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Good Morning,

The Eurozone hit a recession in Q1, US household wealth hit a record high last quarter, Japan’s stock market has been crushing, GM will join Ford in adopting Tesla’s charging fund, and Trump was indicted on federal charges.

Looking for a new drink of choice to kick off Summer 2023? Check out Goslings Dark ‘n Stormy® cocktails!

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Tech stocks led US indexes higher yesterday as investors digested fresh economic data ahead of next week's Fed meeting

  • The S&P entered a bull market to end its longest bear market since the 1940s

  • The VIX dropped to a fresh post-pandemic low

• Treasury futures markets firmly priced in a 25 bps July Fed rate hike, following no rate change this month

• Oil prices are on track for a second straight weekly loss

• Dollar index fell 0.7% for its largest daily decline in weeks and to its lowest level since May 23

Earnings

• DocuSign beat Q1 expectations, highlighting an improved performance after a period of slower growth because of return-to-office trends (WSJ)

• Vail Resorts missed Q1 expectations but overall displayed strong growth in visits and spending versus the prior year (YF)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: NIO

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US weekly jobless claims hit a 1.5-year high (RT)

• US household wealth hit a 1-year high in early 2023 (RT)

• Eurozone fell into a recession in Q1 (RT)

• Japan's stock market is on a roll this year (AX)

• Australia’s recession risk spiked to a post-pandemic high (BBG)

• Erdoğan named ex-First Republic co-CEO as Turkey’s central bank governor (RT)

• EU approved $8.7B of state aid for tech innovation projects (RT)

• China producer prices plunged by most in seven years in May (CNBC)

• China's junk bond market is indeed still lacking (WSJ)

• GM will join Ford in adopting Tesla's charging plug (RT)

• US chip imports slowed in April as Asian supply lines keep moving (BBG)

• Congress will consider two new bills on AI (RT)

• Carvana short sellers have lost $1B YTD amid record rally (BBG)

• Google is doubling down on RTO orders (CNBC)

• Apple will pay Messi revenue cuts in move to win US sports streaming race (AX)

• GameStop ousted its fifth CEO in five years (RT)

• BofA promoted Bettamio to co-head of IB and Ahmad to co-head of capital markets (RT)

• Trump was indicted on Federal charges in historic first (CNBC)

• Gender pay parity is currently projected to be 33 years away (AX)

A Message From Goslings

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Offer valid through July 1, 2023. 21+, US customers only.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• US grains merchant Bunge is finalizing a deal to merge with Glencore-backed Viterra to create an agricultural trading giant worth more than $30B (RT)

• KKR and rival consortium CDP and Macquerie are preparing slightly improved offers for Telecom Italia’s grid; KKR and CDP previously bid $22.5B and $20.5B respectively (RT)

• Asset manager Energy Income Partners, a top shareholder of Magellan Midstream Partners, intends to vote against pipeline operator ONEOK’s $18.8B deal to buy Magellan due to potential taxes being larger than the premium paid (RT)

• Toshiba’s board recommended shareholders approve a Japan Industrial Partners-led take $14B take-private offer (RT)

• Actis and Edra Power Holdings are interested in purchasing a major state-owned Egyptian power plant in a ~$2B deal (BBG)

• PE firm Kingsway Capital is looking to IPO or sell its majority stake in Dubai-based tobacco company Advanced Inhalation Rituals (AIR) to a tobacco giants British American Tobacco or Japan Tobacco; the firm took AIR private for $1.4B in 2020 (RT)

• Japanese insurer Tokio Marine Holdings is looking to sell its $1B Southeast Asia life insurance business (RT)

• Singapore healthcare company Thomson Medical Group is in advanced talks to buy a $400M controlling stake in Vietnam’s FV Hospital (BBG)

• Rocket maker Firefly Aerospace has acquired launch services company Spaceflight to boost its on orbit servicing capabilities (RT)

• Pan-African banking groups Vista and Coris are purchasing Societe Generales businesses operations in Congo Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania and Chad (RT)

• Billionaire Ivan Glasenberg is nearing a deal to purchase storied Italian bicycle maker Cicli Pinarello (BBG)

• French retailers Teract and Casino have ended exclusive talks to combine retail activities (RT)

• Zimbabwe investment company FBC Holdings has purchased Standard Chartered’s Zimbabwe business (BBG)

