Finance

Goldman M&A frenzy — CLO power players — Square and PayPal duke it out

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On the agenda today:

Let’s get started.


This year’s M&A frenzy isn’t ending anytime soon, experts say

David M. Solomon, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

The co-heads of Goldman Sachs’ powerhouse M&A business said the huge surge in dealmaking isn’t going to slow down in the near future. They gave us four big factors that will keep the dealmaking party going.


Square is on a collision course with PayPal

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.JPG

Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Square’s $29 billion bid for Afterpay poses a new threat to PayPal, which launched its own buy now, pay later offering less than a year ago. Now, the two payment giants are duking it out for both merchants and consumers. More on the fight to be the go-to finance super app.


Melvin Capital gained ground in July, but is still in a big hole

Gabe Plotkin

Alex Flynn/Getty Images/Bloomberg

Thanks to Reddit traders’ January short squeeze, Gabe Plotkin’s $11 billion fund is still down 43.2% for the year. Here’s what you need to know.


Point72 has poached a star credit trader from JPMorgan

steve cohen hedge funds 4x3

Point72; Shayanne Gal/Insider

Leon Hagouel is joining the hedge fund after 15 years at JPMorgan, where he specialized in trading credit-default swaps, junk bonds, and distressed debt. Hagouel is set to start at Point72 in October as a macro portfolio manager. Here’s what we know about the hire.


Inside a $360 billion second act for one of Wall Street’s most controversial investments

movie theater empty

Joey Lax-Salinas

Critics have bemoaned collateralized loan obligations, or CLOs, as absorbing too much risky corporate debt. But the asset class defied skeptics, surviving the pandemic and soaring to record levels in 2021. We spoke with a dozen experts throughout the asset class, who gave us an inside look at what’s next.


Speaking of CLOs … meet the people engineering the asset class’s next big boom

From left: Lauren Basmadjian of Carlyle Group, Lauren Law of Octagon Credit, Eugene Ferrer of Paul Hastings, Rob Zable of Blackstone, and Rachel Russell of Morgan Stanley against a blue background.

Carlyle Group; Octagon Credit; Paul Hastings; Blackstone; Morgan Stanley; Skye Gould/Insider

Dealmakers, traders, and investors told us how they made a career in CLOs, explaining how they win investors over to a space with a fair share of critics. Meet them here.


A wealth-tech startup just hired two new execs from Betterment and JP Morgan.

Jason Wenk, Altruist

Altruist

In preparation to go head-to-head with custodians like Schwab and Fidelity, Altruist just hired a new CFO and head of investing. Here’s what we know about the new hires.


Credit Suisse just hired a program trading sales exec known as “the Whopper”

Credit Suisse New York

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Chris “Whopper” Johnson is joining from Wells Fargo, where he spent the past decade. He’ll start as head of program trading sales, filling a void for Credit Suisse, which has seen an exodus in the Archegos aftermath. Everything we know so far (and why they call him “the Whopper”).


Wells Fargo’s new tech exec is overhauling the commercial bank’s data strategy

Wells Fargo's Ruth Jacks poses in her head shot wearing a blue pinstripe dress shirt.

Wells Fargo

Ruth Jacks is tasked with overhauling the way the bank interacts with data — from procurement to storage, security, and usage — for its large corporate clients. She gave us an idea of what she’s targeting in her new role.


Ramp is the eighth crypto firm to win approval from the UK’s financial regulator

Ramp cofounders Przemek Kowalczyk & Szymon Sypniewicz.

Ramp

The startup, essentially a PayPal for crypto, has secured rare regulatory approval from the UK’s financial watchdog. Get the full rundown here.


How much do payment giants pay their tech talent?

wolf of wall street

Paramount Pictures

We used our searchable salary database (check that out here) to see how much Amex, Mastercard, PayPal, Square, and Visa pay their technology employees. See what tech workers make at the country’s leading payment companies.


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