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Good Morning,

Bankers are seeing break up fees for ditching offers, Air Canada staff are suspects in a $15M gold heist, UTIMCO wants to replicate a multi-manager hedge fund structure, Asia IB is seeing job cuts, and Jane Street made a killing in Q1.

Looking to access private markets alongside a decorated group of Wall Street veterans? Check out today’s sponsor, 10 East.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Major US indexes fell for a fourth-straight day yesterday as investors continued to reassess the path of US rate policy 

  • The S&P suffered its longest slide since January

  • The VIX hit its highest level since October

  • Cboe 1-Month Implied Correlation Index hit a four-month high

• Wheat prices are at a four-year low on cheap supplies from Black Sea / Europe

Earnings

• ASML shares fell ~7% after reporting a Q1 earnings beat but missing on revenue with a 22% YoY sales decline and ~66% QoQ net bookings decline (CNBC) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: TSMC, Netflix, Blackstone

  • Friday: American Express, P&G

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Jane Street made $4.4B in trading revenue in Q1 (FT)

• Morgan Stanley and HSBC cut Asia IB jobs on China deals slowdown (RT)

• UBS plans more layoffs across banking, markets and wealth (BBG)

• Bankers hit with millions in breakup fees for ditching new jobs (BBG)

• US may be entering new era of persistently high interest rates (AX)

• Air Canada staff are suspects in heist of 6.6k gold bars (BBG)

• Vietnam mounts ‘unprecedented’ $24B rescue for bank where fraud led to a death sentence (RT)

• E&Fs and pensions seek to emulate hedge-fund 'pod' strategies (BBG)

• US regional banks seen booking more CRE losses and loan sales (RT)

• Boeing whistleblower said firm ignores safety concerns at Senate hearing (FT)

• AI demand threatens global electricity supply (FT)

• UK inflation fell to 3.2% YoY in March (FT)

• IMF, World Bank cite significant progress in debt restructuring cases (RT)

• Telegram expects to hit 1B users by next year (RT)

• An NBA player was banned for life for betting on games (WSJ)

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Members have the flexibility to participate on a deal-by-deal basis across private equity, credit, real estate, and venture capital.

Benefits of 10 East membership include:   

• Flexibility – members have full discretion over whether to invest on an offering-by-offering basis.   

• Alignment – principals commit material personal capital to every offering. 

• Institutional resources – a dedicated investment team that sources and diligences each offering.  

There are no upfront costs or commitments associated with joining 10 East.

Exec Sum readers can join 10 East with complimentary access here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Abu Dhabi National Energy Company is in talks with major shareholders of $22B Spanish energy firm Naturgy, who include PE firms CVC and GIP, over a potential takeover bid (RT) 

• FTC is preparing a lawsuit to block handbag maker Tapestry’s $8.5B planned takeover of rival Capri Holdings (BBG) 

• EQT is considering options for Belgian chemical distribution company Azelis Group, which has a $6.1B market cap, after receiving interest from potential buyers (BBG) 

• International Distributions Services, the owner of Britain’s Royal Mail, rejected a $3.9B bid from Czech entrepreneur Daniel Kretinsky (BBG)

• Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is exploring a sale of luxury senior-living residences Amica Senior Lifestyles, which could be valued at ~$3.6B (BBG) 

• Property developer China Vanke is seeking to sell its 21% stake in logistics firm GLP, which it acquired in 2018 for $2.5B (BBG)  

• French construction company Vinci agreed to buy a 50.01% stake in Edinburgh Airport for $1.6B from GIP (BBG) 

• $1.4B billing software company Zuora is exploring options including a sale (BBG) 

• State Street is exploring a potential acquisition of Societe Generale’s custody business Societe Generale Securities Services at a potential $1.1B valuation (BBG) 

• Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank is in talks to buy a 15% stake in Indonesia's top Islamic lender Bank Syariah Indonesia for $1.1B from Bank Rakyat Indonesia (RT) 

• Asian PE firm Affinity Equity Partners will acquire SK Networks’ car rental business SK Rent-a-Car for ~$612M (WSJ) 

• TPG Growth made a $235M strategic majority investment in commercial risk intelligence  platform Sayari (BW)

VC

• OpenAI-rival Mistral AI is in talks to raise several hundred million dollars at a $5B valuation (TI) 

• TPG Growth made a $235M strategic majority investment in commercial risk intelligence  platform Sayari (BW)

• Spend management startup Ramp raised a $150M Series D at a $7.65B valuation led by Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund (TC)

• Iceye, a startup building SAR satellites, raised a $93M round led by Solidium Oy (FN)

• Danish payment solutions startup Flatpay raised a $47M Series B led by Dawn Capital (TC)

• Anvilogic, a multi-data platform SIEM, raised a $45M Series C led by Evolution Equity Partners (VC)

• NeuBird, a Gen AI for complex cloud-native environments, raised a $22M round from Mayfield (TC)

• Vorlon, a cybersecurity startup focused on API breaches, raised a $15.7M Series A led by Accel (TC)

• FYLD, an AI-powered field work execution platform, raised a $15.8M round led by OTPP (FN)

• AI Squared, a startup helping organizations deliver data and AI insights into business applications, raised a $13.8M Series A led by Ansa Capital (PRN)

• Heavy industry energy startup Found Energy raised a $12M seed round led by Autodesk Foundation, GiTV, and more (TC)

• Toku, a Chilean all-in-one recurring payments platform, raised a $9.3M round led by Gradient Ventures (PRN)

• Veesual, a virtual try-on platform for fashion, raised a $7.5M seed round led by AVP and Techstars (PRN)

• Miggo, a cybersecurity startup building the first ADR platform, raised a $7.5M seed round led by YL Ventures (BW)

• Jago, an Indonesian mobile cafe company, raised a $6M Series A led by Intudo Ventures and BEENEXT Accelerate (FN)

• YieldNest, a liquid restaking protocol, raised a $5.2M seed round led by Faculty Group, Backed VC, and more (FN)

• AgentSmyth, an autonomous AI agent for financial services, raised a $2.5M seed round from Michael Rafferty and Craig Milias (VC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Vietnamese conglomerate Masan Group hired Jefferies, Morgan Stanley and UBS for a potential ~$1B-$1.5B local IPO of its consumer unit (BBG) 

• Aerospace parts manufacturer Loar is seeking to raise up to $286M at a ~$2.3B valuation in a US IPO (RT) 

Debt

• Morgan Stanley raised $8B through a four-part bond issuance (BBG) 

• KKR is preparing to refinance over $4B of debt at medical transport provider Global Medical Response (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Regional sports broadcaster Diamond Sports Group received US bankruptcy court approval to begin voting on its bankruptcy plan that would eliminate over $8B in debt (RT) 

• Parlament Technologies, the former parent of right-leaning social network platform Parler, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (WSJ) 

Fundraising

• Ares Management is seeking to raise $1.5B for its first fund to lend to specialty healthcare businesses (WSJ) 

Crypto Corner

• Crypto exchange Kraken developed its own wallet (CD) 

Exec’s Picks

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• WSJ published an interesting piece on how some are taking advantage of Americans’ tendency to throw away ~$68M in coins per year.

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