VC

• AI startup Cohere raised a $270M Series C at a $2.1B-$2 valuation led by Inovia Capital (TC)

• Upstream Bio, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on developing therapies for inflammation, raised a $200M Series B led by Enavate Sciences and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners (BW)

• Pigment, a Paris-based startup looking to replace Microsoft Excel with a business planning platform, raised an $88M Series C led by Iconiq Growth (TC)

• Kate Therapeutics, a next-generation gene therapy company, raised a $51M Series A led by Westlake Village BioPartners and Versant Ventures (PRN)

• EvenUp, a startup using AI to automate personal injury lawyer support, raised a $50.5M Series B at a $325M valuation led by Bessemer Venture Partners (FN)

• Instabase, an AI startup for enterprise customers, raised a $45M Series C led by Tribe Capital (FN)

• Pomelo Care, a virtual medical practice focused on maternal and newborn health, raised a $33M Series A led by a16z (BW)

• Colombian coffee producer Green Coffee raised a $25M Series C from Legacy Group (TC)

• Carta Healthcare, a company focused on improving patient care through the use of clinical data, raised a $25M Series B led by Memorial Hermann Health System and UnityPoint Health (BW)

• Contextual AI, a startup developing generative AI for the workplace, raised a $20M round led by Bain Capital Ventures (FN)

• Bermudian crypto-life insurer Meanwhile raised $19M in two seed rounds led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Stripe head of issuing Lachy Groom (FN)

• Industrial-phase battery startup BeFC raised a $17.3M Series A led by Otium Capital (BW)

• ‘Web3 product’ startup Lens Protocol raised $15M in funding led by IDEO CoLab Ventures (TC)

• Laudio, a management solution for healthcare, raised a $13M Series B led by Define Ventures (BW)

• HyperPlay, a Web3-native game aggregator, raised a $12M Series A led by Griffin Gaming Partners and BITKRAFT Ventures (BW)

• Insurtech startup Insify raised a $10.7M Series A extension led by Munich Re Ventures (TC)

• Sensoneo, a provider of waste management solutions, raised a $7.3M Series A led by Taiwania Capital (FN)

• Payments startup Atoa raised a $6.5M seed round led by Valar Ventures (FN)

• Driver Technologies, an AI-based mobility tech company, raised a $6M round led by IA Capital and CT Innovations (FN)

• Purlin, an AI-led real estate technology platform, received a $5M investment from Rice Park (PRN)

• Pharmaceutical company SciTech Development raised $2.7M in funding led by Storm Lake Capital (FN)

• ML pipeline platform Monster API raised a $1.1M pre-seed round led by Carya Ventures (FN)

• Martech3D, a London-based 3D marketing and sales platform for B2B manufacturers, raised a $549K seed round led by Blackfinch Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• CAB Payments Holdings, a B2B cross-border payments specialist, is looking to list on the London Stock Exchange, likely at a $1B-$1.3B valuation (RT)

• Telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, investment banker Matthieu Pigasse and entrepreneur Moez-Alexandre Zouari are looking to invest up to $1.1B into debt-laden French retailer Casino through a potential share sale (RT)

• Irish construction materials company CRH is moving its primary stock listing from London to New York (BBG)

Debt

• The Commercial Bank of Dubai is raising $500M through a debut sale of green bonds (RT)

Fundraising

• BlackRock is looking to raise $7B for its fourth Global Renewable Power Fund (RT)

• Asset manager Just Climate raised $1.5B for its inaugural fund thanks to strong demand from institutions including Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund (RT)

Crypto Corner

• According to a senior prosecutor, fallen crypto titan Do Kwon faces most of his life behind bars- first in South Korea, then the US (BBG)

• Binance.US has seen a severe decline in Bitcoin liquidity on the exchange after the SEC lawsuit (BBG)

• Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the largest Australian bank, will block payments to certain cryptocurrency exchanges as part of its new anti-scam measures (RT)

• SEC chair Gary Gensler compared the crypto market to the 1920s stock market, saying that it is full of ’hucksters,’ ‘fraudsters’ and ‘Ponzi schemes’ (CT)

Exec’s Picks

• The Wall Street Journal covered some companies’ second thoughts about embracing different social issues.

• Kevin Van Valkenburg wrote a good piece on how “the disease of more” has infected the PGA and PIF.

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