Happy Wednesday.

Today’s note shares the sad news of the death of an associate in Bank of America’s FIG team.

Death of BoA associate ignites renewed scrutiny of investment banking workloads

By Bob Clair

Bank of America investment banking associate Leo Lukenas III died last week after what those close to the situation have described as an intense period of work in support of an active M&A process.

The New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has classified the death a result of natural causes—an 'acute coronary artery thrombus,' which causes the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart, the office said. Lukenas was a 35-year-old married father of two.

Social media posts circulated this weekend cited sources within Bank of America’s Financial Institutions Group (FIG) claiming that junior bankers, including Lukenas, had worked in excess of 120 hours per week for each of the four weeks leading up to his death. These claims could not be independently verified.

The same sources referenced Bank of America’s buy-side advisory role on UMB Financial’s $2 billion acquisition of Heartland Financial, announced on April 29th. In the week prior to his death, a Bank of America spokesperson separately confirmed that Lukenas had been staffed on an unnamed bank acquisition through late April.

Lukenas joined Bank of America as a full-time associate last July after having completed a summer associate internship through the Veteran Associate Program. Lukenas previously served 10 years as a Special Forces Officer in the U.S. Army—a Green Beret—and had completed more than a dozen combat tours.

Lukenas was placed on the bank’s FIG team immediately upon joining the firm, according to a Bank of America employee who requested their name be withheld. When asked for comment, Bank of America would only say, “Our focus is on doing whatever we can to support the family and our team, who are devastated.”

Bank of America has previously fielded allegations of excessive junior banker workloads. In 2014, ABC News published a story called “Confessions of a Real-Life Bank of America Junior Banker” in which the subject claimed 90-hour work weeks were a regular occurrence at the firm.

That story was in response to the 2013 death of 21-year-old Bank of America intern Moritz Erhardt in London. Erhadt suffered a fatal epileptic fit after working without sleep for three days straight, according to initial reports.

In the aftermath of Erhadt’s death, Bank of America had joined Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase in agreeing to limit the number of permitted working hours for junior bankers.

Note: Colleagues and friends have organized a fundraiser in support of the Lukenas family.

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• Blue Owl Capital is in talks to acquire a minority stake in healthcare-focused private equity firm Linden Capital Partners.

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners agreed to acquire energy producer ALLETE (NYSE: ALE) for $6.2 billion, including debt.

• Clearlake Capital Group and Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Software Integrity Group, an application security testing software provider, from Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) for up to $2.1 billion.

• KKR & Co. agreed to acquire the wealth management and corporate trust businesses of Perpetual Ltd. (ASX: PPT), an Australian funds manager, for A$2.175 billion.

• Akamai Technologies (Nasdaq: AKAM) agreed to acquire Noname Security, an API security company, for $450 million.

• The Ardonagh Group, a portfolio company of Madison Dearborn and HPS Investment Partners, agreed to acquire PSC Insurance Group (ASX: PSI) for A$2.256 billion.

• Shell agreed to sell its Singapore refining and petrochemical assets to CAPGC, a joint venture between Chandra Asri Capital and Glencore Asian Holdings.

• American Clinical Research Services, a portfolio company of Latticework Capital Management, acquired Elixia, a multi-specialty clinical research network.

• TPG Rise Climate agreed to acquire Olympus Terminals, a storage provider for renewable fuels in Southern California, from Davidson Kempner Capital Management and Intrepid Investment Management.

• Charlesbank Capital Partners acquired and merged Kleer and Membersy, the dental industry's two largest membership plan administrators.

• Gallant Capital Partners acquired Fime, a payments and digital identity consultancy, as well as the payments testing business of UL Solutions (NYSE: ULS), combining the two under the Fime brand.

• HALO Dream, a portfolio company of Transom Capital, acquired BreathableBaby, a maker of juvenile safe sleep products.

• Turnspire Capital Partners agreed to acquire Ashland Inc.’s (NYSE: ASH) nutraceuticals business, a provider of nutrition ingredients and custom formulation services.

• L-GAM is considering the sale of Woolrich International, a premium outerwear retailer, and has hired Houlihan Lokey to advise.

• Samsung Medison, the medical equipment unit of Samsung Electronics, agreed to acquire Sonio, a French developer of AI-based fetal ultrasound software, for $92.4 million.

• Axon (Nasdaq: AXON), the global public safety technology leader, agreed to acquire Dedrone, an airspace security startup.

• DocuSign (Nasdaq: DOCU) agreed to acquire Lexion, an AI-powered contract management platform, for $165 million in cash. Lexion backers include Point72 Ventures, WSGR Ventures, Citi Ventures, Madrona, Khosla Ventures, and AI2.

• OptiX, backed by the Lilium Group, acquired Vircon Transport Solutions, a North American freight brokerage.

• Rubicon Technologies (NYSE: RBT) sold its fleet technology business to Rodina Capital for $94.2 million.

• IOG Resources II, a portfolio company of First Reserve, agreed to acquire oil and gas working interests and royalty interests in the Denver-Julesburg Basin from Civitas Resources, Inc. 

• Ironmark, a Post Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired Deliver Media, a Tampa-based first-party data and predictive analytics marketing firm.

• Conduent Incorporated (Nasdaq: CNDT) agreed to sell its Casualty Claims Solutions business to MedRisk for $240 million in cash.

