Monday, November 2, 2026 · Covering: weekend + catch-up on last week
TL;DR
I found no major new M&A announced over the weekend, so the lead is a deal the Friday edition missed: GE Vernova agreed on Oct 28 to buy grid-equipment maker Trench Group from Triton Partners for $9B. Stocks ended last week lower after weak big-tech earnings (the S&P 500 is roughly 2% below Wednesday's close), oil is above $100, and this week brings Tuesday's midterm elections, Apple earnings today and Friday's jobs report. Meta's reported ~$95B stock sale to fund AI is the biggest capital-markets story to watch.
TOP 3 DEALS
DEAL 1
Industrials / Power & Grid
DEAL SIZE$9B (EV vs. equity not broken out); ~13x projected 2028 adjusted EBITDA, excluding synergies
FUNDING / TIMINGRoughly even mix of cash and debt, no stock; close expected late 2027
BUYER ADVISORS (GE VERNOVA)Skadden (legal); financial advisors TBD
SELLER ADVISORS (TRITON)Latham & Watkins (legal); financial advisors TBD
GE Vernova, a power and electrical equipment maker, is buying a Berlin-based maker of high-voltage grid parts (bushings, coils, transformers) it already uses as a supplier. Buying a supplier gives it more control over production timing and extra capacity as data centers drive demand for electricity. Skadden ↗ Latham ↗
Why it matters for recruiting: A private-equity exit to a strategic buyer in a hot theme (grid and data-center power). Triton bought Trench from Siemens Energy in 2024, so this is a roughly two-year hold — a good example of why sponsors love "buy, grow, sell to a strategic."
DEAL 2
Tech / Equity Capital Markets
DEAL SIZE~$95B reported (some outlets cite ~$97.5B; I did not confirm the final figure)
TYPENew Meta shares sold to investors, not an acquisition
UNDERWRITERSTBD (not found)
CONTEXTMeta also sold a large multi-part bond earlier; reports reference a prior Alphabet raise
Instead of borrowing, Meta is reportedly selling a very large amount of new stock to pay for AI data centers and chips. It would be among the largest equity offerings ever, and it follows an Alphabet raise, so big tech is now tapping markets for AI spending. Treat the size and terms as reported, not confirmed.
Why it matters for recruiting: This is the ECM and DCM story of the quarter: record issuance, mega-underwriting syndicates and fees. Be ready to explain why a company might issue stock rather than debt (preserve credit rating, avoid more interest cost) and the dilution trade-off.
DEAL 3
Tech / AI
DEAL SIZE$12.93B (as reported by Reuters via TheStreet)
STATUSProposed; DOJ inquiry reported
BUYER ADVISORS (NVIDIA)TBD
SELLER ADVISORS (HUGGING FACE)TBD
Nvidia wants to buy Hugging Face, a popular hub where developers share AI models. The Justice Department is looking at whether the deal would give Nvidia too much control over the AI ecosystem. I only saw this in a market wrap, so details are limited.
Why it matters for recruiting: Regulatory risk is a core deal-structuring topic: long timelines, break fees and "hell or high water" language all come from situations like this. Also compare it to the DoorDash/Instacart close date of late 2027 to 1H 2028.
SECTOR SIGNAL
DEFENSE / AEROSPACE
Salesforce bought defense-software startup Rune Technologies to build a defense portfolio (Axios Pro; I could not open the article, so no size or advisors). Valero is buying and restarting an idled Texas refinery. Axios Pro ↗
TECH / TMT
Alphabet fell more than 12% Thursday on weak results and cash burn. Intel dropped about 25% in Friday premarket trading. Affle agreed to buy Perion for about $420M at a ~34.5% premium. Reuters via Brecorder ↗ ScanX ↗
INDUSTRIALS
Besides GE Vernova–Trench, Caterpillar fell 9% Thursday after results. GE Vernova's purchase follows its $5B+ buy of the rest of Prolec earlier this year, so grid equipment remains a consolidation theme. Boston Globe ↗
HEALTHCARE / OTHER
Nothing new surfaced this weekend. Last week's $5.7B Surgery Partners take-private by HealthSpan Partners is the one to know.
M&A / LEVERAGED FINANCE
Last week's Ares Capital–MidCap Financial deal (~$2.6B) and Bumble's $1.3B take-private by Ithaca Holdings (Oct 13, 138% premium) show lenders and sponsors still transacting despite hike risk. Bumble's advisors were not named on the page I read. Yahoo ↗
MARKET TONE
Stocks slid late last week. Friday's levels in one ticker table were Dow 51,770, S&P 500 7,580 and Nasdaq 25,437 (treated as Oct 30 closes; no daily change was given). The S&P was 7,743.97 at Wednesday's close, so it is roughly 2% lower. Reuters via Brecorder ↗
Fed leaning toward a hike. It held at 3.75%–4.00% on Wednesday; CME FedWatch then showed about an 85% chance of a December hike. Another source said 80%, so treat it as roughly four-in-five. Newstribune ↗
Busy week. Midterm elections are Tuesday Nov 3 (Democrats widely expected to win the House, Senate less certain), Apple reports today, and the October jobs report is Friday Nov 6. Reuters also lists AMD, Qualcomm and Palantir this week, though one source puts some of those later. Reuters via Brecorder ↗
Earnings strong, AI trade nervous. S&P 500 Q3 earnings are on pace for about +31% with roughly half reported, but investors punished Alphabet and Caterpillar. Q3 GDP was the fastest in a year. Reuters via Brecorder ↗
Oil and gold. Crude was about $104/bbl Friday (the ticker did not say WTI or Brent) amid Iran and Strait of Hormuz tensions; gold was about $3,875/oz. Brecorder ↗
INTERVIEW ANGLE
TOPIC: PAYING A "FORWARD" MULTIPLE (GE VERNOVA / TRENCH AT ~13X 2028 EBITDA)
Valuation multiples are usually quoted on current or last-twelve-month earnings. GE Vernova's ~13x is on projected 2028 EBITDA, which is earnings two years out. Trench is expected to reach about $1.9B of revenue at roughly a 36% margin, implying about $684M of EBITDA ($9B ÷ $0.684B ≈ 13x; my arithmetic from the reported figures).
Forward vs. current: On today's smaller earnings the multiple would look much higher. A buyer paying on 2028 numbers is betting the growth shows up.
Who takes the risk: The seller (Triton) is paid today for growth the buyer must deliver. Earnouts or contracted backlog (Trench has about $5B of framework deals) are how deals bridge that gap.
Funding: Roughly half cash, half debt, no stock. At today's rates, that makes the financing cost part of the story.
How to bring it up: "GE Vernova is paying about 13x projected 2028 EBITDA for Trench. That's a forward multiple, so I'd want to know how much of that earnings growth is already backed by contracts, and whether the buyer's $50–100M of expected cost savings is on top. If I were advising Triton, I'd point to the two-year hold and the data-center demand to defend the price."