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Good Morning,

Companies are laying low on ESG amid backlash, CDS on US Treasuries hit their highest level since 2011, First Citizens’ takeover of SVB isn’t going smoothly, home prices experienced their biggest YoY drop since 2012, IKEA is planning its biggest-ever US expansion, Meta is cutting 10% of its UK workforce, and SpaceX’s Starship exploded mid-flight.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks fell yesterday on certain disappointing corporate earnings and economic data that signaled slowing demand and a contracting economy

Earnings

• Blackstone beat Q1 EPS estimates despite distributable earnings falling 36% to $1.25B as dealmaking slowed in a tumultuous stretch marked by rising rates and banking crises; the firm sees the banking crisis as an opportunity to expand private credit (BBG)

• Truist beat Q1 revenue estimates but missed on EPS driven by a 1.2% decrease in deposits amid higher-rate alternatives and an increased $502M provision for credit losses (MSN)

• TSMC met Q1 revenue estimates and posted a surprise EPS beat but forecast a 16% plunge in Q2 sales as consumers grapple with an inventory glut while a weakening global economy clouds demand outlook (RT)

• AT&T missed on Q1 revenue estimates on mediocre subscriber growth despite previously forecasting 'normalized' growth levels this year but reaffirmed its FY forecast to generate $16B in FCF; their stock fell 10% (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Procter & Gamble

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• CDS on US Treasuries hit their highest since 2011 (RT)

• US recurring jobless claims hit its highest level since November 2021 (BBG)

• High-income household members claiming unemployment benefits surged over 6x (BBG)

• Home prices fell 3.3% YoY in March in biggest drop since 2012 (AX)

• First Citizens' SVB takeover isn't going smoothly (AX)

• Companies are laying low on ESG as backlash intensifies (AX)

• Blackstone is discussing lending partnerships with US regional banks (RT)

• India VC funding fell 75% YoY in Q1 (RT)

• Deutsche Bank's Russian subsidiary's profits jumped 6x in 2022 (RT)

• EU antitrust regulators probe Gucci among other fashion houses (RT)

• IKEA is planning its biggest-ever US expansion (WSJ)

• Deutsche Bank plans job cuts in infrastructure and private banking (RT)

• Meta plans to cut 10% of UK workforce in retreat from London (FT)

• Snap's Snapchat+ subscription crossed 3M users (TC)

• Huawei launched an in-house software system after being cut from US (RT)

• Google will combine its AI research units (RT)

• BuzzFeed will shut down BuzzFeed News and cut 15% of workforce (RT)

• Biden rule will redistribute high-risk loan costs to homeowners with good credit (FN)

• Facebook users are eligible for payment under a $725M privacy lawsuit settlement (NYT)

• Seagate was fined $300M for continuing a $1B relationship with Huawei (CNBC)

• SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded mid-flight (NYT)

• US News & World Report indefinitely postponed law/med school rankings (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen and PE firm TPG agreed to buy Cancer treatment network OneOncology for $2.1B (RT)

• Investment firm Unikmind raised its offer for UK software company Kape Technologies to ~$1.58B (BBG)

• State-backed Saudi Telecom agreed to buy a portfolio of tower assets from telecom firm United Group at a $1.3B valuation (BBG)

• Goldman Sachs’ Urban Investment Group, in a JV with nonprofit the Michaels Organization and affordable housing developer the Community Development Trust, agreed buy a $1.15B portfolio of 90 affordable housing complexes (BBG)

• Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. agreed to buy a 92% stake in an unconventional gas asset in Texas (RT)

• Italian gas distributor Italgas is planning to bid for French group Veolia Environnement’s Italian water gas assets next month (RT)

VC

• Cloud provider for compute-intensive workloads CoreWeave raised a $221M Series B led by Magnetar Capital (BW)

• Noah Medical, a medical robotics provider, raised a $150M Series A led by Softbank Vision Fund and Prosperity7 Ventures (FN)

• Enveda Biosciences, a drug discovery and development company, raised a $51M Series B-1 led by Kinnevik (BW)

