists with a capacity of roughly 4,000 people.

Rogue Fare LLC (Mountain Mike's Pizza franchisee)

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Estimated between $1M and $10M.

• What happened: The operator of five Mountain Mike's Pizza restaurants in Oregon filed Chapter 11 while continuing operations, citing higher operating costs and weaker restaurant traffic.

• Scale signal: Multi-unit franchisee operating across Oregon as part of the 300+ location Mountain Mike's Pizza system.

Restructuring Rumors💭

Hughes Network Systems (EchoStar)

• Type: Potential restructuring

• Debt: $1.5B debt maturity due August 1, 2026.

• What happened: Bondholders hired Jones Day as restructuring counsel amid concerns Hughes lacks sufficient liquidity to refinance or repay its upcoming maturity following the Dish DBS bankruptcy.

• Scale signal: One of the largest active telecom restructuring situations, with Hughes serving satellite internet customers worldwide and representing a key subsidiary of EchoStar.

EchoStar Corporation

• Type: Parent-company restructuring watch

• Debt: Multi-billion-dollar capital structure across satellite, wireless, and spectrum businesses.

• What happened: Following Dish DBS's bankruptcy, investors and creditors are increasingly focused on whether additional restructuring actions may be required at the parent company as spectrum transactions and refinancing efforts remain unresolved.

• Scale signal: One of the largest ongoing balance-sheet restructurings in the U.S. telecommunications sector.

Dish Wireless

• Type: Chapter 11 restructuring dispute

• Debt: Multi-billion-dollar capital structure tied to the nationwide 5G network buildout.

• What happened: Charter Communications and other major creditors formally objected to Dish Wireless' restructuring plan, arguing the proposal unfairly favors secured creditors and undervalues unsecured claims.

• Scale signal: One of the largest active telecom restructurings in the U.S., involving nationwide wireless infrastructure and billions of dollars in network assets.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 39% chance of France winning the World Cup

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Noteworthy Chart 🧭

Private Credit fundraising has grinded lower following YTD performance concerns

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Welcome back!

We saw a nice rally yesterday following a brief bear market for many AI adjacent names. Semis $SMH ( ▲ 0.54% ) had a nice day, plus Middle East tensions cooled. Of course, it feels like we live in a Groundhog Day world where there’s escalation over the weekend, over and over and over again. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that a final peace deal can be reached, but the months of “tensions increase → peace talks continue” create almost weekly volatility for investors.

Let’s get into it.

Today’s Jobs:

1. Ares is hiring a Direct Lending Associate (LA)

2. Ares is hiring an Opportunistic Credit, Value Creation Associate (LA)

3. Houlihan Lokey is hiring a Financial Restructuring Associate (NY)

4. Oaktree is hiring an ABF IR Senior Associate (LA)

You can access top Buyside and Banking jobs on Buyside Hub.

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Levi Strauss & Co $LEVI ( ▲ 1.97% ) revenue beat at $1.56B vs. $1.48B, while EPS beat at $0.28 vs. $0.24. Results were driven by continued strength in its higher margin direct to consumer business, with DTC sales up 11%, e-commerce up 19%, and broad-based growth across regions, product categories, and women’s apparel, as stronger unit sales, pricing, and lower product costs drove margin expansion despite tariff and foreign exchange headwinds. Management raised full-year guidance as it expects continued momentum from its DTC strategy and resilient consumer demand.

• PepsiCo $PEP ( ▼ 0.35% ) revenue beat at $24.18B vs. $23.95B, while EPS slightly missed at $2.20 vs. $2.21. Results were driven by continued strength in international markets, where food volumes rose 3% and beverage volumes rose 2%, helping offset weaker North American demand as higher gas prices, persistent inflation, and tighter consumer budgets weighed on snack and beverage purchases. Growth was also supported by continued demand for zero sugar beverages and healthier snack offerings, lifting organic revenue 2.4%. Management reiterated full-year guidance but said it now expects a more gradual recovery in North America as consumer spending remains under pressure.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Nokia $NOK ( ▼ 3.57% ) jumped after Nokia Defense expanded its partnership with European AI lab NestAI to build AI-enabled command and control, mission planning, and threat detection capabilities for NATO forces.

• nLIGHT $LASR ( ▼ 3.56% ) surged after winning a Pentagon contract for high-energy laser weapons systems, with the initial $44M award carrying potential for up to $627M in additional orders.

• Cerebras Systems $CBRS ( ▲ 8.34% ) rallied after announcing a European data center expansion coming online this year and plans to boost domestic CS-3 chip manufacturing ~7x by 2026 through a Flex partnership. 

• Costco $COST ( ▲ 0.36% ) fell after June sales growth decelerated to 10.6%, its first monthly slowdown of 2026 and slowest pace since February. Wells Fargo flagged “little room for error” given the retailer’s premium 46x P/E.

• Meta Platforms $META ( ▲ 5.98% ) rose after launching a paid Muse Spark 1.1 API for agentic and coding work, its first monetized AI model. The API is priced at ~25% of what Anthropic and OpenAI charge for comparable models.

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise $HPE ( ▼ 1.16% ) popped on continued follow-through from record Q2 results, the official close of the Juniper acquisition, and networking revenue up 148.2% YoY.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• SK Hynix raised $26.5B in the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company, pricing 177.9M ADRs at $149 each. The offering was more than seven times oversubscribed with demand approaching $200B. Shares begin trading Friday on Nasdaq under SKHYV, switching to SKHY on July 13. BofA, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan led the offering alongside 9 other firms.

• DuPont Registry Group filed confidentially for a US IPO that could raise a few hundred million dollars as soon as this year. The luxury car marketplace and media company connects buyers and sellers of supercars, and was last valued at over $1B after an October strategic investment by Perenco president Francois Perrodo. Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Jefferies, and RBC are leading the offering.

• Ennismore Lifestyle Group is set for a US IPO as soon as this year, with parent Accor lining up banks for the potential €3.2B ($3.7B) spinout of the lifestyle hospitality unit. Accor took a 62% stake in 2021 in the company, which runs 200+ hotels including The Hoxton and Mama Shelter plus 500+ restaurants. Goldman Sachs is leading the offering alongside 3 other banks.

For deeper, stock market research upgrade to the WSR Investing Club

Attention Credit Analysts - This is for you guys:

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The most competitive credit funds, restructuring advisors, and Am Law firms are already at the table.

Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• Blue Origin raises $10B at $130B valuation in first-ever outside funding round: Bezos is contributing $2B himself alongside $4B from Coatue, with the remaining $4B seeing significant demand from outside investors. The raise comes weeks after SpaceX’s record $86B IPO, putting Blue Origin at a steep discount to its rival.

• Oracle was downgraded to BBB-/Stable from BBB/Negative by S&P due to weaker 2027 FCF and OpenAI credit risk. OpenAI accounts for half of its $638B in remaining performance obligations.

• Goldman bans staff prediction-market bets on finance, elections, and war: The bank’s updated policy prohibits event contracts on companies, elections, financial markets, and ceasefire dates. Sports and entertainment bets are still allowed, and repeat violations may lead to termination.

• SpaceXAI and Cursor unveil Grok 4.5 for legal, finance, and coding tasks: The first joint AI model between the two companies is designed to handle long-running tasks across software engineering, legal, and financial services. The release comes weeks after SpaceX formally agreed to acquire Cursor at a $60B valuation.

• Blue Owl launches Kirkwood Infrastructure for data centers: The venture includes 400 miles of network and 40 data centers from a previously acquired Florida fiber provider and will develop, own, and operate fiber infrastructure across the Southeast.

• Apple signs $30B chip deal with Broadcom through 2031: The agreement covers production of 15B+ custom chips for Apple products in the US, with Broadcom expanding its Colorado facilities by $1.5B to support the work. This deal deepens Apple’s domestic semiconductor footprint as it navigates memory supply constraints.

• JPMorgan launches small-cap M&A team to compete with boutiques: The new group will target companies valued between $100M to $500M, below JPMorgan’s existing middle-market focus of $500M-$1B, with plans to hire 75+ bankers to support the push into traditionally boutique-dominated territory.

• The Twinkies nightmare: Smucker’s $5B Hostess acquisition is souring three years in, as snack division sales have declined for six straight quarters and the company has taken a $3B charge on the brand. The culprit is a combination of industry headwinds and operational issues stemming from Smucker's slower distribution model combined with Twinkies' 65-day shelf life.

• Non-traded BDC redemptions hit new high: Average tender requests rose from 9.7% in Q1 to 10.3% in Q2, with 10 of 16 BDCs capping at the 5% quarterly limit, creating a backlog that will keep redemptions elevated through H2. Inflows fell 56% quarter-over-quarter.

• TeraWulf raises $3.5B to build Anthropic-leased data center in Kentucky: The former bitcoin miner signed a 20-year lease with Anthropic expected to generate $19B in revenue, backing a debt package that includes leveraged loans and high-yield bonds.

• Warsh reveals Fed task force members: The five panels, covering communications, balance sheet policy, data, jobs, and inflation frameworks, feature a broad mix of business leaders, academics, and former bankers, including Marc Andreessen, Doug McMillon, and ex-Bank of England Governor Mervyn King. The group plans to challenge Fed orthodoxy, with Warsh already shortening post-meeting statements to reduce forward guidance.

  • On a separate note…former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke is joining Anthropic’s long-term benefit trust, their oversight body that oversees the company's commitment to safe and responsible AI systems.

• Blackstone’s QTS taps leveraged loans for a $2B raise: Project Magnolia is marketing a $1B term loan at S+225-250, plus $1B in other secured debt, to repay construction financing and fund a distribution. JPMorgan leads with Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo as bookrunners.

• Arete downgrades Paramount Skydance to sell on WBD merger debt: The pending $110B Warner Bros. deal would create a media stock with $86B in gross debt, and Arete’s Pierre-Marie d’Ornano called it the “most-levered media deal yet.” He said it’s unclear Paramount’s team has the experience to run a highly levered balance sheet.

• Micron boosts US chip spending to $250B: The $50B increase to Micron’s prior $200B plan runs through 2035, targeting 40% of DRAM production in the US a decade from now and 90,000+ jobs across New York, Idaho and Virginia. Micron also pledged $3B to secure domestic supply chains, including $500M for Taiwanese silicon wafer supplier GlobalWafers under a 10-year agreement.

M&A Transactions💭 

Olaplex Holdings, a science-enabled, technology-driven beauty company, was acquired for $1.723B by Henkel (ETR: HEN3). EV/Revenue was 4.05x. Equiniti and J.P. Morgan advised on the sale.

Kobalt Music Group, operator of an independent music services company, was acquired for $1.5B by Primary Wave Entertainment. Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Empower Semiconductor, manufacturer of semiconductors, was acquired for $1.5B by Analog Devices (NAS: ADI). PJT Partners advised on the sale.

Alkira, operator of a network cloud company, was acquired for $475.0M by Lumen Technologies (NYS: LUMN).

National Taxi, provider of taxi and mobility services, was acquired for AED 1.45B by Dubai Taxi Company (DFM: DTC). Lazard and Emirates NBD Capital advised on the sale.

Masoval (OSL: MAS), operates, and develops companies in the aquaculture industry, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for NOK 3.386B by SalMar (OSL: SALM). EV/EBITDA was 13.14x and EV/Revenue was 1.8x.

ASSAN, manufacturer of defense equipment, was acquired for $471.0M by Roketsan.

ALL.SPACE, developer of terminal technology, was acquired for $300.0M by York Space Systems (NYS: YSS).

Oma Savings Bank (HEL: OMASP), a Finnish savings bank, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 571.4M by S-Pankki. EV/Net Income was 11.74x and EV/Revenue was 2.66x.

FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau, manufacturer of military wheeled and tracked vehicles, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 1.6B by Deutz (ETR: DEX).

New York Media, publisher of print magazines and a subsidiary of Vox Media, was acquired by Lupa Systems for $300.0M.

TruBridge (NAS: TBRG), a provider of healthcare solutions, was acquired for $727.587M by IKS Health (NSE: IKS). EV/EBITDA was 19.24x and EV/Revenue was 2.1x. Solomon Partners advised on the sale.

Scipher Medicine, developer of diagnostics and a precision medicine platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired through a reverse merger by Chemomab Therapeutics (NAS: CMMB). Leerink Partners advised on the transactions.

Russell Investments Group, provider of investment consulting and asset management service, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $2.8B by B Capital Group and California Public Employees’ Retirement Systems.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Wonder, developer of an online platform, raised $354.4M of venture funding from ARK Ventures.

SambaNova Systems, developer of chips-to-model computing built for an AI platform, raised $1.0B of Series F venture funding led by General Atlantic at a pre-money valuation of $10.0B.

Prime Intellect, developer of an AI-based infrastructure platform, raised $132.42M of Series A venture funding led by Radical Ventures at a pre-money valuation of $867.58M.

Pearl Health, developer of a care-delivery and billing platform, raised $110.0M of Series C venture funding through a combination of debt ad equity at a pre-money valuation of $235.0M. $60.0M of Series C venture funding was led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Allotera Therapeutics, developer of an allosteric drug discovery platform, raised $150.0M of Series C venture funding through a combination of debt ad equity led by Fidelity Management & Research.

Urus Energy, developer of liquefied natural gas infrastructure, has received $350.0M of financing from a Canadian-U.S. Consortium led by Prespero Energy Management and Periodic Energy.

Kraken Technology Group, operator of a maritime technology company, raised GBP 130.0M of Series B venture funding led by DTCP.

Gauntlet, operator of a financial modeling and simulation platform, raised $125.0M of venture funding from SBI Holdings.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 74% chance of Spain beating Belgium today.

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Welcome back. Well, just like that, geopolitical risk is back on the cards. The U.S, launched airstrikes on defense launchers in Iran and revoked an oil sales waiver after Iran targeted commercial ships. Right now, we’re pretty early into the 60-day peace talks, so further escalation could disrupt talks. You never know how this will resolve prior to market open, but expect a small uptick in oil prices. This isn’t big enough at this stage to derail broader bullishness though.

The AI trade is continuing to slow down, with recent Samsung performance not alleviating any worries. Still, there’s a lot of “we need to build as fast as possible” activity by the hyperscalers, with Amazon raising $25B in debt financing, and the SK Hynix listing coming Thursday. More on that below.

We hope everyone has been enjoying the World Cup (despite questionable VAR calls). Crazy enough, this is the first day without World Cup action since the tournament started.

Let’s get into it.

Here’s a look at the remaining earnings for this week.

• Wednesday: Levi Strauss & Co, Helen of Troy, AZZ, PriceSmart

• Thursday: PepsiCo, WD-40, Simply Good Foods Company

• Friday: Delta

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Wednesday: Wholesale inventories, Minutes of Fed’s June FOMC meeting, Consumer credit

• Thursday: Initial jobless claims, Existing home sales

• Friday: None scheduled

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Samsung $SSNLF ( ▲ 116.8% ) Top and bottom line beat with revenue at 171T won vs. 168T won and EPS at 89.4T won vs. 87.3T won. Results were driven by continued AI memory demand, as hyperscalers expanded AI infrastructure spending, lifting DRAM and NAND prices while tight memory supply supported pricing despite large employee bonus expenses. However, shares fell as the strong quarter was largely priced in after Samsung's stock more than doubled this year, while concerns grew that slower AI infrastructure spending by major U.S. tech companies could cool future memory demand and memory pricing.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Fiserv $FISV ( ▼ 2.32% ) climbed after a WSJ report that JPMorgan, BofA, Wells Fargo, and PNC have held early-stage talks to acquire its debit network.

• SpaceX $SPCX ( ▼ 4.51% ) slid despite Raymond James setting a Street-high $800 PT, with the newly Nasdaq-100 listed stock continuing to fade from its June IPO debut high.

• Chip stocks $INTC ( ▼ 2.4% ) , $SNDK ( ▲ 3.1% ) , $MU ( ▼ 1.24% ) , $AMAT ( ▲ 2.35% ) , and $LRCX ( ▼ 0.8% ) tumbled as the fallout from Samsung’s record Q2 reignited AI valuation fears, with the memory complex now in official bear market territory and $1.5T of semi value erased since June 25.

• Rivian $RIVN ( ▼ 3.53% ) tanked after announcing a surprise 75M share offering to raise ~$1.5B, which overshadowed stronger preannounced Q2 revenue.

• Cloudflare $NET ( ▼ 2.68% ) jumped after Scotiabank upgraded the stock to Sector Outperform and raised its PT to $300 from $225, citing accelerating agentic AI demand.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• SK Hynix is seeing its $28B US listing multiple times oversubscribed ahead of Thursday’s pricing, with Baillie Gifford, Coatue, and Situational Awareness Partners indicating interest in as much as $7B of ADRs. The South Korean memory chipmaker’s offering would be the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company, with Nasdaq trading beginning Friday. BofA, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan are among the banks working on the deal.

• Hub International Holdings Inc. is seeking to raise ~$3B in its IPO, with the Hellman & Friedman-backed insurance broker targeting a public debut as soon as this year. The company was last valued at $29B in a May 2025 minority round led by T. Rowe Price, Alpha Wave Global, and Temasek. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

• Standard Nuclear Inc. is targeting up to $383M in its US IPO, pricing 18.25M shares at $18-$21 for up to a $3.5B valuation. The nuclear fuel maker recently agreed to collaborate with Oklo on fuel recycling and entered DOE talks to convert surplus plutonium into reactor fuel. The pricing more than quadruples the company’s $838M valuation from January’s Series A. BofA and Goldman Sachs are leading the offering.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• Two Millennium index rebalancing pods generated $3.7B in June: Glen Scheinberg and Pratik Madhvani’s teams, which specialize in highly leveraged bets on index additions and deletions, captured more than half of the fund’s $6.6B pre-fee monthly profit. The profits lifted Millennium’s June return to 4.1% and 10.5% YTD.

• Appaloosa posts 32% H1 return on memory chip concentration: David Tepper’s $23B fund rode SK Hynix, Micron, Samsung, Kioxia, and Sandisk through the AI-driven high-bandwidth memory and NAND flash upcycle, generating Q2’s gains while holding ~40% cash.

• Amazon’s $25B AI bond meets softer demand as tech debt piles up: Demand peaked at $62B and settled at ~$41B after banks trimmed spreads, or 1.6x the deal size vs the ~4x average for US high-grade this year. This deal brings Amazon’s LTM bond issuance to $107B., the most of any big tech, and pushed 2026 AI-linked debt sales to ~$335B globally, more than 2× 2025.

• PE firms sit on a 9-year exit backlog as AI worries hit software holdings: ~13,500 US companies remain in PE portfolios, including ~1,200 software firms bought at lofty 2020-2021 valuations that have since been slashed by SaaS-Pocalypse AI fears. Almost 4,000 companies have been held 6+ years and ~1,500 for 9+ years, with 2021 vintages the hardest to exit.

• BlackRock’s Boivin says private credit is poised for a larger AI role: The head of BlackRock Investment Institute said the AI buildout will force companies to borrow across all channels, creating a “big tailwind” for private credit. Bloomberg Intelligence projects 2026 capex for the six largest US hyperscalers will hit ~$820B, up nearly 80% from 2025.

• Autodoc raises €530M term loan to buy out Apollo’s minority stake: The German online car-parts retailer is using debt to repurchase Apollo Hybrid Value’s 2024 15% stake previously used to fund IPO preparations. Companies are increasingly tapping strong credit markets to resolve investor liquidity needs in lieu of public offerings.

• HSBC pulls back from riskier private credit back leverage: Europe’s largest bank is non-renewing facilities for private credit clients where returns failed to justify the risk after a $400M charge tied to the collapse of UK bridging lender Market Financial Solutions.

• Sports M&A set to accelerate: William Blair, the advisory firm behind Liverpool and 76ers deals, recently acquired Inner Circle Sports and expects deal volume to rise as minority stakeholders seek exits, NIL agreements reshape college athletics, and real estate development around stadiums is becoming more popular. Women’s sports, NBA international expansion, and ultra-high-net-worth capital are the next tailwinds.

• Mutual fund markdowns reveal billions in hidden private software losses: Bloomberg’s analysis of nearly 50 private software companies held by mutual funds shows average markdowns of 20% in Q1, while PE firms continue to carry the same assets at rosier valuations. Goldman’s AI Disruption Framework flagged 10% of its 700 private software investments as facing imminent disruption risks.

• Lenders poised to take ownership of Planet Fitness’ largest operator: United PF Holdings, which operates 1.2M members across 14 states, is negotiating a debt-for-equity swap with creditors after skipping April interest payments. The company has a $525M first-lien loan maturing in December and a second-lien loan due in 2027, creating a rapid maturity wall.

• Carl Icahn lines up $5B rival bid for Caesars: Jefferies is raising $5B in debt to back Icahn’s $33/share counteroffer, topping Fertitta’s accepted $31/share bid before the July 11 go-shop window closes. Icahn’s structure would move Caesars assets into a subsidiary vehicle, potentially stripping existing creditors.

• Blue Owl’s HomeCourt Partners takes minority stake in Cleveland Cavaliers: The fund acquired a reported 5-10% stake in the $4.86B franchise, adding to existing positions in Atlanta, Sacramento, and Minnesota. NBA rules cap PE firms at eight teams total, with no single institutional investor holding more than 20% of a franchise.

• Xbox Layoffs were announced on Monday, with 3,200 jobs (20% of the unit) getting cut. Half of the layoffs occurred Monday, while the rest will be through FY27 due to low gross margins.

M&A Transactions💭 

Dreampath Diagnostics, developer of laboratory diagnostics devices and pathology workflow solutions, was acquired for EUR 154.0M by Halma (LON: HLMA). A further earn-out of up to EUR 121.0M is contingent on performance over the two years ending march 31st 2027 and 2028, split 38% and 62%.

Shell Downstream South Africa, operator of fuel stations and downstream energy operations in South Africa, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.0B by ADNOC Distribution (ADS: ADNOCDIST). Bank of America advised on the sale.

Abernathy High-Performance Computing Campus, developer of high-performance computing infrastructure for AI workloads, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $530.0M by FluidStack.

Aireon, provider of space-based air traffic surveillance technology, was acquired for $366.7M by Iridium Communications (NAS: IRDM). PJT Partners advised on the sale.

The Life Sciences & Healthcare Business of Clarivate has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $600.0M by Altaris. As part of the transaction Clarivate will receive $500.0M in cash at closing, $25.0M in cash deferred to the completion of a transition services agreement, and a $75.0M seller note. Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (NAS: CRNX), commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on endocrine diseases, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $8.99B by Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NAS: VRTX). J.P. Morgan and Leerink Partners advised on the sale.

D Marinas, owner and operator of marina assets and waterfront facilities, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 1.1474B by InfraVia Capital Partners and its management. Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

DZYNE Technologies, developer of autonomous defense and aerospace technologies, was acquired for $875.8M by Ondas (NAS: ONDS). Baird advised on the sale. Robert W. Baird & Co advised on the sale.

Element Solutions (NYS: ESI), manufacturer of specialty chemical products for industrial applications, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $14.5B by Solstice Advanced Materials (NAS: SOLS). EV/EBITDA was 32.25x and EV/Revenue was 5.18x. Bank of America advised on the sale.

Myricx Bio, developer of antibody-drug conjugate cancer therapies, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.5B by Novartis (SWX: NOVN).

Orikan, provider of parking management and enforcement software, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for AUD 475.0M by EQT Private Capital Asia. Flagstaff Partners advised on the sale.

Primary Bank (OTCM: PRMY), provider of commercial and retail banking services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $161.4M by Hometown Financial Group. Brean Capital advised on the sale.

Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, operator of business improvement area management services, was acquired for 3.06B by Rogers (NYS: ROG).

Vega Therapeutics, developer of therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, was acquired for $2.0B by Incyte (NAS: INCY). Lazard advised on the sale.

The Precision Casting Business Unit of Georg Fischer (SWX: GF) has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for CHF 220.0M by Consolidated Precision Products.

Circulo de Credito, provider of credit information and risk assessment services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $825.0M by Equifax (NYS: EFX). EV/Revenue was 6.16x.

Alkira, operator of a network cloud company, was acquired for $475.0M by Lumen Technologies (NYS: LUMN).

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Skello, developer of a human resources management software, raised EUR 200.0M of venture funding led by Bridgepoint Group.

Shengshu Technology, developer of multimodal AI models, raised $500.0M of Series B+ funding from undisclosed investors.

Robotera, developer of humanoid robotic systems, raised CNY 1.0B of venture funding led by China Chengtong Holdings Group.

OpenRouter, developer of AI model aggregator platform, raised $113.47M of Series B venture funding led by CapitalG at a pre-money valuation of $1.19B.

Morphi Robot, developer of advanced robotic systems, raised over CNY 1.0B of venture funding from 58 Industry Fund, Source Code Rhythm, Alibaba Group, and Tencent Holding at a pre-money valuation of CNY 6.0B.

Even Reality, manufacturer of smart glasses, raised $150.0M of Series Pre-B venture funding led by Dragonball Capital and Meituan Strategic Investment at a pre-money valuation of $850.0M.

EnergyX, developer of a lithium technology, raised $225.0M of venture funding from Eni Next.

Proxima Fusion, developer of fusion power plants, raised EUR 411.0M of venture funding led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures at a pre-money valuation of EUR 1.99B.

Fultterwave, developer of a cloud-based end-to-end digital financial platform, raised an estimated $262.0M of Series E venture funding from Ripple, Circle Ventures, and other undisclosed investors at a pre-money valuation of $2.99B.

Quaise Energy, developer of a deep geothermal energy technology platform, raised $134.0M of Series B venture funding led by Prelude Ventures.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 33% chance of France winning The World Cup

Noteworthy Chart 🧭

NYC Apartment growth was up by +38.6k last year, the highest level in 60 years.

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The Week Ahead Of Us 🔍

Welcome back!

Hope everyone was able to get some time to watch the world cup. England and Mexico are delayed an hour, so our friends across the pond probably stayed up for the newsletter for the first time ever.

Some good news on the U.S. World Cup side - Flo Balogun’s red card was overturned after an internal review by FIFA.

The big news from last week was that Meta is selling some of its compute; worrying even the biggest AI Bulls. We’ll go over that and expand on our 2H26 outlook in tomorrow’s WSR Investing Club piece (upgrade to receive it).

Tech is rallying at the moment though, with Nasdaq futures +1.3% and S&P futures +0.45% at the moment. So if the market waves off last week’s Meta compute news and keeps the AI train going, it will be really telling. That’s our hunch, and other strategists are taking that view too, but let’s see what happens as Wall Street logs back in.

Let’s get into it.

Here’s a look at earnings this week.

• Tuesday: Penguin Solutions

• Wednesday: Levi Strauss & Co, Helen of Troy, AZZ, PriceSmart

• Thursday: PepsiCo, WD-40, Simply Good Foods Company

• Friday: Delta

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Monday: S&P final U.S. services PMI, ISM services

• Tuesday: U.S. trade balance

• Wednesday: Wholesale inventories, Minutes of Fed’s June FOMC meeting, Consumer credit

• Thursday: Initial jobless claims, Existing home sales

• Friday: None scheduled

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Today’s Jobs:

1. Rallyday Partners is hiring a Private Equity Associate (Denver, Colorado)

2. A Family Office is hiring a Private Equity Associate or VP (Dallas, TX)

3. BlackRock is hiring a 2027 PE Associate (NY)

4. Invesco is hiring an Associate PM (Atlanta)

5. First Eagle is hiring a Research Analyst (NY)

Earnings Corner 💸 

• General Mills $GIS ( ▲ 2.78% ) Revenue beat at $4.61B vs. $4.60B, while EPS beat at $0.95. Results were driven by resilient demand for pantry staples as consumers continued eating at home, while higher pricing, favorable product mix, and margin expansion offset inflationary cost pressures and lifted profitability. Management also announced a $3B multi-year cost savings plan aimed at streamlining operations and funding future growth investments. However, FY27 guidance remained cautious, with management expecting little improvement in the consumer environment.

