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The Fed expects to see its balance sheet contract through 2025, EY canceled plans to split its audit and consulting businesses, China’s consumer inflation hit an 18-month low, Berkshire raised its stakes in Japan’s five largest trading houses, the US is studying possible rules to regulate AI, and office space for rent hit a record high.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks ended mixed yesterday as investors await crucial inflation data today and brace for gloomy Q1 earnings

• Canada's TSX index rose 0.7% to a five-week high

• Bitcoin topped $30k for the first time since June

  • Crypto-related stocks continued to surge alongside Bitcoin's rally

• Oil prices rose ~2%

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: LVMH

  • Thursday: Delta

  • Friday: JPMorgan, Citi, Wells Fargo, BlackRock

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• The Fed expects to see its balance sheet contract through 2025 (RT)

• EY canceled plans to split its audit and consulting business (FT)

• IMF expects bank volatility to slow US economic growth (WSJ)

• Russian oil price cap is driving down Russia revenues (AX)

• China's consumer inflation hit an 18-month low as demand falters (RT)

• Smaller Chinese banks cut deposit rates amid squeezed margins (RT)

• Twitter is no longer an independent company after merging with shell firm X Corp. (BBG)

• HSBC USA hired dozens of SVB bankers to focus on tech and healthcare (RT)

• Berkshire Hathaway raised stakes in Japan's five largest trading houses to 7.4% (RT)

• OpenAI will offer users up to $20k for reporting bugs (RT)

• US is studying possible rules to regulate AI like ChatGPT (RT)

• Switzerland's bankers union called for a freeze on UBS/Credit Suisse job cuts (RT)

• Credit Suisse and SEC debated for months over reporting deficiencies (RT)

• Citigroup M&A chief Mark Shafir will retire (RT)

• World Bank's board will interview US nominee Ajay Banga in early May (RT)

• China is negotiating a compromise plan with other major creditors for debt-relief for struggling developing nations (WSJ)

• Alibaba will roll out generative AI across its apps (RT)

• WhatsApp rolled out its business payment tool in Brazil (RT)

• Amazon will charge for some UPS Store returns (TI)

• Office space available for rent hit a record high (AX)

• Ken Griffin donated $300M more to alma mater Harvard (RT)

• Michael Jordan’s signed trainers sold for a record $2.2M (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• US gold miner Newmont raised its bid for Australian rival Newcrest Mining to $19.5B (BBG)

• Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group is weighing asset sales, including a controlling stake in Mumbai-based Afcons Infrastructure, that could raise ~$2B (BBG)

• Financial services firm Macquarie Group is considering selling a portfolio of nine highway projects in India at a potential $1.5B+ valuation (BBG)

• KKR agreed to buy a 29% stake in communication specialist FGS Global at a $1.43B valuation (BBG)

• Natural resources company Vedanta is in talks with Farallon Capital Management to raise at least $1B, though the terms of the capital raise have not been finalized (BBG)

• The consortiums looking to acquire Forbes for potentially ~$800M removed Sun Group as lead investor (AX)

• Air-conditioning company Carrier is looking to sell or spin off its Fire and Security business segment which accounts for ~17% of its sales (WSJ)

• Brookfield Infrastructure agreed to buy French asset manager AXA IM’s stake in French data center firm Data4 (RT)

• Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, the tech-focused investment arm of Bain Capital, agreed to buy a stake in enterprise software firm iManage (RT)

• French foods group Danone agreed to buy Promedica, a Polish company specializing in care services for patients at home (RT)

• Octave Klaba, the founder of French cloud provider OVH Groupe SAS, is seeking to buy search engine Qwant, which prides itself on respecting user privacy (BBG)

• Carlyle ended its efforts to buy a stake in healthcare technology firm Cotiviti from Veritas (BBG)

VC

• Clear Street, which says it is building “modern infrastructure” for capital markets, raised $270M at a $2B valuation in a Series B extension round led by Prysm Capital (TC)

• Market intelligence platform AlphaSense raised $100M at a $1.8B valuation in a funding round backed by CapitalG (RT)

• Infogrid, an AI-driven building monitoring tech startup, raised a $90M Series B led by Northzone (TC)

• Lithium extraction startup EnergyX will raise a $50M Series B led by General Motors (RT)

• Agtech robotics firm Carbon Robotics raised a $30M Series C led by Sozo Ventures (TC)

• Trading-focused blockchain Sei raised $30M at an $800M valuation from investors including Jump Crypto, Distributed Global, Multicoin Capital, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Hypersphere Ventures and Bixin Ventures (TC)

• Autoleap, which provides a SaaS approach to auto repair operations, raised a $30M Series B led by Advance Venture Partners (TC)

• Open source startup NetBox Labs raised a $20M Series A led by Flybridge Capital (TC)

• Indonesia-based cloud kitchen brand operator Legit Group raised a $13.7M Series A led by MDI Ventures (TC)

• Graneet, which is building an all-in-one SaaS product focused on small construction companies, raised an $8M Series A led by Point Nine and Foundmental (TC)

Debt

• India's HDFC Bank will raise $6B in debt over the next year (RT)

• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC is in talks with funds to sell $3.7B worth of soured loans (BBG)

• Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical will issue $2.5B of sustainability-linked high-yield bonds (BW)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Cineworld filed a reorganization plan in a Texas bankruptcy court that will effectively wipe out existing shareholders; the plan intends to cut debt by ~$4.53B and raise $2.26B in funds to emerge from bankruptcy (RT)

Fundraising

• Blackstone raised $30.4B for its largest global property drawdown fund Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, which will focus on sectors such as rental housing, hospitality, and data centers (BBG)

• HPS Investment Partners raised $17B for its HPS Strategic Investment Partners V debt fund (POI)

• Apple will double its investment in its carbon removal Restore Fund to $400M (RT)

• India-based PE firm Amicus Capital raised up to $100M for its second investment fund (FGA)

• Indian MM PE firm Paragon Partners raised $85M for its second fund (DSA)

• German VC Blockchain Founders Capital raised $16.3M for its micro VC fund to make early-stage investments in the web3 space (TCH)

Crypto Corner

• Bitcoin accounted for 98% of inflows into crypto investment products last week (CT)

• Investors are set to gain access to over $33B of ether this week under a planned revamp (RT)

• Ex-Deutsche Bank banker Rashawn Russell was charged in US with crypto fraud (RT)

• G7 will discuss CBDC standards and crypto regulation (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• The New York Times covered the insane story of Russia jailing the WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich for “espionage,” despite no evidence supporting this accusation. A GoFundMe has also been launched to assist Evan’s family in rescue efforts.

• The Information published a piece on the slowdown in VC funding for industry newcomers.

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