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Good Morning,

Miami is in full on rage mode with the Miami Open tennis tournament and Miami Music Week / Ultra Music Festival. What an epic time to be down here...

Investors are worried about a credit crisis, UBS may cut tens of thousands of CS jobs, Google launched Bard AI to rival ChatGPT, GameStop went 2021 stonk mode again, and RBC tightened its return to office mandate.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks advanced yesterday on subsiding banking crisis fears and attention turning to the Fed's latest rate policy decision today

  • S&P Banks index rebounded but remains down 18% MTD

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 1.3%

• Invesco's AT1 Capital Bond ETF recovered over 2.5% after losing 15% the past fortnight

• Oil prices settled over 2% higher

Earnings

• Nike beat Q3 EPS and revenue estimates on double-digit sales growth across all markets barring China, but continues to struggle with bloated inventories (CNBC)

• GameStop reported a surprise profit in Q4 and beat analysts' estimates for revenue, sending shares soaring as much as 39% in extended trading (BBG)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Petco

  • Thursday: Accenture, General Mills

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Existing home sales rose 14.5% in February as prices drop for first time since 2012 (CNBC)

• US money market funds posted their biggest weekly inflows since June 2020 (FT)

• US crude exports to Europe hit a record 2.1M BPD this month (RT)

• Canadian inflation slowed to 5.2% in February to lowest level in 13 months (RT)

• A short seller warned FDIC about Signature Bank in January (FT)

• Credit crisis surged to top of investors’ list of worries (FT)

• Lebanon will sell unlimited US dollars to prop up collapsing pound (RT)

• Goldman expects a commodities supercycle (RT)

• UBS could cut tens of thousands of Credit Suisse jobs (FT)

• Switzerland banned certain bonus pay for Credit Suisse employees (FT)

• Credit Suisse bankers are swarming recruiters amid job insecurity (BBG)

• UBS will not spin out Credit Suisse First Boston and instead boost its own IB ranks (BBG)

• Credit Suisse ECM bankers leave for Wells, RBC ahead of UBS deal (BBG)

• First Republic Bank will consider downsizing if capital raise fails (RT)

• First Republic rescue may rely on US backing to reach a deal (BBG)

• SVB’s loans to insiders tripled to $219M before it failed (BBG)

• Hedge funds are scooping up cheap Credit Suisse AT1 bonds (RT)

• Google launched Bard AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT (WSJ)

• RBC toughened return-to-office mandate (RT)

• Texas added HSBC to its energy sanctions list (RT)

• Bed Bath & Beyond shares dropped below $1 (RT)

• Retailers including TJ Maxx and Ross are swooping up closed Bed Bath & Beyond locations (ENT)

• Over a dozen countries have now banned TikTok in some form (AX)

• Spring break travel is expected to top pre-pandemic levels (AX)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• The Philippines’ gaming regulator is considering selling all 41 casinos it operates to raise $1.47B to focus on its regulatory functions (RT)

• Cable and wireless group Liberty Global offered to buy Belgian carrier Telenet for ~$1B (BBG)

• Swedish pension fund Alecta sold all its shares in ailing US lender First Republic Bank at a $728M loss (RT)

• First Republic Bank hired Lazard to help with a review of strategic options that could include a sale, a capital infusion or asset trimming. It also hired McKinsey to help map out a postcrisis structure for the bank (WSJ)

• Canadian asset manager Brookfield agreed to buy a 50% stake in Spanish renewable energy company X-elio from KKR (RT)

• FTX's crypto-derivatives platform, LedgerX, attracted bidders including Miami International Securities Exchange and Kalshi (BBG)

VC

• Israel-based online brokerage eToro raised $250M in funding via an ‘Advanced Investor Agreement’ at a $3.5B valuation from ION Group, Social Leverage, SoftBank, and Spark Capital (TC)

• Employer health benefits company Gravie received a $179M investment from General Atlantic, FirstMark Capital, and AXA Venture Partners (PRN)

• Artera, a developer of AI-based predictive and prognostic tests for cancer, raised $90M in funding from Coatue, Johnson & Johnson Innovations, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and more (BW)

• Placemakr, a flexible use multifamily and hospitality operator, raised $65M in funding from Highland Capital Partners, Harbert Growth Partners, and others (PRN)

• tomi, a startup developing a DAO-governed, surveillance-free alternative to the World Wide Web, raised a $40M round led by DWF Labs (BW)

• OP3N, a web3 AI-powered platform, raised a $28M Series A at a $100M valuation led by Animoca Brands (TC)

• Dragonfly, a startup developing a ‘drop-in replacement’ for Redis, raised $21M across a Series A and seed round from Redpoint and Quiet Capital (TC)

• Two, a Norwegian startup building a consumer-like experience for B2B payments, raised a $19.4M round led by Shine Capital (TC)

• Powers Gymnastics, a youth sports facilities and equipment provider, raised a $16.8M Series A led by Relevance Ventures (PRN)

• EV Fleet-as-a-Service startup Revolv raised a $15M Series A led by Greenbacker (PRN)

• Mindset Health, a digital hypnotherapy company, raised a $12M Series A led by King River Capital (PRN)

• IPRally, a patent search engine powered by explainable AI, raised a $10.8M Series A led by Endeit Capital (TC)

• Frontier, a startup building liquid rocket engines for in-space propulsion, raised a $10M Series A from AEI HorizonX (PRN)

• Oleria, a startup helping businesses remove security bottlenecks, raised an $8M seed round led by Salesforce Ventures (PRN)

• Craft cannabis cultivator Cannect Wellness raised $7.5M in funding (PRN)

• CROSSx, a cryptocurrency exchange aimed at high-frequency traders, raised a $6.35M seed round from Two Sigma, Laser Digital, Wintermute, Flow Traders and others (BBG)

• Bionic Health, a startup building an AI health clinic, raised a $3M seed round led by Forever Health, IDEA Fund Partners, and others (TC)

• Previse, a startup aiming to improve esophageal cancer detection, raised a $3M seed round from TEDCO, Riptide Ventures, and others (PRN)

• Thematic, a San Francisco-based investment infrastructure software company that has developed the fastest, most cost-effective and accurate indexing platform in the market, raised $2.3M in seed financing led by Lux Capital (THEM)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese drug store chain Cowell Health selected Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Haitong International to help with a Hong Kong IPO that could raise $500M+ (BBG)

SPAC

• Agriculture technology and analytic services company Braiin agreed to merge with Northern Rival Acquisition Corp in a $215M deal (BBG)

Debt

• Ukraine clinched a $15.6B IMF loan in first for nation at war (BBG)

Fundraising

• Excelsior Energy Capital, a North American renewable energy and energy transition investor, raised $502M / $750M for its second flagship fund (BW)

• Singapore-based fintech investment firm BitRock Capital is close to raising $100M for a fund to back finance and blockchain startups in China and Southeast Asia (BBG)

• Seed Club, a DAO-focused accelerator program, raised a $25M fund (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Belgium will require crypto firms to advertise 'The only guarantee in crypto is risk' (BBG)

• Crypto VC funding bounced back in February (INV)

• Coinbase now allows crypto purchases with Brazilian reals (CD)

• Bitcoin's price rally is being driven by Americans' safe haven bid (CD)

Exec's Picks

• Want to hire bulge bracket investment bankers without paying the overhead? Check out Fintalent.io to access 2,000+ freelance M&A consultants to lead or work on your M&A deals.

• The Wall Street Journal's Melissa Korn covered "The Unraveling of the U.S. News College Rankings"

• The Economist explained how Macron's French government barely survived a no-confidence vote on its motion to raise France's minimum pension age.

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