• FactSet $FDS ( ▲ 2.15% ) Top and bottom line beat with revenue at $622.9M vs. $616M, and EPS at $4.56. Results were driven by growing demand for financial data as clients expanded subscriptions to support AI applications, pushing organic ASV growth to 7.1%. ASV retention remained above 95%, while users increased 12% y/y, reflecting strong recurring subscription demand. Management believes AI is becoming a tailwind rather than a threat, with AI-enabled clients growing roughly 50% faster than other customers. Guidance was reaffirmed, with management saying results are tracking toward the high end of outlook.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Meta Platforms $META ( ▲ 5.98% ) initially rallied on reports of selling some compute and starting a cloud infrastructure business before losing steam Thursday after Wolfe Research flagged that 2027 capex could rise to $200B and likely require a capital raise. The news also weighed on neoclouds $CRWV ( ▼ 0.91% ) and $IREN ( ▼ 1.39% ) , which face direct competition from Meta’s compute buildout.

• Memory stocks $SNDK ( ▲ 3.1% ) , $STX ( ▲ 2.28% ) , $WDC ( ▲ 0.79% ) , $IREN ( ▼ 1.39% ) and $MU ( ▼ 1.24% ) sank after on Meta’s compute sale

• Moderna $MRNA ( ▼ 10.83% ) jumped after Science Day unveiled plans to expand its mRNA platform beyond vaccines into oncology, autoimmune diseases, and next generation cell therapies.

• Rivian $RIVN ( ▼ 3.53% ) popped after raising 2026 delivery guidance on a Q2 delivery beat, defying the broader US EV slowdown after federal incentives expired.

• Genuine Parts $GPC ( ▲ 1.09% ) popped after O’Reilly Automotive submitted a $10B+ cash offer for GPC’s NAPA auto parts division.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Jersey Mike’s Subs Inc. officially filed for a US IPO at a ~$12B valuation with an expected $1B+ raise. Blackstone acquired the sandwich chain for ~$8B including debt last year, with founder Peter Cancro moving to chairman in April and former Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison taking over as CEO. The chain has 3,300+ US and Canada locations with plans to open 300 stores in the UK and Ireland. Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, and JPMorgan are leading the offering.

• Cumberland Farms Ltd. filed for an IPO targeting a ~$1B raise at a ~$9B valuation. The Charlotte-based gas station and convenience store operator is held by parent EG Group, which is half owned by buyout firm TDR Capital. BofA, Goldman Sachs, and Jefferies are leading the offering under ticker CMBY.

• IQM $IQMX ( ▲ 1.88% ) went public via a SPAC merger on Nasdaq, raising $234M through the deal and a concurrent PIPE. The Finnish quantum computing firm, formed in 2018 from a university in Espoo, has delivered 18 machines to customers and will use proceeds to expand facilities and pursue acquisitions. JPMorgan served as the financial adviser to the deal.

Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• Microsoft launches Frontier Co: The $2.5B subsidiary will embed 6,000 forward deployed engineers with clients to help them adopt AI. Rodrigo Kede Lima, previously head of Microsoft’s Asia business, will lead the unit. The move follows Amazon’s $1B FDE initiative two days earlier and similar groups launched by Anthropic and OpenAI in May.

• Blue Owl private-credit funds see $4.7B in Q2 redemption requests: Investors asked to pull $3.6B from the flagship fund (19% of shares) and $1.1B from the tech-focused fund (38%), down from the $5.4B total in Q1. Blue Owl capped redemptions at 5%, and the largest fund has $11.6B of liquidity.

• Hayfin raises €15B for Direct Lending Fund V: The European direct lender pulled in $17.1B, nearly 2x its €8B target, and the fund is already 50% deployed across 35+ companies. Co-CEO Mark Tognolini said US investors drove the biggest jump in the LP base, citing Europe’s lower software exposure and smaller reliance on retail capital.

• Principal Asset Management to launch Sharia-compliant US private credit fund: The Iowa-based firm is working with a Saudi institution on a fund targeting Gulf family and institutional investors, with fundraising set to begin later this year. The fund will lend to Main Street US businesses such as plumbing and automotive repair, with every deal Sharia-compliant end-to-end.

• CVC plans €1.2B high-yield bond sale for Irca buyout: The notes will replace a bridge facility provided by Barclays, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and UBS after CVC agreed to acquire Irca, an Italian food-ingredients maker, from Advent International. This deal adds to a modest pickup in LBO-backed European high-yield issuance.

• Barclays pulls $960M Sound Physicians loan: The hospital staffing firm’s debt sale, offered at S+500, failed to attract investors and clear a June 30 deadline. Barclays is expected to reprice and relaunch.

• Private equity industrials investment on pace for a six-year high: PE and VC deal value in the sector hit $82B through May, on track to surpass $141B 2025 total. This is driven by data center buildout, defense spending, and logistics rewiring, reflecting a broader rotation away from software.

• Lenders take control of Aventiv from Platinum Equity: Legacy creditors will hold 97% of the reorganized equity of the prison phone company after California regulators approved the ownership transfer in June. Platinum bought Aventiv for $1.6B in 2017 but failed to sell or refinance the business as regulatory risk increased borrowing costs.

• Pennsylvania’s teachers’ pension flags private equity as its biggest drag: PSERS’ $10.1B PE allocation returned just 2.59% against a 10.06% benchmark, the only asset class to miss targets across every time horizon from 1-15 years. The fund had cut PE exposure from 16.3% to 11.8% of assets.

• AI debt is inflating the investment-grade bond market’s credit quality: Hyperscaler issuance has pushed AA- and A-rated bonds to 52% of Bloomberg’s US IG index (vs. 46% in 2021), as $220B in AI-linked bonds hit the market YTD (up 62% from all of 2025).

• ElevenLabs is in talks to raise at a $22B valuation as voice AI revenue hits $500M: The startup, valued at $11B just five months ago, is in early talks to let employees sell shares at double that valuation. ElevenLabs has signed enterprise deals with Deutsche Telekom, BCG, and Revolut, with an IPO still 2-3 years out.

M&A Transactions💭 

Nexans Autoelectric, manufacturer of automotive wire harnesses and vehicle wiring systems, was acquired for EUR 207.0M by Samvardhana Motherson International (NSE: MOTHERSON). Evercore Group advised on the sale.

Olivia Star, operator of an observation deck and hospitality destination, was acquired for EUR 150.0M by Strabag (WBO: STR).

Banistmo, provider of commercial, consumer, and investment banking services, was acquired for $1.418B by La Hipotecaria. Citigroup Global Markets and J.P. Morgan Securities advised on the sale.

Bell Partners, real estate investment and multifamily property management firm, was acquired for $350.0M by Sun Life Financial (TSE: SLF). Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Capricorn Energy (LON: CNE), oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Egypt, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $360.0M by Genel Energy No. 9. The EV/EBITDA was 6.53x and the EV/Revenue was 2.65x. Canaccord Genuity and Moelis & Company advised on the sale.

CoolIT Systems, developer of liquid cooling technology for data centers and high-performance computing, was acquired for $4.75B by Ecolab (NYS: ECL). The EV/Revenue was 8.64x. Morgan Stanley and Robert W. Baird & Co. advised on the sale.

Covelya Group, manufacturer of underwater navigation, sensing, and imaging technologies, was acquired for $615.0M by Kraken Robotics (TSX: PNG). The EV/EBITDA was 14.04x and the EV/Revenue was 3.28x. Piper Sandler advised on the sale.

Farmacie Italiane, operator of a chain of retail pharmacies, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 300.0M by Česká Lékárna Holding. The EV/Revenue was 0.54x.

Gulf Coast Ammonia, producer of ammonia for fertilizer and industrial markets, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.3B by Yara North America. J.P. Morgan advised on the sale.

LayerX, developer of enterprise browser security software, was acquired for $205.0M by Akamai Technologies (NAS: AKAM). Jefferies Financial Group advised on the sale.

Maxim Group Australia, provider of electrical engineering and infrastructure services, was acquired for AUD 254.0M by Tasmea (ASX: TEA).

Spectre, manufacturer of outdoor apparel and technical garments, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for DKK 1.025B by Schouw & Co (CSE: SCHO). ABG Sundal Collier advised on the sale.

Stash, developer of a personal finance application, was acquired for $425.0M by Grab Holdings (NAS: GRAB).

Treatt, operates in the fragrance and FMCG industries, was acquired for GBP 131.76M by Dohler.

The Non-Optical Analog/Mixed-Signal Sensor Business of ams-OSRAM (SWX: AMS) was acquired for EUR 570.0M by Infineon Technologies (ETR: I FX).

Arbex, operator of a tissue business, was acquired for $1.7B by Suzano (BVMF: SUZB3).

Barrenjoey Capital Partners, provider of financial consulting services, was acquired for AUD 903.85M by Magellan Financial Group (ASX: MFG). EV/Net Income was 14.31x and EV/Revenue was 2.96x.

Bravo Students, provider of accommodation services, was acquired for EUR 330.0M by Nuveen Real Estate.

Clever Devices, developer of scalable and modular intelligent transportation systems, was acquired for $220.0M by Hitachi Rail. EV/Revenue was 1.0x.

The Australian Business of Cumberland Farms was acquired by Ampol (ASX: ALD) for $830.0M.

EDF Renewable Energy, provider of renewable energy services, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $4.2B by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

GENCO Product Lifecycle Logistics, a business of managing hazardous and non-hazardous industrial waste, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.4B by CMA CGM.

Giant Eagle, operator of a supermarket chain, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.65B by Kroger (NYS: KR). EV/Revenue was 0.18x. Wells Fargo advised on the sale.

Gor Factory, manufacturer and provider of textile garments, was acquired for EUR 800.0M by JHK Trader.

IBV Brasil Petroleo, provider of drilling services, was acquired for INR 23.12B by Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BOM: 500547).

JasperSoft, developer of open source business intelligence software, was acquired for $240.0M by Actian. EV/Revenue was 4.48x.

Labrie Group, manufacturer, distributor, and supplier of waste management equipment, was acquired for $1.035B by Hiab (HEL: HIAB). EV/EBITDA was 9.16x and EV/Revenue was 2.11x.

Lacorium Health International, developer of dermatological skincare products, was acquired for $150.0M by Prestige Consumer Healthcare (NYS: PBH). EV/Revenue was 3.32x.

Mediclinic South Africa, operator of a private healthcare-services group, was acquired for $947.0M by Mediclinic International (MUN: MO4).

MPC Kinetic, provider of construction and maintenance services, was acquired for AUD 400.0M by GenusPlus Group (ASX: GNP). EV/Revenue was 0.82x.

Naveris, developer of blood test technology, was acquired for $160.0M by CareDx (NAS: CDNA). EV/Revenue was 4.57x. J.P. Morgan advised on the sale.

Orb, developer of a revenue platform, was acquired for $335.0M by Adyen (AMS: ADYEN).

Passport, provider of international shipping services, was acquired for $425.0M by Global-e Online (NNAS: GLBE). EV/Revenue was 4.25x.

President’s Choice Financial, provider of digital banking and consumer credit services, was acquired for $800.0M by Equitable Bank (TSE: EQB).

Reap, developer of digital payments platform, was acquired for $600.0M by Kraken. EV/Revenue was 20.0x. Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

BatX Energies, developer of a battery recycling platform, raised $1.05B of Series A venture funding from Excel Industries, IvyCap Ventures, JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation, Mankind Pharma, and Zephyr Peacock.

Celea Therapeutics, developer of therapies for respiratory diseases, raised $180.0M of venture funding from Leaps by Bayer, PureTech Health, and RA Capital Management.

dConstruct Robotics, developer of autonomous industrial robotics software, raised a $125.0M of Series A venture funding.

Lanjian Hongqing, developer of low-earth orbit satellite constellation technology, raised $191.8M of Series venture funding from ABC Financial Assets Investment, Bank of Communications Financial Assets Investment, BOC International, Bofo Fund, China Securities, GP Capital (Shanghai), Guotai Junan Securities, ICBC Financial Asset Investment, Industrial Securities Company, Jianxin Financial Asset Investment, and Yizhuang Guotou at a pre-money valuation of $177.1M.

Quantum Systems, developer of commercial unmanned aerial systems and drones, raised $1.3791B of Series D venture funding from A.P. Moller Holding, Advent International, Airbus Defence and Space, Balderton Capital, Blackstone, Elephant Lake Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research Company, HV Capital Manager, Noteus Partners, and Wellington Management at a pre-money valuation of $9.076B.

Tripo, developer of an AI-powered 3D modeling platform, raised a $350.0M of Series A3 venture funding from 4399 Network, Addor Capital, Alibaba Group, Baidu Ventures, China Life Private Equity, Co-Stone Capital, Fosun Venture Capital Investment, Geely Capital, Genesis Capital (China), Giant Network, INCE Capital, Muhua Capital, Orinno Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group, T-Capital, and Tanwan.

VAST Technology, developer of generative AI-powered 3D modeling software, raised $147.6M of Series A3 venture funding from Addor Capital, Chengdu Venture Capital Group, Co-Stone Capital, Fosun Venture Capital Investment, Geely Capital, Giant Network, Tanwan Games, and Yizhuang Guotou.

Yizhu Technology, developer of AI computing chips for data centers, raised $147.6M of venture funding.

Aire, stealth-mode technology company, raised $400.0M at a pre-money valuation of $1.6B.

Shortical, operator of a mobile entertainment platform, raised $100.0M of venture funding from PvX Partners, Net Capital Ventures, and Sticker Ventures.

Quizhi Technology, developer of embodied intelligent robots, raised over $100.0M of Series A venture funding from Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, Cedarlake Capital, and Puhua Capital.

Thinking Machines Lab, developer of next-generation artificial intelligence systems, raised $2.0B from a consortium of venture capital investors at a pre-money valuation of $10.0B.

Restructuring Updates💭

Dish DBS (EchoStar subsidiary)

• Type: Chapter 11 (prepackaged)

• Debt: Approximately $2.0B of senior secured bonds due immediately, with restructuring tied to a $20.25B spectrum sale to AT&T.

• What happened: Dish DBS filed Chapter 11 in Houston after delays in the AT&T spectrum transaction. The filing is backed by approximately 88% of bondholders, and the company expects to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of Q3 while continuing Dish TV and Sling TV operations uninterrupted.

• Scale signal: One of the largest telecommunications bankruptcies of 2026, involving a nationwide satellite television business and billions of dollars of wireless spectrum assets.

U.S. TelePacific Corp. (TPx Communications)

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Not publicly disclosed.

• What happened: U.S. TelePacific and 11 affiliated entities filed Chapter 11 petitions seeking joint administration to restructure the communications provider's balance sheet while continuing operations.

• Scale signal: Large U.S. business telecommunications provider serving enterprise customers nationwide through TPx Communications and affiliated operating companies.

Camp Mystic

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Not publicly disclosed.

• What happened: Camp Mystic filed Chapter 11 nearly one year after the deadly Texas flooding, citing mounting litigation and regulatory scrutiny stemming from the disaster.

• Scale signal: High-profile nonprofit bankruptcy involving dozens of wrongful-death lawsuits and one of the most closely watched liability-driven filings of the year.

Restructuring Rumors💭 

Brightline

• Type: Potential restructuring / Chapter 11 risk

• Debt: Approximately $5.5B.

• What happened: Brightline obtained a two-week extension while negotiations with creditors continue. The company is evaluating both out-of-court restructuring alternatives and potential Chapter 11 financing, but no restructuring agreement has been reached.

• Scale signal: The largest active transportation infrastructure restructuring situation in North America.

EchoStar Corporation

• Type: Parent-company restructuring watch

• Debt: Multi-billion-dollar capital structure tied to Dish DBS and wireless spectrum assets.

• What happened: Although Dish DBS has filed Chapter 11, investors continue to monitor whether additional restructuring actions may be required at the EchoStar parent level depending on the timing of the AT&T and SpaceX spectrum transactions.

• Scale signal: One of the largest ongoing balance-sheet restructurings in the U.S. telecommunications sector.

TG Jones (formerly WH Smith High Street)

• Type: Distressed restructuring

• Debt: Approximately £50M of creditor obligations (previously disclosed).

• What happened: Following court approval of its restructuring plan, the retailer confirmed plans to close up to 150 stores as it attempts to avoid insolvency.

• Scale signal: Approximately 450 stores and 5,000 employees, making it one of the largest active retail restructurings in the U.K.

Noteworthy Chart 🧭

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Welcome back!

The Nasdaq had a great day yesterday, capping off a nearly 32% return in 2Q26! YTD, we’re now looking at the S&P up 9.3% while the Nasdaq is up 20% on the year. But hey, Sandisk is literally up 726% YTD, so the biggest AI bottleneck winners have compounded at a monstrous rate.

Our 2H26 predictions: We expect some choppiness in the markets over interest rate direction debates, crypto to remain beat up, private credit redemptions remaining elevated, frontier models to continue advancing, AI bottlenecks not slowing down, sustained pain in software, the Hyperscalers to eventually get some sustained love later in the year, and another geopolitical shock event at some point.

The big news from last night - Anthropic is getting their export controls on Fable 5 and Mythos 5 lifted. The models have been updated to “ensure alignment across the US Government” according to Howard Lutnick.

As a reminder, we will next talk on Sunday, enjoy the July 4th everyone! 250 baby!

Let’s get into it.

Here’s a look at the remaining earnings for this week.

• Wednesday: General Mills, FactSet

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Wednesday: ADP employment (110,000), S&P final manufacturing PMI (55.7), ISM manufacturing (53.8), Construction spending (0.2%), Auto sales

• Thursday: U.S. unemployment report (118,000), U.S. unemployment rate (4.8%), U.S. hourly wages (0.3%), Hourly wages y/y (3.5%), Initial jobless claims (221,000), Factory orders (1.1%)

• Friday: July 4th holiday

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Nike $NKE ( ▲ 3.72% ) revenue beat at $10.97B vs. $10.86B, while EPS beat at $0.20 vs. $0.13. Results were driven by improving North American demand, with wholesale sales rising 4% as retailers increased orders for newer performance products, while an expected $986M tariff refund boosted gross margins by 8.9 percentage points and added roughly $0.52 per share to earnings. However, Greater China sales fell 12% and Nike Direct sales declined 7%, as weak demand for sportswear and Jordan products continued to pressure full-price sell-through and discounting. Management reiterated that earnings will remain roughly flat through the first half of FY27 as its turnaround progresses unevenly across markets and product categories.

• AeroVironment $AVAV ( ▼ 2.57% ) flew after a strong Q4 earnings beat, as revenue more than doubled to $641.6M vs. $558M and an EPS beat at $1.84 vs. $1.47, driven by surging demand for drones and counter-drone systems. A 65% increase in funded backlog and the Pentagon's proposed $75B drone budget for 2027 reinforced the company's strong growth outlook.

• Constellation Brands $STZ ( ▲ 1.22% ) revenue beat at $2.43B vs. $2.39B, while EPS beat at $3.43 vs. $3.26. Results were driven by continued strength in the core beer business, as Modelo and Corona remained resilient, with beer sales up 2.2% and organic sales up 3%, while pricing, favorable mix, and stronger beer margins more than offset higher commodity costs and weakness from the company's ongoing exit of lower-margin wine and spirits brands. Management maintained FY27 guidance, reflecting expectations for a cautious consumer backdrop and continued cost pressures.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Ouster $OUST ( ▼ 8.94% ) surged on new Rev8 lidar deals with AIM Intelligent Machines for autonomous mining and construction equipment, alongside FieldAI for general-purpose industrial robots.

• ViaSat $VSAT ( ▲ 4.5% ) rocketed on a wave of bullish analyst upgrades paired with fresh US Space Force contract wins.

• RoboStrategy $BOT ( ▼ 2.08% ) jumped after raising $33.9M through private share issuances to fund follow-on investments in its private robotics and physical AI portfolio.

• TopBuild $BLD ( ▼ 1.45% ) tumbled as shareholders approved its $17B acquisition by QXO, with the cash and stock deal expected to close around July 1.

• Circle $CRCL ( ▲ 4.97% ) sank after Open Standard launched a competing stablecoin, Open USD, which is backed by 140+ companies including Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, and BlackRock.

• Bloom Energy $BE ( ▼ 4.83% ) pumped after Brookfield expanded its AI infrastructure partnership from $5B to $25B to finance fuel cell power for AI factories.

For deeper, stock market research upgrade to the WSR Investing Club

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Nutrabolt is preparing for a US IPO that could raise up to $1B, with the Austin-based energy drink and supplements maker last valued at $2.88B in a 2022 deal that gave Keurig Dr Pepper a 30% stake. The company behind C4, XTEND, and Cellucor expects to exceed $1B in annual revenue, and JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and BofA are leading the offering.

• SK Hynix filed its F-1 amendment for a Nasdaq IPO under ticker SKHY. The South Korean memory chipmaker is targeting a ~$29.4B raise (45.45T won) and a July 10 trading debut. Proceeds will fund 45.5T won in Korean production facility capex and the acquisition of EUV scanners worth ~11.9T won. BofA, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan are leading the offering.

• California-based vitamins and supplements retailer iHerb is preparing for a ~$500M US IPO that could come as soon as this year. The company recently acquired Kroger’s Vitacost to expand its US presence and is taking a second swing at going public after abandoning a confidential 2021 IPO filing in 2022. JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup are leading the offering.

• Bending Spoons SpA priced its IPO above the marketed range at $29 per share for a $18.4B valuation, raising $1.68B ahead of its Nasdaq debut. The acquirer of struggling software businesses sold 34.4M shares while backers including Baillie Gifford sold another 23.57M. Shares will trade under $BSP, with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Allen & Co. leading the offering.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• US drafts ban on Chinese solar inverters over grid security fears: The FCC is working on restrictions targeting new foreign inverter models, devices that connect solar projects and batteries to the grid, after rogue communication devices were found in some Chinese-made units in US grids. The move follows Europe’s May ban on Chinese inverters from publicly funded energy projects.

• PE fund investors turn to preferred equity deals as distributions dry up: With buyout firms holding assets longer and distributions at multi-year lows, LP-side structured transactions increased from $6B in 2024 to $9B in 2025.

• PE firms sit on 13,325 unsold US companies even as Wall Street’s deal volume sets records: Sponsor-led M&A volume has fallen 11% YTD and remains down 25% vs. the 2021-2022 peak because of the stalemate between GPs holding out for better valuations and LPs demanding liquidity. At the current exit pace, it would take 11 years to clear existing inventory, up from the 9-year estimate last fall.

• A large Burger King franchisee ceded ownership to lenders after missing an August interest payment. GPS Hospitality had loaded up on high-yield debt in 2021 to fund a preferred equity buyback and has been squeezed by high labor costs, weather exposure, and softening consumer demand.

• Strategy launched a plan to sell up to $1.25B of Bitcoin: The move comes as STRC, its flagship preferred stock, drifted 25%+ below its $100 par value, prompting the firm to raise dividends for an eighth time to 12% and approve $1B in preferred stock buybacks.

• Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are exploring a bid for a Las Vegas NBA team: The majority bid would be partly funded through Thrive Eternal, Kushner’s permanent capital vehicle focused on iconic cultural assets. Kushner would likely need to sell his stake in the Miami Heat to comply with NBA single-franchise ownership rules.

• Seattle Seahawks’ first-round bids due Monday: The Super Bowl champion franchise is expected to set the largest NFL sale ever, surpassing the $6.05B Washington Commanders record. Reported bidders include ArcelorMittal CEO Aditya Mittal, former Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, VC Vinod Khosla, and Eldridge's Todd Boehly.

• OpenAI’s chief economist pushes back on AI job displacement fears at ECB retreat: Ronnie Chatterji told bankers in Sintra that AI will complement rather than replace workers, noting that predicted software job losses haven’t happened. ECB policymakers remain split on inflation and growth implications from AI capex.

• Congress takes bipartisan aim at private equity in youth sports: A House subcommittee hearing titled “Field of Fees” scrutinized PE consolidation in the $40B youth sports industry. Lawmakers from both parties warned that increased fees and reduced competition are pricing families out.

• Private equity targets Portugal’s family business succession: Deal value is up 28% to €17.6B in 2025 as family-owned businesses account for 70-80% of Portuguese businesses, but founders are hitting retirement age with few willing successors. Lower valuations, niche export industries, and fragmented sectors make it an attractive target for foreign PE.

• Siris-backed TPx Communications files for Chapter 11 with $1.1B debt load: The telecom provider filed in Texas after skipping interest payments and exhausting restructuring options, with a deal in place to cut debt to ~$129M unless a buyer emerges at auction by early August. TPx has asked a federal judge to approve a $73.5M DIP facility, consisting of a new $20M loan and $53.5M roll-up.

• Ares leads $1.7B private credit facility for KSL’s acquisition of Invited Clubs: KSL is buying the largest US private club operating 150+ golf and country clubs from Apollo for $2.6B, implying ~7.4× 2025 EBITDA of $350M. The new facility replaces existing first-lien debt priced at S+475-500 maturing in 2032.

• Leopold Aschenbrenner discloses 19.9% stake in SharonAI: His hedge fund Situational Awareness LP reported the position alongside co-filer Carl Shulman.

• Ford rehires 300+ veteran engineers after AI quality checks fell short: Automated inspection systems and 900 AI-powered plant cameras couldn’t match veteran expertise, so Ford brought senior technicians back to train its AI tools and mentor younger workers.

• Streamers lean on catalog over originals in Q1 2026: Every major platform except Netflix drew more viewer hours from older shows such as Friends and Suits than fresh originals. Meanwhile, Hollywood is on track for its best domestic box office year since before the pandemic, potentially crossing $10B in annual ticket sales.

• Ares leads $1.7B+ private credit loan for KSL’s reacquisition of Invited Clubs: KSL Capital Partners is buying the country club operator back from Apollo for ~$2.6B. The PE firm first bought the business in 2006 and took it public as ClubCorp in 2013 before Apollo picked it up in 2017.

• Comcast plans NBCUniversal/Sky spinoff: The cable giant announced a tax-free separation expected to close in roughly one year, leaving Comcast as a broadband and wireless business and NBCUniversal/Sky as a standalone media company. This sets the Companies up for some level of consolidation following the split.

M&A Transactions💭 

bitbank, developer of a cryptocurrency exchange platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $289.0M by SBI Holdings (TKKS: 8473).

Amedeo Air Four Plus, engaged in acquiring, leasing, and selling aircrafts, was acquired for GBP 190.0M by Lesha Bank. Panmure Liberum and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Theravance Biopharma (NAS: TBPH), a biopharmaceutical company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $929.0M by Zymeworks. EV/EBITDA was 7.2x and EV/Revenue was 8.46x. Evercore Group and Lazard advised on the sale.

Talawar Therapeutics, developer of bispecific antibody therapies, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire JATT II Acquisition (NAS: JATT) through a $285.0M reverse merger, resulting in the combined entity trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol TLWR.

Lhoist North America, distributor and supplier of lime, dolime, and mineral-based products, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $13.5B by Martin Marietta (NYS: MLM). Martin Marietta plans to fund the transaction with $7.0B in cash along with shares of its stock valued at $6.5B. EV/EBITDA was 17.17x and EV/Revenue was 7.5x. BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan, and Rothschild & Co advised on the sale.

Lannett, developer of generic medicine, was acquired for $250.0M by Aurobindo Pharma USA. EV/Revenue was 0.82x. Raymond James Financial advised on the sale.

Iridium Communications (NNAS: IRDM), the commercial provider of communications services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $8.0B by Rocket Lab (NAS: RKLB). Evercore Group advised on the sale.

Clevertech, manufacturer of industrial automated packaging systems, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 800.0M by CVC Capital Partners and Refa. EV/EBITDA was 11.68x and EV/Revenue was 3.46x. Baldi Finance and J.P. Morgan advised on the sale.

The Data Centers of Cogent Communications Holdings was acquired by I Squared Capital through a $225.0M LBO.

Associated Steel Group, manufacturer of steel components, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $347.0M by Hanwa American.

Alexander Mann Solutions, provider of technology-enabled recruiting, staffing, and other human resource services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.1B by Korn Ferry (NYS: KFY). EV/EBITDA was 11.0x and EV/Revenue was 1.69x.

The Global Oil and Gas Business of Videocon Industrials (BOM: 511389) was acquired by Bharat PetroResources for INR 2.5B.

Telegraph Media Group, operator of media publishing company, was acquired for GBP 575.0M by Axel Springer, View Different, Partners Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, CPP Investments, and PSP Investments.

