Private Equity Bros Weekly

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📊 Weekly Summary

Here’s a recap of this week’s major news in finance and economics:

Gold crossed $4,000 an ounce for the first time, and OpenAI’s computing deals surpassed $1 trillion in notional value. Fed minutes revealed divisions over the pace of rate cuts, while the SEC eased IPO rules to keep listings flowing through the U.S. government shutdown.

Options trading hit record levels as FOMO dominated positioning, and short-bias ETFs drew heavy inflows from investors hedging against potential pullbacks. On the structural side, regional lenders are turning to M&A to defend scale and margins, while private equity giants continue expanding in Japan.

Let’s dive in.

📈 Recent Finance News

Anxious investors push gold above $4K an ounce for first time: It is on course for its best year since the 1970s, underscoring unease in financial markets (NYT)

OpenAI’s computing deals top $1T: High-profile partnerships with tech giants include Oracle, Nvidia, CoreWeave, and AMD (YF)

Fed minutes reveal split on rate cut path: Officials remain divided over timing and depth of future rate reductions amid mixed inflation data (CNBC)

Wall Street regulator eases IPO path during shutdown: Regulators introduce temporary relief measures to keep US listings moving amid staff shortages (RT)

Q3 earnings growth seen slowing as AI spending dominates: Analysts expect narrower margins as firms ramp up infrastructure and compute investments (YF)

FOMO drives record stock options activity: Retail and institutional traders flood the market despite valuation risks and policy uncertainty (Fidelity)

Short-bias ETFs attract heavy inflows: Bearish funds see renewed interest as investors hedge against potential equity pullbacks (FC)

IMF warns banks over $9.6T FX liquidity risk: New report highlights vulnerabilities in short-term funding tied to dollar exposure (MSN)

Megabanks prompt regional lenders to merge for growth: The US banking system is increasingly characterized by having fewer bigger lenders (AInvest)

PE giants size up a fresh market in Japan: Between 2010 and 2024, Japanese private equity deals had the highest returns of any market globally (FB)

📈 A selection of resources used by top finance professionals

RE Case Study | FoF Model | LBO Model | DCF Model

🔍 Newly Released Reports

• Global Market and Asset Allocation Guide (Eaton Vance)

• Pricing Reform, Not Oil: The Middle East Thesis (KKR)

• Finding the Right Path: Global Market Outlook (SS)

• What You Need to Know About Interval Funds (AB)

• Guide for Fund Finance Structures (Mayer Brown)

• Europe Real Estate Sector Report (Principal AM)

• The Evolution of India’s Fintech Sector (KPMG)

• October Private Markets Outlook (Apollo)

• Global Market Outlook (Western Asset)

• Valuation in a Trade-War World (KPMG)

• 2025 EMEA Exit Report (J.P. Morgan)

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🤝 M&A Activity

Paramount, Skydance, and Apollo eye Warner Bros. Discovery takeover (PEI)
Potential Deal Value: $60B

HSBC to buy remaining stake and take full control of Hang Seng Bank (YF)
Potential Deal Value: $13.6B

Cenovus Energy raises bid for MEG Energy amid oil sands consolidation (YF)
Potential Deal Value: $6.2B

SoftBank to buy ABB’s robotics unit, expanding automation reach (CNBC)
Deal Value: $5.4B

Novo Nordisk to acquire Akero Therapeutics in metabolic disease push (Akero)
Deal Value: $5.2B

Brookfield buys majority stake in Igneo’s New Zealand energy assets Clarus (IPE)
Deal Value: $1.2B

TopBuild acquires Specialty Products and Insulation in all-cash deal (TB)
Deal Value: $1B

Sembcorp Industries buys ReNew’s India solar energy unit (PV Tech)
Deal Value: $246M

Civitas Resources and SM Energy weigh merger to form $14B O&G player (YF)
Deal Value: Undisclosed

Confluent explores potential sale amid software consolidation (Inv.)
Deal Value: Undisclosed