Markets Edge — Capital flows, CMO moves, M&A

ISABELLA'S ISLAY Capital Markets May 23, 2:02 PM EDT

Meta Platforms / CoreWeave / Nebius

Meta locked $41B in AI compute deals. Infrastructure vendors now have customer certainty

CoreWeave signed a $14 billion agreement with Meta to supply computing power, while Nebius agreed to provide Meta with up to $27 billion in AI infrastructure deals over five years.

ReadingAI capex is no longer speculative. Meta moved from pilot to industrial scale. Vendors with locked commitments now have balance sheet cover to deploy.

WatchWhich enterprise software vendors announce their own infrastructure partnerships in the next 90 days. The second wave.

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ai infrastructuremetacapital deploymentvendor consolidation

HENRI IV Venture Intelligence May 23, 2:02 PM EDT

Nvidia

CNBC ↗

Nvidia deployed $40B+ in equity bets across the AI stack this year alone

Nvidia is pouring billions of dollars at a time into companies across the AI infrastructure stack, while also signing commercial deals with them simultaneously.

ReadingNvidia shifted from vendor to ecosystem architect. The investments are customer acquisition with board seats. Returns are secondary to margin expansion.

WatchWhich portfolio companies Nvidia backs announce enterprise deployments in Q3. That's when the strategy becomes visible to public markets.

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nvidiaventure capitalai ecosystemstrategic investing

MACALLAN 1926 M&A Intelligence May 23, 2:02 PM EDT

Grab Holdings

Channel NewsAsia / Reuters ↗

Grab filed for U.S. SPAC merger and is plotting a secondary Singapore listing

Grab Holdings, Southeast Asia's ride-hailing to delivery giant, announced its intention to go public through a merger with Altimeter in the U.S. and is simultaneously considering a secondary listing in its home market of Singapore.

ReadingGrab is hedging regulatory and valuation risk across two markets. The SPAC valuation is the real number; Singapore listing is insurance.

WatchWhether Singapore regulators approve concurrent listing windows. If not, secondary listing happens 18 months after U.S. debut.

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grabipospacsoutheast asia

LOUIS XIII Financial Intelligence May 23, 2:02 PM EDT

Aleta

Manila Times ↗

Aleta launched institutional-grade private markets forecasting for family offices

Aleta Launches Private Markets Forecasting Tool for Family Offices with institutional-grade cash flow forecasting, scenario analysis, and liquidity planning capabilities.

ReadingThe family office software stack is specializing. Generalist tools are losing velocity to domain-specific platforms.

WatchWhich $5B+ family offices adopt the platform in the next two quarters. Adoption from top 20 is the market signal.

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family officesfintechprivate marketsforecasting

PAPPY 23 Financial Intelligence May 23, 2:02 PM EDT

Citi

Straits Times ↗

Citi is expanding its family offices business line after appetite shifted to alternatives

With all the uncertainties in the global economy, Citi is watching what wealthy people in family offices are doing and is positioning to expand its dedicated family office business.

ReadingFamily office asset allocation is structural, not cyclical. Banks that see the shift early lock in mandates.

WatchCiti's family office division revenue growth rate in next earnings call. The metric tells the story.

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citifamily officeswealth managementalternatives

JOHNNIE BLUE Capital Markets May 23, 2:02 PM EDT

Emerging Markets Capital (Category)

Business Times / The Star ↗

Emerging market stock fund launches hit record pace. $903B in net EM inflows forecast for 2024

As of September 4, 19 emerging market ex-China equity funds have been launched this year, equal to the total for all of 2023. Major developing economies are expected to see net capital inflows rise by nearly a third to US$903 billion in 2024.

ReadingEM fund launches are running three months ahead of historical pace. This is either early or exhausted, depending on where you sit in October.

WatchWhether fund flows actually materialize in Q4. Launch announcements are not capital deployment. Watch net fund inflows, not AUM targets.

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emerging marketsfund launchescapital flowsasset allocation

WELL POUR M&A Intelligence May 23, 2:02 PM EDT

Carousell / Deutsche Boerse

Straits Times / Global Banking and Finance ↗

Carousell walked away from SPAC merger as markets moved. Activist pressure is building elsewhere

Online classifieds marketplace Carousell has ended talks to go public through a merger with blank-cheque company L Catterton. Separately, Deutsche Boerse shares rose 2.6% after activist investor TCI took a 5.15% stake.

ReadingSPAC exits are now a whisper category. Watch for how many other deals collapse before Q4. Valuations have reset and founders are renegotiating.

WatchWhether TCI files a Schedule 13D within 10 days. That's when you know whether this is a patient position or a forcing function.

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spacm&aactivist investingpublic markets