• Cyber resilience platform Halcyon raised a $50M Series A led by SYN Ventures (FN)

• Whisper Aero, a quiet electric ducted fan drone startup, raised a $32M Series A led by Menlo Ventures, EVE Atlas, Capricorn Investment Group, and Connor Capital (FN)

• Certn, a startup helping businesses verify employee background checks, raised a $30M Series B led by Export Development Canada (BW)

• Robust.AI, a startup building warehouse robots, raised a $20M Series A-1 led by Prime Movers Lab (TC)

• Ebb Carbon, an ocean-based carbon dioxide removal company, raised a $20M Series A led by Prelude Ventures and Evok Innovation (FN)

• Oso-AI, a French startup focused on ambient intelligence, raised a $10.1M Series A led by Innovacom, Novinvest Partners, and Breizh Up (FN)

• Web3 data management startup Fluree raised a $10M Series A led by SineWave Ventures (BW)

• Eco-Soul Home, a provider of eco-friendly home essentials products, raised a $10M Series A led by Accel (FN)

• Virtual world and metaverse infrastructure developer MetaGravity raised a $9.5M seed round from Sino Global Capital, Spartan Group, Market One Capital, and more (FN)

• Permissionless relational database for web3 applications Tableland raised an $8M Series A led by CoinFund (BW)

• Pro Platforms, a South Florida-based fintech startup focused on home improvement and construction, raised $4.7M in funding led by Aperture VC and Social Leverage (FN)

• Vivid Machines, a startup building computer vision technology for the fruit supply chain, raised a $4.3M seed round led by BDC Capital and Thrive Venture Fund (BW)

• Anti-fraud collaboration platform FiVerity raised a $4M seed round led by Mendon Venture Partners (FN)

• Trustible, a Washington, DC-based software company that helps organizations accelerate responsible AI governance, raised a $1.6M round led by Harlem Capital (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese chip maker Changxin Memory Technologies is planning to file for a domestic IPO at a potential $14.5B+ valuation (BBG)

• Italian gambling group Lottomatica is seeking a valuation of up to $2.93B in a Milan IPO (RT)

• Chinese liquor company ZJLD raised $675M in Hong Kong’s largest IPO this year (BBG)

• Japan's Rakuten Bank amended the filing of its $625M ($1.8B valuation) IPO with shares set to list in Tokyo today (RT)

• French carmaker Renault picked BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to work on the IPO of its Ampere EV business (BBG)

• EV maker Lordstown Motors received a delisting notice from Nasdaq and is evaluating actions including a reverse stock split to meet the minimum bid price requirement set by the exchange (RT)

SPAC

• Air Water Ventures, an Abu Dhabi-based firm that condenses airborne moisture to produce drinking water, will merge with Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II in a $386M deal (BBG)

Debt

• Blackstone is looking to replace $2.6B of private debt with $5.5B of public bonds/loans for its acquisition of part of an Emerson Electric Co. business (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Holdings and its US subsidiaries filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan (RT)

Fundraising

• Alternative asset managers PAG and Carlyle Group are seeking to raise ~$9B each for new Asia-focused funds but face trouble due to US-China political tensions (BBG)

• Transportation-focused Autotech Ventures raised $230M for its third fund to invest in Seed through Series C mobility-related startups (YH)

• UK-based VC Kindred Capital raised $130M for its third fund to invest in pre-seed startups (UKT)

• Apollo Global Management approached some investors about raising money for its newest PE fund by cashing them out of an old one at a discount (BBG)

• German fund manager KanAm Grund is considering reviving debt fund plans in 2024 (REC)

Crypto Corner

• US crypto exchange Coinbase secured a Bermuda license (RT)

• Crypto derivatives exchange Deribit is launching free trading of bitcoin and other tokens in competition against crypto exchanges (FT)

• EU parliament voted in favor of world's first comprehensive rules for crypto (RT)

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• Financial Times published a piece on who might take the reins at Bloomberg once the company’s founder and namesake steps down.

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