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Pornhub's owner sold to a Canadian PE firm, big banks came to First Republic's rescue, the ECB hiked rates by 50 bps, European regulators accused the US of incompetence over SVB collapse, EY's breakup plan stalled, and Goldman raised US recession probability to 35%.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rallied yesterday on a confidence boost from major US banks who committed $30B in liquidity to First Republic

  • Bank stocks jumped across the board to recover part of recent losses

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 recovered 1.3% as Credit Suisse's SNB lifeline offset concerns of ECB's sixth-straight 50 bps rate hike

• Crude futures hit their lowest level since December 2021 on recession fears amid on-going bank rout

Earnings

• FedEx missed Q3 revenue estimates but beat on EPS and hiked its FY profit forecast as cost-cuts and efficiency improvement initiatives begin to bear fruit; their stock rallied 16% (CNBC)

• Dollar General missed Q4 estimates as the retailer struggled with surging costs and a modest decrease in customer traffic (RT)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• ECB hiked rates by 50 bps despite market mayhem (CNBC)

• 2Y-10Y yield curve is un-inverting at record clip (WSJ)

• Six largest US banks lost $165B, or 13% of collective market value, this month (FT)

• Janet Yellen says US banking system is 'sound' (AX)

• 11 US banks deposited $30B total in First Republic in move to boost confidence (WSJ)

• Goldman raised US recession probability to 35% on banking stress (BBG)

• Banks sought record $153B Fed emergency liquidity amid SVB collapse (RT)

• US bank deposits are rapidly moving to money market funds (RT)

• European regulators accused US of ‘incompetence’ over SVB collapse (FT)

• Banking rout is fueling US oil hedging (RT)

• Credit Suisse said SNB's facility does not trigger a 'viability' event (RT)

• Large US banks view Credit Suisse exposure as manageable (RT)

• US shareholders sued Credit Suisse for hiding financial problems (RT)

• US CFTC will give pass over certain swap reporting failures tied to SVB and Signature Bank (RT)

• EU unveiled clean-tech plans in bid to rival US and China (WSJ)

• EY's breakup plan stalled, with top exec now considering back up options (WSJ)

• Tiger Global wrote down value of its VC bets by 33% in 2022 (WSJ)

• Robinhood caved to customers over short Signature Bank bets (FT)

• Volkswagen will invest $193B over next five years in EV drive (CNBC)

• YouTube will raise prices on its TV subscription (WSJ)

• Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear will step down as CEO, to be replaced by President (RT)

• Nasdaq will de-list Russia's Yandex and Ozon (RT)

• MIT is now the most popular 'dream school' (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Canadian Pacific Railway received approval to complete its $27B purchase of US rail operator Kansas City Southern (BBG)

• Canadian convenience-store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard agreed to buy 2.2k gas stations in Europe from TotalEnergies for $3.3B (BBG)

• Chinese auto company Geely divested its 6.3%, ~$1.6B stake in truck maker Daimler (BBG)

• French grocer Casino Guichard-Perrachon raised $783M via sale of stake in LatAm subsidiary Assai in move to reduce debt (BBG)

• Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas offered to buy a 20% stake in the green energy arm of Indian power producer NTPC for $460M (RT)

• Russian energy and petrochemical company PJSC Tatneft agreed to buy Finnish tire company Nokian Tyres for ~$302M (RT)

• Indian drugmaker Eris Lifesciences agreed to buy nine dermatology brands from Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in a $33M deal (RT)

• Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum to ~23.1% (RT)

• The FDIC is seeking bids from banks for failed lenders SVB and Signature Bank by today (RT)

• Canadian PE firm Ethical Capital Partners agreed to buy Pornhub-owner MindGeek for an undisclosed sum (FT)

VC

• Parker, a startup offering a corporate credit card for e-commerce businesses, raised $157M: a $31.1M Series A led by Valar Ventures, an undisclosed $5.9M seed round, and $70M in debt (option to upsize by $50M) from Triple Point Capital and Jefferies (TC)

• Nimble, an autonomous logistics and AI robotics company, raised a $65M Series B led by Cedar Pine (BW)

• Fairmatic, a startup applying AI to commercial auto insurance, raised a $46M round led by Battery Ventures (TC)

• Cloud cost savings startup Cast AI raised a $20M round led by Creandum (TC)

• MLOps platform Seldon raised a $20M Series B led by BrightPixel (TC)

• SpectrumAi, a startup developing innovative solutions for autism care, raised a $20M Series A led by CVS Health Ventures (BW)

• OpenLoop, a startup helping clients streamline virtual care delivery, raised a $15M Series A led by Nava Ventures (PRN)

• All-in-one payroll platform Wingspan raised a $14M Series A led by a16z (TC)

• Interactive mapping software startup Engrain raised a $12M Series A led by RET Ventures (PRN)

• Seamless Therapeutics, a startup developing designer recombinases, raised an $11.8M seed round led by Wellington Partners and Forbion (BW)

• Online music school Trala raised an $8M Series A led by Seven Seven Six (PRN)

• GigaStar, a startup bringing together YouTube creators and fans through fundraising, raised a $4.8M seed round from DV Crypto VC, Tomsic Holdings, Nameless Ventures, and Belvedere Strategic Capital (PRN)

• Allermi, a D2C telehealth service providing a personalized approach to allergy care, raised a $3.5M seed round led by Nelstone Ventures (BW)

• IT-as-a-service startup Deeploi raised a $3.2M seed round led by Cherry Ventures (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Saudi eye care group Magrabi Medical paused plans for a domestic IPO of its hospitals business (BBG)

• Aerospace firm Astra may conduct a reverse stock split to avoid Nasdaq delisting (CNBC)

Debt

• Credit Suisse will buy back $3.2B in debt in attempt to steady prices (FT)

• California bank PacWest Corp. is in talks with investment firms including Atlas SP Partners about a liquidity boost (RT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Diamond Sports, the largest owner of regional sports networks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure its $8B+ debt load (CNBC)

Fundraising

• Investment firm Infranity launched a $393M infrastructure debt fund with its parent Generali Group and an unnamed international investor (IPE)

• VC Latin Leap raised a $25M fund targeted at early-stage LatAm tech companies (CTX)

Crypto Corner

• SBF and other top FTX execs received $3.2B in payments and loans from Alameda Research (CS)

• Santander, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and others still willing to serve crypto clients despite banking failures (CD)

• Investors pulled $3B from stablecoin USDC in three days (RT)

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• Kyla Scanlon wrote a good piece on the emotional toll of the chaos surrounding the SVB crisis.

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