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First Citizens acquired most of SVB's assets, global hedge funds cut exposure in US banking stocks to 10-year lows, housing prices in tech hubs are cooling faster than the broader market, UBS and CS tapped emergency SNB liquidity for merger, Microsoft threatened to restrict data from rival AI search tools, and Jack Ma returned to China.

Looking to invest in a delivery robot company making waves in the $310B food delivery market? Check out today's sponsor, Serve.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks ended Monday's session mixed as investors sought to move on from the recent banking turmoil

  • S&P 500 Banks index rose 3% on news of First Citizens acquiring most of failed SVB

  • Deutsche Bank recovered 4.7% after Friday's sell-off

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 1.1%

• 2Y-10Y yield curve inversion is headed for its steepest monthly increase since October 2008

• Fund futures are pricing in no Fed rate change in May followed by a rate cut in July

• Dollar index continued to trade near seven-week lows

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Jefferies, Micron, Lululemon

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Investors poured over $286B into money market funds in March amid deposit flight (FT)

• US banking concerns shift from crisis to growth woes (RT)

• Global HFs cut exposure to US banking stocks to 10-year lows (RT)

• Eurozone banks cut lending even before banking turmoil (WSJ)

• Depositors withdrew record sums from eurozone banks in February (FT)

• Housing market in tech hubs is cooling faster than other regions (RT)

• UBS and CS tapped emergency SNB liquidity to fund merger (RT)

• UBS CEO has no intent to close Credit Suisse (RT)

• US will backstop SVB's sale to First Citizens (RT)

• France's second-biggest bank Credit Agricole launched a China M&A/IB business (RT)

• Microsoft threatened to restrict data from rival AI search tools (BBG)

• Firms are paying up to $500k for sustainability ratings (RT)

• Saudi National Bank chair resigned days after Credit Suisse comments sparked sell-off (CNBC)

• Salesforce shook off proxy fight from Elliott on strong Q4 results (WSJ)

• Microsoft, Google and Amazon look to generative AI to lift cloud segments (WSJ)

• Lyft names new CEO as founders step back amid competition struggles (WSJ)

• Virgin Orbit extended operations pause after Brown funding deal collapsed (CNBC)

• Twitter source code was leaked on GitHub (TV)

• Nearly half of US workers have a side gig (BBG)

• Huawei developed domestic chip design tools despite US sanctions (CNBC)

• Jack Ma returned to China after nearly a year in sign of cooling crackdown on tech sector (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• US lender First Citizens BancShares agreed to buy $72B worth of Silicon Valley Bank’s assets at a discount of $16.5B; 17 legacy branches will begin operating as Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens, and there will be no immediate changes to customer accounts (BBG)

• A Brookfield Asset Management-led consortium agreed to buy Australian utility Origin Enegy for $12.4B (BBG)

• State-owned Saudi Aramco agreed to acquire a 10% stake in privately controlled Rongsheng Petrochemical in China for ~$3.6B (RT)

• Japanese financial services firm SMFG agreed to buy a 15% stake in Vietnamese lender VPBank for ~$1.5B (BBG)

• Convenience store operator Arko offered to buy truck stop operator TravelCenters of America for $1.4B (RT)

• PE firm TPG is exploring a sale of Singapore-based healthcare company TE Asia Healthcare Partners at a potential ~$1B valuation (BBG)

• Malteries Soufflet, a branch of French agribusiness InVivo, offered to buy Australian commercial maltster United Malt Group at a $998M valuation (RT)

• Health care company Concentra Biosciences agreed to buy biotech firm Jounce Therapeutics for $96.46M after Jounce rejected a merger deal with British biotech firm Redx Pharma (RT)

• Pet hospital operator the National Veterinary Associates (NVA) will separate out its Ethos Veterinary Health business, with plans for each to prepare for an IPO in next couple years (BBG)

