The Future is Specs

Together with

Good Morning,

SpaceX this, SpaceX that. How about some Snapchat Specs?

Also, what's going on in California lmao

ICYMI: 9fin has been building the modern unified software and data platform for the entire credit ecosystem. If you work in credit, you should try it out.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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

Markets

• US stocks closed mixed yesterday as investors rotated out of chipmakers and into cyclical names amid declining oil prices

  • Dow hit a fresh ATH

  • SpaceX is now up 50% from its IPO debut

  • Traders priced in split odds of at least one Fed rate hike by year-end

• Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a new ATH

• Oil fell below $80/bbl for the first time since early-March

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: CarMax

  • Thursday: Kroger

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Markets are still digesting SpaceX but that was just one-third of the trillion-dollar IPO wave

• Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

Headline Roundup

• California requires gay-certification for LGBT utility contracts (CJ)

• 'MANGOS' officially replaces 'Magnificent 7' (RT)

• US will offer Iran broad financial gains in peace deal (BBG)

• Central banks repatriate gold as global insecurity rises (FT)

• Options traders are split on Fed rate path as Warsh era begins (BBG)

• Goldman shattered M&A records with $1T volume in H1 (BBG)

• PE execs warn of AI threat to bets on law and accounting (FT)

• Private credit defaults hit the highest since 2023 (BBG)

• Trading in leveraged SpaceX ETFs hit $1B on first day (BBG)

• SpaceX options trading starts strong as traders chase Musk mania (BBG)

• SpaceX investors at US brokers got at least one IPO share (BBG)

• Vietnam stocks saw the biggest foreign inflows since Covid (BBG)

• Robinhood will cut 10% of jobs (RT)

• Snap launched AR 'Specs' for $2.2k (CNBC)

• Ex-Citi exec sued for being fired after raising Trump compliance concerns (FT)

A Message from 9fin

The AI-native tool for modern credit teams

9fin recently raised $170M to transform data and software across credit markets. Their AI-powered debt market intelligence platform is powering real-time news, data, and analytics across LevFin, private credit, and distressed debt, all in one unified platform.

Some of their newest features:

• AI Chat: Ask complex questions across 9fin's full data set - covenants, cap tables, financials, filings, news, and 9fin analysis - and get a fully cited answer in seconds. Effortlessly screen for opportunities, deep-dive into a credit and track evolving situations in real-time.

• Research Grid: Compare credits across metrics, outlooks and key risks using 9fin's frameworks or your own questions. Produce consistent, side-by-side analysis in minutes so you can spot outliers instantly and track changes in fundamentals.

"The AI Chat is unbelievable. We need to make sure everyone on the team is using this. There's nothing that comes close." -Partner, Global Law Firm

Credit giants like UBS and KKR already trust 9fin. If you work in credit, you should try it out.

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• SpaceX exercised its option to acquire AI coding startup Cursor for $60B days after its $87.5B IPO

• Germany rejected Italian lender UniCredit's $45B bid for rival Commerzbank; Germany holds a 12% stake

• Blockchain firm Ripple will acquire a stake in African fintech Flutterwave at a $3.3B valuation

• Chemicals firm Olin will acquire Huntsman in a $2.4B all-stock deal

• LongRange Capital will acquire Pizza Hut, excluding its China unit, for $1.5B and Yum China Holdings will buy the China unit for $1.2B from Yum! Brands as Yum! seeks focus on its KFC and Taco Bell chains

• Budget airline Norwegian Air agreed to buy package ‌holiday company Nordic Leisure Travel Group for $843M​ in cash and stock

• GP stakes investor Stable Asset Management will take a $150M ownership stake in UK credit firm Kinnerton Hill Capital

• A consortium including Apollo's Josh Harris and Blackstone's David Blitzer are exploring a sale of UK soccer club Crystal Palace

• German entrepreneur Jochen Schweizer is considering buying back his namesake adventure-experience business from German mass media firm ProSiebenSat.1

• A consortium led by ex-De Beers CEO Gareth Penny is leading the race to buy diamond giant De Beers from Anglo American

• Spanish PE firm Portobello Capital is delaying a sale of Spanish legal-tech firm Legálitas due to AI disruption concerns

• Huaxin Cement's bid for the cement unit of Brazil's CSN is facing resistance from one of Huaxin's key shareholders Holcim