The Farming Operations of Mowi has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 138.0M by Crooke Aquaculture.

Bhushan Power & Steel, manufacturer of steel products, was acquired for INR 78.75B by JFE Steel.

Aham Asset Management, provider of asset management services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for JPY 90.0B by Amova Asset Management. The transaction values the company at JPY 115.83B.

AEG Power Solutions, designer and manufacturer of power supply and storage systems, was acquired for CAD 365.0M by Hammond Power Solutions (TSE: HPS.A). EV/Revenue was 1.12x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Smiths Detection, manufacturer of threat detection and screening products, was acquired for GBP 2.0B by CVC Capital Partners. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Safaricom (NAI: SCOM), Kenya-based telecommunications company, was acquired for $2.1B by Vodacom Group (JSE: VOD). EV/EBITDA was 6.22x and EV/Revenue was 3.25x.

Milliman, operator of a retirement plan and benefits administration business unit, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $340.0M by Great-West Lifeco (TSE: GWO). EV/Revenue was 2.83x.

The Calabrian Sulfur Dioxide and Related Sulfur Derivatives Business of INEOS Group was acquired by Ecovyst (NYS: ECVT) for $190.0M. Piper Sandler and Lazard advised on the sale.

Cognite, developer of a data management platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $3.1B by Schneider Electric (PAR: SU).

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Adani Vizhinjam Port, operator of a deep-water container transshipment port, has reached a definitive agreement to receive $1.397B of financing from Terminal Investment.

Alan, a developer of an AI-native health insurance and digital healthcare platform, raised EUR 480.0M of venture funding led by Prosus at a EUR 5.5B valuation.

Sarvam, an India-based full-stack sovereign AI company building localized LLMs, voice interfaces, and developer infrastructure, raised $234.0M (first close of a $300.0M Series B) led by HCLTech and Bessemer Venture Partners at a $1.5B post-money valuation.

SonoThera, developer of a nonviral gene therapy platform, raised $125.45M of Series B venture funding led by Vida Ventures.

FullCryo, manufacturer of cryogenic equipment, raised CNY 1.0B of venture funding led by Chinese Academy of Sciences Holding.

Concierge, provider of luxury concierge and sourcing services, raised $100.0M of seed funding from M Sriram.

AI2 Robotics, manufacturer of embodied intelligent robotics systems, raised CNY 5.0B of venture funding from Shanghai Chinllenge Gases, Guoyuan Securities, and Dunhong Capital Management at a pre-money valuation of CNY 15.0B.

8090 Solutions, developer of an AI-powered software, raised $135.0M of Series A funding led by Salesforce Ventures.

Xinghe Fusion, manufacturer of nuclear fusion energy systems, raised CNY 830.0M of Series A venture funding led by Hengxu Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group, and CAS Star at a pre-money valuation of CNY 2.17B.

SpinQ Technology, developer of quantum computing hardware and software, raised CNY 1.0B of Series D venture funding led by Shangqi Capital, Bluesky TRS, and Shenzhen Press Group Investment.

Premier Lacrosse League, operator of a lacrosse tournament, raised $100.0M of Series E venture funding led by Joseph Tsai and Ares Management.

LeapXpert, developer of digital communications governance and archiving platform, raised $180.0M of venture funding led by Riverwood Capital.

Dominion Dynamics, developer of an autonomy stack designed for extreme arctic operations, raised $100.0M of Series A venture funding led by Georgian.

DexForce, developer of humanoid robots, raised CNY 1.0B of Series B venture funding from ICBC Financial Asset Investment, Lens Technology, and Shenzhen Strategic Emerging Industry Investment at a pre-money valuation of CNY 9.0B.

Beeline Medicines, developer of precision immunology therapeutics programs, raised $426.3 of Series A venture funding led by Bain Capital.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 33% chance of France winning the World Cup following their resounding win against Sweden.

Noteworthy Chart 🧭

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Obviously, none of this constitutes financial or investment advice. *Today’s Odds of the Day is in paid partnership with Polymarket

The Week Ahead Of Us 🔍

Welcome back!

Hope everyone is getting some time to enjoy the World Cup as the tournament advances to the knockout stages.

Stocks struggled on Friday due to continued chip weakness that was amplified by reports that OpenAI was considering delaying its IPO until 2027. These are driving worries over the AI spending cycle slowing down as a result, but it seems like there’s also a little rotation into laggards, such as healthcare.

We had some US strikes on Iran yesterday, but like clockwork, the US and Iran have agreed to halt strikes and plan talks for later in the week. Futures are up as a result, with the S&P up 0.60% and Nasdaq up 0.9% at the moment.

We will talk on Wednesday, but skip Friday due to the Holiday. Let’s get into it.

Here’s a look at earnings this week.

• Monday: Concentrix, AeroVironment

• Tuesday: Nike, Constellation Brands, Progress Software

• Wednesday: General Mills, FactSet

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Tuesday: S&P Case Shiller home price index 20 cities, Chicago Business Barometer PMI (55), Consumer confidence (94.6), Job openings (7.3M)

• Wednesday: ADP employment (110,000), S&P final manufacturing PMI (55.7), ISM manufacturing (53.8), Construction spending (0.2%), Auto sales 

• Thursday: U.S. unemployment report (118,000), U.S. unemployment rate (4.8%), U.S. hourly wages (0.3%), Hourly wages y/y (3.5%), Initial jobless claims (221,000), Factory orders (1.1%)

• Friday: July 4th holiday

The Future of Credit Docs Diligence is Being Built Right Now

We've partnered with Constellation, the AI-native credit platform built by ex-Goldman SSG and JP Morgan operators, backed by Haystack, Company Ventures, and Cooley LLP, and being shaped, in real time, by the analysts, advisors and restructuring lawyers using it.

Constellation parses 300-page indentures and credit agreements into structured data in minutes - extracting every covenant, calculating capacity, and flagging LME vulnerabilities that would take associates hours or days to surface - that data flows directly into your Claude surface to supercharge your analysis and workflows.

But the platform is still being built. Which means design partners aren't buying a finished product, they're defining what canonical credit infrastructure looks like for the next decade.

The most competitive credit funds, restructuring advisors, and Am Law firms are already at the table.

Jobs of The Day 💸 

• Rallyday Partners is hiring a Private Equity Associate (Denver, Colorado)

• A Family Office is hiring a Private Equity Associate or VP (Dallas, TX)

• KKR is hiring a Leveraged Credit Analyst/Associate (San Fran, CA)

• KKR is hiring a DCM Associate (NY)

• BlackRock is hiring for several Associate roles (NY)

On The Move 📈 📉

• Software stocks $NOW ( ▼ 1.04% ) , $WDAY ( ▲ 0.44% ) , $FIG ( ▼ 5.17% ) , and $DDOG ( ▼ 4.26% ) rallied after a report that OpenAI is delaying its IPO amid financial challenges, easing AI disruption fears for enterprise software.

• ON Semiconductor $ON ( ▼ 1.95% ) had its worst day since March 2020 after announcing a $7B all-stock acquisition of Synaptics, with investors reading the deal as dilutive and off strategy.

• Moderna $MRNA ( ▼ 10.83% ) surged after FDA advisors unanimously backed its mRNA-1010/mFLUSIVA flu vaccine, alongside a corporate restructuring into three commercial franchises and German manufacturing expansion plans.

• Bloom Energy $BE ( ▼ 4.83% ) plunged after being removed from the Russell 2000 Index due to outgrowing small-cap status, triggering forced selling from passive ETFs that held outsized positions in the stock.

• DraftKings $DKNG ( ▲ 0.7% ) jumped after rolling out DKeX, its proprietary prediction markets exchange, integrating it into its sports and casino app.

• Lucid $LCID ( ▼ 4.8% ) popped after being confirmed as the dedicated vehicle supplier for Uber and Nuro’s robotaxi program, with ~100 Gravity-based robotaxis being built for commercial launches in 2027.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Hub International Holdings Inc. filed confidentially for an IPO with proceeds going towards debt repayment. The Hellman & Friedman-backed insurance broker was last valued at $29B in a May 2025 minority round led by T. Rowe Price, Alpha Wave Global, and Temasek.

• Reformation, a womenswear retailer backed by Permira, has filed for an IPO, reporting $507M in 2025 revenue and 34% net revenue growth between 2015 and 2025. The brand counts Taylor Swift and Meghan Markle among its celebrity fans and plans to use proceeds for partial debt repayment and a synthetic secondary share repurchase. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

• 2026 is shattering records for energy IPOs, with 10+ power and clean tech companies raising $11.6B, the highest total ever for the sector. The surge is being fueled by AI data center demand, with US capacity projected to nearly double to 77 GW by 2030. Notable debuts include Fervo Energy ($1.89B), Madison Air Solutions ($2.23B, the largest US industrial IPO in nearly 30 years), and Forgent Power Solutions, which has more than doubled since its February IPO.

For deeper, stock market research upgrade to the WSR Investing Club

Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• Lutnick clears Anthropic to restore Mythos 5 for ~100 trusted partners: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Anthropic that government agencies and private companies can use the model for defensive cyber purposes. This comes two weeks after he invoked export controls that took both Mythos 5 and Fable 5 offline.

• SpaceX joins the Nasdaq-100: ETFs and index funds tracking the tech-heavy index will begin buying SpaceX shares after the close on July 6 at an under 1% weighting. The move comes less than a month after SpaceX’s June 12 IPO debut under Nasdaq’s new fast-track framework, which cut the typical wait from months to 15 trading days.

• Ares caps redemptions at $22.6B private credit fund: The Ares Strategic Income Fund gated withdrawals for the second straight quarter as redemption requests rose to 14.4% from 11.6% in Q1. Withdrawals were capped at the industry standard of 5%.

• Europe dodges a jet fuel crisis heading into peak summer travel: Despite the Strait of Hormuz closure cutting off Persian Gulf supply, a combination of surging domestic refinery output and rerouted imports from the US and Nigeria kept European fuel flowing. Air traffic has exceeded 2025 levels, and Repsol boosted jet fuel yields by up to 25%.

• Google has placed limits on Meta's usage of Gemini AI models, saying it couldn’t fulfill the full compute capacity Meta had sought to purchase. This disrupted and delayed some of Meta’s internal AI projects, with Meta subsequently pushing staff to use AI tokens more efficiently.

• Big Law’s quiet PE investment arms: A Law.com investigation found that Sidley, Davis Polk, Simpson Thacher, Ropes & Gray, Skadden, and others operate internal funds letting partners co-invest directly in PE. The arrangement raises conflict-of-interest questions, given that these firms advise the same PE shops their partners are investing alongside.

• Djokovic joins General Atlantic as global strategic advisor: The tennis legend will work with the PE firm’s leadership, portfolio companies, and investors as General Atlantic plans to leverage his network for health and wellness deals and expand further into sports investing.

• Bankrupt sleepaway camp operator Simad gets permission to tap DIP financing and to put camps up for sale: Simad Holdings, which runs 30 East Coast camps charging up to $16,750/summer, won court approval to market its properties for sale. This would open up $20mm in fresh financing, with another $40mm in DIP financing available subject to court approval. The camp expects ~20,000 campers this season.

• Pokémon cards are now a full-blown asset class: A Bloomberg Businessweek deep-dive into the three-decade-old franchise, with Logan Paul selling a single Pikachu card for $16.5M in February. TPCI did $12B in sales last year, tripled its NC manufacturing footprint, and still can’t keep shelves stocked.

• Williams Cos. is in advanced talks to acquire Momentum Midstream for $5.5B. Williams owns more than 30,000 miles of pipeline infrastructure; a sizable amount before this potential move to acquire the EnCap Flatrock Midstream-backed natural gas pipeline operator.

• TPG, Leonard Green explore $2B+ Troon Golf sale: The PE backers of Troon Golf, which manages 825+ courses including Kapalua and Tobacco Road, have hired banks to run a sale process valued at $2B. Rory McIlroy’s Symphony Ventures co-invested alongside TPG in 2021, and Justin Thomas and Piper Sandler’s Jimmy Dunne are also on the cap table.

• Hunterbrook Media has acquired The Bear Cave: The Edwin Dorsey-founded bearish newsletter was acquired by the investigative news outlet and investment firm.

• Supergirl stumbles: The Supergirl standalone film struggled at the box office, with only $38mm in sales at the domestic box office and $68mm globally; well below domestic estimates of $50-$70mm. The film had a $170mm budget before marketing. The film has a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes and 6.1 on IMDb.

• UK startup Wayve emerges as the off-the-shelf AI driver for legacy automakers: Valued at $8.6B after a $1.5B raise backed by Stellantis, Mercedes, and Nissan, Wayve has signed deals to power hands-free driving across Stellantis brands from 2028. The company is betting that selling AI driving systems to incumbent automakers is a bigger opportunity than building its own vehicles, with London robotaxi trials with Uber launching this summer.

• Oil jumps with US-Iran tensions flare near the Strait of Hormuz: A supertanker carrying ~2M barrels of Qatari oil was struck near the strait over the weekend, sending Brent as much as 1.9% to $73.39 before paring gains.

M&A Transactions💭 

Advanced Medical Solutions Group (LON: AMS), engaged in developing and manufacturing wound-care products, is in talks to be acquired for $659.0M by H.B. Fuller (NYS: FUL). EV/EBITDA was 11.43x and EV/Revenue was 2.19x. Evercore Group advised on the sale.

Synaptics (NAS: SYNA), a producer of semiconductor solutions, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $7.0B by ON Semiconductor (NAS: ON). EV/EBITDA was 83.23x and EV/Revenue was 5.97x. Qatalyst Partners advised on the sale.

ProAssurance, a holding company for property and casualty insurance companies, was acquired for $1.3B by The Doctors Company. EV/EBITDA was 10.73x and EV/Revenue was 1.21x. Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Kelonia, developer of a genetic medicine platform, was acquired for $7.0B by Lilly USA (NYS: LLY). Jefferies advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭

Reed Semiconductor, a developer of turnkey power management chips purpose-built to meet the high power hardware demands of AI cluster infrastructure and next-gen data centers, raised $100M of venture funding from a consortium of global semiconductor corporations.

ANYVERSE DYNAMICS, a general embodied robotics firm developing a "Latent Space World Model" and reinforcement learning architecture for autonomous industrial and commercial robots, raised over $200M of venture funding from a fund affiliated with JD.com, C Capital, Hony Capital, Shengyu Investment, and Fengyuan Investment.

Ionic Digital, a digital infrastructure company that rapidly builds and operates high-performance computing (HPC) and data center facilities optimized for intensive AI workloads, raised $400M of venture funding from Attestor, Oaktree Capital Management, and Sachem Head Capital Management (with participation from Citadel and Weiss Asset Management).

Restructuring Updates💭

Amerimed

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Not publicly disclosed.

• What happened: Amerimed, a regional healthcare services provider, filed for Chapter 11 protection to restructure its balance sheet while continuing operations and patient services.

• Scale signal: One of the largest new U.S. healthcare bankruptcy filings since mid-June, operating across multiple Southeastern states.

European Cargo Limited

• Type: Administration (U.K. insolvency)

• Debt: Not publicly disclosed.

• What happened: The U.K. cargo airline entered administration after failing to secure additional financing, resulting in the suspension of operations.

• Scale signal: Significant aviation insolvency involving an international air freight operator serving transatlantic routes.

West Marine (material case update)

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Approximately $549 million in funded debt.

• What happened: The Bankruptcy Court conditionally approved West Marine's amended disclosure statement and reorganization plan, advancing the company toward an August confirmation hearing while continuing its store rationalization process.

• Scale signal: Largest boating retailer in the U.S., operating roughly 200 stores nationwide.

Restructuring Rumors💭 

Georgia-Pacific / Bestwall

• Type: Potential Chapter 11 filing

• Debt: Exposure tied to approximately 64,000 asbestos claims.

• What happened: Discussions around a second bankruptcy filing continued as the company evaluates a comprehensive resolution of legacy asbestos liabilities following setbacks to prior restructuring efforts.

• Scale signal: One of the largest unresolved mass-tort restructuring situations in the United States.

Brightline

• Type: Potential restructuring / Chapter 11 risk

• Debt: Approximately $5.5 billion.

• What happened: Creditor negotiations continued as restructuring advisers evaluated recapitalization alternatives ahead of upcoming debt maturities.

• Scale signal: Largest active transportation infrastructure restructuring story in North America.

First Brands Group

• Type: Distressed Chapter 11 / liquidation risk

• Debt: Multi-billion-dollar capital structure under restructuring.

• What happened: Litigation between the company, creditors, and the U.S. Trustee continued as pressure mounted for a liquidation or alternative restructuring process.

• Scale signal: Major North American automotive supplier with leading aftermarket brands and OEM relationships.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are now only pricing in a 24% chance of an OpenAI IPO this year.

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Welcome back.

Word of the day - memory. We are in the middle of one of the most dramatic bottlenecks in recent memory, with the big 3 memory players squeezing their customers. This has been great for Micron and our friends in South Korea (Here’s our piece on South Korea from WSR IC earlier this month btw). Sandisk and Corning had nice days as well.

The Kospi is down -8% at time of writing though following news that Samsung and SK Hynix are set to announce massive new investments, exceeding hundreds of billions of dollars on Monday.

Of course, it comes with a price, as the hyperscalers dragged the markets down yesterday. And this will hit on the consumer side, as yesterday, Apple announced they’re raising Mac prices and XBox is raising console prices.

There’s been a bit of an unwind in other parts of the market - with oil obviously going down as the peace deal firms up, plus some space, crypto, and other speculative names trading off. Notably too, the Software rebound has been a bit short-lived, with many of those names retracing lows, while Private Credit managers are cooling off after a recent recovery rally.

Let’s get into it.

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Micron $MICR ( ▼ 99.4% ) revenue beat at $41.5B vs. $36.0B, while EPS beat at $25.11 vs. $19.72. Results were driven by surging AI memory demand as hyperscalers continued investing heavily in AI infrastructure, tightening HBM supply, strengthening Micron's pricing power, and driving record gross margins (84.9%) and earnings.

• Paychex $PAYX ( ▲ 1.21% ) revenue beat at $1.61B vs. $1.60B and EPS beat at $1.32. Results were driven by continued growth in payroll, HR, and employee benefits services, helped by contributions from the Paycor acquisition and expanding operating margins of 37.7%. However, management guided for slower fiscal 2027 revenue growth of 5%–6% as the benefit from the acquisition begins to normalize and organic payroll growth is expected to moderate amid a softer hiring environment, overshadowing the beat.

• Trip.com $TCOM ( ▲ 3.31% ) revenue beat at $2.35B vs. $2.33B, while EPS slightly missed at $0.83. Results were driven by resilient global travel demand, with strong growth across accommodations, transportation, package tours, and corporate travel, while inbound China bookings surged roughly 90% (y/y) and international OTA bookings rose about 65% as the company expanded its global platform and AI-powered travel services. However, management issued cautious Q2 revenue guidance, expecting revenue growth of 3%–8% as higher airfares, constrained airline capacity, softer long haul travel demand, and regulatory changes that are expected to weigh on near term growth.

• Jeffries $JEF ( ▼ 0.71% ) top and bottom line missed with revenue at $2.21B vs. $2.22B and EPS coming in at $1.02. Investment banking remained a bright spot, with advisory and underwriting revenue jumping 57% to a record $1.21B as M&A, equity issuance, and capital markets activity rebounded, while equities trading also reached a record. However, results were weighed down by a 35% decline in asset management revenue due to weaker investment returns and lower fund fees, while higher compensation, technology, brokerage, and clearing costs limited the company's ability to convert record dealmaking activity into stronger earnings.

• Darden restaurants $DRI ( ▲ 1.97% ) revenue slightly missed at $3.72B vs. $3.73B while EPS beat at $3.66. Sales growth was supported by an extra reporting week, 43 net new restaurant openings, and 4.6% same store sales growth, led by LongHorn Steakhouse where comps rose 9.5% as strong guest traffic and value focused consumers continued to favor the chain. However, Olive Garden comps grew just 2.4% and fine dining comps only rose 1.9%, both below expectations, showing demand remained uneven across the portfolio. Management guided FY27 sales to $13.60B-$13.75B, roughly in line with expectations, while EPS outlook came in below expectations as the company assumes no meaningful improvement in industry demand.

• McCormick $MKC ( ▲ 1.77% ) revenue beat at $1.94B vs. $1.91B, while EPS beat at $0.80 vs. $0.69. Results were driven by higher pricing, continued strength in its Flavor Solutions business, and resilient consumer demand as more meals were prepared at home, while tariff refunds and productivity initiatives helped expand gross profit nearly 25% despite elevated commodity costs. Management reaffirmed FY26 guidance, expecting the pending Unilever Foods acquisition to provide additional long term earnings accretion, while noting that the outlook still reflects an uncertain consumer environment and higher costs tied to geopolitical disruptions.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Memory stocks $MU ( ▼ 1.24% ) , $SNDK ( ▲ 3.1% ) , and $WDC ( ▲ 0.79% ) soared after Micron’s blowout quarterly results reinforced the AI capex acceleration thesis.

• Apple $AAPL ( ▼ 0.29% ) plunged after raising prices on MacBooks and iPads to offset the global memory shortage. iPhone prices were held steady.

• Bio-Techne $TECH ( ▲ 0.21% ) surged after Germany’s Merck KGaA agreed to acquire the lab tools supplier for $11.3B at $73 per share in cash.

• Cerebras Systems $CBRS ( ▲ 8.34% ) slid to its lowest level since its May IPO after a disappointing 2026 sales outlook extended the recent selloff, erasing nearly $30B in market cap from its IPO debut high.

• Applied Materials $AMAT ( ▲ 2.35% ) jumped after unveiling a suite of new chipmaking systems for AI 3D chip architectures, targeting DRAM, advanced packaging, and HBM production.

• Definium Therapeutics $DFTX ( ▼ 2.85% ) continued climbing Thursday, with momentum from DT120’s Phase 3 win in major depressive disorder and a $700M equity raise at $34 per share earlier this week.

• Strategy $MSTR ( ▲ 0.8% ) has continued to struggle after bitcoin has bled <$60k.

• BlackBerry $BB ( ▼ 4.02% ) soared after beating Q1 earnings expectations, with $152.9M in revenue (up 26% YoY) and achieving its first profitable quarter in nine years. The company increased its FY2027 profit guidance. (maybe in earnings)

• Jefferies $JEF ( ▼ 0.71% ) fell after posting record investment banking revenue, jumping 57%, but missing on EPS ($1.02 vs $1.16 estimated). (maybe in earnings)

IPO Roundup 📍 

• OpenAI may delay its blockbuster IPO to 2027, with CEO Sam Altman pushing for a $1T target versus its $730B-$852B last private valuation. Advisors presented two options: wait until 2027 to grow into the $1T target, or accept a lower price to fast-track a late 2026 listing. Altman reportedly rejected any compromise on the trillion-dollar figure.

• Doncasters Group surged in its NYSE debut Thursday after pricing at $33, $1 above its $28-$32 range, with shares jumping 42% to ~$47 for a ~$4.8B valuation. The aerospace and industrial gas turbine parts maker raised $919.38M by selling 27.86M shares versus 23.33M originally marketed. Jefferies and Morgan Stanley led the offering.

• Reformation Inc. filed publicly for a US IPO Thursday, with the Permira-backed sustainable womenswear brand disclosing $112.3M in Q1 revenue versus $86.1M a year earlier. The brand has 1.14M active customers and 90% of revenue comes from direct-to-consumer sales. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• GDP and economic data: 1Q26 GDP was revised up to 2.1%, driven by a downward revision to imports, but consumer spending was softer than expected. Real final sales to private purchasers were revised down to 1.7%. Core PCE held at 4.4%, and the PCE price index came in at 4.6%, reinforcing the higher-for-longer rate backdrop heading into the back half of the year.

• Blue Owl is in advanced talks for a 5-10% stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers: The deal would flow through Blue Owl’s Dyal HomeCourt Partners fund, which already holds stakes in the Hawks, Kings, and Timberwolves. This deal values the Cavaliers at $4.86B per Sportico.

• Blackstone Mortgage Trust takes a hit on a $343M Chicago Tower loan: 601W Companies missed a maturity payoff deadline on the 40-story, 73% occupied tower purchased for $310M in 2018, as downtown Chicago office vacancy sits at 27% with values still depressed post-pandemic. $BXMT ( ▲ 1.07% ) shares slipped on the news.

• White Party rejection: A member of Will Makris’ Zero Bond social club was reportedly laughed off after offering $2M to attend Michael Rubin’s Hamptons white party, which draws ~375 celebrities and athletes, including Tom Brady, Kim Kardashian, and Drake.

• Bumble explores sale as valuation collapses from $7B IPO to $388M: The Austin-based dating app is working with Morgan Stanley on a potential sale as Q1 2026 revenue fell 14.1% to $212.4M and paying users dropped 21.1% to 3.2M. CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd is trying to rebuild the app with an AI assistant called Bee to revive growth.

• JPMorgan names co-presidents as Marianne Lake exits: Lake, a contender to replace Dimon, departed after 25 years. Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh were promoted to co-presidents and are now seen as front-runners to succeed CEO Jamie Dimon.

• Microsoft hikes Xbox prices for a third time since late 2025: Series S 512GB jumps to $500 and Series X 1TB Disc to $800, with Microsoft citing storage and memory prices that have risen 2.5x and are on track to double again by fall 2027. The hike comes hours after Apple raised hardware prices by $100-$300, both driven by AI component cost spikes.

• Trump administration asks OpenAI to stagger GPT-5.6 release: Sam Altman told staff that the US government wants OpenAI to release the model to 20 trusted partners via Amazon Bedrock before a broader rollout. The request comes weeks after Anthropic suspended Mythos 5 and Fable 5 under government pressure.

• Recruit for Investment Banking: High Yield Harry and a group of Investment Bankers put together a 248 page deck for those recruiting for Investment Banking - sign up for free here to learn more about our decks.

M&A Transactions💭 

Pharos Energy (LON: PHAR), an independent oil and gas exploration company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for GBP 116.6M by Ratio Petroleum (TAE: RTPT). EV/EBITDA was 2.81x and EV/Revenue was 1.36x. Rothschild & Co advised on the sale.

iMerit, developer of an AI data annotation and model evaluation platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $310.0M by ExlService Holdings (NAS: EXLS).

First Reliance Bank, a commercial bank, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $242.784M by Colony Bank (NYS: CBAN). EV/Net Income was 19.07x and EV/Revenue was 4.95x. Hovde Group advised on the sale.

Everllence, manufacturer of industrial-scale propulsion, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 7.4B by Bain Capital. EV/Revenue was 1.55x. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NAS: CNTA), a clinical stage biotechnology company, was acquired for $7.8B by Lilly USA (NYS: LLY). Centerview Partners and Jefferies advised on the sale.

Agility Robotics, manufacturer of humanoid robots, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Churchill Capital XI through a $420.0M reverse merger, resulting in the combined entity trading on the exchange under the ticker symbol AGLT. BTIG advised on the transaction.

Nabha Power, producer of electricity, was acquired for INR 36.324B by Torrent Power (BOM: 532779).

Keyton Holding, operator of a chain of retirement villages, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $525.0M by Aware Super. The transaction values the company at an estimated $2.09B.

Clearwater Analytics Holding, a back-office functions platform, was acquired for $8.4B by Permira, Warburg Pincus, Francisco Partners, and Temasek Holdings. EV/EBITDA was 78.08x and EV/Revenue was 10.17x. J.P. Morgan and PJT Partners advised on the sale.

Biocare Medical, developer of immunohistochemistry and molecular diagnostic reagents, was acquired for $950.0M by Agilent Technologies (NYS: A). EV/Revenue was 10.56x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Bio-Techne (NAS: TECH), a life sciences manufacturer, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $11.716B by Merck (ETR: MRK). EV/EBITDA was 46.18x and EV/Revenue was 9.68x.

Ballestra, manufacturer of processing equipment, was acquired for EUR 148.2M by Nextchem. EV/Revenue was 0.65x. Rothschild & Co advised on the sale.

Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (TSE: ASCU), a mineral exploration company, was acquired for CAD 2.0B by HudBay Minerals (TSE: HBM). EV/Cash Flow was 23.6x. Origin Merchant Partners and Soctiabank advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Underscore, developer of energy coordination software, raised $120.0M of venture funding led by Andreesen Horowitz.

