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Good Morning,

Retail investors are pulling out of European hedge funds, corporate greed may not be driving inflation, NYSE's President is bullish on IPOs, and meme stocks soared again as if they never left.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed mixed as traders digested rising inflation expectations ahead of this week’s crucial April CPI release

  • The Dow snapped an eight-day win streak

• Cocoa futures plunged 19% in its biggest-ever price drop as rain forecasts stoked volatility

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Home Depot, Alibaba

  • Wednesday: Cisco Systems 

  • Thursday: Walmart, JD.com

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• GameStop, AMC soared over 70% because of a Twitter post (CNBC)

• JPMorgan pushed back against major proxy recommendations (RT)

• Corporate greed not to blame for price pressures, Fed study shows (RT)

• European retail hedge fund assets are at an eight-year low (RT)

• NYSE President sees more US companies pursuing IPOs (BBG)

• European banks' Goldilocks rally tempts back bulls and bears (RT)

• NY Fed report warns discount window stigma may never go away (RT)

• OpenAI launched its latest GPT-4o AI model (CNBC)

• GameStop short sellers lost ~$1B after monster memestock rally (CNBC)

• Anthropic launched its Claude AI chatbot across Europe (CNBC)

• Temu cools on US after shelling out billions (WSJ)

• US worker satisfaction is at a record high, with nuances (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Miner Anglo American rejected an improved $42.7B takeover offer from BHP Group (RT) 

• Apollo Global is in advanced talks with Intel to invest over $11B to build a new chip plant in Ireland (WSJ)  

• Walgreens Boots Alliance is reaching out to potential buyers for its $8.8B Boots drugstore chain in the UK (BBG)

• PE firm Permira will acquire website-builder Squarespace for ~$6.6B cash in this year’s second-largest take-private LBO (BBG) 

• A consortium including Starwood Capital Group and SSW Partners is considering a buyout of $5.4B Asian warehouse developer ESR Group (BBG) 

• Europe's biggest gas distributor Italgas began exclusive talks to acquire smaller rival 2i Rete Gas at an $4.3B-$5.4B valuation (RT) 

• Kraft Heinz is exploring a sale of its Oscar Mayer meats business that could fetch $3B-$5B (WSJ) 

• PE firm Cinven is exploring a sale of Jaggaer that it hopes will value the supply chain software maker at ~$3B, including debt (RT) 

• PE firm EQT offered to take one of Sweden’s largest wind park developers OX2 private for $1.5B (BBG) 

• TDR Capital is nearing a deal to acquire Italian discount retailer Acqua & Sapone from HIG Capital that will be financed by a $863M debt package (BBG)  

• PE firm Warburg Pincus will acquire Indian lender Shriram Finance’s entire stake in affordable housing finance unit Shriram Housing Finance in a $555M deal (RT) 

• Chelsea FC received interest for a stake in its women’s team and could target a ~$200M valuation (BBG)

• ByteDance shelved plans to sell valuable gaming asset Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (BBG) 

• Verizon is interested in buying back US Cellular's stake in its LA business (BBG) 

• Housing operator Mynd is in advanced talks to merge with Roofstock, as the single-family rental industry has begun consolidating (BBG) 

• Nasdaq is considering a sale of Solovis, a provider of portfolio-management software and services (BBG)

VC

• Mexican omni-channel payment platform Aplazo raised $70M in funding including a $45M Series B led by QED Investors (BW)

• Fabless startup MetisX raised a $44M Series A led by several Korean firms (PRN)

• Firm-wide accounting OS Canopy raised a $35M round led by Ten Coves Capital and Ankona Capital (FN)

• Pepper, an eCommerce platform for food distributors, raised a $30M Series B led by ICONIQ Growth (BW)

• Nivoda, a diamond and gemstone marketplace, raised a $30M Series B led by Avenir Growth Capital (FN)

• Abyan Capital, a Saudi robo-advisory company, raised an $18M Series A led by STV (FN)

• Princeton NuEnergy, a clean-tech innovator recycling lithium-ion battery materials, raised a $10.3M Series A led by SCGC, Tech Council Ventures, and LKQ Corporation (PRN)

• Tech-enabled childcare startup Tiney raised a $9.4M Series A led by Mustard Seed Partners (FN)

• Artisan AI, a startup building AI employees and software for enterprise firms, raised a $7.3M seed round led by Oliver Jung (FN)

• Switchboard Health, a high-value specialty care network and software platform, raised a $6.5M seed round led by First Trust Capital Partners (FN)

• Monitaur, a model governance platform for highly regulated industries, raised a $6M Series A led by Cultivation Capital (BW)

• Active Surfaces, a startup developing lightweight flexible solar panels, raised a $5.6M pre-seed round led by Safar Partners (PRN)

• Plenty, a wealth-building platform for couples, raised a $5M round led by Inovia Capital (FN)

• Bitcoin lending startup Zest Protocol raised $3.5M in a round led by Draper Associates (RT)

• MNZL, a fintech helping users transform assets into liquidity, raised a $3.5M seed round led by P1 Ventures, Localglobe, and Ingressive Capital (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• J&J will sell its remaining 9.5%, $3.75B stake in consumer health firm Kenvue (RT)

• Game developer Games Global withdrew its filing for a $2.1B IPO citing current market conditions (RT) 

• Volkswagen is exploring selling up to $1.1B of stock in truck manufacturer Traton (BBG)

• Novelis, an aluminum products maker owned by India's Aditya Birla Group, is seeking to IPO in US as soon as June (BBG) 

• Spanish clothing retailer Tendam and Greyhound bus owner Flix are considering launching IPOs in the coming weeks to capitalize on the recovery in European markets (BBG) 

• Airline Grupo Aeromexico filed for a US IPO after delisting its Mexico shares (BBG)

SPAC

• Tech-driven sales platform Xtribe will merge with WinVest Acquisition Corp. in a $141M deal (GNW)

Debt

• Blackstone, Ares Management, and Blue Owl Capital will provide a $2.7B credit facility to help finance Permira's $6.9B acquisition of website SaaS Squarespace (BBG) 

• KKR and Apollo Global are providing a direct loan of over $1B to PE-owned ASC Engineered Solutions to refinance debt (BBG) 

• EV maker Fisker will sell up to $150M in convertible notes after missing an interest payment (RT)

Fundraising

• UK-based Patron Capital raised $927M for its seventh European property fund to invest in distressed European real estate (BBG) 

Crypto Corner

• Bitcoin miners see sharp drop in revenue due to lower token rewards (BBG) 

Exec’s Picks

• Financial Times published a piece discussing whether ketamine could be the next fix for workplace depression.

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