• The Halifax Group sold a majority stake in Southern Exteriors, an installer of exterior building solutions, to Monomoy Capital Partners.

• Precision Aerospace Holdings, a portfolio company of CIC Partners and Juniper Capital Management, agreed to acquire Owens Machine and Tool Company, a Lewisville, Texas-based producer of complex parts and tooling.

• Simon & Schuster, a portfolio company of KKR, agreed to acquire Veen Bosch & Keuning, the largest Dutch book publishing house.

• Silver Oak Services Partners recapitalized Beary Landscaping, a provider of landscaping and snow removal services.

• Momenta, a Chinese developer of deep learning-based self-driving software, filed confidentially for a U.S. IPO with plans to raise up to $300 million, per Bloomberg.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• Wayve, a developer of autonomous vehicle systems, raised $1.05 billion in Series C funding. SoftBank Group led, with participation from returning backer Microsoft and new investor Nvidia.

• Wiz, an Israeli cloud security startup, raised $1 billion in Series E funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital, at a $12 billion valuation.

• Atlan, a data governance and AI readiness platform, raised $105 million in Series C funding at a $750 million valuation. GIC led, with participation from Meritech Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and Peak XV Partners.

• Legion Technologies, a workforce management platform, raised $50 million in new funding. Riverwood Capital led, with participation from Norwest Venture Partners, Stripes, Webb Investment Network, and XYZ Venture Capital.

• Rad AI, a developer of AI radiology workflow automation software, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Khosla Ventures led, with participation from World Innovation Lab, ARTIS Ventures, OCV Partners, Kickstart Fund, and Gradient Ventures.

• Privateer, a space data company led by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, raised $56.5 million in Series A funding from Aero X Ventures, Luxe Capital, Boca, Starburst, and the Winklevoss twins.

• Futura, an Italy-based developer of AI-enabled educational tools, raised €14 million in Series A funding. Eurazeo led, with participation from existing backer United Ventures and new investor Axon Partners Group.

• Seamfix, a Nigerian digital identity provider, raised $4.5 million in new funding led by Alitheia IDF, with participation from Flourish.

• Daloopa, an AI-powered data platform, raised $18 million in Series B funding led by Touring Capital, with participation from Morgan Stanley and Nexus Venture Partners.

Fintech

• Honeycomb, a digital real estate insurer, raised $36 million in Series B funding led by Zeev Ventures, with participation from Arkin Holdings, Launchbay Capital, Ibex Investors, Phoenix Insurance, and IT-Farm.

• Abyan Capital, a Saudi digital wealth management firm, raised $18 million in Series A funding led by STV, with participation from Wa’ed Ventures and RZM Investments.

• Panax, an AI-powered cash flow management platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Team8 led, with participation from TLV Partners.

• Infinity, a Mumbai-based digital lender focusing on small business and micro-entrepreneur loans, raised $8 million from Archerman Capital.

• Alphastream, a private credit analysis startup, raised an undisclosed seed round led by Motive Partners.

Consumer & Media

• Meati Foods, a manufacturer of mycelium-based meat alternatives, raised more than $100 million in new funding led by Grosvenor Food & AgTech, with participation from Prelude Ventures, BOND, Revolution Growth, and Congruent.

Healthcare

• Prologue Medicines, a viral proteome biotech, raised $50 million in new funding led by Flagship Pioneering.

• Opmed, an AI-led operating room scheduler, raised $15 million in Series A funding. NFX and Grove Ventures co-led, with participation from Secret Chord Ventures, Sir Ronald Cohen, and Unbox Ventures.

• Backpack Healthcare, a provider of online pediatric mental healthcare services, raised $14 million in Series A funding. PACE Healthcare Capital led, with participation from ECMC, Techstars, Collab Capital, Bridge Builders Collaborative, Portland Seed Fund, Hopelab, Rethink Education, Genius Guild, and Unlikely Collaborators.

• Ciba Health, a holistic digital health company, raised $10 million in Series A funding. DigiTx Partners led, with participation from E12 Ventures, 3CC Capital, and Plug and Play.

• Humanaut Health, a longevity-focused health clinic, raised $8.7 million in seed funding co-led by Kabech Fund and Midnight Venture Partners.

• In-House Health, a provider of AI-enabled scheduling tools for nursing teams, raised $4 million in seed funding. NEA and TMV co-led, with participation from Vine Ventures and Longevity Venture Partners.

• Yoneda Labs, an AI drug discovery startup, raised $4 million in seed funding. Khosla Ventures led, with participation from 500 Emerging Europe, 468 Capital, Fellows Fund, and Y Combinator.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• Zanskar Geothermal and Minerals, a geothermal development company, raised $30 million in new funding led by Obvious Ventures, with participation from Munich Re Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Safar Partners, First Star Ventures, and Clearvision Ventures.

• Silver Lake raised $20.5 billion for its seventh flagship private equity fund.

• EnCap Investments raised $1.5 billion for a new energy transition fund.

• Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital and KKR partnered to launch CarbonCount Holdings 1, with each committing $1 billion to fund investments in sustainable infrastructure projects.

• 1infinity Ventures, in collaboration with Silicon Sands Venture Studios, is launching a new fund focused on early-stage responsible AI investments.

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