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Good Morning,

McKinsey is paying staff to leave, the private credit talent war is being fought in court, corporate borrowers are active like never before, global M&A picked up, SBF received 25 years without parole, and Zuckerberg is personally emailing individuals to join Meta.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stock and bond markets were closed on Friday in observance of Easter

• The S&P and Dow rose to fresh ATHs on Thursday as investors digested unsurprising inflation data

  • The S&P and Dow had their best Q1 since 2019 and 2021 respectively

  • M7 stocks made up 37% of the S&P's Q1 gain, down from ~67% in 2023 

• Copper’s forward spread is at its widest ever as traders bet on higher prices

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Tuesday: Dave & Buster’s 

  • Wednesday: Levi’s

  • Thursday: Lamb Weston

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• McKinsey is paying staff to leave (TM)

• Bridgewater CEO's turnaround hinges on wooing restless clients (BBG)

• Global M&A picked up 30% in Q1 after flurry of large deals (RT)

• Dollar bond sales YTD hit its highest since 1990 (FT)

• Zuckerberg is personally emailing engineers to join Meta (TI)

• PCE index rose 2.5% YoY in February (FT)

• European bank shares hit six-year high on surging profits (FT)

• Shein profits double to over $2B ahead of IPO (FT)

• UBS flags CRE as top risk (RT)

• Private credit talent war is heating up (WSJ)

• US consumer sentiment hit a three-year high (RT)

• Billions flood active ETFs in hunt for cheap developing stocks (BBG)

• Russia-exit related losses topped $107B (RT)

• OpenAI and Microsoft plan a $100B data-center project (TI)

• CalPERS backed activist Nelson Peltz in Disney board battle (RT)

• Walgreens took a $5.8B hit on VillageMD bet (RT)

• UBS CEO Ermotti made $16M in 2023 (RT)

• 42% of Citi energy clients lack climate transition plans (RT)

• Tesla dives into advertising after years of resistance (WSJ)

• US tech giants shun China for Mexico to make AI goods (WSJ)

• Harvard applications fell by 5% while other Ivies soar (WSJ)

• Gen Z loves a side hustle (WP)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Home Depot will acquire professional building-projects supplier SRS Distribution in an $18.3B deal (WSJ) 

• Investors led by PE firm PAG will invest $8.3B in Chinese property giant Dalian Wanda's mall unit Newland Commercial Management for a 60% stake in the business (RT) 

• PE firm EnCap Investments is seeking to sell XCL Resources, which could be worth at least $2.8B, including debt (RT) 

• SilverBow Resources rejected largest shareholder Kimmeridge Energy Management's latest offer that valued the company at $2.1B, including debt (RT) 

• Apollo will acquire Panasonic's entire stake in Panasonic Automotive Systems in a $2.06B deal (RT) 

• Minnesota Timberwolves-owner Glen Taylor canceled the NBA team's $1.5B sale to a group led by Marc Lore and ex-MLB player Alex Rodriguez due to a missed final payment (WSJ)

• Consumer finance startup Stash, which is valued at $1.4B, is exploring options including a sale (BBG) 

• Keysight Technologies offered $1.5B for struggling UK telecom network testing company Spirent Communications, exceeding Viavi Solutions’ earlier bid for Spirent (BBG) 

• French renewable energy developer Neoen is considering selling a 30% stake in its Australian unit for $1.1B to fund its growth in the country (BBG) 

• Oakley Capital is weighing options including a sale for its Norwegian maritime training software company Ocean Technologies Group, which could be worth over $1B (RT) 

• Rexford Industrial Realty purchased 48 socal warehouses in California from Blackstone for $1B (BBG) 

• Panasonic unit Blue Yonder will acquire US digital supply chain network supplier One Network Enterprises for $839M (RT)

• Indian billionaire Gautam Adani invested $799M to boost his stake in Ambuja Cements to 66.7% (BBG) 

• Italian mobile-app developer Bending Spoons ended its pursuit for $687M video platform Vimeo due to a price disagreement (BBG) 

• Take-Two Interactive Software will acquire video games developer The Gearbox Entertainment Company from Embracer Group for $460M (BW) 

• Kitchen sponge maker Scrub Daddy is exploring options including a sale (RT)

VC

• Generative AI marketing company Brandtech Group raised a $115M round at $4B valuation from Fimalac, Nendo Labs and more (FT)

• AI computer vision startup Robovision raised a $42M Series A from Target Global and more (FN)

• InStride Health, a provider of specialty pediatric anxiety and OCD treatment, raised a $30M Series B led by General Catalyst (FN)

• Zafran, a risk and mitigation company, raised $30M+ in funding led by Sequoia Capital and Cyberstarts (FN)

• Confetti, a platform to handle team-building activities for companies, raised a $16M Series A led by Entrée Capital and IN Venture (FN)

• Distributed cloud provider Hive raised a $13M Series A led by SC Ventures (PRN)

• Cannabis processing tech startup Audacity Zone Developments raised an $11M Series A led by Greenlight Commercial Funding (PRN)

• Keeyns, a Dutch tax collaboration platform, raised $10.7M in funding from Alea Capital Partners and Mountainview Capital Partners (FN)

• FLock.io, a UK-based decentralized AI training and finetuning platform, raised a $6M seed round led by Lightspeed Faction and Tagus Capital (FN)

• Indonesian EV startup Blitz Electric Mobility raised a $1.6M round led by ADB Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• China-owned agrichemical giant Syngenta Group withdrew its long-delayed application for a $9B Shanghai IPO (BBG) 

• Rubrik, a cloud and data security startup backed by Microsoft, plans to file for an IPO as soon as this week (BBG) 

• Boundless Bio, a cancer therapeutics make backed by Bayer, fell 11% after its $100M US IPO (BBG)

Debt

• Home Depot is eyeing a $12.5B debt package to help fund its $18.3B acquisition of SRS Distribution (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Kenya Airways is seeking to raise as much as $1.5B in fresh capital in a restructuring process (BBG) 

• Turnaround specialist investor Attestor will provide an $108M loan to Signa’s insolvent luxury property unit Signa Prime Selection (BBG) 

• Rite Aid reached preliminary agreements to transfer ownership to senior bondholders and settle opioid-related lawsuits (WSJ) 

• Discount retailer 99 Cents Only Store is considering a bankruptcy filing due to a liquidity shortfall (BBG) 

• Cumulus Media and some creditors entered discussions regarding the struggling radio broadcaster’s proposed distressed debt exchange (BBG) 

Fundraising

• Hunter Point Capital raised $3.3B for Hunter Point Capital I to acquire stakes in private fund managers (WSJ)

• Matter Venture Partners, a VC founded by ex-Kleiner Perkins investors, closed its inaugural fund at $300M to invest in seed to Series B startups (TC) 

• Indian venture debt firm Alteria Capital raised $186M for its third fund (RT)

Crypto Corner

• SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison with no option for parole (BBG) 

Exec’s Picks

• If you’re an accredited investor and want to access my deal flow across startups, privates and sports teams backed by tier 1 VCs / sponsors, please fill out this brief survey!

• WSJ published an interesting piece on how Americans are coming to adpot a quasi-four-day week.

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