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Good Morning,

The Fed is pausing its rate hikes (for now), inflation is slowing, Australia’s yield curve is inverting, investors are making bullish bets on Chinese ETFs, global oil demand is projected to peak this decade, music companies are suing Twitter over copyright issues, and China is giving its best-behaved citizens cheaper travel.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Stocks gyrated yesterday as the Fed paused its rate-hiking campaign after 10 consecutive hikes

• The S&P and Nasdaq touched their highest levels since April 2022

• The dollar hit a 14-month low against the pound

Earnings

• Lennar beat Q1 expectations, exceeding estimates for orders and deliveries thanks to buyers adjusting to higher ranges for mortgage rates (BN)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Friday: Adobe, Kroger

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Fed leaves rates unchanged, sees two small hikes by end of 2023 (RT)

• US producer inflation subsides as energy, food prices drop (RT)

• New Zealand slipped into a recession in Q1 (RT)

• Australia’s yield curve inverted for first time since 2008 (BBG)

• American investment banks are backing out of Chinese IPOs (WSJ)

• Chinese ETFs are drawing bullish option bets on hopes of a rebound (RT)

• Global oil demand is expected to peak this decade (CNBC)

• Citigroup's 1.6k job cuts will cost them $400M in Q3 (BBG)

• Big companies on verge of new market for clean-energy tax credits (WSJ)

• Health insurers slammed after UnitedHealth says more surgeries driving up costs (RT)

• Shell courts investors with more cash, defense of oil (WSJ)

• Chinese e-commerce startup Temu overtook Shein in US (BBG)

• Music companies sue Twitter over alleged copyright violations (WSJ)

• Goldman and Citigroup are cutting another 35 IBD jobs across Asia (BBG)

• Canada's Bell cut 1.3k jobs (RT)

• Google faces EU break-up order over anti-competitive adtech practices (RT)

• Strikes at Chinese factories surged to a seven-year high (RT)

• An ex-Goldman VP was accused of giving drunk squash buddy insider tips (BBG)

• China is rewarding its best-behaved citizens with cheaper travel (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Vodafone and CK Hutchison announced a $19B merger of their British operations; Vodafone will have the option to buy out CK Hutchison’s 49% stake after 3 years (RT)

• HSBC Holdings tweaked the 2021 sale of its French retail banking business to PE firm Cerberus Capital Management’s My Money Bank and will retain a portfolio of $7.6B of home loans; Cerberus will inject $244M into the business (BBG)

• Belgian water management group Aliaxis withdrew its public tender offer for Finland’s Uponor after rival Georg Fischer bid $2.3B for the company (RT)

• PE firm EQT Partners is contemplating a sale of its digital marketing software provider Sitecore for as much as $2B (BBG)

• French aerospace engine maker Safran is nearing a ~$1.8B deal to buy Raytheon Technologies’ aircraft, helicopter, and missile flight control unit (RT)

• Spanish pharmaceutical Grifols plans to reduce its stake in biotech company Shanghai RAAS in deal that would give them $1.5B cash (RT)

• Billionaire Xavier Niel and two partners approached troubled French grocer Casino Guichard-Perrachon with a $1.2B rescue plan that would boost the investors’ equity (BBG)

• Canadian energy infrastructure firm Gibson Energy is buying South Texas Gateway oil terminal from Buckeye Partners, Marathon Petroleum, and Phillips 66 for $1.1B (RT)

• An $825M management-led LBO buyout of Canaccord Genuity Group was canceled due to regulatory issues (BBG)

• Italian energy group Eni is advancing talks to sell a 5-15% stake in renewables and retail business Plenitude for $325M-$975M (RT)

• Zurich Insurance Group is in talks to purchase a 51% stake in India's Kotak General Insurance for ~$400M (RT)

• PE firm TA Associates is weighing a sale of its stake in Australian insurance broker Honan Insurance Group at a $300M-$400M valuation (BBG)

• Bain Capital is selling a 0.7% stake in India's Axis Bank worth up to $267M (RT)

• French energy major TotalEnergies is buying a 17.5% stake in US LNG developer NextDecade for $219M (RT)

• Hasso Plattner, co-founder of German software firm SAP, is selling a stake in the company worth $198M (RT)

• Consumer goods giant Unilever will acquire frozen yogurt brand Yasso (RT)

• The Republic of Congo rejected Societe Generale's sale of its Congolese subsidiary to Vista Group because the bank did not give it a right of first refusal (RT)