Trase Systems, developer of an AI-based enterprise platform, raised $107.0M of seed funding led by ARCH Venture Partners.

Taktile, developer of a decision engine platform, raised $110.0M of Series C venture funding led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Stegra, operator of a steel production plant, raised EUR 1.4B of venture funding led by Wallenberg Investments.

RunPod, developer of an online GPU platform, raised $100.0M of venture funding led by Summit Partners at a pre-money valuation of $900.0M.

RQ Bio, operator of a biotechnology company, raised $115.0M of Series A venture funding led by Frazier Healthcare Partners.

Ollin, developer of ophthalmic therapeutics, raised $156.25M of Series B venture funding led by ARCH Venture Partners and TCG Crossover Management.

Assort Health, developer of a conversational AI platform, raised $120.0M of Series C venture funding led by Menlo Ventures at a pre-money valuation of $1.08B.

Norm Ai, developer of a regulatory AI agent platform, raised $120.0M of venture funding from undisclosed investors.

Scaled Cognition, developer of a foundational model, raised $100.0M of Series A venture funding led by Khosla Ventures.

Quaise Energy, developer of deep geothermal energy technology platform, raised $200.0M of venture funding led by Idemitsu Kosan.

General intuition, operator of a frontier AI research lab, raised $320.0M of venture funding led by Khosla Ventures at a pre-money valuation of $1.98B.

Alan, developer of an online digital insurance platform, raised EUR 480.0M of Series G venture funding led by Prosus at a pre-money valuation of EUR 5.02B.

Airwallex, operator of a global payments and financial platform, raised $320.0M of Series H venture funding led by Addition at a pre-money valuation of $10.68B.

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Welcome back.

Chipmakers sold off in whats a bit of a technical cooldown + pressure from these open-source models & frontier model (Anthropic) regulation. Memory stocks $SNDK ( ▲ 3.1% ) , $MU ( ▼ 1.24% ) , and $WDC ( ▲ 0.79% ) plunged after the Korean market crash sent the Kospi down 10% 

Speaking of which…Micron reports earnings today. Brace yourselves, volatility is coming.

Let’s get into it.

Buyside Hub Jobs of the Week:

1. A Family Office is hiring a Private Equity Associate or VP (Dallas, TX)

2. Rallyday Partners is hiring a Private Equity Associate (Denver, Colorado)

Here’s a look at the remaining earnings for this week.

• Wednesday: Micron, Paychex, Trip.com, Jefferies

• Thursday: Darden Restaurants, McCormick, TD Synnex, Commercial Metals, Acuity

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Wednesday: New Home Sales (634K), Fed Reserve bank stress test results

• Thursday: Durable goods (-4%), 3rd Estimate GDP (1.6%), Weekly Jobless Claims (225K), Personal Income M/M (0.4%), Consumer Spending M/M (0.5%), PCE Price Index M/M (0.5%), PCE Price Index Y/Y (4.1%), PCE Core Price Index M/M (0.3%), PCE Core Price Index Y/Y (3.4%), Kansas City Fed Survey

• Friday: Advanced Economic Indicators Report, Wholesale Inventories, Retail Inventories, U. Michigan Final Consumer Survey (48.9)

Earnings Corner 💸 

• FedEx $FDX ( ▲ 1.24% ) revenue beat at $25.05B vs. $24.0B and EPS beat at $6.31 vs. $5.96. Results were driven by higher shipping rates, a 3% increase in domestic package volumes, stronger U.S. priority shipments and continued network efficiency improvement. However, rising transportation costs, wages, fuel expenses and trade policy headwinds weighed on profitability with operating margins declining from 9.1% last year, to 8.4% this year. Management guided FY27 below expectations.

• Carnival Corporation $CCL ( ▲ 0.41% ) revenue beat at $6.66B vs. $6.64B, while adjusted EPS beat at $0.41 vs. $0.35. Results were driven by strong pricing, record onboard spending, and continued demand, with customer deposits reaching a record $9.0B and 2026 sailings 93% booked. Strong demand helped offset nearly 30% higher fuel costs and booking pressure in parts of Europe due to Middle East disruptions. Management said demand for 2027 remains ahead of prior-year levels but guided 3Q EPS below expectations, reflecting the ongoing impact of geopolitical and fuel related headwinds

• KB Home $KBH ( ▼ 0.69% ) revenue beat at $1.11B vs. $1.09B, while EPS missed at $0.43 vs. $0.45. Results reflected continued weakness in the housing market as elevated mortgage rates and affordability pressures weighed on demand. Home deliveries fell 23% y/y and revenue declined 27% as the company sold fewer homes, while operating margin contracted to 2.5% due to lower volumes and increased incentives. Backlog fell 7%, signaling softer future demand. Management guided 3Q housing revenue to $1.2B-$1.35B, roughly in line with expectations.

• Cerebras $CBRS ( ▲ 8.34% ) revenue beat at $193.4M, rising 92% y/y, while EPS missed at a loss of $0.22. Results were driven by strong AI infrastructure demand as customers including OpenAI and AWS expanded use of Cerebras' inference chips and cloud services. The company highlighted a $20B OpenAI agreement and growing global data center deployments. While revenue growth remained strong, profitability was pressured by ongoing investments in new data-center capacity to support rapid demand growth. Management guided gross margins lower as it temporarily uses third party capacity and incurs additional infrastructure costs while expanding its own network.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Primoris Services $PRIM ( ▼ 3.16% ) fell after cutting FY guidance on cost overruns at six renewable energy projects alongside the departure of COO Jeremy Kinch.

• SpaceX $SPCX ( ▼ 4.51% ) dipped below its $150 debut price intraday before recovering to close near flat, shedding $400B from last week’s peak.

• Quantum stocks $QNT ( ▼ 4.16% ) , $INFQ ( ▼ 4.94% ) , $IBM ( ▼ 2.62% ) , and $QBTS ( ▼ 5.06% ) rallied against a falling market after Trump signed executive orders accelerating US quantum development.

• Varonis Systems $VRNS ( ▼ 2.79% ) jumped on reports the cybersecurity firm is weighing a sale, with takeover interest reportedly coming from Blackstone, Thoma Bravo, and Vista Equity Partners.

• Porsche $POAHY ( ▼ 0.33% ) dipped as the German luxury carmaker confirmed plans to decrease its model lineup as part of a a traffic and competition driven turnaround push.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Bending Spoons SpA set IPO terms at $26-$28 per share for up to a $17.8B valuation, trimmed from the $20-22B target reported earlier this month. The Milan-based acquirer of struggling software businesses is seeking to raise up to $1.62B by selling 58M shares, with backers Galileo Quattordici and Baillie Gifford offloading 23.6M of those. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Allen & Co. are leading the offering.

• EG Group filed confidentially for a US IPO that could raise ~$1B at a ~$9B valuation, with the listing potentially coming as soon as July. The TDR Capital-backed gas station and convenience store operator’s choice of the US over its home UK market continues a trend, after CRH and Flutter Entertainment recently moved their main listings to New York.

• Israel Aerospace Industries & Rafael Advanced Defense Systems are being weighed for potential US IPOs as Israel considers selling up to 30% stakes in both state defense giants, with reps traveling to the US in mid-July to assess primary or dual listings. IAI is valued at ~$33.7B and Rafael at ~$20B, both makers of the Arrow and Iron Dome anti-missile systems posting record 2025 revenue and order backlogs of $30B+ and $20B+ respectively.

• Carro is considering a confidential US IPO filing as soon as this month that could raise up to $500M. The SoftBank-backed used car marketplace operates across seven Asian markets and is also weighing a dual listing in Singapore.

• Sinda Ltd. is targeting up to $345.2M from a combined IPO and private placement, pricing 17.75M shares at $11.25-$13.25 for up to a $2.08B valuation. The Electrum-backed silver miner secured a concurrent $110M placement from Fresnillo and $10M of interest from Franco-Nevada. Morgan Stanley, BNS, and BMO are leading the offering.

For deeper, stock market research upgrade to the WSR Investing Club

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F2, the compounding intelligence platform for private markets, has raised $24 million in total equity — including a new $14 million seed round led by HighlandX, on top of $10 million previously raised. Backers include Left Lane Capital, NFX, Y Combinator, and Torch Capital.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• Morgan Stanley and Apollo cap private credit withdrawals: Apollo capped withdrawals at the standard 5% after redemption requests hit nearly 17%. This comes as Morgan Stanley saw a 11.6% redemption request rate and also capped redemptions at 5%.

Via Evercore

• PE zombie funds set to multiply as exits remain frozen: Over half of investors surveyed by Coller Capital expect managers to extend fund lives past expiration to collect fees, up from 28% in 2024. Portfolio companies have no clear path to liquidity due to sluggish dealmaking and AI-driven software uncertainty.

• SpaceX’s successful debt raise: Elon’s baby has successfully raised $25B in IG Sr. Uns. financing due in 2036, priced 140bps above treasuries. The new issue has nearly 3x oversubscribed.

• Bain & Co. is “vibe coding” tools to stress-test software M&A targets: The firm has built hundreds of vibe-coded prototypes using Claude Code to potentially easily replicate SaaS acquisition targets’ core features.

• Meta launches smart glasses starting at $299: The new Meta Glasses come in three designs under Meta’s own brand, built with EssilorLuxottica but dropping the Ray-Ban and Oakley labels. The starting price is at least $80 less than the second-gen Meta Ray-Ban as Meta pushes to own a hardware platform in the AI era.

• KKR’s Arctos backs $288M Tennessee stadium district: Arctos Partners has partnered with RVX Ventures and Magellan Development Group on a mixed-use entertainment district next to the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium. The project includes a hotel, apartments, and 100K square feet of entertainment space and adds to PE’s growing push into college sports.

• Fed’s Goolsbee warns inflation is “going the wrong way”: The Chicago Fed president flagged the rise in services inflation, which can’t be explained by the Iran war energy shocks or tariffs, as particularly concerning due to its persistence. Nearly half of FOMC members projected at least one rate hike this year.

• Manchester United acquires land for 100,000-seat stadium: The club secured a 25-acre site from Blackstone’s Indurent, which would make it the UK’s largest sporting arena. The move reflects growing Premier League pressure to boost matchday revenue as financial regulators crack down on owner subsidies.

• Remembering Alan Greenspan: The architect of nearly two decades of US monetary policy under four presidents passed away at 100. He began his career playing clarinet and saxophone alongside Stan Getz before pivoting to economics. He is remembered as much for his deliberate ambiguity in Fed-speak as for his belief that financial literacy was “the civil rights issue of this generation.”

• Citigroup opens Baltic office to chase European defense spending boom: The bank will open a branch in Lithuania, serving Latvia and Estonia under EU passporting rules, targeting sovereign bonds, government funding, and transaction banking. The three Baltic nations have spent 5%+ of GDP on defense.

• The Daily Wire is seeking a $100mm investment at a $750mm valuation, as investors are seeking strategic investment following lower paid subscriber numbers. According to Semafor, last year, the right-wing media company generated $48mm of Adj. EBITDA but has started to stumble, making a potential IPO path a little unclear.

M&A Transactions💭 

Vibe.co, developer of a programmatic advertising platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Walmart (NAS: WMT) for an undisclosed amount.

Teamshares, operator of an employee ownership platform, acquired Live Oak Acquisition through a $746.0M reverse merger, resulting in the combined entity trading on the NASDAQ Exchange under the ticker symbol TMS. EV/EBITDA was 39.26x and EV/Revenue was 1.52x. Santander advised on the transaction.

Peel Mining (ASX: PEX), an Australian company focused on exploring and developing precious, base, and specialty metals, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for AUD 214.0M by Aeris Resources (ASX: AIS). EV/Cash Flow 18.8x.

Arcosa (NYS: ACA), a manufacturer and producer of infrastructure-related products, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $8.5B by CRH (NY: CRH). EV/EBITDA was 15.19x and EV/Revenue was 3.01x. Evercore Group and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Zimmermann PV-Steel Group, manufacturer of solar mounting systems, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 330.0M by Nextpower (NAS: NXT).

Ultra Mission Solutions, developer of mission-critical software, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $720.0M by Booz Allen (NYS: BAH). Baird Partners advised on the sale.

Stellus Capital Management (NYS: SCM), a closed-end, on-diversified management investment company, was acquired for $882.134M by Ridgepost Capital (NSS: RPC). EV/Net Income was 37.21x and EV/Revenue was 9.82x. Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Made Group, producer of beverages and provider of private-label and co-packing services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $2.0B by Dahonee (PAR: BN). The potential transaction values the company at an estimated $3.3B. EV/Revenue was 8.52x. Bank of America advised on the sale.

Emmerson Resources (ASX: ERM), a Perth-based explorer, was acquired for AUD 311.1M by Pan Africa Resources (LON: PAF). Berenberg Bank, BMO Capital Markets, and Canaccord Genuity advised on the sale.

Apogee Therapeutics (NAS: APGE), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $10.125B by AbbVie (NYS: ABBV). EV/Cash Flow was 29.38x. Jefferies and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Aechelon Technology, developer of a defense software, was acquired for $12.7B by Shield AI. J.P. Morgan advised on the sale.

Eide Bailly, an accounting firm, sells sake to Reverence Capital Partners at a $1.8B valuation.

Ultima Furniture Systems, manufacturer of wooden kitchen furniture and fitted kitchen systems, was acquired for GBP 390.0M by Howden Joinery Group (LON: HWDN).

Ramsdens Holding (LO: RFX), a diversified financial services provider, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for GBP 206.0M by Chess Bidco. EV/EBITDA was 6.49x and EV/Revenue was 1.38x.

GeoPura, provider of renewable energy, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for GBP 301.1M by Ballard Power Systems (TSE: BLDP). Barclays advised on the sale.

VACUUMSCHMELZE, manufacturer and distributor of magnetic materials, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.9B by Energy Fuels (TSE: EFR). Jefferies advised on the sale.

Astreya, provider of IT consulting and advisory services, was acquired for $600.0M by Cognizant Technology Solutions (NAS: CTSH). EV/Revenue was 1.07x.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Upscale AI, developer of an AI networking company, raised $390.0M of Series A1 venture funding led by Premji Invest, Tiger Global Management, and Xora Innovation at a ore-money valuation of $1.61B.

Peregrine, developer of a decision and operations management platform, raised $250.0M of Series D venture funding led by Sequoia Capital at a pre-money valuation of $6.55B.

Nearfield Instruments, developer of a high throughput scanning probe, raised $380.0M of Series D venture funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Company at a pre-money valuation of $1.22B.

Groq, developer of AI inference hardware, raised $650.0M of venture funding led by Disruptive and Infinitum Partners.

CRED, developer of a credit card payment application, raised $900.0M of Series H venture funding from Meta Platform at a pre-money valuation of $3.6B.

Bionyra, developer of biological therapeutics, raised $165.0M of Series A venture funding led by Jeito and Sofinnova Partners.

Baseten, developer of AI inference infrastructure, raised $1.5B of Series F venture funding led by Sands Capital, Spark Capital, Wellington Management, Altimeter Capital Management, 01 Advisors, and Conviction Partners at a pre-money valuation of $11.5B.

Osanni Bio, operator of a biotechnology company, raised $190.0M of Series B venture funding led by Patient Square Capital.

Cadence, operator of a digital healthcare company, raised $100.0M of Series C venture funding led by Spark Capital.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 38% chance of a 25bps rate hike in September.

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The Week Ahead Of Us 🔍

Welcome back!

Hope everyone is getting some time to enjoy the world cup.

Stock futures are down slightly as oil is up to $78/bbl on peace talk shakiness. We have key inflation data dropping Wednesday as well.

We saw some ugly numbers from Accenture last week that are showing that non-AI driven consulting is in a rough spot. Plus, the tech community is starting to spend more time looking at Chinese open-source model GLM-5.2, which runs at roughly 1/6 of the token cost as Opus 4.8.

More on all this into today’s piece, let’s dive right into it.

Btw, here’s a look at a new job we’re hiring for on Buyside Hub:

A Family Office is hiring a Private Equity Associate or VP (Dallas, TX). This is a great opportunity to:

• Focus on direct investing with activities based on the deployment of firm capital

• Develop and manage a portfolio focused on defense investments

• Focus on both middle market and lower middle market opportunities

You can apply for top Buyside and Banking roles directly on Buyside Hub.

Here’s a look at earnings this week.

• Monday: Fervo Energy, Outdoor Holding Company

• Tuesday: FedEx Corp, Cerebras, Carnival Corporation, KB Home, Icon

• Wednesday: Micron, Paychex, Trip.com, Jefferies

• Thursday: Darden Restaurants, McCormick, TD Synnex, Commercial Metals, Acuity

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Tuesday: US Flash Manufacturing PMI (54.8), US Flash Services PMI (51)

• Wednesday: New Home Sales (634K), Fed Reserve bank stress test results

• Thursday: Durable goods (-4%), 3rd Estimate GDP (1.6%), Weekly Jobless Claims (225K), Personal Income M/M (0.4%), Consumer Spending M/M (0.5%), PCE Price Index M/M (0.5%), PCE Price Index Y/Y (4.1%), PCE Core Price Index M/M (0.3%), PCE Core Price Index Y/Y (3.4%), Kansas City Fed Survey

• Friday: Advanced Economic Indicators Report, Wholesale Inventories, Retail Inventories, U. Michigan Final Consumer Survey (48.9)

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Earnings Corner 💸 

• Accenture $ACN ( ▼ 2.75% ) Revenue missed slightly at $18.7B vs. $18.8B, while EPS beat at $3.80. New bookings fell 2% to $19.3B as clients pulled back on consulting and IT projects amid macro uncertainty and middle eastern disruptions, which reduced quarterly revenue by about $100M and impacted sales by about $400M. The slowdown reflected continued caution around large transformation projects and delayed client spending decisions. Management also lowered its revenue growth outlook to 3%-4% and guided revenue to $18.47B.

  • IT services stocks $IBM ( ▼ 2.62% ) , $INFY ( ▼ 1.71% ) , and $CTSH ( ▼ 1.91% ) sold off in sympathy.

• Kroger $KR ( ▲ 1.14% ) revenue beat at $46.1B while EPS slightly missed at $1.58 vs. $1.59. Results were driven by strong digital revenue rising 19% and e-commerce turning profitable for the first time. However, increasingly price conscious shoppers made more promotional trips and fewer full-basket purchases, while Kroger invested in price cuts and promotions to defend market share, pressing margins. Management reiterated FY26 guidance but warned that food inflation is expected to accelerate later this year.

On The Move 📈 📉

• $ALAB ( ▼ 1.07% ) , $CRWV ( ▼ 0.91% ) , $NBIS ( ▲ 1.6% ) , and $TER ( ▼ 0.87% ) rose alongside flat $RKLB ( ▼ 1.83% ) on news they’ll join the Nasdaq-100 on June 22, replacing $CHTR ( ▼ 2.69% ) , $CTSH ( ▼ 1.91% ) , $INSM ( ▼ 2.24% ) , $VRSK ( ▼ 0.87% ) , and $ZS ( ▼ 5.34% ) in the index’s quarterly rebalancing.

• Wolfspeed $WOLF ( ▼ 5.26% ) surged after signing an MOU with GE Aerospace to co-develop high voltage silicon carbide power modules and unveiling new SiC products aimed at AI data centers.

• Bloom Energy $BE ( ▼ 4.83% ) jumped on a wave of AI power deals from Nebius and Oracle, plus the CEO’s confirmation that no equity raise is needed. Daiwa, UBS, and Morgan Stanley all have price targets above $300.

• Vail Resorts $MTN ( ▲ 1.8% ) popped on reports the ski operator hired takeover-defense bankers to fight activist pressure.

• Ouster $OUST ( ▼ 8.94% ) rallied on rising AI driven demand for its digital lidar and perception software, extending a 31.9% rally over the past four weeks.

For deeper, stock market research upgrade to the WSR Investing Club

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Reformation could file confidentially for an IPO as soon as next week, with the womenswear retailer aiming to go public as early as July. The Permira-backed brand is on track for $500M+ in revenue this year, with a celebrity following including Taylor Swift, Meghan Markle, and Hailey Bieber driving its growth. With dozens of US stores plus international locations, the IPO would mark a potential exit for Permira, a majority owner since 2019.

• Standard Nuclear Inc. filed for a US IPO as the nuclear fuel maker joins a wave of nuclear listings tied to AI power demand. The company designs fuels for advanced reactors including small modular units, and was valued at $838M after a $140M Series A in January. BofA and Goldman Sachs are leading the offering.

• Kardigan Inc. $KARD ( ▲ 0.76% ) surged 38% in its Nasdaq debut Wednesday, closing at $22 versus a $16 IPO price for a ~$2B valuation. The heart drug developer raised $400M after selling 25M shares at the top of its $14-$16 range, up from the 23.3M originally marketed. JPMorgan, Jefferies, Leerink Partners, and TD led the offering.

• International IPOs:

  • National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. filed for what could be India’s largest IPO ever at a $53B unlisted market valuation, with no listing date yet announced. The exchange’s IPO would deliver major windfalls including Azim Premji’s ~$1.2B stake and Radhakishan Damani’s ~$835M, while State Bank of India, Temasek, and Morgan Stanley are set to exit.

  • KNDS NV is paving the way for a Frankfurt and Paris IPO at a €15-18B ($17-20B) valuation after the family owners agreed to sell a 40% stake to the German government, matching France’s existing ownership. The Amsterdam-based tank maker, whose armored vehicles are being deployed in Ukraine, posted €4.4B in 2025 revenue with a €33.1B order backlog.

Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• US and Iran officials meet in Switzerland: The two countries are reportedly still far apart on ending the war, sending futures lower tonight. Iran wants fighting in Lebanon to stop, while the U.S. is zoned in on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

• Getting you up to speed on GLM 5-2: Chinese open-source model GLM-5.2 beats GPT-5.5 on SWE-bench Pro and scored within 1% of Opus 4.8 on FrontierSWE across long-horizon coding tasks at 1/6 of the cost. Built entirely on Huawei Ascend chips for an estimated $25M in training costs, and priced at $5.80/M tokens vs. $35 for GPT-5.5. The impressive MIT-licensed release lands as Trump export controls on Claude Fable 5 push enterprises toward sovereign, locally-hostable alternatives, helping drive the owner of Z.ai’s stock up 90% to an all-time high.

  • Naturally, if open source models running at fractional costs are not too far off from frontier models, then this creates a pricing war problem for Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. This is close to a “DeepSeek moment” and the Street isn’t quite talking about it yet.

• Medallia’s collapse forces private credit lenders to become equity owners: Thoma Bravo handed Medallia’s keys to a Blackstone-led creditor group this week after writing off a $5B equity stake, with lenders who marked loans at par now holding assets worth 60-70 cents on the dollar. Fitch pegs private credit default rates at 6%, an all-time high.

  • The “next Medallias” to watch are Coupa and Zendesk, all 2021-2022 LBOs facing the same AI-disruption and high leverage.

• Gibson Capital quietly exited private credit months before the redemption gates shut: The $3B wealth manager flagged deteriorating spreads, weakening covenants, and a suspicious loan markup in the $33B Cliffwater fund, pulling $80M in client money out in December before Cliffwater capped withdrawals at 5-7% the following quarters.

• PIF explores minority stake sale in Newcastle United: The Saudi sovereign wealth fund is in exploratory talks with KKR-owned Arctos Partners as it weighs outside investment to redevelop or replace St James’ Park. The talks come as PIF pulls back from LIV Golf, raising questions about its broader sports spending appetite given rising geopolitical risk in the Middle East.

• Brookfield leads bidding for XpFibre: The asset manager is in advanced negotiations to acquire Altice France’s 50.01% controlling stake in the fiber-to-the-home operator, which Drahi has been valuing at €8B. KKR, DigitalBridge, and Vauban were also shortlisted.

• KKR commits $1.4B to Altavair partnership: The fresh equity commitment, drawn from KKR’s Infrastructure and Asset-Based Finance strategies, reflects airline demand for sale-leaseback flexibility as fleet funding needs mount. This investment brings total KKR capital deployed in aviation to $12B+ since 2015.

• SNAP restrictions put $830M in food and beverage sales at risk: USDA has approved purchase restriction waivers in 23 states, covering roughly 1/3 of all SNAP recipients, with most waivers targeting sugary drinks and candy. Food manufacturers, namely Hershey, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Heinz, are accelerating reformulations to get ahead of regulations.

• South Korea’s chip bonuses put the Bank of Korea on inflation watch: SK Hynix and Samsung employees are projected to receive up to $400-450K in bonuses, tied to profit-sharing deals struck after labor disputes. This prompted the BOK to flag demand-side inflation risk above its 2% target, with luxury spending already surging.

• Goldman cuts gold target to $4,900 on no Fed cuts in 2026, reflecting lower expected ETF inflows as rate cut expectations push into mid-2027. The bank warns prices could fall to $4,400 if the Fed hikes.

• Major studios pass on Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman film “Artificial”: The $40M film starring Andrew Garfield as Altman was dropped by Amazon MGM months after its $50B OpenAI deal, with Focus Features, Warner Bros.’ Clockwork, A24, and Netflix all passing on the project. Mubi is now pursuing the film, and Neon is also reportedly interested.

• PE sponsors turn to hot loan market to fund their own payouts: Ten borrowers have launched $3.5B+ in leveraged loans and high yield bonds to fund payouts to PE owners over the past four weeks, which accounts for half of this year’s entire dividend recap volume. Blackstone and Warburg Pincus piled more debt onto IntraFi to fund a payout to themselves for the seventh time in three years.

M&A Transactions💭 

Flexstone Partners to acquire Glouston Capital Partners, a Boston-based PE secondaries manager with over $3.4B in AUM, to form $15.0B private equity platform.

TPG to acquire Waste Eliminator and Liberty Waste Solutions from Allied Industrial Partners. Houlihan Lokey advised Waste Eliminator and Stifel advised Liberty Waste Solutions on the sales.

RBL Bank (NSE: RBLBANK), an Indian commercial bank, was acquired for $2.75B by Emirates NBA Bank (DFM: EMIRATESNBD). EV/Revenue was 3.86x.

Partnered Health, operator of a chain of healthcare facilities, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for AUD 450.0M by Bupa.

Multiplex, operator of a construction contractor company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $650.0M by Obayashi (TKS: 1802). EV/EBITDA was 10.48x and EV/Revenue was 0.17x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Intertek Group (LON: ITRK), one of the largest and oldest companies in the testing, inspection, and certification industry, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for GBP 10.6B by EQT. EV/EBITDA was 14.59x and EV/Revenue was 3.15x. J.P. Morgan, PJT Partners, and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Innovist, operator of a personal care brand, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $400.0M by L’Oreal (PAR: OR). EV/Revenue was 4.62x.

Greenlea Premier Meats, producer of grass-fed products, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $800.0M by Anzco Foods. EV/Revenue was 1.33x.

Exolaunch, provider of satellite launch services, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $339.0M by EQT. Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Celero Commerce, developer of payment processing and business management software, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $625.0M by Deluxe (NYS: DLX). EV/Revenue was 3.13x. Financial Technology Partners advised on the sale.

Xella International, manufacturer of building materials, was acquired for EUR 1.85B by Holcim (SWX: HOLN). EV/Revenue was 1.94x.

Blue Canyon Technologies, manufacturer of spacecraft and components, as reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $620.0M by MDA Space (TSE: MDA).

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Manifold Space, developer of AI software, raised CNY 1.0B of Pre-A+ venture funding from Hubble Investment, Beijing Automotive Group Industrial Investment, and Guoxin Science and Technology Innovation Fund.

LiblibAI, developer of an AI-based painting platform, raised $300.0M of Series B+ venture funding led by Shunwei Capital and Granite Asia at a pre-money valuation of $1.7B.

Dream, developer of a cybersecurity platform, raised $260.0M of Series C venture funding led by Bicycle Capital and Group 11 at a pre-money valuation of $2.74B.

Behavox, developer of AI-based enterprise surveillance software, raised $175.0M of venture funding from HPS Investment Partners at a pre-money valuation of $265.14M.

Restructuring Updates💭

Sleep Number Corporation

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Approximately $672M debt outstanding; agreed to a $415M sale to Sleep Country Canada.