• A fund managed by Blackstone is in advanced negotiations to buy a minority stake in growth-equity investment firm FTV Capital (BBG)

• US brand management company Bluestar Alliance agreed to buy clothing brand Scotch & Soda (RT)

• CVC Capital Partners is planning a bid for parts of British cinema operator Cineworld (RT)

VC

• Drug development startup ArriVent raised a $155M Series B led by Sofinnova Investments and General Catalyst (FN)

• Wellvana Health, a primary care network startup, raised $84M in financing led by Martin Ventures and Valtruis (PRN)

• Raisin, a Berlin-based fintech startup, raised a $64.8M Series E led by Catalyst and Goldman Sachs (FN)

• 1X, a Norway-based manufacturer of androids, raised a $23.5M Series A-2 led by OpenAI Startup Fund (FN)

• Life sciences digital marketplace Labviva raised a $20M Series A led by Biospring Partners (BW)

• OQmented, an AR/MR display and 3D-sensing company, raised a $20M Series A led by Sharp2, Salvia, and Vsquared Ventures (FN)

• SolasCure, a startup developing a hydrogel containing recombinant enzyme, raised a $13.3M Series B led by Seneca Partners (FN)

• Energy management startup Mixergy raised $11.3M in funding led by EDP Ventures and Nesta (FN)

• Cega, a DeFi app providing exotic structured products, raised $5M in funding led by Dragonfly Capital (FN)

• Mantra Health, a NY-based digitally-informed mental health provider, raised a $5M Series A extension led by VMG Partners (FN)

• Advice and client engagement platform Lumiant raised a $3.5M seed round from Invest Blue and Savant (FN)

• Particle Network, a Singapore-based mobile app data and development platform for Web3.0, raised a $1.8M pre-seed round led by Longhash Ventures (FN)

• Cora Therapeutics, a Toronto-based life sciences startup, raised a $1M seed round led by Irongate Capital Advisors (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Indonesian metal and mining firm Harita Nickel raised ~$659M after pricing its IPO at the top of a marketed range (BBG)

• Data analytics firm Presight AI shares jumped 176% at open to raise $496M in an Abu Dhabi IPO (BBG)

• Al Ansari, the owners of remittance money exchange firm Al Ansari Financial Services, raised $210M in Dubai’s first IPO of 2023 (BBG)

• Indian skincare startup Mamaearth is delaying its IPO because of weak market conditions (RT)

SPAC

• Chinese tech firm Bestpath will list in US via a SPAC at a $1.2B valuation (CNA)

Fundraising

• US/UK-based VC firm SR One raised $600M for its second fund to invest in the biotech sector (UKT)

• Excelsior Energy Capital raised $502M for a targeted $650M sophomore fund (BOI)

• VC firm OpenView raised $570M for its Fund VII to invest in business software startups (TC)

• PE firm SWEN Capital Partners raised $184M for its Blue Ocean fund (PEW)

• The Monarch Collective debuted with a $100M fund to bring equity to women's sport (FC)

• South African VC Kalon Venture Partners, which invests in digital disruptive technologies, will raise a $50M fund to invest outside of South Africa (DA)

Crypto Corner

• CFTC sued crypto exchange Binance and founder CZ for broad compliance violations (CD)

• Nvidia CTO believes 'crypto adds nothing useful to society' despite billions in mining sales (CS)

• Crypto groups expand in Hong Kong in bid to tap China demand (FT)

Exec's Picks

• Everyone knows that real estate is the best path to building wealth over time, but there’s just one problem: you always needed plenty of upfront capital to enter this market… Until now. CrowdStreet, the nation’s largest online private real estate investing platform, lets you invest in large real estate projects alongside dozens, and even hundreds, of other investors. Get started today by joining CrowdStreet here.

• The Wall Street Journal published 12 charts showing which market sectors have the most financial risk right now.

• The Wall Street Journal also broke down how options hedging turbocharged oil volatility.

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