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The EU proposed new copyright laws for generative AI, PCE index growth slowed to 4.2% YoY in March, First Republic is working on a plan to prevent a government seizure, JPMorgan employees aren’t happy about Dimon’s RTO mandate, Clubhouse is cutting 50% of its employees, and J Pow got duped by a Zelenskiy prank.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rocketed yesterday as strong tech earnings overshadowed concerns of slowing US economic growth

  • The S&P and the Dow posted their biggest daily percentage gains since Jan 6

  • The Nasdaq recorded its biggest single-day advance since March 16

• Markets priced in a 90% chance of a 25 bps rate hike in May, followed by a pause

Earnings

• Amazon beat on Q1 top and bottom lines bolstered by strength in its cloud and ads businesses, but suggested weakness in cloud growth could continue in the near term (CNBC)

• Intel beat Q1 estimates despite reporting its largest loss ever amid a struggling PC market and forecast another loss for Q2 as it undergoes cost cuts while pursuing a pricey turnaround effort (WSJ)

• Deutsche Bank posted an eleventh straight profit in Q1 on strength in its lending business and signs of successful completion of a sweeping cost cut/restructuring plan that began in 2019 (WSJ)

• Barclays beat Q1 EPS estimates as strong performance in its US credit card business offset pressure on other profit engines, including IB (RT)

• Nomura posted a three-quarters drop in Q1 profit on a second-straight loss in IB and trading (RT)

• Capital One missed Q1 estimates as increased provisions for credit losses offset gains from higher interest income (RT)

• Snap beat Q1 EPS estimates but missed on revenue as changes to its advertising platform hurt demand for ads; they also forecasted lower than expected Q2 revenue (CNBC)

• Eli Lilly missed Q1 EPS estimates but beat on revenue and raised FY guidance on strength of its obesity/diabetes drug and expectations of a weak dollar ahead (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Exxon, Chevron 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US GDP grew 1.1% annualized in Q1 (CNBC)

• Fed favorite PCE index growth slowed to 4.2% YoY in March (CNBC)

• EU wants its debt to be included in government bond indexes (RT)

• EU proposed new copyright rules for generative AI (RT)

• First Republic is working on a plan to prevent government seizure (FT)

• Distressed US firms are turning to debt restructurings to avoid bankruptcy (FT)

• Local German banks are financing LBOs to plug in gaps left by retreat of larger peers (BBG)

• US banks are on alert over falling commercial real estate valuations (FT)

• Investors defy Goldman, Wells Fargo and BofA in vote for climate plans (FT)

• Sliding diesel prices signal warning for US economy (WSJ)

• China ratchets up pressure on foreign firms (WSJ)

• White House ready to help First Republic if needed (RT)

• Moelis is doubling the number of MDs in tech IB team as it poaches from SVB (BBG)

• JPMorgan employees gripe about Dimon's RTO mandate (RT)

• Job switchers are seeing smaller pay bumps than last year (WSJ)

• Meta merged its ad and business messaging product groups (TI)

• Clubhouse cut over 50% of employees (AX)

• Dropbox will cut 16% of staff (TC)

• Walmart sued Capital One to end its credit-card partnership (BBG)

• TIME will make all its content free (TM)

• J Pow's call with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy was actually with pranksters (BBG)

• Average Hamptons home price hit a record $3M (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Swiss miner Glencore's $23B takeover bid for Canadian miner Teck Resources still stands, after Teck scrapped a restructuring plan that would have ended it (RT)

• German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse will buy Danish financial software maker SimCorp for ~$4.3B in cash at a 39% premium to Wednesday’s closing price (BBG)

• Canada's Suncor Energy will acquire France's TotalEnergies Canadian assets in a ~$4B all-cash deal (BBG)

• Curium Pharma, a French maker of medical imaging supplies, and PE firm HIG Capital were shortlisted in the bidding of Cardinal Health’s nuclear medicine unit, which could fetch ~$2B (BBG)

• Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings agreed to buy Australian vitamins maker Blackmores for $1.2B in cash (BBG)

• Swiss miner Glencore will buy a 30% stake in Brazilian alumina refinery Alunorte and a 5% stake in bauxite producer Mineracao Rio do Norte from Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro for $700M (RT)

• PE firm General Atlantic agreed to buy a majority stake in software vendor Tripleseat from Vista Equity valuing the firm at ~$500M (RT)

• Indian conglomerate Godrej will buy the consumer goods business of Indian textile firm Raymond for $345M (RT)

• Beauty and wellness platform Oddity acquired biotech startup Revela for $76M (CNBC)

• Japanese bank SMFG will triple its stake in US investment bank Jefferies from 4.5% to ~15% (BBG)

• PE firm Advent International is exploring a stake sale in industrial products firm Rubix Group to another PE firm to help fund a takeover of smaller Dutch rival Eriks (BBG)

• A group of investors including French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel and wealth manager Bruellan bought a 7.5% stake in Swiss asset manager GAM (FT)

• Australian infrastructure asset manager Macquarie is close to acquiring a 50% stake in Italian utility Enel's Greek renewables unit (RT)

• German engineering giant Bosch will acquire US chipmaker TSI Semiconductors (BBG)

• Saudi Arabia’s PIF is in talks to buy a stake in low-cost carrier Flynas (BBG)

• German aerospace firm Hensoldt is considering an acquisition of the defense electronics segment of Italian aerospace firm Leonardo (RT)

• Elliott Investment Management built a stake in Germany’s Software AG, betting on the planned takeover by PE firm Silver Lake or a counter bid (BBG)

• Carbon-fiber road bike maker BMC Switzerland is considering a potential sale (BBG)