• Portuguese soccer club Benfica blocked ex-Toronto Raptors CEO Tim Leiweke from acquiring a 16.4% stake because of his holdings in other European teams

• Raymond James tech bankers Brendan Ryan and Jon Steele took a 50% stake in merchant bank Berenson & Co. and joined as executives

VC

• Principal Mineral raised $280M in new funding led by Overmatch Ventures and The New Industrial Corp. and will acquire Cerberus-backed chip technology firm Isola Group

• Quantum computing startup Atom Computing raised a $100M Series C led by Third Point Ventures

• Ent, an intent-aware workspace security company, raised a $100M seed round led by Decibel

• CNTXT AI, a UAE-based AI company, raised a $60M Series A co-led by AI71 and BlueFive Capital

• Bland, a voice AI platform, raised a $50M Series C led by Dell Technologies Capital

• Foundation Alloy, a startup developing solid-state alloying metals, raised a $22M Series A led by Voyager Ventures

• Limitless Labs, an agentic physical AI platform for CAD/CAM in mechanical manufacturing, raised a $20M Series A co-led by Dell Technologies Capital and Square Peg

• Aston Power, a coordinated large-scale power delivery company for data centers and industrial customers, raised a $20M strategic funding round led by TDK Ventures and Building Ventures

• Katalyst Space, a satellite servicing startup, raised $12M in a round led by Geodesic Capital

• Probably, an AI startup tackling LLM hallucinations, raised a $9M round led by a16z

• Kimba, a NYC-based sleep technology company, raised $6.5M in funding led by Selva Ventures

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Hong Kong mining company MMG is seeking to raise $1.6B in a new share placement and convertible bond sale

• Glencore, Mercuria, and Trafigura plan to invest in the $300M Hong Kong listing of Indonesian gold miner Merdeka Gold Resources

• Uzbekistan's SWF UzNIF is preparing to IPO Uzbekistan Airways

• German industrial engineering conglomerate Thyssenkrupp will spin off 49% of its materials trading division tk accelis

Debt

• JPMorgan and Citigroup are marketing a $2.5B debt package to back Long Lake Management's $6.3B acquisition of Amex GBT

• European chip maker STMicroelectronics is seeking to raise $1.5B in a bond sale

• La Caisse-backed Montreal light rail system REM raised $1.3B in a bond sale

• Rare earth refiner Phoenix Tailings received a $500M loan from US

• Vanderbilt University plans to sell $430M of munis

• JSW Realty, the real estate arm of Indian conglomerate JSW Group, is in advanced talks to raise a $170M loan from shadow lender Tata Capital

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Struggling Florida high speed rail Brightline struck a deal with creditors holding $985M of munis to extend a debt payment due Monday

• Ares and businesswoman Michele Kang are close to a deal to take control of struggling French soccer club Olympique Lyonnais from John Textor's Eagle Football

• Dolce & Gabbana is in talks to sell real estate assets in Milan to lenders as part of efforts to raise liquidity and refinance debt

• Struggling UK utility Thames Water moved closer to temporary nationalization amid an 'insufficient' rescue deal by creditors

• Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will liquidate assets, dissolve ​the company, and return capital to ‌investors, following a sale of its CRE loan portfolio in April

Funds / Secondaries

• Hedge fund D.E. Shaw will close its Lithic fund to new cash after AUM hit $5B

• Stone Point Capital raised $610M for a debut insurance solutions fund

• Dutch sustainable VC Anterra Capital raised $100M for its third fund to invest in food and agriculture startups

• Blackstone's credit arm launched a new ABF platform SablePointe Credit Strategies

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• SBFs plans for life after prison: 'start my own coin and everyone's gonna jump on it'

• Binance plans to exit EU

• Race to turn AI compute into a commodity spurs new crypto boom

• SpaceX IPO stress tests crypto's bid to reinvent stocks

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

Exec's Picks

• If you're looking to capitalize on the SpaceX rally, check out the Defiance 2X Long SpaceX ETF SPCU, doubling the rally. Multiply your gains on SpaceX with one ticker, no options or margin. A leveraged single-stock ETF that resets daily. Explore SPCU.*

• Speaking of SpaceX ETFs, Axios published an insightful piece on how the rise of a whole new industry built around SpaceX derivatives.

• Also, is AI really the culprit behind tech layoffs?

*Distributor: Foreside Fund Services. An investment in SPCU is not a direct investment in SPCX.

Financial Services Recruiting

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

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

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

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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.