• What happened: Sleep Number formally entered Chapter 11 and launched a court-supervised sale process, with Sleep Country Canada acting as the stalking-horse bidder. Operations are continuing during the restructuring.

• Scale signal: More than 500–600 stores, roughly $1.4B annual revenue, making it one of the largest consumer bankruptcies of 2026.

West Marine

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Not publicly disclosed in recent filings.

• What happened: Following its bankruptcy process, West Marine announced the closure of 59 stores across 23 states as part of a restructuring and footprint reduction plan.

• Scale signal: One of the largest specialty outdoor and marine retailers in the U.S., with a nationwide footprint and broad recreational boating exposure.

MTF Subs (Subway franchisee)

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Estimated $1M–$10M.

• What happened: The operator of 43 Subway restaurants filed Chapter 11 and immediately closed six locations while evaluating further restructuring actions.

• Scale signal: Large regional Subway franchisee spanning four states with dozens of operating locations.

Restructuring Rumors💭 

Georgia-Pacific / Bestwall

• Type: Potential new Chapter 11 filing

• Debt: Exposure tied to roughly 64,000 asbestos claims.

• What happened: A senior executive disclosed that Georgia-Pacific is evaluating a second bankruptcy filing to implement a global asbestos settlement after negotiations with claimants.

• Scale signal: One of the largest mass-tort restructuring situations in the U.S., involving decades of asbestos liabilities.

Brightline

• Type: Potential restructuring / Chapter 11 risk

• Debt: More than $5B.

• What happened: Creditors continue hiring advisers and negotiating restructuring alternatives as debt deadlines and interest-payment pressures mount.

• Scale signal: The largest active infrastructure distress story in North America, tied to private passenger rail expansion.

First Brands Group

• Type: Liquidation / restructuring uncertainty

• Debt: Case tied to an alleged $2.3B fraud-related collapse and a multi-billion-dollar capital structure.

• What happened: The company returned to court as liquidation efforts and disputes over the restructuring path continued. Creditor and trustee pressure remains intense.

• Scale signal: Parent of major automotive aftermarket brands including FRAM, Raybestos, and Autolite.

Noteworthy Chart 🧭

A look at some of the notable stocks making or nearing 52-week lows:

Housekeeping Items:

Our Weekly Poll:

Obviously, none of this constitutes financial or investment advice. Today’s newsletter is sponsored by a Paid Partnership with Shortcut, by Fundamental.

Welcome back everyone. Well, rate hike predictions are on - with Polymarket traders pricing in a 89% chance of 50+ bps of hikes by October 28th, 2026. We’ll get into the Fed meeting details, why Warsh sent the market down, and the Iran war peace signing below.

I will say, seeing someone not named Jerome Powell talking Fed Policy did feel pretty weird.

Twitter tweet

Today’s piece is sponsored by AlphaSense. Let’s get into it.

Btw, here’ s a look at some of the jobs we’re hiring for on Buyside Hub:

• Private Equity Associate at a Family Office (Fort Lauderdale/Miami, Florida)

• Guggenheim is hiring a Senior Analyst/Associate for MedTech IB (NY)

• Invesco is hiring an Associate Credit Analyst (Atlanta)

• Deerpath Capital is hiring an Originations Director (Chicago)

• Blue Owl is hiring an Alternative Credit Associate (Dallas)

• IGC is hiring an Infrastructure Debt Analyst/Associate/VP (London)

Here’s a look at the remaining earnings for this week.

• Thursday: Accenture, Kroger

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Thursday: Initial jobless claims (226,000), Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey (11.0), Leading index (0.2%)

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Dave and Busters $PLAY ( ▼ 0.95% ) revenue missed at $559.2M vs. $571.1M, while EPS missed at $0.22 vs. $0.37. Results were pressured by a 5.4% decline in comparable sales as elevated gas prices, softer consumer sentiment, and ineffective promotions weighed on traffic and spending, particularly in the company's higher margin gaming business. Management said trends have improved in 2Q and expects positive comparable sales for the remainder of FY26, driven by new games, menu changes, marketing initiatives, World Cup activations, and store remodels, while reiterating expectations for more than $100M in FY FCF..

• La-Z-Boy $LZB ( ▼ 0.33% ) revenue slightly beat at $570.3M vs. $569.2M while EPS crushed expectations at $1.26 vs. $0.82. Results were driven by strong retail demand, with written sales up 11% and delivered sales up 9%, supported by new store openings, acquisitions, and a growing mix of higher margin company owned stores. Margin expansion also benefited from pricing actions and favorable product mix, while CF and a debt-free balance sheet further supported investor sentiment. Management guided for 1Q FY27 sales of $490M-$510M, implying up to 4% organic growth despite near-term margin pressures, and plans to open about 10 new La-Z-Boy stores and 3-4 Joybird locations this year.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Smartbird $BIRD ( ▼ 9.54% ) surged after the former Allbirds rebranded to Smartbird and named a tech exec as CEO, further reinforcing the company’s pivot from footwear to AI infrastructure.

• uniQure $QURE ( ▼ 4.16% ) soared after the FDA softened its stance on AMT-130, accepting three year Phase I/II data as the basis for accelerated approval of the Huntington’s disease gene therapy.

• Snap $SNAP ( ▼ 0.43% ) slid after launching its Specs AR glasses at $2,195, drawing mixed reactions on the steep price tag and bulky design compared to Meta’s $799 Ray-Ban Display.

• Used car retailers $KMX ( ▲ 4.86% ) and $CVNA ( ▼ 1.92% ) dropped after CarMax’s Q1 beat was overshadowed by a $230 drop in retail gross profit per unit and rising credit concerns, with Carvana caught in the broader selloff.

• SpaceX $SPCX ( ▼ 4.51% ) slipped for the first time since its debut, breaking a three day winning streak that had pushed the stock up 58% above its IPO price.

For deeper, stock market research upgrade to the WSR Investing Club

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Csquare Inc. filed publicly for a US IPO as the Brookfield-backed data center operator joins a wave of AI infrastructure listings. The company runs 64 data center sites across the US, Canada, and UK, and plans to use proceeds to pay down its $734M revolving credit facility and a $75M promissory note held by Brookfield. Morgan Stanley, TD Bank, Wells Fargo, BofA, BMO, and Bank of Nova Scotia are leading the offering.

• Axyv is preparing for a US IPO that could raise up to $2B as soon as next month after L3Harris Technologies’ missile unit filed confidentially in April. The Defense Department invested $1B in the business via convertible preferred shares that convert to common equity at the IPO. L3Harris will keep its majority stake, with the proceeds going toward expanding and modernizing solid rocket motor production facilities. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

• Doncasters Group is targeting up to $746.7M in its US IPO, pricing 23.3M shares at $28 to $32 for up to a $4.43B valuation, with pricing set for June 24. The aerospace engine and gas turbine maker, which will list as DPC Holdings, makes components used in GE Aerospace engines powering Boeing’s 737 family and Airbus’s A320/A321 aircraft. Jefferies and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

• Cellares raised $50M from Prime Radiant Partners as part of its $327M Series D, with the cell therapy manufacturing biotech eyeing a potential 2027 IPO. The round, which included BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, and Ark Invest, brings Cellares’ total funding to $682M and pushes its valuation close to $1B.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• The Fed decision kept rates at 3.5%-3.75%, but the dot plot showed a split between FOMC members who want a rate hike later in the year, vs. those who want to hold rates or cut once. Warsh abstained from the dot plot, and vocalized during his speech that he’s not really a fan of the Fed giving forward guidance, and wants to rely on the market just relying on economic data instead of Fed data. That’s not the most encouraging thing for us as investors, but Warsh did vocalize that price stability (returning inflation to 2%) is very important to him, showing a hawkish tilt even though the President might starkly disagree.

  • Warsh announced several “task forces” to work through new ways the Fed will communicate, manage the balance sheet, and approach data. These sound like groups that will assemble over the coming weeks and have conclusions by year-end.

  • Ultimately, traders got quite hawkish following the dot-plot and these remarks, dumping two-years, and pricing in a hike in the fall. Even with cooling oil prices, all signs point to a return to “higher for longer”.

• President Trump has signed a copy of the US-Iran peace agreement: Fittingly, at the Palace of Versailles, Trump signed the preliminary peace deal that lays out the provisions towards reopening the Strait of Hormuz and finalizing the deal over the next 60 days. The U.S. and partners would commit $300B for reconstruction, with strings attached of Iran not being allowed to procure or develop nuclear weapons, plus an agreement will have to be reached on what to do with Iran’s uranium stockpiles.

  • From a markets standpoint, the war is considered done at this point, with crude oil down from $90/bbl to <$75 over the past 5 days.

• JPMorgan’s David Kelly says AI capex will extend the bull market: The $4.3T asset manager is urging investors to stick with stocks and higher-risk assets, citing AI infrastructure spending and higher-income consumers spending more. Kelly expects no Fed rate hikes for the next two years and a possible cut in 2027, while warning any bear market would likely center on AI given concentration risk.

• Medallia hands over the keys to Blackstone-led creditor group: Blackstone, Apollo, and FS KKR will inject $150M of new capital, significantly curbing Medallia’s ~$3B debt load, with the freed-up capital and $500M previously committed going toward its AI push. The takeover follows Thoma Bravo’s refusal to put more cash into Medallia, which it took private at a $6.4B valuation in 2021.

• How Private Equity sent Leslie’s Poolmart from $3 Billion to Pennies: In a deep dive, by Inc, they profiled how financial engineering and collapsing sales, led to Leslie’s reaching its “last day of Lehman” moment.

• Bondholders grant Brightline more time on debt payments: Brightline secured an extension on a payment for its $985M in muni bonds through end of June, with bondholders also waiving a default for a $22.2M working capital loan from bond insurer Assured Guaranty. The grace period expires alongside July 1 coupons on $2.2B of senior debt and $1.1B of corporate notes.

• What finance careers are safe from AI: We took a deep dive into what careers in Finance should be insulated from AI and how to make sure you are letting AI supercharge you, as opposed to having it erode your capabilities as a banker or investment professional. Read here.

• Robinhood slashes 10% of staff in restructuring: The brokerage will lay off ~290 employees in its first major reduction in three years, with CEO Vlad Tenev framing the move as a push to “maximize talent density.” Robinhood expects ~$28M in charges tied to severance and share-based compensation.

• Apple confirms price hikes: Tim Cook called the surge in DRAM and NAND prices a “hundred-year flood,” with both chip categories up 4x since last year. TechInsights estimates the cost pass-through adds $270 to the next iPhone Pro, and Morgan Stanley forecasts a 15% broad price increase across smartphones and PCs this year.

• Kyla Scanlon joins CNN as an Analyst and Contributor: The financial content creator known for coining the phrase “vibecession” is moving deeper into journalism. Scanlon will focus on CNN Business, bringing her views to various CNN outlets.

• Oaktree clears redemption queue as competitors cap withdrawals: A $7B Oaktree Strategic Credit Fund saw redemptions drop from 8.5% to 4.5% quarter-over-quarter, falling below the 5% cap that many other credit managers are strictly enforcing. Oaktree credited disciplined underwriting and its distressed-investing reputation.

M&A Transactions💭 

Sleep Number (NAS: SNBR), a designer, manufacturer, marketer, and retailer, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $415.0M by Sleep Country Canada (TSE: ZZZ). EV/Revenue was 0.31x. Guggenheim Partners advised on the sale.

Chemical Company of Malaysia, manufacturer of specialty chemicals, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for MYR 920.0M by TKM Chemical (KL: 5330).

Ajax Therapeutics, developer of targeted therapy drugs, was acquired for $2.3B by Lilly USA (NAS: LLY).

SL Bio (NAS: SLBT), a biomedical company, acquired Horizon Space Acquisition II (NAS: HSPT) through a $5.7B reverse merger, resulting in the combined entity trading on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SLBT.  

Twin Peaks Restaurants (BER: T6E), a franchisor and operator of two dining restaurant concepts, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $360.0M by Summit Acquisition Group.

Thefork, developer of a dining reservation platform, was acquired for $700.0M by American Express (NYS: AXP).

Teltronic, designer and manufacturer of wireless communications products, was acquired for EUR 225.0M by Amper (MAD: AMP).

Roku (NAS: ROKU), enables consumers to stream television programming, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $17.604B by Fox (NAS: FOXA). EV/EBITDA was 42.53x and EV/Revenue was 4.86x. Qatalyst Partners advised on the sale.

Payoneer (NAS: PAYO), a financial technology company, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $2.7B by Nuvei Technologies. EV/Net Income was 38.1x and EV/Revenue was 3.26x. Qatalyst Partners and Wells Fargo advised on the sale.

KORE Wireless (NYS: KORE), offers IoT connectivity to the internet, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $726.0M by Abry Partners and Searchlight. the transaction values the company at $1.25B. EV/EBITDA was 44.61x and EV/Revenue was 4.48x. Rothschild & Co advised on the sale.

Genesis Digital Assets, operator of bitcoin mining operations, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $500.0M by SWI Capital Holdings (AMS: SWICH). EV/Revenue was 15.15x.

Fin, developer of a conversational relationship platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $3.6B by Salesforce (NYS: CRM). EV/EBITDA was 90.0x and EV/Revenue was 24.0x. Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Dahl International, wholesaler of plumbing and heating equipment, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 1.2B by Kesko (HEL: KESKOA).

Gilat Satellite Networks (NAS: GILT) reached a definitive agreement to acquire The Satellite & Space Communications Segment of Comtech Telecommunications (NAS: CMTL) for $157.5M. EV/EBITDA was 9.26x and EV/Revenue was 0.81x. TD Securities advised on the sale.

Celerion, provider of early-phase clinical research, was acquired for $1.8B by Thomas H. Lee Partners. EV/EBITDA was 12.0x. Bank of America and Lazard advised on the sale.

Andrew Peller (TSE: ADW.A), a wine-producing company, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $397.0M by Fairfax Financial Holdings. EV/EBITDA was 11.66x and EV/Revenue was 2.08x. Avington Financial and Canaccord Genuity advised on the sale.

The Pizza Hit China Business of Yum! Brands has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.2B by Yum China (NYS: YUMC). Barclays and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Pizza Hut, operator of a fest-food restaurant chain and a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.5B by LongRange Capital. EV/Revenue was 0.12x. Barclays and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Sunclass Airlines, operator of a charter airline transport company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $833.0M by Norwegian Air Shuttle (OSL: NAS). EV/Revenue was 0.52x.

Simulations Plus (NAS: SLP), engaged in the software industry, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $375.0M by Altaris. EV/Revenue was 4.66x. Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Rupert Resources, engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties, was acquired for CAD 2.9B by Agnico Eagle Mines (TSE: AEM). BMO Capital Markets and Origin Merchant Partners advised on the sale.

Kennedy Wilson, developer of an international real estate investment and service firm, was acquired for $1.65B by Fairfax Financial Holdings (TSE: FFH). Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, and Moelis & Company advised on the sale.

Isola Group, manufacturer of copper-clad laminates, was acquired for $280.0M by Principal Mineral, J2 Ventures, Overmatch Ventures, The New Industrial Corporation, and Ensemble VC.

Huntsman (NYS: HUN), manufacturer of differentiated organic chemical products, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $4.887B by Olin (NYS: OLN). Citigroup and Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Greenlink Interconnector, an electricity interconnector cable project, was acquired for $200.0M by Mubadala Investment Company.

FAT Brands, a multi-brand restaurant franchising company, was acquired for $595.0M by FBG Bid. GLC Advisors & Company advised on the sale.

Eigen AI, developer of an AI optimization system, was acquired for $643.0M by Nebius Group (NAS: NBIS).

Cursor, developer of an AI-powered coding platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $60.0B by SpaceX (NAS: SPCX).

Perfuse Therapeutics, operator of a biotechnology company, was acquired for $2.45B by Bayer (ETR: BAYN). Centerview Partners advised on the sale.

EagleRidge Energy, operator of an oil and gas company, was acquired for JPY 200.0B by Marubeni (TKS: 8002).

Candid Therapeutics, operator of a biotechnology research company, was acquired for $2.0B by UCB (BRU: UCB). Bank of America and Jefferies advised on the sale.

AstroNova (NAS: ALOT), designs, develops, manufacturers, and distributes a broad range of specialty printers, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $272.0M by Arcline. EV/EBITDA was 41.27x and EV/Revenue was 1.79x.

EigenQ, developer of quantum-security infrastructure, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $215.0M by Silicon Valley Acquisition through a reverse merger, resulting in the combined entity trading on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol EIGQ. Bradley Woods & Co. advised on the transaction.

L&Q PRS, provider of residential letting services, was acquired for GBP 1.045B by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing and Ridgeback Group. BNP Paribas advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Seahi, manufacturer of water-based robotic and unmanned equipment, raised over CNY 1.0B of Series B+ venture funding from Anyu Capital, SJ Jiacheng Investment Management, and China’s Largest Agricultural Industry Fund Under CITIC Group.

Hydra Host, developer of a distributed bare-metal infrastructure platform, raised $100.0M of Series A venture funding led by Kindred Ventures at a pre-money valuation of $700.0M.

GigaAI, developer of a spatial intelligence and world model platform, raised CNY 1.0B of Series B2 venture funding from Jiantou Huawen Investment, Wanxiang Qianchao Company, Huagai Venture Capital, and Jiangsu youcheng Jinchuang Investment Management.

Cellares, operator of an integrated development and manufacturing organization, raised $327.0M of Series D venture funding led by BlackRock Private Equity and Eclipse Capital.

SiliconFlow, developer of an AI model service platform, raised CNY 2.0B of Series B venture funding from Giant Network, Guotai Junan Innovation Investment, and JinkoSolar Holding.

Rent2Cash, developer of a rental management platform, raised EUR 100.0M of venture funding led by SM Capital.

Principal Mineral, developer of strategic metals, raised $280.0M of venture funding led by Overmatch Ventures and The New Industrial Corporation.

Ent AI, developer of an enterprise security platform, raised $100.0M of Seed Funding led by Decibel Partners.

DeepSeek, developer of an open-source LLM, raised over 50.0B yuan of venture funding from Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), Contemporary Amperex Technology (SHE: 300750), and JD.com (HKG: 09618) at a pre-money valuation of CNY 288.0B.

Yuntain Cloud, provider of accelerated cloud computing solutions, raised over CNY 1.0B of Series E venture funding led by China Internet Investment Fund.

Reverse Matrix Technology, provider of advanced technology services, raised over $100.0M of Seed Funding from Ant Group, GL Ventures, and Yanyuan Venture Capital.

MoleculeMind, developer of an integrated biological computing system, raised over $100.0M of Series A+ venture funding led by Blue Bridge Advisors and Shanghai Pudong Venture Capital.

Karta, operator of a credit card company, raised $140.0M of Series A venture funding led by Galaxy Ventures.

Twenty, developer of a cyber-warfighting platform, raised $100.0M of Series B venture funding led by Accel at a pre-money valuation of $900.0M.

Odyssey, developer of general-purpose world models, raised $310.0M of Series A venture funding led by Natural Capital at a pre-money valuation of $1.14B.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 89% chance of 50+ bps of rate hikes by October 28, 2026.

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The Week Ahead Of Us 🔍

Welcome back!

The SpaceX IPO opened at $150/share after pricing at $135/share. The stock reached a high of $176.30/share before falling to a close of $160.95/share - a $2.11 trillion valuation. Elon Musk is now the World’s first Trillionaire, and over 4,000 workers who played their part in helping the Company are now millionaires - this includes cafeteria workers, welders, and janitors who were awarded in stock. As for the lockup period, early investors will be able to sell 7% of their holdings after 70 to 135 post-IPO increments, with full sales allowed at the 6-month mark.

Plus, it looks like we have an Iran peace deal!!!

Given some travel for the World Cup and the holiday on Friday, we’re going to condense our Wednesday and Friday morning newsletters into one Thursday morning piece.

Let’s get into it. Here’s a look at earnings this week.

• Monday: Dave & Buster's, Canopy Growth

• Tuesday: La-Z-Boy, John Wiley & Sons, Vince Holding

• Wednesday: Jabil, CarMax

• Thursday: Accenture, Kroger

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Monday: Empire State manufacturing survey (13.9), Industrial production (0.3%), Capacity utilization (76.2), Home builder confidence index (37)

• Tuesday: Import price index (0.8%), Import price index minus fuel, Housing starts (1.41M), Building permits (1.42M)

• Wednesday: U.S. retail sales (0.5%), Retail sales minus autos ( 0.6%), Pending home sales (1.0%), Business inventories (0.5%), FOMC interest-rate decision, Fed Chairman Warsh press conference

• Thursday: Initial jobless claims (226,000), Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey (11.0), Leading index (0.2%)

• Friday: None — Juneteenth federal holiday

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Earnings Corner 💸 

• None today

On The Move 📈 📉

• Space stocks $RKLB ( ▼ 1.83% ) , $RDW ( ▼ 2.77% ) , $ASTS ( ▼ 0.76% ) , $FLY ( ▼ 4.71% ) , and $SPCE ( ▼ 1.91% ) plunged after Thursday’s rally as $SPCX ( ▼ 4.51% ) went public in the largest IPO ever, raising a record $75B and valuing the company above $2T.

• Adobe $ADBE ( ▲ 0.45% ) fell further after the weak Thursday numbers, as investors treated the 2Q print as another reminder that the AI overhang is not going away. The company delivered a headline beat and raise, but CFO Dan Durn’s exit and concerns that AI could pressure Adobe’s core software revenue kept the focus on the longer term risks.

• Roku $ROKU ( ▲ 0.31% ) jumped after credible reports said the streaming platform is exploring a potential sale and has held early talks with at least one U.S. media company, fueling takeover speculation even though discussions remain preliminary. Investors also focused on Roku’s 100M+ household platform and connected-TV ad business as potential buyer appeal.

• Lennar $LEN ( ▲ 0.5% ) fell after 2Q revenue missed estimates and declined 5% y/y, adding to concerns that the homebuilder is still under pressure from a softer housing market. EPS met expectations but dropped from last year, while operating margin contracted as weaker profitability weighed on the print.

• StubHub $STUB ( ▼ 3.65% ) jumped after Guggenheim reiterated its Buy rating and $12.50 price target, citing a World Cup driven demand boost and potential upside to adjusted EBITDA guidance as live event spending remains resilient.

• Memory stocks $MU ( ▼ 1.24% ) , $SNDK ( ▲ 3.1% ) , $WDC ( ▲ 0.79% ) , and $STX ( ▲ 2.28% ) bounced back after losses tied to Iran tensions, with SK Hynix’s plan to triple wafer capacity by 2034 supporting the move.

• Charter $CHTR ( ▼ 2.69% ) climbed as oil prices tumbled on hopes of a peace deal between the US and Iran, lifting the broader consumer discretionary sector.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• SpaceX made history Friday with the largest IPO of all time, closing 19% above its $135 IPO price at $160.95 for a $2.2T fully diluted market cap that ranks it the world’s sixth most valuable public company. The deal drew over $350B in total demand, with institutions placing $250B+ in orders and retail submitting another $100B+. Musk became the world’s first trillionaire after the listing, retaining ~82% voting control. The offering was anchored by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA, Citigroup, and JPMorgan.

• SK Hynix is set to choose Nasdaq for its planned US listing as soon as August, with the South Korean memory chipmaker eyeing a raise of up to $14B after filing confidentially in March. The Nvidia supplier has surged 230% this year on AI-driven demand lifting its market cap above $1T in May. SEC approval is expected the week of June 22.

• Big3 is going public via a SPAC merger with Graf Global Corp. at a $290M pre-money valuation, with the deal expected to close in Q4. The 3-on-3 basketball league, founded by Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz, is backed by Fortress Investment Group executives and PayPal co-founder Ken Howery.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• US and Iran reach peace deal: The two sides agreed Sunday to end nearly four months of fighting, with the US lifting its naval blockade and Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and a formal signing ceremony set for Friday in Switzerland. The agreement opens 60 days of nuclear talks with Iran seeking sanctions relief and access to billions in frozen cash in exchange for limits on its program.

• Anthropic’s model gets pulled: The U.S. government suspended all access of Fable 5 and Mythos 5 to any foreign national. As a result, the Company has disabled both models in order to ensure compliance. Anthropic believes this is a misunderstanding from the U.S. government regarding the severity of an issue that was reportedly flagged by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Yes, a conversation between Jassy and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly led to the Trump administration’s abrupt decision.

  • Meanwhile, David Sacks, has stated that Anthropic and the U.S. had a dispute over how serious the model “jailbreak” was, resulting in the export control, and with the government hoping a remediation will get the models released again.

• Apollo eyes Austin for second US headquarters: The firm, currently headquartered at 9 West 57th in Manhattan, has narrowed its search to Austin over South Florida, drawn by tech talent density and proximity to large Texas allocators.

• BlackRock’s $25B private credit fund HLEND hit with 13.3% redemption requests in Q1, capping withdrawals at 5% ($620M). Retail investors are fleeing amid concerns over credit quality, valuation transparency, and AI disruption risk.

• Mistral seeks €3B raise at €20B valuation: The French startup, valued at €11.7B just nine months ago, is pitching investors on its position as the infrastructure backbone for European governments and industrial firms. Airbus and BMW have already signed.

• SpaceX debuts as 8th largest public bitcoin holder: With 18,712 BTC (~$1.2B), the aerospace company ranks just behind MicroStrategy’s 845K BTC, and, combined with Tesla’s 11,509 BTC, would rank Musk 4th among public holders. Bitcoin itself is down 27% YTD, trading near $64K.

• State AGs open joint investigation into OpenAI: The coalition has requested information from OpenAI on a wide range of topics, with the company saying it is cooperating but declining to name the states or specify what was requested. The probe follows Florida’s lawsuit earlier this month against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman over ChatGPT safety.

• Chevron CEO Mike Wirth open to expanding Middle East footprint: Wirth said terms from would-be partners have improved recently despite the Iran conflict, signaling appetite for new deals in the region. Chevron currently draws about 5% of its global output from the Middle East, versus 20%+ for some international rivals.

• Meta moves to cap employee AI spending: An internal memo to 6,000 employees flagged an exponential increase in AI usage, with Meta on track for billions in 2026 from internal use alone. Starting 2027, the company will roll out token budgets and a central dashboard called “AI Gateway,” steering employees away from third-party tools toward its own coding assistant MetaCode.

M&A Transactions💭 

Ultradent Products, manufacturer of dental medical devices, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for JPY 144.3B by Mitsui Chemical America.

Triple Flag Precious Metals (TSE: TFPM) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire The Gold Stream of EMR Capital and Gold Energy and Resources for $440.0M.

Transcend Therapeutics, operator of a neuroscience-focused clinical-stage company, was acquired for $1.225B by Otsuka Pharmaceutical. Centerview Partners advised on the sale.

Scientia Vascular, manufacturer of endovascular devices, was acquired for $550.0M by Medtronic (NYS: MDT). Piper Sandler advised on the sale.

Navitas Credit, provider of business financing services, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.9B by Wafra. Bank of America advised on the sale.

Crowe, provider of accounting services, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $3.0B by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. EV/Revenue was 0.46x. Harris Williams advised on the sale.

Brazos Midstream, operator of a natural gas and crude oil company, was acquired for $1.6B by Western Midstream Partners (NYS: WES). EV/Revenue was 66.12x. Jefferies and Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Alinta Energy, operator of power-generation facilities, was acquired for AUD 6.5B by Sembcorp Industries (SES: U96).

Private Placement Transactions💭 

NinjaOne, developer of unified operations and endpoint management platform, raised $400.0M of Series C venture funding from CapitalG, Teacher’s Venture Growth, Pinegrove Venture Partners, and Lead Edge Capital at a pre-money valuation of $11.9B.

Genspark, agentic workplace software platform, raised $100.0M of venture funding from Sozo Ventures, UpHonest Capital, and Mirae Asset.

Restructuring Updates💭 

Sleep Number Corporation

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Approximately $588M revolver debt outstanding, plus broader liabilities associated with its restructuring.

• What happened: Sleep Number filed Chapter 11 on June 12 and entered a court-supervised sale process. Sleep Country Canada agreed to serve as the stalking-horse bidder in a proposed $415M acquisition, while the company obtained DIP financing to continue operating.