VC

• Paro, a startup matching freelance financial experts with firms, raised a $25M Series C led by Top Tier Capital Partners (TC)

• Insurtech startup Thinksurance raised a $24M round led by Viewpoint Ventures and M-Tech Capital (FN)

• Everest Fleet, an Indian fleet management startup, raised a $20M round led by Uber (TC)

• Soundtrack Your Brand, a music streaming service for businesses, raised a $15M pre-growth round led by MUSIC (PRN)

• Kanastra, a capital markets infrastructure provider, raised a $13M seed round led by Valor Capital and Quona Capital (FN)

• AptEdge, a generative AI startup building an answer engine for customer service, raised an $11M seed+ round led by Stage 2 Capital (BW)

• Silent Push, a detection-focused threat intelligence company, raised a $10M seed round led by Ten Eleven Ventures (PRN)

• B2B food marketplace Foodomarket raised a $10M Series A led by Alven Capital (FN)

• Digital bank Majority raised a $9.8M round from Valar Ventures and Heartcore Capital (TC)

• Pharmaceutical company Invirsa raised a $7.7M Series B led by CincyTech (BW)

• Connext, a blockchain interoperability protocol, raised a $7.5M strategic round at a $250M valuation led by Polychain Capital, NGC Ventures, Polygon Ventures, and others (PRN)

• Albert Invent, a startup providing an R&D platform, raised a $7.5M seed round led by Index Ventures (FN)

• NewHomesMate, a proptech startup simplifying the home buying process for new construction homes, raised a $5.5M seed round from Gaingels, Geek Ventures, Asymmetry Ventures, and more (PRN)

• AI copilot company Glyphic AI raised a $5.5M pre-seed round led by Point72 (FN)

• Wherobots, a startup providing a data platform for geospatial analytics and AI, raised a $5.5M seed round led by Wing Venture Capital and Clear Ventures (FN)

• Graphext, a Madrid-based provider of an exploratory data analysis platform, raised a $4.6M round led by Hoxton Ventures (FN)

• Plant health startup Croptix raised a $3.5M seed round led by Advancing Eco Agriculture (BW)

• Angsa Robotics, a startup developing an autonomous solution for automated waste collection in green spaces, raised $2.7M in funding from Husqvarna Ventures (FN)

• OneUp Sales, a UK-based provider of a platform to help businesses manage and motivate sales teams, raised $2.5M in funding from Mercia and MEIF (FN)

• Uncaged Innovations, a biomaterials startup focused on sustainable leather alternatives, raised a $2M pre-seed round from InMotion Ventures, JLRs investment arm, and more (FN)

• Pharmaceutical company Auxilius Pharma raised a $1M seed round led by CofounderZone (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• WE Soda, the world’s largest producer of natural soda ash, scrapped its intended $7.5B London IPO due to valuation disagreements with investors (BBG)

• Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava Group raised $318M at a $2.45B valuation in its IPO (BBG)

• Gibson Energy is financing its acquisition of South Texas Gateway oil terminal from Buckeye Partners, Marathon Petroleum, and Phillips 66 with a $263M equity offering (RT)

Debt

• Spain's BBVA sold a 5-year ~$1.1B AT1 bond in the first European CoCo sale since Credit Suisse's collapse (BBG)

• Bank of Cyprus sold ~$238M in AT1 bonds (BBG)

Fundraising

• VC firm Addition raised $1.5B for its fifth fund in four years (TC)

• Ex-SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure is targeting $500M for the inaugural fund of his new VC firm Bicycle Capital (BBG)

• Apple is investing $25M into VCs Collab Capital, Harlem Capital, and VamosVentures to back minority-owned businesses in tech (RT)

Crypto Corner

• Binance’s Cyprus unit applied to be removed from Cyprus’ register of crypto asset service providers (RT)

• South Korean digital-asset lending service Delio suspended customer deposits and withdrawals (BBG)

• HSBC and Standard Chartered are among lenders facing pressure from Hong Kong regulators to take on crypto exchanges as clients (RT)

• The US arm of bankrupt crypto exchange Bittrex will allow customer withdrawals starting today (CD)

Exec’s Picks

• This Odd Lots episode covered a timeless question: Why is the public sector so bad at building good technology?

• Katie Gatti Tassin wrote about whether or not the middle class is actually shrinking, and why.

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