• Mercedes-Benz sold its shares in its Russian subsidiaries to exit the country (RT)

VC

• Vector database startup Pinecone raised a $100M Series B at a $750M valuation led by a16z (TC)

• Foresight Diagnostics, a developer of ultrasensitive cancer detection tests, raised a $58.75M Series B led by Foresite Capital (PRN)

• Antiva Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical startup developing topical therapeutics for papillomavirus infection, raised a $53M Series E led by MPM-BioImpact Capital (FN)

• Energy Dome, a CO2 battery startup, raised a $44M Series B led by Eni Next and Neva SGR (TC)

• Therini Bio, a biotech company aiming to develop fibrin-targeted therapies, raised a $36M Series A led by the Dementia Discovery Fund, MRL Ventures Fund, and others (BW)

• Pattern Bioscience, a startup developing an infectious disease diagnostic platform, raised a $28.7M Series C led by Illumina Ventures and Omnimed Capital (BW)

• Practice Better, a practice management platform for health and wellness professionals, raised $27M in growth funding led by Five Elms Capital (PRN)

• TympaHealth, a provider of digitized assessments of ear and hearing health, raised a $23M Series A led by Octopus Ventures (FN)

• Legal AI startup Harvey raised a $21M Series A led by Sequoia Capital (RT)

• Biomica, a biotech company focused on developing microbiome-based therapeutics, raised a $20M round from Shanghai Healthcare Capital and Evogene (PRN)

• DeepHow, an AI company that turns technical knowhow into how-to training videos, raised a $14M Series A led by Owl Ventures (FN)

• m3ter, a pricing operations platform, raised a $14M Series A led by Notion Capital (FN)

• Reverion, a biogas power plant startup, raised a $9.4M seed round led by UVC Partners, Green Generation Fund, Extantia Capital, and others (FN)

• Ctrl, a platform allowing revenue teams to augment their CRM and customer workflows with automation / AI, raised $9M in funding led by LocalGlobe and Earlybird (FN)

• Tembo, a London-based digital-mortgage platform, raised $6.3M in funding led by Love Ventures, the McPike Family Office, Aviva Ventures, and Ascension Ventures (FN)

• Kluster, a revenue strategy platform, raised a $5M Series A led by Foresight (FN)

• Imagia, a startup developing silicon-based optical metalenses, raised a $4.5M seed round led by Gates Frontier (BW)

• Secro, a digital bill-of-lading platform, raised a $3.6M seed round led by Augment Ventures (PRN)

• Cyber defense platform Bastion Technologies raised a $2.8M seed round from Frst, Global Founders Capital, Kima Ventures, and more (FN)

• AIxMed, a smart cytology company, raised a $2.8M SAFE round from existing investors (PRN)

• AI commerce management platform Verteego raised a $2.8M seed round from Archipel Ventures, Supercapital, Holnest, and more (FN)

• Luca, a startup aiming to optimize retail prices at scale, raised a $2.5M seed round led by Menlo Ventures (TC)

• Sinecure, a talent discovery platform that leverages AI to deliver qualified and diverse candidates, raised a $2.5M round led by Golden Section (FN)

• Lasso MD, an all-in-one marketing solution for dental and medspa practices, received a $2M investment from Trestle Partners (BW)

• Car Space, a luxury coworking space and private social club, raised a $1.5M seed round led by HyperNFT (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese state-owned chemicals giant Sinochem is exploring ways to salvage a planned Shanghai IPO of its agrochemical unit Syngenta, which originally intended to raise $9.4B (BBG)

• Indian pharma/healthcare products company Mankind raised $529M at a ~$5.3B valuation in India's largest IPO this year (FT)

• Fitness startup Forme priced its US IPO at the top of a range to raise $12M at a $115M valuation (BBG)

• German chemicals group BASF is looking to list or sell its energy business Wintershall Dea (RT)

SPAC

• Training software company iLearningEngines will merge with Arrowroot Acquisition Corp. in a $1.4B deal (RT)

Debt

• India's Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC) is planning an up to ~$1.8B bond issue as part of a ~$7B financing plan (ET)

• Italy’s UniCredit will redeem a $1.38B AT1 perpetual bond and won’t sell similar debt in the near future (RT)

• Adani Group is in talks with banks including Mitsubishi UFJ and Standard Chartered to raise $800M for new green energy projects (BBG)

• Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group extended the deadline for receiving an incentive for its debt restructuring proposal (RT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Ex-industrial chemical maker Whittaker, Clark & Daniels filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after asbestos/cancer lawsuits (BBG)

Fundraising

• PE firm Alignment Growth Management raised $360M for its first fund (BBG)

• PE firm Corsair Capital raised $340M for a targeted $1.25B sixth flagship fund (WSJ)

• VC Atento Capital raised $100M for a new fund to invest $20M in pre-seed rounds and $80M in early-stage firms and FOFs (FRT)

• UK-based VC Sturgeon Capital raised $35M for its Sturgeon Emerging Opportunities II fund to invest in early-stage startups in emerging Central/South Asian markets (except India) (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Coinbase offered a fiery response to SEC’s legal threats (CNBC)

• SEC chair Gensler released another video dig at crypto industry (CD)

• FBI searched the home of top FTX exec Ryan Salame (NYT)

• A fugitive CEO was ordered to pay a record $3.4B fine in fraud case involving Bitcoin (BBG)

• One SEC commissioner says SEC must ease off crypto (WIR)

Exec’s Picks

• Jack Raines wrote an interesting piece on the risks that declining birth rates pose to developed countries.

• Dan Runcie (founder of Trapital) sat down with Logan Bartlett to discuss the business of music.

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