• Scale signal: Roughly 600 stores, about $1.4B of annual revenue, and one of the largest consumer-facing bankruptcies of 2026.

At Home Group

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Approximately $2B debt load.

• What happened: The home décor retailer continued through its Chapter 11 restructuring after reaching a lender-backed restructuring agreement designed to deleverage the balance sheet and keep most stores operating.

• Scale signal: Roughly 260 stores nationwide, making it one of the largest retail restructurings currently active in the U.S.

Trinseo PLC

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Approximately $3.4B liabilities versus $2.3B assets.

• What happened: Trinseo's restructuring advanced through initial bankruptcy proceedings with DIP financing and negotiations over a debt-for-equity restructuring plan.

• Scale signal: Global chemicals manufacturer with multi-billion-dollar operations across plastics, latex binders, and engineered materials.

Restructuring Rumors💭

Brightline

• Type: Potential restructuring / Chapter 11 risk

• Debt: Approximately $5.5B.

• What happened: Creditor groups remain engaged with restructuring advisers following going-concern warnings and debt-service pressure, with negotiations ongoing around potential balance-sheet solutions.

• Scale signal: One of the largest infrastructure and transportation distress situations in North America.

First Brands Group

• Type: Distressed Chapter 11 / liquidation risk

• Debt: More than $10B capital structure under stress, with significant administrative claims disputes.

• What happened: The U.S. Trustee continues pushing for alternatives to the current restructuring plan, including potential trustee-led liquidation scenarios.

• Scale signal: Major automotive supplier serving OEM and aftermarket customers across North America.

QVC Group

• Type: Chapter 11 restructuring dispute

• Debt: Entered restructuring with approximately $6.6B debt, targeting a reduction to roughly $1.3B.

• What happened: Confirmation hearings and shareholder objections intensified, with preferred shareholders challenging a plan that would largely eliminate their recovery.

• Scale signal: One of the largest active media and retail restructurings in the U.S., encompassing QVC, HSN, and Cornerstone Brands.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 78% chance of Anthropic going public in 2026

Meme of the Day

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Welcome back

It’s finally SpaceX day. Given the insane levels of retail demand we’ve been seeing, our inclination is we’ll see a strong open. We do not want to give any financial advice ever, so please be extremely careful with SpaceX. Anecdotes like the one below are not things you see in a normal environment. There are a large amount of institutions who have racked up large paper gains on SpaceX who probably want liquidity the second they can get it.

Twitter tweet

Given how massive this IPO is, it looks like we’re set for an extremely entertaining day.

Today’s newsletter is in partnership with 9fin AI. Let’s get into it.

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Oracle $ORCL ( ▼ 2.14% ) revenue beat at $19.2B vs. $19.1B and EPS beat at $2.03 vs. $1.96. Results were driven by continued strength in Oracle’s cloud business, with cloud revenue up 47% and cloud infrastructure revenue surging 93% as the company signed large AI related contracts and expanded capacity for customers like OpenAI. Remaining performance obligations jumped 363% to $638B, signaling future demand. Oracle maintained its FY27 revenue target of $90B and raised its profit outlook, management disclosed plans to raise another $40B through debt and equity to fund its AI infrastructure buildout, raising concerns about cash burn and future dilution. Additionally, Oracle was hit the rumors that OpenAI is reportedly considering making drastic compute price cuts to better compete against Anthropic.

• Chewy $CHWY ( ▲ 1.02% ) Revenue beat at $3.36B vs. $3.35B, while EPS was in line at $0.43. Results were driven by Autoship strength, with subscription sales up 10.5% and representing 84% of total sales as customers continued to lean on recurring pet care purchases. Higher spending per customer also supported growth. Margins improved, but the stock was hit after cutting its FY26 guide from $13.6-$13.75B to $13.4B-$13.55B.

• Adobe $ADBE ( ▲ 0.45% ) revenue beat rising 13% y/y coming in at a record $6.62B vs. $6.45B, while EPS beat at $5.96 vs. $5.81. Management raised FY26 revenue guidance to $26.5B-$26.6B and increased its EPS outlook. Despite the strong results, shares fell after a strategic plan to focus more on the freemium model, and CFO Dan Durn announced his departure to Marvell, raising concerns around leadership turnover following CEO Shantanu Narayen's planned exit.

• Lennar $LEN ( ▲ 0.5% ) Revenue missed at $7.94B vs. $8.00B, while EPS narrowly missed at $1.24 vs. $1.25. Results were pressured by high mortgage rates, affordability constraints, and cautious consumer demand, forcing the company to rely on incentives and lower pricing to maintain sales volume. Home deliveries rose 2% y/y, but the average selling price fell 5% to $371K, pressuring margins as gross margin declined to 15.6% from 17.8% due to lower pricing and higher land costs. Management moderated its full year delivery outlook to 82K-83K homes amid continued housing market headwinds.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Space stocks $FLY ( ▼ 4.71% ) , $MNTS ( ▼ 1.06% ) , and $RDW ( ▼ 2.77% ) rallied ahead of SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO, as broader investor enthusiasm for commercial space lifted the entire sector.

• Robinhood $HOOD ( ▼ 2.73% ) jumped after winning regulatory approval to act as an IPO underwriter, with strong May operating data and PT hikes from Cantor and Goldman adding fuel.

• Memory stocks $SNDK ( ▲ 3.1% ) , $WDC ( ▲ 0.79% ) , and $MU ( ▼ 1.24% ) rebounded after SK Hynix announced plans to roughly double wafer capacity within five years and triple it by 2034 to meet AI driven memory demand. The KOSPI is also rallying.

• Intel $INTC ( ▼ 2.4% ) popped after BofA upgraded the chipmaker to Buy with a $135 PT, pointing to Intel’s positioning in agentic CPUs and leading edge wafers.

• Super Micro Computer $SMCI ( ▲ 0.25% ) rebounded after investors saw the $7B financing as fuel for converting $39B in AI server orders into revenue rather than pure dilution.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• SpaceX priced the largest IPO in history at $135 per share for a $75B raise, with trading set to begin Friday under SPCX. The deal drew demand for more than four times the available shares, with BlackRock placing an order to buy $5B alone and retail investors submitting over $100B in orders that far exceeded the 20% reserved for them. The pricing delivers record VC returns with Founders Fund’s ~3% stake now worth $50B+ on $600M invested over nearly 20 years, Valor Equity Partners’ ~4% position valued at ~$70B, Sequoia’s 1.5 stake at $20B+, and Andreessen Horowitz securing its largest return ever at over $10B. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA, Citigroup, and JPMorgan are leading the deal alongside 18 other banks.

• Kardigan Inc. is targeting up to $373.3M in its IPO, pricing 23.3M shares at $14-$16 for up to a $1.4B valuation. The heart drug developer is advancing three late stage drugs for cardiovascular diseases after raising $254M in an October Series B. JPMorgan, Jefferies, Leerink Partners, and Toronto-Dominion Bank are leading the offering.

• Parabilis Medicines jumped 58% in its Nasdaq debut Wednesday, closing at $31.60 versus its $20 IPO price for a $3.8B valuation. The cancer drug developer raised about $745M in an upsized offering, with demand reaching roughly 10 times the available shares. Leerink Partners, BofA, Evercore, Guggenheim Securities and LifeSci Capital led the offering.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• The Iran latest: After two days of strikes between the US and Iran, strikes that were planned last night have been postponed due to Trump’s claims of peace talk progress. It now sounds like a peace deal is closer, but Trump had previously stated that the U.S. at some point would seize total control of Kharg Island, which handles 90% of Iran’s crude exports.

• Nasdaq-100 adds CoreWeave, Astera Labs, and three others in June rebalance: $ALAB ( ▼ 1.07% ) , $CRWV ( ▼ 0.91% ) , $RKLB ( ▼ 1.83% ) , $NBIS ( ▲ 1.6% ) , and $TER ( ▼ 0.87% ) join the index effective June 22, replacing $CHTR ( ▼ 2.69% ) , $CTSH ( ▼ 1.91% ) , $INSM ( ▼ 2.24% ) , $VRSK ( ▼ 0.87% ) , and $ZS ( ▼ 5.34% ) , skewing the index heavily toward AI infrastructure and space.

• Oaktree positions for distressed cycle as maturity wall closes in: Over $200B in high-yield and leveraged loan debt is trading below 90 cents and above 15% yield-to-maturity. Software-heavy private credit vintages from 2021-2022 are most at risk, with a third of tech issues maturing in 2028 yet to demonstrate capital markets access.

• High-yield debt bifurcation hits multi-year extremes amid stagflation fears: CCC-rated bond spreads are now 640bps over BB-rated bonds, the widest premium in 14 months. Pimco, Federated Hermes, and Glendon Capital all flagged rising stress in leveraged loans and private credit.

• CoreWeave taps European high-yield bond market: The GPU cloud company priced €2B and $1.25B in high-yield bonds at 8.5% and 9.625% respectively, drawing €7B+ in orders as European investors hunt for AI exposure. The deal marks the first euro-denominated high-yield bond offering by a US AI infrastructure firm.

• Liquidity cracks emerge in retail-facing private credit funds: Blackstone and Partners Group capped withdrawals last week after a surge in redemption requests, exposing a mismatch between illiquid underlying assets and retail investor expectations. Man Group’s CIO sees the chaos as “growing pains,” arguing that higher-for-longer rates are a tailwind for disciplined floating-rate middle-market lenders.

• KKR takes $3B majority stake in Crowe: The Chicago-based accounting firm, long resistant to outside ownership, joins the long list of top-100 US accounting firms that have taken PE capital since 2021. Crowe cites AI adoption and M&A power as the strategic rationale.

• Apollo flags software as PE’s biggest risk: With $4T in unsold assets and hold times doubling to 8 years, Apollo’s Antoine Munfakh warned that a pickup in exits will expose GPs who marked software portfolios too aggressively, calling the sector’s rise of to 40% of buyout volumes a “systemic failure of risk management.” Apollo has pivoted to HALO assets as a hedge.

• Mubadala hunts deals as private equity exits dry up: The $385B Abu Dhabi fund’s private equity arm closed 16 deals in the past three months, with typical equity commitments of $500M to $1B and individual checks as large as $2B. Co-CEOs Camilla Languille and Luca Molinari are pushing the platform into direct underwriting, minority recapitalizations, and other complex deals as buyout firms struggle to offload assets.

• Yum! Brands nears Pizza Hut sale to Long Range Capital: The Louisville-based parent of KFC and Taco Bell is reportedly in talks with the Connecticut-based PE firm to offload Pizza Hut, with a deal potentially finalized in the coming weeks. The talks follow Yum’s November strategic review of Pizza Hut as the chain faces rising competition.

• Bezos’s Prometheus raises $12B Series B at $41B valuation: The AI startup is building tools to accelerate engineering and manufacturing of physical products, with Bezos saying it is creating an “artificial general engineer.” Prometheus launched in November with $6.2B in funding, co-led by Bezos and former Verily co-founder Vik Bajaj.

M&A Transactions💭 

Masimo, a medical technology company, was acquired for $10.459B by Danaher (NYS: DHR). EV/EBITDA was 30.63x and EV/Revenue was 6.71x. Centerview Partners and Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Magnetic Resources (ASX: MAUCA), a mineral exploration company, was acquired for AUD 639.0M by Genesis Minerals (ASX: GMB). EV/Cash Flow was 32.3x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Kiavi, operator of a technology-enabled lending platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $717.0M by Figure Technology Solutions (NAS: FIGR). EV/EBIDTA was 7.17x. and EV/Revenue was 2.87x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Interplex, manufacturer of interconnect and medical products, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $900.0M by BizLink Group (TAI: 3665). The transaction comprises of a contingent payout of $50.0M.

Flowa Technology, provider of engineered water infrastructure services, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for SEK 6.5B by Nordic Capital.

Fabric8Labs, developer of non-thermal metal three-dimensional printing technology, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $400.0M by TDK (TKS: 6762).

Enivest, provider of electronic communication services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for NOK 2.5B by Telenor Group (OSL: TEL). EV/EBITDA was 21.53x and EV/Revenue was 9.65x.

Emalex Biosciences, developer of biopharmaceutical drugs, was acquired for $700.0M by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TAE: TEVA). Centerview Partners and PHCP. advised on the sale.

AMES North America, manufacturer of home and building products and a subsidiary of AMES Companies, was acquired for $261.0M by Ingersoll Tillage Group.

SSG.COM, operator of an e-commerce platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for KRW 1.27T by E-Mart (KRX: 139480). EV/Revenue was 0.89x.

KalVista, a pharmaceutical company, was acquired for $1.6B by Chiesi Farmaceutici. Centerview Partners and Jefferies advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

TensorWave, developer of AI compute infrastructure, raised $350.0M of Series B venture funding led by AMD Ventures and Magnetar Capital at a pre-money valuation of $1.2B.

SonoThera, developer of a nonviral gene therapy platform, raised $125.0M of Series B venture funding led by Vida Ventures.

Neura Robotics, manufacturer of robotic assistants, raised EUR 1.5B of Series C venture funding from Tether, Amazon.com, and Qualcomm Ventures at a pre-money valuation of EUR 5.5B.

Nesto, developer of a mortgage platform, raised $302.0M of venture funding from Fidelity, Fonds de solidarite FTQ, and Diagram Ventures.

Ethyreal Bio, developer of biotechnology research platform, raised $101.0M through a combination of Series A and Series B venture funding led by Atlas Ventures, Medicxi, and Avoro Capital.

Cyera, developer of a holistic data storage and security platform, raised $600.0M of Series G venture funding led by Evolution Equity Partners at a pre-money valuation of $11.7B.

Compound Creative Holdings, operator of a creative platform, was formed as a JV between Creative Artists Agency and Integrated Media Company for $250.0M.

Cadena, developer of digital commerce technologies, raised $275.0M of Series C venture funding led by Al Dawlia Capital Network and other investors.

Beren Therapeutics, developer of therapeutic medicines, raised $300.0M in venture funding through a combination of debt and equity from Stern Stewart Ventures, Eisai, and Hercules Capital BDC.

Digital Asset, developer of a distributed ledger technology, raised $355.0M of venture funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

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Welcome back,

The market has been a little rocky on higher rates derailing the AI trade, plus Iran downing a U.S. helicopter led to U.S. retaliatory strikes that have now concluded. While more of a “message” the cease fire is getting shakier.

More on it below, but SpaceX’s IPO is nearly 4x oversubscribed, Anthropic released a lower-tier, “safer” version of Mythos, and OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO. These big 3 are going to be a massive part of the stock market this year, and I’d argue SpaceX’s Friday IPO is one of the most consequential IPOs ever.

Let’s get into it:

Here’s a look at the remaining earnings for this week.

• Wednesday: Oracle, Chewy, Stitch Fix, Oxford Industries

• Thursday: Adobe, Lennar

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Wednesday: Consumer price index (0.5%), CPI y/y (4.2%), Core CPI (0.3%), Core CPI y/y (2.9%), Monthly U.S. federal budget (-$277B)

• Thursday: Initial jobless claims (220,000), Producer price index (0.6%), Core PPI (0.4%), PPI y/y, Core PPI y/y

• Friday: Consumer sentiment prelim June

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Vail Resorts $MTN ( ▲ 1.8% ) revenue came in roughly in line with expectations at $1.21B, while adjusted EPS missed at $8.81 vs. $8.97. Results were hurt by record low snowfall and unusually warm weather across key Western markets, which led to fewer skier visits, earlier resort closures, and weaker demand for lift tickets, ski schools, dining, retail, and lodging. Total visitation fell 15%, contributing to a 7% y/y decline in revenue, though higher ticket prices and season pass sales helped offset some of the pressure. Management lowered full year guidance due to the weather driven slowdown.

• Cracker Barrel $CBRL ( ▲ 1.84% ) revenue beat at $797M vs. $775M, while EPS beat at $0.29. Results were driven by better than expected restaurant and retail trends, while the company’s ongoing turnaround strategy, including operational improvements, menu updates, and cost discipline, helped support profitability. Management raised its full year revenue and EBITDA outlook.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Quantum stocks $RGTI ( ▼ 2.65% ) , $IONQ ( ▼ 4.27% ) , $QBTS ( ▼ 5.06% ) , and $QUBT ( ▼ 5.36% ) slid as the sector extended its recent pullback, unwinding gains from the Trump quantum funding rally.

• Nuvalent $NUVL ( ▲ 0.06% ) surged after GSK agreed to acquire the cancer drug developer for $10.6B in cash at $124 per share.

• Tango Therapeutics $TNGX ( ▲ 1.77% ) soared after Phase 1 results showed its drug shrunk tumors in 11 of 12 advanced pancreatic cancer patients when combined with a Revolution Medicines treatment.

• Roblox $RBLX ( ▼ 1.91% ) climbed on a report that Russia may lift its ban on the gaming platform after the company provided guarantees it would comply with Russian law.

• CAVA Group $CAVA ( ▲ 5.84% ) rose after the Mediterranean chain announced plans to hire 2,500+ team members and open 75 new restaurants this year.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• SpaceX is seeing its IPO nearly 4x oversubscribed, drawing nearly $250B of investor demand. Pricing is set for Friday with trading to begin June 12 at $135 per share, raising about $75B at a $1.8T valuation.

• OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO Monday, with a potential listing as soon as this fall. Lat valued at $852B, the filing places OpenAI alongside Anthropic and SpaceX in an AI IPO pipeline now worth $3.6T. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

• Bending Spoons filed for a US IPO targeting a $20B to $22B valuation, up from $14.5B in 2025. The Milan-based acquirer of struggling software businesses now owns Vimeo, WeTransfer, Evernote, and AOL. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Allen & Co. are leading the offering.

• Apotex Health Corp. is targeting C$24 per share at the top of its C$20 to C$24 range for a C$1.3B Toronto IPO, which would be Canada’s largest IPO since 2021. Owned by SK Capital Partners since 2023, Apotex upsized the offering after strong demand. RBC, TD Bank, and Bank of Nova Scotia are working on the offering.

• Inspire Brands Inc. filed confidentially for a potential $2B IPO in May, but franchisees at one of its flagship brands, Buffalo Wild Wings, are pushing for changes to counter weakening foot traffic at the chain’s 1,200 sports bars. The Roark Capital backed restaurant operator also owns Dunkin’, Arby’s, Sonic, and Baskin-Robbins.

For our latest investing club piece on hyperscalers and the South Korean stock market upgrade to the WSR Investing Club

F2 Raises $24M to Scale its LLM-Agnostic AI Operating System for Private Credit

F2, the compounding intelligence platform for private markets, has raised $24 million in total equity — including a new $14 million seed round led by HighlandX, on top of $10 million previously raised. Backers include Left Lane Capital, NFX, Y Combinator, and Torch Capital.

Now live across 100+ private credit funds and commercial banks, F2 automates screening, underwriting, and portfolio monitoring at 5x throughput, with enterprise-grade security and zero data retention.

What's new for your deal team:

• Adam — an LLM-agnostic deal agent that's faster, more token-efficient, and more capable than leading frontier models on complex credit work.

• Institutional Knowledge — a living repository of your team's deal history and context that informs every financial workflow.

The results are showing: monthly active users are up 650%, and deals analyzed have grown 10x to over 15,000 this year.

See what F2 can do for your team at f2.ai. Request a demo today

Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• Claude “launches” Mythos: Claude launched “Fabel 5” for consumers which is supposed to be a safer version of the oh-so-scary Mythos model. With the benchmarks below, these are stronger than prior models, but there’s skepticism among a lot of the AI community on whether Anthropic overhyped this one. I’m seeing a mix of “oh this is really smart” and “yeah this is nerfed” reactions on socials. People also seem to be running up on their usage limits quite quickly too…showcasing we’re probably getting closer to a world where more and more people are priced out of using the top models:

• Apple unveils Siri AI and sweeping platform overhaul at WWDC: The rebuilt Siri, now powered by Google Gemini, now has a dedicated app with cross-device sync and on-device context awareness across apps. Apple rebuilt its search architecture, sped up app launches, among other changes, and set the stage for a foldable iPhone this fall.

  • However, Apple $AAPL ( ▼ 0.29% ) fell as investors sold the news. Analysts praised the Siri overhaul but flagged no concrete release date and regulatory delays abroad as near-term headwinds.

• Columbia study finds private credit ratings inflated by 2-3 notches: Assets with private ratings are twice as likely to incur credit losses as publicly rated debt at the same grade, masking systemic investment risk. Life insurers now hold $481B in privately rated assets and would need $4.5B in additional capital if ratings were aligned with actual performance.

• Shutterfly sweetens high-yield bond terms to close AI-skeptic investors: Despite a 12% yield, Apollo’s photo-sharing site had to restrict dividends, cap EBITDA add-backs, and limit cash transfers to get the $1.15B deal over the line, underscoring the depth of AI disruption fears.

• JPMorgan is sitting on a $5.3B hung Qualtrics deal: Banks are planning to offload the Silver Lake deal from their balance sheets after investors balked at the software sector, with existing debt sliding to 83.75 cents. The syndication, likely restructured to include high-yield bonds, will wait for Q3 results to hopefully make the AI-disruption case easier to sell.

• JPMorgan marketing $1B Sable Offshore debt amid legal overhang: The Trump-backed California oil driller is looking to refinance an Exxon loan expiring June 26 at a 15% interest rate and 20% amortization payments, even as the company pumps out 46,000 barrels of oil daily.

• Thoma Bravo declares the SaaSpocalypse over as AI becomes a software tailwind: Founder Orlando Bravo says 50% of new revenue across the firm’s $35B portfolio now comes from AI and agentic tools, with software stocks already staging a recovery.

• Hunter Point Capital closes $4.3B across NAV lending and preferred financing strategies, exceeding both fund targets and bringing total AUM to $10B. The raise signals continued institutional appetite for NAV-based lending as PE managers seek liquidity without forcing portfolio exits.

• Sycamore Partners in talks to sell Boots for $10B: The Weston family and Australia’s Sigma Healthcare are among parties in discussion for the UK pharmacy and beauty chain, which Sycamore acquired through its Walgreens Boots Alliance takeover last year. If a sale takes place, Sycamore would be shelving London IPO plans.

• Broadcom, Apollo, and Blackstone launch $35B AI infrastructure platform: The AI XPV Platform will enable more than 20 gigawatts of compute capacity through 2028 using Broadcom chips and networking. The initial $35B tranche will fund Anthropic’s previously announced 1-gigawatt-plus capacity expansion. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said the platform pairs the company’s tech roadmap with long-term capital.

• Only 26% of companies have a comprehensive view of their AI costs: A KPMG survey shows 50% have partial visibility and 22% have none or only see costs after billing. Some KPMG clients have blown through annual token budgets in months, prompting companies to cap AI tool access and build real-time spend monitors.

• Private share marketplace Hiive eyes $780M secondary share sale: Hiive held investor talks to capitalize on demand ahead of SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic IPOs, following a primary raise late last year at a $650M pre-money valuation. Founder Sim Desai said the platform has seen record sign-ups, transactions, and trading volume despite the usual Q1 seasonal dip.

• Hut8 closed on $4.25B of IG SS notes for a data center build: The energy infrastructure platform priced the 2042 notes at 6.129% at BBB-/Baa2 ratings.

• Used Toyota RAV4 hybrids are selling above their original sticker prices: Iran war-driven gas prices above $4/gallon have sent demand for hybrids surging, while a production gap between RAV4 generations left dealers with under five days of inventory. Some 2024 and 2025 models are listing used vehicles for $6,000+ above MSRP, more than a brand-new 2026 version.

M&A Transactions💭 

Motto Investment, manufacturer of aircraft engines, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $500.0M by Arcline.

Aguas CCU-Nestle Chile, producer of bottled mineral water, was acquired for $180.0M by Compania Cervecerias Unidas (SGO: CCU).

Vegas Therapeutics, operator of a clinical-stage biotechnology company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.25B by Incyte (NAS: INCY).

Tate & Lyle (LON: TATE), a global provider of food and beverage ingredients, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for GBP 2.7B by Ingredion (NYS: INGR). EV/EBITDA was 7.7x and EV/Revenue was 1.35x. Bank of America, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Masorange, operator of telecommunications services, was acquired for EUR 4.25B by Orange (PAR: ORA). Bank of America, Barclays, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Kneat (TSE: KSI), in the business of developing and marketing a software application, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for CAD 650.0M by Thoma Bravo. EV/EBITDA was 68.03x and EV/Revenue was 9.8x. ATB Cormark Capital Markets and CIBC Capital Markets advised on the sale.

FireFly Bio, operator of an antibody-drug, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.0B by Johnson & Johnson (NYS: JNJ).

Factorial, manufacturer of nano-engineered batteries, received $100.0M of development capital from undisclosed investors. Concurrently, the company was acquired by Cartesian Growth III through a reverse merger for an estimated $276.0M resulting in the combined entity trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol FAC. Cantor Fitzgerald advised on the transaction.

Continental Aerospace Technologies, manufacturer of piston aircraft engines, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $535.0M by Arcline.

Nuvalent (NAS: NUVL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $10.6B by GSK (LON: GSK). Centerview Partners and Jefferies advised on the sale.

IntelliSmart Infrastructure, provider of power supply services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for INR 30.5B by Adani Energy Solutions (BOM: 539254). EV/Revenue was 4.47x.

Inkia Energy, operator of an energy production company, was acquired for $3.4B by CPP Investments.

Riverpoint Medical, manufacturer of medical devices, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.45B by Novanta (NAS: NOVT). Jefferies advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Rapidus, manufacturer of advanced logic semiconductors, received JPY 150.0B of financing from Information-technology Promotion Agency.

DayOne, operator of hyperscale data centres, raised $4.5B of Series C venture funding led by Hillhouse Investment Group and Coatue Management.

PhyscisX, developer of machine learning applications, raised $300.0M of venture funding led by Temasek Holdings.

Isar Aerospace, developer of space launch vehicles, raised EUR 270.0M of venture funding led by Lakestar, HV Capital Management, and Molten Ventures at a pre-money valuation of EUR 1.73B.

Iceye, developer of radar-satellite-based earth-observation systems, raised EUR 1.0B of Series F venture funding led by General Atlantic at a pre-money valuation of EUR 9.0B.

Apex, developer of standardized satellite buses, raised $200.0M through a combination of debt and Series D venture funding at a pre-money valuation of $838.77M. The equity portion of $161.23M was led by Interlagos Capital.

Beacon, operator of a permanent holding company designed to acquire and grow essential software businesses, raised $225.0M of Series C venture funding led by General Catalyst and HabourVest Partners.

GT Medical Technologies, developer of a medical therapeutic device, raised $100.0M of Series E venture funding led by Viking Global.

Element Biosciences, developer of generic analysis tools, raised $175.0M of Series E venture funding from Samgsung Electronics.

CeQur Simplicity, developer of an insulin patch, raised $100.0M of Series E of venture funding from undisclosed investors.

Cellares, operator of an integrated development and manufacturing organization, raised $227.0M of Series D venture funding led by BlackRock Private Equity Partners and Eclipse Capital.

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The Week Ahead Of Us 🔍

Welcome back!

Surprisingly hot job numbers make a Fed rate hike within the realm of possibility (Polymarket odds of a 2026 hike are at 49%). Job gains came from leisure and hospitality, local government, and healthcare. This ties into the themes we’ve been seeing the past couple of years where yes, job growth is “fine”, but if it’s coming at the government and healthcare level rather than corporations, then how healthy is it really? The jump in leisure and hospitality is solid seasonal strength, but some economists believe this is partially driven by hiring in advance of The World Cup in the U.S.

We had an ugly Friday, with chipmakers and AI names trading off hard. The Broadcom numbers, plus the move higher in rates led to a rapidly violent selloff. It’s a good reminder that what dramatically goes up, can come back down at the same velocity.

We’ve passed 100 days of the U.S. Iran war and need to start showing that the ceasefire can become permanent. Iran reportedly launched missiles at Israel on Sunday, with Trump saying those missile attacks were “certainly not going to help negotiations.” Futures have recovered a bit over the past hour despite the launches due to President Trump saying Israel has “no choice” but to accept a US deal with Iran. Even crypto is bouncing back from the lows. It seems like the U.S. is working hard towards a deal, but the market may not have much more patience if a definitive resolution isn’t hammered out. We believe more inflation might resurface through the supply chain if this doesn’t get resolved soon, and voters angry about gas prices will vote as such in the Midterms.

