The JPMorgan Succession Race is Heating Up

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Good Morning,

Meme stock traders are rallying around Wendy's, Asian teens are borrowing money to YOLO into AI stocks, Micron overtook Meta and Tesla in market cap, Apple raised prices on Mac and iPads by over 20%, and JPMorgan named two co-presidents in a major step towards CEO Jamie Dimon's succession.

But don't let the succession drama distract you from what is really going on at JPMorgan…

Blueflame has upgraded its specialized AI platform for dealmakers with Amp: an agent that works alongside you throughout deal lifecycles, helping your team move faster, stay organized, and make decisions with greater confidence. You can try a demo here.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks closed mostly flat yesterday as the chip selloff continued to weight

  • Nasdaq fell for a fourth-straight day

• Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a fresh ATH

• Japan's Nikkei 225 hit a fresh ATH to take YTD gains past 40%

• Bitcoin hits 20-month low

Earnings

• McCormick beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates as higher prices helped offset rising commodity costs (RT)

• FedEx Freight posted rising revenue in Q4 due to a favorable impact of fuel surcharges and higher weight per shipment in their first earnings as an independent entity (YH)

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Genuinely being serious when I say USA is being underpriced here. We're gonna go far

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

Headline Roundup

• US Q1 GDP growth was revised sharply higher to 2.1% YoY (RT)

• Fed-favorite PCE index rose 4.1% YoY (CNBC)

• Private credit arbitrage trade gains momentum as redemptions rise (BBG)

• Investment grade bond sales see record June on SpaceX, Nvidia deal (BBG)

• Companies are buying more private corporate debt (BBG)

• Asian teens are borrowing money from family to YOLO AI stocks (BBG)

• Germany is on track for its best M&A year in decades (BBG)

• Chinese banks rein in retail gold trading on volatility (BBG)

• Micron overtook Meta and Tesla in market cap (RT)

• SpaceX credit derivatives are set to hit markets after debut bond sale (BBG)

• JPMorgan named two new co-presidents as succession race heats up (WSJ)

• Meme stock traders rally around Wendy's (WSJ)

• Apple raised prices on some Mac and iPad models by over 20% (WSJ)

• Micron joins rivals seeking long-term deals to end boom-bust cycle (RT)

• K&E's top RX lawyer James Sprayregen will join Paul Weiss (RT)

• MBA pay is drifting down (WSJ)

• Attack in Strait of Hormuz halts evacuation plan for stranded ships (FT)

A Message from Blueflame AI

Amplify your dealmaking with Blueflame AI

There are only so many hours in your day - and your valuable time shouldn't be spent managing multiple tools, engineering prompts, or babysitting rogue agents.

Blueflame AI's dealmaking agent Amp takes the guesswork out of AI. It works alongside you throughout the deal lifecycle, helping you move faster, stay organized, and make decisions with greater confidence. Whether you're evaluating opportunities, preparing for meetings, setting up a data room, conducting diligence, or managing active transactions, Amp helps you get to answers faster and focus on the work that keeps deals moving.

Blueflame is now powered by Amp across all surfaces, including the web and mobile apps, Blueflame Excel Add-In, and Blueflame AI assistant in Datasite data rooms.

Your judgment, relationships, and expertise close deals. Amp helps you apply them more effectively across every opportunity.

See how Amp can help you move faster on every deal. Schedule a demo today.

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• German pharma giant Merck agreed to buy Bio-Techne Corporation for $11.3B cash at a 24% premium

• French lender Credit Agricole plans to increase its stake in $25B-listed Italian peer Banco BPM to 30%

• Bain Capital won a bidding war for a 51% stake in Volkswagen's heavy diesel engine unit Everllence at an over $10.2B valuation

• ON Semiconductor will ​acquire chip firm Synaptics in a $7B all-stock deal at a 20% premium

• Investment firms including Blackstone and Bain Capital advanced to the second round of bidding for the real estate unit of Japan's Fuji Media Holdings, which could fetch $6.3B

• Blue Owl is in advanced talks to buy a 5%-10% stake in NBA team Cleveland Cavaliers through its Dyal HomeCourt Partners fund at a potential $5B valuation

• Sky, the UK pay TV group of Comcast, will acquire ITV's broadcast ​and streaming unit in a $2.1B deal

• PE firm Advent International will acquire elderly care service provider Japan Well-being from Asian PE firm MBK Partners for $1.25B, including debt

• $1.2B-listed Canadian vitamins and supplements maker Jamieson Wellness is exploring a sale

• Thai family office Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi will acquire $850M worth of hospitality assets from a developer their family controls

• Adhesives manufacturing firm H.B. Fuller Co. is close to acquiring UK's Advanced Medical Solutions Group for $830M at a 35% premium

• $440M-listed dating app Bumble is exploring a sale

• Slovenia lender NLB raised the price it's willing to pay for Austria-based Addiko Bank for a second time to $820M, 40% higher than Austria's Raiffeisen's

• Spain's Audax Renovables will ​launch a voluntary $455M takeover bid for Norway's ‌Elmera Group at a 35% premium

• The Lewis family is preparing a $132M cash injection into Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur

• DigitalBridge Group is considering options for Malaysia's AIMS Data Centre Holding

• Chile's state-owned copper giant Codelco is considering asset sales

VC

• Intel-backed AI chip firm SambaNova is in talks to raise an $800M-$1B Series F at a $10B valuation

• Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform, raised a $320M Series H at an $11B valuation led by Addition

• Trase, a full-stack AI company building an agentic OS for regulated industries, raised $107M seed round led by ARCH Venture Partners

• Arca, an AI-native wealth management company, raised $64M across a seed and Series A led by Venrock and General Catalyst respectively

• Ornn, an AI compute marketplace, raised a $33M seed round led by a16z

• Sazabi, the AI-native observability platform for fast-moving engineering teams, raised an $8M seed round led by J2 Ventures, Village Global, and Y Combinator

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• UK aerospace parts supplier Doncasters raised $920M in its US IPO priced above a marketed range

Debt

• China raised $5.7B in its biggest ever euro-denominated bond sale

• Mexican lender Banorte ​raised $1.35B in international hybrid debt sale

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Rental car chain Hertz Global announced a concurrent $100M stock issuance and $300M convertible PIK issuance

• Stellantis and Nissan are in talks to take over some of assets of bankrupt PE-backed auto parts maker Marelli Holdings

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Over $1B was liquidated in 24 hours as leverage wiped out 138k crypto traders

• Cathie Wood's bet on football group turned crypto hoarder backfired

• Pumpfun is hiring a chief legal officer with up to a $5M base salary

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

Exec's Picks

• Go from data room to conviction faster with Due Diligence Workspace from AlphaSense. Connect your VDR and run specialized agents across documents and content libraries to surface gaps, risks, and insights, and generate fully-cited, IC-ready memos directly from your Workspace. Evaluate more opportunities, uncover deeper insights, and move confidently from first look to close with our platform purpose-built for M&A due diligence. Get access to Due Diligence Workspace.

• Bloomberg published an insightful conversation on three new ETFs to watch (with one closely related to SpaceX's debut). Tune in here.

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.