Private Equity Bros Weekly

📊 Weekly Summary

Here’s a roundup of this week’s major financial and economic headlines:

In response to tariff fears, dealers are flying gold bars from London to New York. Meanwhile, Reddit plans to help hedge funds and asset managers track trends that could impact markets. US producer inflation rose 3.5% year-over-year, while the UK saw a record-breaking $16B bond sale.

President Trump outlined a new reciprocal tariff plan targeting exports from countries that he says have unfair trade policies. US firms are tapping into Euro debt markets at the fastest rate since 2007. Meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce giants Temu and Shein saw a sales drop after the US scrapped a tariff exemption.

Let’s break it down.

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📈 Recent Finance News

Dealers are flying gold by plane from LDN to NYC: Tariff fears have shaken markets, pushing banks to fly bullion for record sales (Fortune)

Reddit soon to help drive hedge fund and asset manager bets: Reddit’s content will be analyzed to detect trends impacting markets (YF)

US producer inflation rose 3.5% YoY: Producer prices report points to softer Fed inflation measure than feared (CNBC)

UK's $16B bond sale smashed records for size and demand: Indicates strong investor appetite for UK debt (YF)

Trump outlined a reciprocal tariff plan: The US President plans to target exports from countries with allegedly unfair trade policies (BBC)

Hedge fund startup that replaced analysts with AI beat the market: It outperformed the global stock market while slashing research costs (JT)

US Q4 earnings growth to hit a 3-year high: Driven by stronger-than-expected results in communication services, financials and others (RT)

US firms are raising Euro debt at the fastest pace since 2007: An attempt to secure much lower borrowing costs overseas (YF)

China money markets face $411B crunch as congress nears: PBOC tries to maintain market liquidity amid funding squeeze (AInvest)

Temu, Shein suffer US sales drop after tariff exemption removal: Highlights trade policy impacts on Chinese e-commerce giants (MI)

🔍 Newly Released Reports  

• Daily and Weekly Indicators for the US Economy (Apollo)

• US & Global M&A Market update (Ropes & Gray)

• Nordic Private Equity Market Update (KPMG)

• Private Equity in Registered Products (KPMG)

• Accessing Private Markets (Partners Group)

• 2025 M&A Trends Survey (Deloitte)

• UK IPO Market Update Q4-24 (EY)

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🤝 M&A Activity

BlackRock’s GIP seeks to sell Vena Energy (VCC)
Potential Deal Value: $10B

Bain, Advent, KKR, and EQT compete to take Trend Micro private (PEI)
Potential Deal Value: $8.5B

TE Connectivity acquires Richards Manufacturing (YF)
Deal Value: $2.3B

Warburg Pincus strikes deal for Vermont Information Processing (RT)
Deal Value: $1B

GIP to acquire 70% of Brazilian Vale’s Alianca Energia (Inv.)
Potential Deal Value: $870M-$1B

AppLovin to sell its mobile games development arm (EM)
Deal Value: $900M

Macquarie buys UK waste management firm Renewi (RT)
Deal Value: $881M

e& PPF Telecoms purchases Serbia Broadband (PPF)
Deal Value: $860M

Carlyle buys 65-70% stake in Indian auto-parts firm (Inv.)
Deal Value: $400M

Steve Madden agrees to buy Kurt Geiger from PE firm Cinven (YF)
Deal Value: $360M