This is a massive week, with SpaceX set to start trading on Friday. Let’s get into it.

Here’s a look at earnings this week.

• Monday: Campbell's, Vail Resorts

• Tuesday: Caseys General Stores, J.M. Smucker, United Natural, Cracker Barrel, Lands' End, Designer Brands, BARK

• Wednesday: Oracle, Chewy, Stitch Fix, Oxford Industries

• Thursday: Adobe, Lennar, Lovesac

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Tuesday: NFIB optimism index (96.1), U.S. trade balance (-$56.0B), Existing home sales (4.05M), Wholesale inventories (0.5%)

• Wednesday: Consumer price index (0.5%), CPI y/y (4.2%), Core CPI (0.3%), Core CPI y/y (2.9%), Monthly U.S. federal budget (-$277B)

• Thursday: Initial jobless claims (220,000), Producer price index (0.6%), Core PPI (0.4%), PPI y/y, Core PPI y/y

• Friday: Consumer sentiment prelim June

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On The Move 📈 📉

• Major indexes $SPX ( ▲ 0.42% ) and $QQQ ( ▲ 0.31% ) tumbled, with the S&P 500 losing $1.8T in market value and the Nasdaq notching its largest one day point drop on record as strong May jobs report sparked Fed hike fears.

  • High-flying AI names such as TSMC $TSM ( ▼ 0.65% ), Marvell $MRVL ( ▼ 3.04% ), Arm Holdings $ARM ( ▼ 1.37% ), and Micron $MU ( ▼ 1.24% ) plunged as the stronger-than-expected jobs report dashed rate cut hopes and Broadcom’s disappointing earnings outlook soured sentiment across the chip sector.

  • Space and quantum names Planet Labs $PL ( ▼ 4.23% ), D-Wave Quantum Labs $QBTS ( ▼ 5.06% ), Rigetti Computing $RGTI ( ▼ 2.65% ), and Quantumscape $QS ( ▼ 4.78% ) all dramatically as well.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Sinda Ltd. filed for a US IPO to fund silver mining in Mexico’s Guanajuato state, where it holds rights across five contiguous concessions estimated to hold 369M silver equivalent ounces in inferred resources. Sinda is backed by Electrum Group, the same firm behind Sunshine Silver’s $270M IPO this past week. Morgan Stanley, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Bank of Montreal are leading the offering.

• SpaceX heads into its June 12 debut at a $1.8T valuation knowing it may not join the S&P 500 until 2028, after the index committee declined to relax its profitability rule. Anthropic and OpenAI are likely facing the same delay when they go public later this year.

There’s a new WSR Investing Club piece dropping tomorrow, so upgrade today

Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• OpenAI plans “superapp” pivot ahead of IPO: ChatGPT will be redesigned into a comprehensive superapp in the coming weeks, adding coding tools, image generation, and partner apps from Canva and Booking.com to compete with Anthropic. OpenAI has sidelined other consumer projects, including a video-generation product, to focus on the rollout.

• Goldman Sachs no longer expects a Fed rate cut this year: The bank pushed back its forecast of two cuts to June and December 2027 from December 2026 and March 2027, citing the stronger-than-expected labor market. Chief US economist David Mericle raised the probability of modest hikes to 20% from 10%, though he still sees them as unlikely.

• Meta weighs stock offering to fund AI push: The company is reportedly considering raising tens of billions in an equity sale after Alphabet said this week it plans to raise $85B. Meta currently has an FY26 capex guide of a whopping $145B.

• Retail brokerages set “flipping” rules ahead of SpaceX IPO: This is an important read for anyone buying the SpaceX IPO this week. Robinhood will block future IPO access for 60 days if shares are sold within 30 days, Fidelity will ban flippers for 6 months on the first offense and permanently on the third, Schwab will restrict flaggers for around 6 months on the first offense, and Sofi will block for 180 days plus charge a $50 fee for sales before day 120. Finally, E*Trade will flag and restrict flippers for a set period, with specific terms varying by the offering.

• SpaceX locks in a $30B Google compute deal: For $920M/month, Google gains access to 110,000 Nvidia chips to meet surging Gemini Enterprise demand, while SpaceX is positioning xAI’s Memphis supercomputer as a revenue-generating infrastructure business. SpaceX also has Anthropic paying $1.25B/month for the same service.

• Apollo and Blackstone finalize $35B Anthropic chip financing: The deal priced in three tranches, with $6B and $24B of Broadcom-backed senior notes at lower rates, plus $4.5B of unbacked notes at 8.5%. The capital will fund Google-developed TPU chips for Anthropic to lease, with roughly half of the debt syndicated to outside investors.

• Bitcoin $BTC ( ▼ 0.97% ) drops 16% on the week to October 2024 lows: Strategy’s bitcoin selling triggered a liquidation cascade, while a strong jobs report pushed yields higher and pressured risk assets. Bitcoin ETFs snapped a record 13-day outflow streak, but net assets have fallen from $107.8B to $80.4B since mid-May.

• Warren Equity Partners is expected to soon close on a $2.8B buyout fund for midmarket industrial services businesses. This is their fifth fund and fundraising is expected to finish this month.

• Pimco’s Ivascyn warns of sustained credit default cycle: Spreads near record tights are masking stress beneath the surface, with 2021-2022 LBO vintages financed at cheap rates the most vulnerable. Ivascyn also flagged AI infrastructure as a particularly uncertain sector.

• Bloomberg models an AI bubble burst costing $1.6T in global GDP: A 20% S&P 500 drawdown triggered by AI confidence would push US growth to near-zero in 2027, with Taiwan and South Korea hit hardest at -4% and -2% GDP, respectively. The Fed cuts 3-4 times in this scenario, with the response similar to the 2000 bubble pop.

• AI is disrupting wealth management: Tools like Claude are automating research, portfolio analysis, and client emails, freeing up advisors rather than replacing them. However, generational threats loom, as millennials inheriting $46T over the next 25 years say they’d prefer ChatGPT over a human advisor.

• DoubleLine and Oaktree are positioning for an AI credit bust: Hyperscalers have already sold $155B in unsecured bonds this year, up 45% from all of last year, with $5T in AI capex debt expected over five years. DoubleLine’s Cohen put the probability of an AI bubble at 100%, while OakTree and Pimco are selectively buying credits with balance sheets strong enough to survive a deep cycle.

• Radio sector rushes to clean up balance sheets ahead of potential deregulation wave: FCC Chairman Carr is pushing to lift local ownership caps that currently limit operators to eight stations per market, which would enable duopoly consolidation and transform competitors into synergistic merger targets.

• Teen unemployment climbs heading into summer: The BLS put unemployment for ages 16-19 at 14.7% in May, above the 14.4% April reading and 13.7% in March. Challenger, Gray & Christmas predicts summer teen jobs will fall to the lowest pace on record, with inflation, oil prices, AI and automation, and older workers staying in the workforce all impacting hiring.

M&A Transactions💭 

Vantage Risk, provider of specialty insurance and reinsurance services, was acquired for $2.1B by Howard Hughes. EV/Revenue was 375.0x. J.P. Morgan advised on the sale.

Mercuria Energy Trading entered into a definitive agreement to acquire The Downstream Business Unit of Raizen for $1.42B. BTG Pactual advised on the sale.

North Pacific Paper Company, manufacturer of paper packaging materials and publication paper products, was acquired for $360.0M by International Paper (NYS: IP). Moelis & Company advised on the sale.

Knack RCM and EquializeRCM, providers of healthcare revenue cycle management services, were acquired by The Carlyle Group through an LBO. The acquisition is part of a multi-asset transaction that includes the two companies, Knack RCM and Mammoth EquializeRCM, with a collective round amount of $600.0M.

ECHO Realty, operator of retail real estate properties, was acquired for $2.0B by TPG, PSP Investments, La Caisse, and Norges Bank Investment Management. Bank of America advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Supabase, developer of an open-source backend platform, raised $500.0M of Series F venture funding led by GIC Private at a pre-money valuation of $9.5B.

Gentle Monster, operator of an eyewear brand, raised EUR 107.0M of venture funding from Invites Ventures, Google Korea, and ZWC Partners at a pre-money valuation of EUR 2.57B.

Flourish, developer of brain-inspired AI models, raised $500.0M of venture funding led by Jeffrey Bezos at a pre-money valuation of $2.0B.

Apex, manufacturer of modular satellite platforms, raised $200.0M of venture funding led by Glade Brook Capital Partners and Washington Harbour at a pre-money valuation of $2.1B.

Allen Control Systems, developer of autonomous systems, raised $200.0M of Series B venture funding led by Smash Capital at a pre-money valuation of $2.0B.

Restructuring Updates💭

Trinseo PLC

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: ~$3.4B liabilities against ~$2.3B assets.

• What happened: Following its May 26 filing, Trinseo's Chapter 11 case became the dominant new large-cap bankruptcy entering June, with restructuring proceedings, DIP financing, and creditor negotiations now underway.

• Scale signal: Global chemicals manufacturer with multi-billion-dollar balance sheet exposure across plastics, latex binders, and engineered materials.

Home Value Store

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Assets estimated between $1M–$10M; liabilities between $500K–$1M.

• What happened: The Florida-based home improvement retailer filed Chapter 11 on June 2 amid housing-market weakness and competition from larger chains.

• Scale signal: Regional retailer with multiple locations and commercial delivery operations serving contractors and homeowners.

Phoenix Pride

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: Not disclosed.

• What happened: Phoenix Pride filed Chapter 11 while continuing operations, citing financial strain tied to declining corporate sponsorship support.

• Scale signal: One of the largest Pride organizations in the U.S., reflecting broader nonprofit funding stress.

Restructuring Rumors💭 

Brightline

• Type: Potential restructuring / Chapter 11 risk

• Debt: ~$5.5B.

• What happened: Creditors remain organized with restructuring advisers after the company issued a going-concern warning and entered bond-payment grace periods.

• Scale signal: One of the largest infrastructure and transportation distress situations currently active in North America.

QVC Group

• Type: Chapter 11 restructuring conflict

• Debt: More than $5B of debt targeted for reduction.

• What happened: Confirmation hearings began in early June as disputes continue among stakeholder groups over plan treatment and value allocation.

• Scale signal: One of the largest retail/media restructurings of 2026 involving QVC, HSN, and Cornerstone brands.

First Brands Group

• Type: Distressed Chapter 11 / liquidation risk

• Debt: More than $10B capital structure under restructuring pressure; administrative claims issues exceed $200M.

• What happened: The U.S. Trustee continues to seek conversion of the case to a trustee-led liquidation, arguing the company has no viable path to reorganization.

• Scale signal: Major North American automotive supplier serving both OEM and aftermarket channels.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 49% chance of a rate hike this year

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Welcome back. Well, as Broadcom goes, so goes the AI trade…with chipmakers struggling yesterday after Broadcom’s weaker numbers. $MU ( ▼ 1.24% )  $ARM ( ▼ 1.37% )  $AMD ( ▲ 2.04% ) and $IREN ( ▼ 1.39% ) were among some of the names that cooled off. The KOSPI (at time of writing) is hobbling as well, down -5%, as South Korea’s stock index is now more than 50% Samsung and SK Hynix! The KOSPI has remarkably traded up 90% YTD and +191% y/y and is overall a great barometer for memory chip sentiment.

Let’s get into it.

Active Buyside Hub Search: A Family Office is hiring an Associate to focus on control investments in consumer products businesses with $30mm to $250mm in revenue.

Here’s a look at economic data set to be released this morning:

• Friday: U.S. employment report (90,000), U.S. unemployment rate (4.3%), U.S. hourly wages (0.3%), Hourly wages y/y (3.4%), Consumer credit ($18.0B)

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Broadcom $AVGO ( ▼ 0.28% ) revenue missed at $22.2B vs. $22.3B, while EPS beat at $2.44 vs. $2.40. Results were driven by hyperscalers and AI companies including Google, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic expanding AI infrastructure, driving AI semiconductor revenue up 143% to $10.8B. However, that strength was partially offset by weaker than expected infrastructure software revenue, causing overall sales to narrowly miss expectations, while strong AI chip sales helped drive the EPS beat. Despite strong AI demand, management maintained rather than raised its full year AI revenue outlook, disappointing investors.

• CrowdStrike $CRWD ( ▼ 5.66% ) revenue beat at $1.39B vs. $1.36B and EPS beat at $1.10 vs. $1.07. Results were driven by rising demand for AI-focused cybersecurity as companies invested in tools to detect, protect, and respond to faster AI enabled attacks across cloud, identity, and endpoint systems. That helped ARR grow 24% to $5.5B, with strong adoption of Falcon modules, AI detection, cloud security, and identity products. CrowdStrike raised its full year net new ARR growth outlook and announced a 4-for-1 stock split.

• Petco $WOOF ( ▲ 0.39% ) revenue beat at $1.50B while EPS missed. Results were driven by improving demand in consumables, particularly cat products, along with continued growth in veterinary, grooming, and training services. Comparable sales returned to positive growth as new products, fresh and frozen pet food offerings, and seasonal categories helped drive traffic, while ongoing investments in marketing and omnichannel initiatives weighed on earnings. Petco reaffirmed its full year outlook.

• Lululemon $LULU ( ▲ 2.36% ) revenue beat at $2.47B and EPS beat, but the beat was overshadowed by weak guidance. Sales were supported by international strength, especially China, but North America remained the problem as Americas comps fell 5% from weaker traffic, negative brand commentary, and product launches that failed to drive enough demand. Margins were pressured by more discounting, tariff costs, and the loss of de minimis duty free shipping benefits. Lululemon cut full year revenue and EPS guidance.

• DocuSign $DOCU ( ▲ 0.86% ) Top and bottom line beat with revenue at $830M. Results were driven by growing adoption of DocuSign’s AI-powered Intelligent Agreement Management platform. DocuSign slightly raised full year revenue guidance, though the outlook was largely in line with expectations.

• Five Below $FIVE ( ▲ 2.8% ) revenue beat at $1.29B and EPS beat at $2.22 vs. $1.79. Results were driven by strong customer traffic, social media-driven product trends, higher tax refund spending, and broad-based strength across categories including toys, collectibles, beauty, candy, and seasonal products, helping comparable sales jump 22.7%. Margin expansion and operating leverage drove the EPS beat as sales grew faster than expenses, allowing more revenue to flow through to profits. Management raised full-year sales and EPS guidance but remained cautious on consumer spending and tariffs.

• Macys $M ( ▼ 0.18% ) revenue beat at $4.68B and EPS beat at $0.13. Results were driven by strong growth at Bloomingdale’s and continued momentum at Macy’s reimagined stores, where investments in assortment, staffing, and customer experience boosted comparable sales 3%, the strongest 1Q performance in four years. Management raised full year sales and EPS guidance.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Celsius $CELH ( ▲ 0.26% ) sunk after Texas’s AG started an investigation into whether the Alani Nu brand is being marketing to children and teens.

• Redwire $RDW ( ▼ 2.77% ) jumped after landing a contract from Astrobiome Space to launch the inaugural mission of its Greenhouse system on the ISS, the first-ever commercial space greenhouse.

• Asset managers $BX ( ▲ 0.77% ) , $ARES ( ▲ 0.12% ) , and $KKR ( ▲ 0.7% ) led a sector-wide recovery despite Blackstone capping withdrawals on its BCRED private credit fund following elevated redemption requests.

• PVH $PVH ( ▲ 2.69% ) tumbled after lowering its FY revenue guide, citing the Middle East conflict as the driver despite a Q1 revenue and EPS beat.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• SpaceX set a fixed $135 per share price for its IPO, opting for a specific price rather than a range to simplify the listing process. The company plans to sell 555.5mm shares to raise close to $75B at a $1.77T valuation, with trading set to begin June 12.

• Databricks plans to skip an IPO this year, with CEO Ali Ghodsi calling it a “terrible year to go public” in a Bloomberg interview Thursday. The data software firm, last valued at $134B in a December funding round, wants to wait for better market conditions - although frankly, we don’t know what they’re talking about given how hot the IPO market is looking this year.

• Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining Co. closed 27% above its $13.50 IPO price in its debut Thursday, raising $270M in an upsized offering for a $2.42B valuation. Morgan Stanley, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Bank of Montreal led the offering.

• Parabilis Medicines is seeking to raise $475M in its IPO, pricing 25M shares at $17-$19 for up to a $2.1B valuation, with Regeneron also buying $75M in stock at a 10% discount alongside the IPO. Leerink Partners, BofA Securities, Evercore ISI, Guggenheim Securities, and LifeSci Capital are leading the offering.

• Quantinuum opened 13% above its $60 IPO price in its Nasdaq debut Thursday, raising $1.68B for a $17.6B valuation after selling 28M shares versus 26.5M originally planned.

• Gas engine maker Innio Holding GmbH raised $2.43B in its Nasdaq debut Thursday, closing 23% above the $27 IPO price for a $25.5B valuation.

Btw - from looking at Polymarket, Morgan Stanley is currently in the lead to lead Anthropic’s IPO:

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The most competitive credit funds, restructuring advisors, and Am Law firms are already at the table.

Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• S&P rejects fast-track index entry for SpaceX and other mega-IPOs: Unlike Nasdaq and FTSE Russell, S&P will keep its 12-month seasoning period and profitability requirements, meaning SpaceX won’t be S&P 500-eligible until at least June 2027.

• Bank of America hires 2,000 summer interns and 2000 full-time recruits: BofA is hiring at a similar pace to last year, with CEO Brian Moynihan saying,” we need young people” as the firm brushes aside AI job fears. Global talent head Josh Bronstein said BofA is using AI to create capacity while keeping overall headcount steady.

• Blackstone caps redemptions at 5%: The $79B BCRED limited withdrawals for the first time after investors sought to pull 10%, a reversal from last quarter when senior executives used personal cash to fund the full 7.9% requested. Cliffwater also capped at 5% after investors sought 17%.

• Jane Street plans to build and finance its own data center: The trading firm is in early talks with tech, crypto, and finance firms about a 100-200 MW facility on top of an existing Dallas data center and CoreWeave partnership. Jane Street is targeting a 10x capacity increase, which could train internal AI models.

• Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky plans to start a new AI lab: Chesky is in the early stages of funding the new AI venture, which will develop its own AI models with a focus on user interaction and design. He will remain CEO of Airbnb and will not serve as chief executive of the new lab.

• Apollo’s James Zelter warns of Treasury crowding-out: Corporate bond sales reached $1T faster than any year since 2020, driven by AI and industrial capex. Apollo’s president says corporate demand for long-duration capital is large enough to structurally pressure government debt yields.

• PE and private credit firms sitting on $632B in aging dry powder: Buyout and credit funds raised in 2020-2022 are struggling to deploy capital as high valuations and deal scarcity push investment periods toward expiration. 40%+ of dry powder is over 2 years old, 15 points above the five-year average.

• Small business hiring plans hit six-year low: An NFIB survey shows only 9% of owners plan to add jobs, down 4 points in a month and contradicting BLS data that jumped to a two-year high the same week.

• Ackman exits Universal Music Group stake after failed takeover: Pershing Square is selling its remaining 80.6M shares at a 3-8% discount via a BofA block sale, booking a $600M profit. The exit comes days after UMG unanimously rejected his €55.75B takeover bid.

M&A Transactions💭 

YFood, operator of a food processing company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 450.0M by Nestle (SWX: NESN).

Ultima Furniture Systems, manufacturer of wooden kitchen furniture, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for GBP 390.0M by Howden Joinery.

Scrunch AI, developer of a leading platform designed to help brands gain visibility, was acquired for $225.0M by Sitecore Holding II.

The Power Systems Division of Rheinmetall has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 350.0M by Aequita.

JustPlay, developer of a mobile gaming infrastructure platform, was acquired for $202.0M by NCSoft (KRX: 036570). Aream & Co. advised on the sale.

Imetame Logstica Porto, operator of a container port terminal, was acquired for $216.0M by Hanseatic Global Terminals. BR Partners Investment Bank advised on the sale.

Hartford Funds, provider of asset management, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.9B by Wellington Management. Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Flender, manufacturer of geared parts, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 3.5B by Triton Partners. EV/Revenue was 1.81x.

Artemira, manufacturer of aluminum beverage cans, was acquired for JPY 130.0B by MBK Partners. EV/Revenue was 0.61x.

T&D Financial Life Insurance Company, provider of life insurance services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for JPY 160.0B by PayPay, a subsidiary of Softbank Group. EV/Net Income was 31.83x.

Mobiuz, provider of cellular communications services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $351.0M by JVR Capital Group and McKim & Company. Rothschild & Co advised on the sale.

Auto.Ru, operator of an online automotive selling platform, was acquired for $480.85M by T-Technologies.

The United States Tower Portfolio of Commnet Wireless was acquired for $298.0M by Everest Infrastructure Partners. Rothschild & Co advised on the sale.

Molycop, manufacturer of mining consumables, was acquired for $1.5B by Tega Industries (BOM: 543413) and Apollo Global Management (NYS: APO). J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Axiom Space, a Texas-based commercial space station startup, received $525.0M of developmental capital from MUFG, Type One Ventures, Qatar Investment Autority, 1789 Capital, 4iG, and LuminArx Capital Management.

Cyera, developer of a holistic data storage and security platform, raised $300.0M of Series G venture funding led by Evolution Equity Partners at a pre-money valuation of $11.7B.

CargoX AI, operator of an autonomous delivery platform, raised $250.0M of venture funding from BlueFive Capital.

Xingyuanzhi, developer of multimodal spatial intelligence systems, raised CNY 1.0B of Series Pre-A venture funding from CRRC Capital Holdings, Wuhu Atech Automotive, and Xiamen Hengxing Group.

Suno, developer of an emerging generative AI music software, raised $400.0M of Series D venture funding led by BOND Capital at a pre-money valuation of $5.0B.

Spirit AI Robotics, manufacturer of intelligent robotics and AI systems, raised CNY 1.5B of Series A+ venture funding from Huangshi State Owned Assets Management.

Quobly, developer of semiconductor-based technologies, raised EUR 130.0M of Series A venture funding led by Sealsq, Bpifrance, STMicroelectronics, and ISALT-Strategic Long Term Equity Investment.

Oxford Quantum Circuits, developer of quantum computing technology, raised GBP 260.0M of Series C venture funding led by Bullhound Capital.

Factorial, developer of a human resources management platform, raised $150.0M of Series D venture funding led by General Catalyst at a pre-money valuation of $2.35B.

Coralogix, developer of a observability and security analytics software, raised $200.0M of Series F venture funding led by Advent International, Greenfield Partners, and CPP Investment at a pre-money valuation of $1.4B.

AlphaSense, developer of a web-based market intelligence platform, raised $350.0M of venture funding led by Accenture Ventures, Vitruvian Partners, and J.P. Morgan Private Equity Fund Services at a pre-money valuation of $7.15B.

Helion, developer of a fusion energy technology, raised $465.0M of Series G venture funding led by Thrive Capital at a pre-money valuation of $15.04B.

Generalist, developer of AI and robotics technology, raised $400.0M of venture funding led by Radical Ventures at a pre-money valuation of $1.6B.

Noteworthy Chart 🧭

Per Anthropic - “Anthropic engineers on average ship 8x as much code per quarter as they did compared to 2021-2025.”

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Welcome back!

Stocks are at all time highs, with some solid numbers from Palo Alto, plus a lot of positive encouragement around Marvell and other AI beneficiaries. Its another nearly 3,000 word edition, so we’ll get right into it.

Here’s a look at the remaining earnings for this week.

The big item is Broadcom’s earnings after the bell today. They are an integral part of the AI trade at this point.

• Wednesday: Broadcom, CrowdStrike, Five Below, Macy's, PVH Corp, Thor Industries, Rent the Runway, Tilly's, Veeva Systems, Petco

• Thursday: Lululemon, Brown Forman, DocuSign, Ciena, Cooper Companies, Guidewire

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Wednesday: ADP employment (120,000), S&P final U.S. services PMI, Factory orders (4.3%), ISM services (53.9%), Fed Beige Book

• Thursday: Initial jobless claims (215,000), U.S. productivity (0.6%)

• Friday: U.S. employment report (90,000), U.S. unemployment rate (4.3%), U.S. hourly wages (0.3%), Hourly wages y/y (3.4%), Consumer credit ($18.0B)

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Palo Alto Networks $PANW ( ▼ 3.67% ) revenue beat at $3.0B vs. $2.94B and EPS beat at $0.85 vs. $0.80. Results were driven by companies deploying more AI applications and autonomous agents, which increased demand for tools that secure networks, cloud infrastructure, identities, and AI systems from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. That drove stronger customer spending across Palo Alto's platform, helping Next-Generation Security ARR grow 60% to $8.1B and revenue rise 31%. Profitability and free cash flow also improved as Palo Alto integrated acquisitions and scaled its platform business. The company raised both quarterly and full year guidance.

• Dollar General $DG ( ▲ 2.76% ) Revenue missed at $10.8B vs. $10.82B while EPS beat at $2.00 vs. $1.89. Sales still rose 3.4% y/y as value seeking shoppers, including higher income customers, looked for lower cost essentials, but revenue missed slightly as core lower income consumers remained pressured by higher gas and living costs. Margins expanded from lower inventory losses, reduced product damage, better inventory management, and stronger store execution, helping offset weather and fuel cost pressure. Dollar General raised full year EPS guidance to $7.20-$7.45.

• Ulta $ULTA ( ▲ 1.95% ) revenue beat at $3.16B and EPS beat at $7.74 vs. $6.86. Results were driven by broad based growth across stores, digital, and major beauty categories as consumers continued spending on skincare, cosmetics, fragrance, and haircare across stores and digital, even while pulling back on larger discretionary purchases. Comparable sales rose 5.3%, reflecting stronger traffic and customer spending, while solid execution and product mix helped drive profitability. Ulta reaffirmed full year revenue guidance and raised its EPS outlook.

• Gitlabs $GTLB ( ▼ 4.25% ) Top and bottom line beat with revenue at $264M. Results were driven by growing adoption of AI-powered software development tools as companies used GitLab’s DevSecOps platform to automate coding, security, and deployment workflows, boosting large enterprise customer spending. Profitability improved as operating margins expanded, while GitLab announced a 14% workforce reduction to streamline operations and raised full-year revenue and EPS guidance.

• Victoria Secret $VSXY ( ▲ 2.85% ) Revenue beat at $1.56B and EPS beat at $0.60 vs. $0.30. Results were driven by double digit growth across Victoria’s Secret, PINK, and Beauty as stronger product offerings, fewer promotions, and growing market share with younger shoppers boosted demand. Comparable sales rose 13%, while margins improved as more customers purchased at full price. Victoria’s Secret raised full year sales and operating income guidance.

On The Move 📈 📉

• MGM Resorts $MGM ( ▲ 0.95% ) jumped after Barry Diller’s People Inc. made a $48.30/share cash offer to take the casino giant private, building on its existing 26.1% stake.

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise $HPE ( ▼ 1.16% ) rallied after Q2 earnings crushed estimates and FY guidance was raised on surging AI server demand.

• Marvell Technology $MRVL ( ▼ 3.04% ) soared after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the chipmaker the “next trillion dollar company,” citing its networking and connectivity chips as essential to AI data center buildouts.

• Nvidia $NVDA ( ▲ 4.03% ) climbed Monday after Jensen Huang unveiled the RTX Spark PC chip at Computex and confirmed Vera Rubin is in full production with OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Dell, Oracle, and CoreWeave as early customers.

• Exchange stocks $CME ( ▲ 0.23% ) , $CBOE ( ▲ 0.08% ) , $ICE ( ▲ 0.11% ) , and $NDAQ ( ▲ 0.64% ) slid after the CFTC approved perpetual futures for bitcoin on Kalshi, with investors fearing the green light extends into equity products.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• SpaceX in talks to cut IPO bank fees to under 0.75%: Lead banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will take the bulk of the pool ahead of 21 other brokers on the $75B raise, which targets a $1.8T valuation. The spread is one of the lowest ever for a mega IPO as typical fees run 4-7%.

• Morningstar values SpaceX at $780B, less than half its $1.8T IPO target: Analyst Nicolas Owens’ DCF model values SpaceX’s launch and Starlink businesses at $611B in enterprise value, plus $170B for the xAI operations, saying investors will have chances to buy in cheaper after the IPO. Morningstar also flagged Musk’s 85% voting control and the $250B xAI merger as governance concerns.

• Forbright INC. is seeking to raise up to $158M in its IPO, pricing 7.9M shares at $18-$20 for a $994M valuation. The digital bank, chaired by former US Rep John Delaney, has grown assets from $1.9B in 2020 to $7.9B by the end of 2025. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Barclays are leading the offering.

• vVardis Holding AG, a Swiss dental startup, is working with JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs on a US IPO that could come this year. The company was valued at more than $1B in April and is likely targeting a higher valuation. Its flagship product, Curodont, is a liquid that repairs cavities without drilling and is now used in 20% of US dental offices.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• AI infrastructure talks dominate Goldman’s leveraged finance conference: Companies have raised $20B+ in US high-yield bonds in the past two months for AI buildout, with Apollo and Blackstone pitching a $36B Anthropic infrastructure deal to investors. Goldman’s leveraged finance head called AI the “number one theme.”

• Uber caps AI coding tool usage at $1,500 per month per employee: The limit applies to agentic coding software such as Cursor and Anthropic’s Claude Code, after the rideshare giant blew through its full-year AI budget. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said about 10% of the firm’s code is AI-built.

• Alphabet plans to raise $80B in equity to fund AI buildout: The raise matches the size of SpaceX’s expected IPO and is less than 2% of Alphabet’s $4.5T market cap. The equity issue comes on top of $85B in bonds raised over the past year as hyperscalers ramp AI spending.

• Insurers brace for wave of private credit lawsuits: Directors and officers premiums are climbing as insurers tighten terms ahead of expected litigation, with Marsh reporting Q1 renewals up 3% for private credit and PE versus flat for public companies. Federal prosecutors are probing a BlackRock fund’s valuations, with the SEC investigating several other large managers.

• Cliffwater caps redemptions at 5% after 17% requested out: The $31B Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund will return only about a third of requested withdrawals this quarter, up from 14% requested and a 7% cap last quarter. Apollo, BlackRock, and Blue Owl have enforced the same 5% cap this year as redemption pressure mounts.

• Legoland owner Merlin faces $800M+ refinancing wall: Merlin’s HY bonds slid near distress after a Q1 underlying loss, with €720M due November 2027 against £5.4B in net debt. Merlin is now weighing asset sales, sale leaseback deals, seniority swaps, and a possible Legoland spinoff to refinance.

• QXO’s $3B HY bond to finance its $17B acquisition of TopBuild draws 3x+ demand: Investors placed $10B+ in orders for the bond and $4.5B+ for the $3B loan portion, with both parts of the $6B package expected to price Wednesday.

• Banks prep $2.5B debt for Long Lake’s $6.3B Amex GBT buy: JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Mitsubishi UFJ will sell the debt the week of June 15. Long Lake agreed to buy the corporate travel platform earlier this year.

• Broadcom backstop trims yields on $36B Anthropic chip deal: Apollo and Blackstone are arranging the financing, with Broadcom’s guarantee on the $25B main portion pulling yields down to talk of about 5.75%, while the riskier portion may price at 8-9%.

• 1000+ SpaceX staffers negotiate group wealth deal ahead of IPO: The group, which represents up to $20B in assets, is using collective bargaining to demand sub 0.5% fees from over 20 wealth managers including Morgan Stanley and Creative Planning.

• Brightline weighs bankruptcy loans after buyer search stalls: The Florida rail, owned by Fortress, is fielding loan offers from competing bondholder groups to fund a restructuring, with major debt payments due June 15 and July 1. Brightline carries $5.5B in debt and posted 3.1M riders in 2025, less than half its projections.

• CoreWeave-tied data center raises $900M in HY bonds: Elk Grove Village Property priced 5 year notes at 7.5% to fund a Chicago area build fully leased to CoreWeave for 15 years. The deal lifts YTD data center HY issuance past $27B to fund AI capacity.

• Ken Griffin’s Citadel to pay rival hedge funds for trading ideas: The firm is launching a buyside alpha-capture program inside its Global Quantitative Strategies unit, paying managers for trading signals. Citadel will limit the program to external discretionary managers with an established track record.

• Citron Research founder Andrew Left found guilty of securities fraud: A US jury convicted the short seller on a securities fraud scheme charge and 12 of 16 other counts, tied to allegations he manipulated stocks including Nvidia and Tesla while making at least $20M. Sentencing is set for August 31.

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M&A Transactions💭 

Worldwide Express, provider of logistics services, was acquired for $5.0B by Auctane. EV/Revenue was 1.0x. J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and UBS advised on thee sale.

WorlderFi Technologies, a technology company, was acquired for CAD 233.918M by Robinhood (NAS: HOOD). EV/Revenue was 6.34x. Canaccord Genuity, Financial Technology Partners, Origin Merchant Partners, and PowerOne Capital Markets advised on the sale.

Thermon Group Holdings, provides engineered industrial process heating solutions, was acquired for $2.074B by CECO Environmental (NAS: CECO). EV/EBITDA was 21.9x and EV/Revenue was 3.87x. Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Swixx Biopharma, provider of research based pharmaceutical and healthcare services, was acquired for EUR 1.5B by SK Capital Partners and Bain Capital Life Sciences. Centerview Partners and Jefferies advised on the sale.

Svalner Atlas Advisors, provider of tax and transaction services, was acquired for $400.0M by Ryan.

Stonehage Fleming Family and Partners, operator of an independently owned family office and wealth management company, was acquired for $850.0M by Corient Private Wealth. Rothschild & Co and Spencer House Partners advised on the sale.

Sleever International, manufacturer and supplier of packaging products, was acquired for $151.0M by CCL Industries (TSE: CCL.A). EV/Revenue was 0.71x. Houlihan Lokey advised on the sale.

Sky Deutschland, operator of a television broadcasting company, was acquired for EUR 445.0M by RTL Group (ETR: RRTL). PJT Partners advised on the sale.

The Low Voltage Motors and Geared Motors Business of Siemens was acquired by Innomotics for INR 22.0B.

Republic Wire, manufacturer of aluminum and copper wire, was acquired for $800.0M by Nexans (PAR: NEX). EV/Revenue was 1.36x.

OpenPayd, developer of an online banking platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Titan Acquisition (NAS: TACH) through a $1.15B reverse merger resulting in the combined entity trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OP.

Obagi Cosmeceuticals, manufacturer and retailer of skin care products, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $460.0M by Bridgepoint Group. Lazard advised on the sale.

Mobilewalla, developer of a consumer intelligence platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by SPACSphere Acquisition through a $172.5M reverse merger. The transaction values the company at $250.0M.

Labrie Group, manufacturer, distributor, and supplier of waste management equipment, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.035B by Hiab (HEL: HIAB). EV/EBITDA was 9.16x and EV/Revenue was 2.11x.

Kubra, developer of printed and electronic billing and payment software, was acquired for $372.0M by Repay Holdings (NAS: RPAY). Financial Technology Partners advised on the sale.

Flushing Financial, a bank holding company, was acquired for $1.12B by OceanFirst Financial (NAS: OCFC). EV/Net Income was 32.89x and EV/Revenue was 4.71x. Piper Sandler advised on the sale.

Fine Today, engaged in manufacturing, sales, and marketing of personal care products, was acquired for JPY 200.0B by Bain Capital. EV/Revenue was 1.67x. DC Advisory advised on the sale.

Emerald Publishing, operator of a mission-led social science research publishing house, was acquired for GBP 337.5M by John Wiley & Sons (NYS: WLY).

The Sevasemten and Muscular Dystrophy Business of Edgewise Therapeutics (NAS: EWTX) has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $2.65B by Sevier. Centerview Partners advised on the sale.

dbt Labs, developer of analytics engineering tools, was acquired for $3.0B by Fivetran. Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

D-Fend Solutions, developer of an autonomous counter-drone, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.5B by Motorola Solutions (NYS: MSI). Jefferies and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Clean Earth, operator of a waste management and processing company, was acquired for $3.0B by Veolia Environnement (PAR: VIE). EV/Revenue was 3.08x. Bank of America and Jefferies advised on the sale.

BTIG, operator of a global financial services firm, was acquired for $1.0B by U.S. Bancorp (NYS: USB). EV/Revenue was 1.33x. BTIG, SHEUMACK GMA, and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Asset Living, operator of a third-party property management firm, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $2.0B by New Mountian Capital and Mr. Ryan McGrath. William Blair advised on the sale.

Apfelkiste, operator of consumer electronics accessories and lifestyle products, was acquired for CHF 180.0M by Mobilezone (SWX: MOZN). EV/Revenue was 1.91x.

Qemetica Salz Deutschland, operator of a salt business, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for EUR 380.0M by K+S (ETR: SDF). EV/EBITDA was 7.87x and EV/Revenue was 3.15x.

Hyve Group, provider of event-organizing services, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.8B by Hellman & Friedman. J.P. Morgan and LionTree advised on the sale.

Eucalyptus, operator of digital healthcare clinics, was acquired for $1.15B by Hims & Hers Health (NYS: HIMS). EV/Revenue was 2.56x.

Eddyfi Technologies, developer of advanced non-destructive testing inspection technology, was acquired for $1.45B by ESAB (NYS: ESAB). EC Mergers and Acquisitions and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Cygnus Metals (ASX: CY5), an exploration company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for AUD 232.0M by Central Asia Metals (LON: CAML). EV/Cash Flow was 11.7x. BMO Capital Markets advised on the sale.

Corredor Logistica e Infraestrutura, operator of a shipping port terminal, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $835.0M by Abu Dhabi Ports (ADS: ADPORTS). EV/EBITDA was 8.4x.

Baiyinhua Coal Power, manufacturer of coal, aluminum, and electricity products, was acquired for CNY 11.15B by Inner Mongolia Dian Tou Energy (SHE: 002128). EV/Net Income was 6.85x and EV/Revenue was 3.04x.

Astrobotic, developer of space robotic technologies, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $300.0M by Voyager (NYS: VOYG).

Private Placement Transactions💭 

VAST Technology, developer of a generative 3D modeling system, raised $200.0M of Series A+ venture funding led by INCE Capital and China Life Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Fund.

Mach Industries, developer of defense aerospace systems, raised $300.0M of Series C venture funding led by Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital at a pre-money valuation of $1.5B.

Drivenets, developer of a cloud-based networking software, raised $410.0M of Series D venture funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Atreides Management at a pre-money valuation of $8.09B.

Twinco Capital, developer of an impact-driven fintech platform, raised EUR 165.0M through a combination of debt and equity. The equity portion of EUR 15.0M was led by FMO Entrepreneurial Development Bank.

Impulse Space, manufacturer of aviation and aerospace components, raised $500.0M of Series D venture funding led by 137 Ventures.

Highland Electric Fleets, provider of fleet electrification services, raised $150.0M of venture funding from Galvanize Climate Solutions and Aiga Capital Partners.

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Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders aren’t expecting a near term permanent peace agreement between US and Iran - but they are expecting a deal by year-end.

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The Week Ahead Of Us 🔍

Welcome back! How is it June already?

Futures are up slightly, as the market is near record highs and many AI beneficiaries have recently exploded in valuation. We’re also seeing a bifurcation in software where companies like Snowflake and $IBM ( ▼ 2.62% ) are going hyperbolic due to AI and quantum tailwinds.

Meanwhile, talks between the U.S. and Iran are still ongoing, with the countries trading drafts. Oil is up and the dollar is strengthening as that breakthrough we need remains unclear. Obviously, the AI trade continues to supersede geopolitical risks at the moment, and short-term tokenmaxxing lacking ROI isn’t going to be something that derails the AI buildout thesis. Our eyes are on Broadcom’s earnings later this week, plus the SpaceX IPO, which could very well be fast-tracked into Nasdaq 100 ETFs after a 15-day period.

A couple housekeeping items before today’s piece:

1. New roles on the Buyside Hub job board - we have a ton of Buyside and Banking roles on our job board - including a role for someone in the Miami area or someone who wants to make the move down south. A Family Office is hiring an Associate to focus on control investments in consumer products businesses with $30mm to $250mm in revenue.

Here’s a look at earnings this week.

• Monday: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Science Applications International

• Tuesday: Palo Alto Networks, Dollar General, Ulta, GitLab, Victorias Secret, Signet Jewelers, Donaldson

• Wednesday: Broadcom, CrowdStrike, Five Below, Macy's, PVH Corp, Thor Industries, Rent the Runway, Tilly's, Veeva Systems, Petco

• Thursday: Lululemon, Brown Forman, DocuSign, Ciena, Cooper Companies, Guidewire

• Friday: ABM Industries

Here’s a look at economic data this week (estimates are in quotations).

• Monday: S&P final U.S. manufacturing PMI, ISM manufacturing (53.2%), Construction spending (0.3%), Auto sales

• Tuesday: Job openings (6.9M)

• Wednesday: ADP employment (120,000), S&P final U.S. services PMI, Factory orders (4.3%), ISM services (53.9%), Fed Beige Book

• Thursday: Initial jobless claims (215,000), U.S. productivity (0.6%)

• Friday: U.S. employment report (90,000), U.S. unemployment rate (4.3%), U.S. hourly wages (0.3%), Hourly wages y/y (3.4%), Consumer credit ($18.0B)

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Earnings Corner 💸 

• Costo $COST ( ▲ 0.36% ) revenue beat at $70.5B vs. $69.7B, while EPS missed at $4.93 vs. $4.98. Results were driven by record gasoline volumes as higher fuel prices pushed consumers toward Costco’s lower-priced gas stations, alongside strength in e-commerce, pharmacy, and membership fees. Comparable sales rose 9.8%, digital sales jumped 21.5%, and membership fee revenue grew 11% to $1.37B as members shopped more frequently and spent more online. Margins were pressured as strong gasoline sales boosted revenue but carried lower profit margins than merchandise sales.

• Dell $DELL ( ▼ 3.39% ) revenue beat at $43.8B and EPS beat at $4.86 vs. $2.94. Results were driven by hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises rapidly expanding AI infrastructure to support generative AI and large language models, boosting demand for Dell’s AI servers, traditional servers, and networking equipment. AI server revenue jumped 757% to $16.1B, AI orders reached $24.4B, and backlog grew to $51.3B as demand continued to outpace supply. Dell raised full year guidance and now expects $60B in AI server revenue, driving a sharp rally.

• Burlington $BURL ( ▲ 1.95% ) Top and bottom line beat with revenue at $2.86B. Results were driven by value focused consumers seeking discounts, faster inventory buying and allocation that helped Burlington respond to changing demand, and improved inventory placement that capitalized on weather driven sales trends. Comparable sales rose 6%, while margins expanded on stronger merchandise profitability and supply chain efficiencies. Burlington raised full year guidance as it continued gaining market share from traditional retailers.

• Dollar Tree $DLTR ( ▲ 3.3% ) revenue beat at $5.0B and EPS beat at $1.74 vs. $1.55. Results were driven by consumers seeking lower cost essentials amid higher living costs, growth in its multi price assortment, and increased spending from both core customers and higher income shoppers looking for value. Margins expanded on stronger merchandise profitability, lower freight costs, and lower inventory losses. Dollar Tree raised full year EPS guidance.

• Best Buy $BBY ( ▲ 3.51% ) Top and bottom line beat with revenue at $8.94B. Results were driven by stronger demand for gaming consoles, computers, and mobile phones as new product launches, AI enabled devices, replacement needs, and higher tax refunds encouraged consumers to upgrade technology. Comparable sales rose 2%, while margins improved as advertising and marketplace revenue grew faster than traditional product sales. Best Buy maintained full year guidance.

On The Move 📈 📉

• NetApp $NTAP ( ▼ 1.37% ) surged to an all-time high after enterprise AI data storage demand drove a solid 4Q

• Snowflake $SNOW ( ▼ 2.26% ) had its best day following Thursday’s strong earnings and AWS partnership.

• ServiceNow $NOW ( ▼ 1.04% ) rallied as Snowflake and Dell’s strong earnings confirmed enterprise AI spend, with NOW seen as a direct beneficiary through its Workflow Data Fabric partnership with SNOW.

• Okta $OKTA ( ▼ 6.86% ) ripped after the identity platform raised its FY27 outlook, driven by accelerating demand for securing AI agents and non-human identities.

• SoFi $SOFI ( ▲ 0.86% ) climbed after launching SOFIUSD, a bank-backed stablecoin on Ethereum and Solana offering a 4.2% yield, backed 1:1 by T-bills and cash with monthly Deloitte audits.

• Karman Holdings $KRMN ( ▼ 0.08% ) dropped after large shareholders unloaded 14M shares at $61 in an expanded offering.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• Blackstone backed Liftoff Mobile is targeting a $3.66B valuation in its renewed IPO under ticker LFTO, seeking to raise up to $418M by offering 19 million shares at $20 to $22 a share. The mobile app marketing firm scrapped a larger $762M offering earlier and is now testing investor appetite for software amid AI disruption fears. Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

• SpaceX has reportedly trimmed its IPO valuation target to at least $1.8T, down from the $2T+ goal reported in April. The company is still aiming to raise up to $75B in what would be the largest IPO ever, with marketing set to begin June 4 and pricing as early as June 11. Musk denied the report, replying “False” on X.

• Applied Aerospace & Defense is targeting up to $634M in its NYSE IPO, pricing 32.5M shares at $18 to $21 for a $3.33B valuation, with pricing set for June 2 and trading June 3. The Huntsville, Alabama based manufacturer, controlled by Greenbriar Equity Group, plans to use most of the proceeds to repay debt, with Morgan Stanley and Jefferies leading the offering.

• OpenAI is in talks with Citigroup and JPMorgan to join Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on its upcoming IPO, with a confidential filing expected within weeks. The deal could push OpenAI above its $852B valuation, setting up one of the biggest tech IPOs in history.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• Private credit balks at Thoma Bravo’s $2.5B Sophos refinancing: Lenders are demanding spreads of nearly S+600, up from the current S+350, to refinance a $2.1B loan maturing in March 2027. Thoma Bravo has tapped Goldman to run a parallel amend-and-extend process with existing lenders, as the S&P flags potential downgrade risk.

• Kirkland & Ellis commits $500M to build proprietary AI platform: The world’s highest-grossing law firm is building a custom system fed by 250 lawyers, including 100 partners, rather than relying on high-flying tools.

• BDC unrealized losses hit worst level since 2022: A Reuters analysis of 51 BDCs shows aggregate unrealized losses reaching 2.35% of NAV in Q1, with PIK income elevated at $477M. Fitch warns rising PIK exposure could pressure BDC dividends if cash earnings fall short.

• Paramount preps $50B debt sale for Warner Bros. takeover: The package, tentatively $30B IG bonds, $12B high-yield bonds, and $7.5B loans, is one of the largest LBO financings ever. Warner Bros.’ $15B term loan B already drew $30B+ in orders, setting up favorable conditions as high-yield issuance hits a five-year high.

• Rackspace stages comeback two years after LME: The Apollo-backed cloud firm’s debt surged from 50 to 80 cents after signing MoUs with AMD, Palantir, and Uniphore to build AI inference infrastructure. Creditors, including Apollo, Bracebridge, CastleKnight, and Hudson Bay, stand to benefit.

• Shutterfly taps public high-yield markets for $1.875B refinancing: The Apollo-backed photo-sharing site is selling $1.15B in bonds at 12% yield, a $500M term loan priced at 96-97 and S+650, and a $225M second-lien, as it races to address a $2.7B debt pile with maturities starting next year.

• CVC buys IFF’s food ingredients unit for $4.3B: IFF’s largest division, at $3.28B in revenue, had been written down after falling sales, making this the latest in a string of divestitures as IFF unwinds its 2021 DuPont nutrition merger. IFF retains a 10% stake, and the deal closes mid-2027.

• Blackstone sells Seattle’s US Bank Center at a 54% loss: The 44-story tower was sold to Spear Street Capital for $280M, down from $607M paid in 2019. CBD office values are down 44% on average over five years, with Seattle among the hardest hit.

• Dimon publicly attacks Coinbase’s Armstrong over crypto Clarity Act: JPMorgan’s CEO called Armstrong “full of sh-t” on Fox Business, vowing banks will not accept the bill’s current language allowing crypto exchanges to pay interest on stablecoins. Banks argue that it creates unregulated deposit-like products.

• Anthropic halves its unauthorized platform list: After flagging eight firms as unauthorized to trade its shares, Anthropic cut the list down to four, including Open Door Partners, Unicorns Exchange, Pachamama, and Upmarket. The shift comes days after Anthropic raised $65B at a $965B valuation, surpassing OpenAI for the first time.

• A24’s Backrooms breaks studio record with $81M opening weekend: The psychological thriller grossed $81M domestically and $118M worldwide, nearly 12x its sub-$10M production budget. Disney’s Mandalorian and Grogu fell 69% to $25M domestically this weekend, while Obsession held strong in its third weekend with $26.4M, pushing its worldwide total to $148M.

• A leaked internal document reveals Disney plans to decommission the Hulu app once users transition, with development already frozen and resources diverted to Disney+. The consolidation is expected to be completed by year-end.

• Universal Music Group rejects Bill Ackman’s €55.75B takeover bid: The board unanimously rebuffed Pershing Square’s cash-and-stock offer at €30.40/share, citing the bid as materially undervaluing the company. UMG is instead launching a buyback, selling half its Spotify stake, and moving its listing to New York.

• Ex-Patriots coach Jerod Mayo joins private equity firm Fifth Down Capital: The former NFL head coach became managing director at the Massachusetts-based firm in February, a year after the Patriots fired him following a 4-13 season.

M&A Transactions💭 

Taylor Morrison Home (NYS: TMHC), an American residential construction company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $8.5B by Berkshire Hathaway. The all-cash transaction represents approximately a 24% premium to latest stock price.

The Latin America Business of Zelestra (FRA: SPZ) was acquired for $1.1B by Promigas (BOG: PROMIGAS). Deutsche Bank advised on the sale.

Prevalon Energy, provider of energy storage services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $365.0M by Nextpower (NAS: NXT).

MW Components, manufacturer of precision components, was acquired for GBP 950.0M by Rosebank Industries. EV/EBITDA was 13.5x and EV/Revenue was 2.56x. Evercore Group, Robert W. Baird & Co., Investec, and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Miss Mouth’s, manufacturer of household cleaning products, was acquired for $325.0M by Church & Dwight (NYS: CHD). EV/Revenue was 4.06x.

MaintainX, developer of a work order and procedure digitalization platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $3.6B by Autodesk (NAS: ADSK).

Falcon Oil & Gas, an oil and gas company, was acquired for $172.0M by Tamboran Resources (NYS: TBN). Cavendish Financial advised on the sale.

CORMETECH, manufacturer of emissions control catalysts, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $460.0M by Johnson Matthey (LON: JMAT). EV/EBITDA was 28.75x and EV/Revenue was 3.57x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

CIBC Caribbean Bank (TRN: CIBC), engaged in banking services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.794B by The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son (NYS: NTB). Houlihan Lokey and CIBC Capital Markets advised on the sale.

Caesars Entertainment (NAS: CZR), includes roughly 50 domestic gaming properties, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $31.2B by Fertitta Entertainment. EV/EBITDA was 9.54x and EV/Revenue was 2.7x. PJT Partners advised on the sale.

American Woodmark (NAS: AMWD), manufactures and distributes cabinets, was acquired for $3.6B by MasterBrand (NYS: MBC). EV/EBITDA was 35.15x and EV/Revenue was 2.36x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Soda Fragrance, manufacturer of aroma chemicals, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for JPY 41.0B by Samyang Holdings (KRX: 000070).

The Food Ingredients Business of International Flavors & Fragrance has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $3.87B by CVC Capital Partners. The transaction values the company at $4.3B. EV/EBITDA was 10.0x and EV/Revenue was 1.39x. Bank of America and J.P. Morgan advised on the sale.

Fletcher Construction, provider of construction services, was acquired for $315.6M by VINCI Construction Holding. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Corgi, developer of an AI-powered insurance platform, raised $106.0M of Series B1 venture funding led by TCV at a pre-money valuation of $2.49B. This comes just 3 weeks after raising a $160mm Series B at a $1.3B valuation.

Sun PhuQuoc Airways, operator of an airline company, received $228.0M of financing from an undisclosed corporation.

Moffett AI, developer of sparse computing-based AI chips, raised CNY 1.0B of Series D venture funding from Shenzhen Capital Group, SJ Jiacheng Investment Management, and Shanghai Stonehill Technology.

Cognition, developer of an AI software, raised $1.0B o Series D venture funding led by 8VC, Lux Capital, and General Catalyst at a pre-money valuation of $25.0B.

Xynova, manufacturer off robotic components, raised CNY 1.0B of Series A venture funding led by Ideal Investment, CITIC Securities Investment Company, and China Capital Management.

Verdo, developer of smart mobility platform, raised $200.0M of Series A venture funding led by undisclosed investors.

Garner, developer of a healthcare data analytics platform, raised $100.0M of Series E venture funding led by Index Ventures at a pre-money valuation of $2.64B.

Furiosa, developer of AI inference co-processors, raised KRW 800.0B of venture funding from The National Growth Fund and other undisclosed investors.

Fonoa, developer of tax automation and compliance software, raised $110.0M of Series C venture funding led by Headline.

Wonderful, developer of AI software, raised $165.0M of Series B venture funding eld by Insight Partners at a pre-money valuation of $1.85B.

Restructuring Updates💭

Trinseo plc (chemicals manufacturer)

• Type: Chapter 11

• Debt: ~$2B debt reduction targeted through restructuring

• What happened: Trinseo filed Chapter 11 in Houston with support from a majority of lenders after prolonged pressure from weak industrial demand, geopolitical disruptions, and rising operating costs. The restructuring includes $158M DIP financing and a $450M rights offering.

• Scale signal: Global chemicals producer with annual sales previously exceeding $3B and operations across plastics, latex binders, and engineered materials.

First Brands Group

• Type: Chapter 11 / potential liquidation

• Debt: More than $10B debt under restructuring; additional ~$286M tariff-related claims asserted by the U.S. government.

• What happened: Restructuring deteriorated further as the DOJ accused the company of tariff fraud while the U.S. Trustee continued pushing for trustee-led liquidation or dismissal of the Chapter 11 case.

• Scale signal: One of the largest distressed automotive suppliers in North America with OEM and aftermarket exposure.

Del Monte Foods

• Type: Chapter 11 wind-down / asset sale process

• Debt: Assets and liabilities each reported above $1B.

• What happened: Del Monte advanced its amended wind-down plan and confirmation process while pursuing a ~$509M sale strategy and resolving DIP financing disputes.

• Scale signal: National food manufacturer with 10,000–25,000 creditors and one of the largest active consumer-products bankruptcies.

Restructuring Rumors💭 

Brightline

• Type: Potential restructuring / Chapter 11 risk

• Debt: ~$5.5B

• What happened: Additional creditor groups hired restructuring advisers while negotiations continued during bond-payment grace periods. Credit ratings remain under pressure despite record ridership growth.

• Scale signal: One of the largest infrastructure-linked distress situations in North America.

QVC Group

• Type: Chapter 11 restructuring conflict

• Debt: ~$6.6B entering restructuring, reduced toward ~$1.3B under plan.

• What happened: Preferred shareholders formally challenged the restructuring plan, arguing that parent-company assets are being diverted to subsidiary creditors and that equity holders are being unfairly wiped out.

• Scale signal: One of the largest retail/media restructurings of 2026 involving QVC, HSN, and Cornerstone Brands.

Saks Global (Saks Fifth Avenue / Neiman Marcus / Bergdorf Goodman)

• Type: Ongoing Chapter 11 restructuring stress

• Debt: ~$4B+ restructuring burden.

• What happened: The company moved closer to confirmation and emergence, but continued store rationalization, vendor negotiations, and asset-sale discussions remain active. Industry speculation around Bergdorf Goodman ownership and further footprint reductions persists.

• Scale signal: One of the largest active luxury retail restructurings globally.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 56% chance of Claude Mythos getting released by the end of July:

Download Polymarket to trade on events like this.

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