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Good Morning,

Regional bank stocks keep falling due to contagion fears, a pause in rate hikes might be around the corner, gold prices are approaching all-time highs, the FDIC plans to hit big banks with fees to refill deposit insurance, and Apple managed to once again support the global economy with another earnings beat.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks finished down as markets continued to digest the Fed's rate hike and on-going concerns about regional banks' health

  • All three major US indexes posted their fourth-straight day of declines

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell to a one-month low

• Gold flirted with all-time highs as banking concerns deepen

Earnings

• Apple beat Q2 estimates after stronger-than-anticipated iPhone sales and a reduction of parts shortages; they nonetheless posted a second-straight quarterly revenue drop (CNBC)

• Carlyle missed Q1 distributable earnings estimates owing to a sharp drop in income from asset sales in its PE portfolio, while also lowering its fee-related earnings outlook; their stock fell 13.5% (RT)

• DoorDash beat Q1 earnings estimates driven by all-time highs in total orders, marketplace gross order value, and revenue (FC)

• Shopify beat Q1 estimates and posted an unexpected profit after the company announced it was selling off its logistics business and cutting 20% of its workforce, their stock jumped 23% (BN)

• Coinbase beat Q1 estimates after reducing costs and doubling down on operational excellence and risk management amid regulatory clarity (BN)

• Lyft reported Q1 earnings that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines as it adjusts to a turbulent period of layoffs and leadership changes, but gloomy outlook sent shares tumbling 16% AH (WSJ)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Friday: AMC, Warner Bros Discovery

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• ECB raised rates by 25 bps and signaled more to come (CNBC)

• Regional-bank shares dive on contagion fears (WSJ)

• ‘Getting close’: Fed chair seeds expectations for pause in rate hikes (FT)

• FDIC plans to hit big banks with fees to refill deposit insurance (BBG)

• US officials are investigating potential ‘manipulation’ on banking shares (RT)

• Short selling comes under fire as regional banks sell off (RT)

• Samsung banned staff from using AI tools like ChatGPT (BBG)

• Microsoft is helping finance AMD's expansion into AI chips (BBG)

• Europeans drain billions from banks, fed up with shrinking savings (RT)

• India and Russia suspended negotiations to settle trade in rupees (RT)

• US rejects Kremlin claims it was behind drone attack (FT)

• Biden met with Microsoft, Google CEOs on AI dangers (RT)

• Hollywood insiders predict writers strike to drag on through summer (RT)

• US homeowners hold near-record equity even after price declines (BBG)

• Biden set to nominate Philip Jefferson as Fed vice-chair (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• PE firm Apollo Global Management is purchasing industrial parts manufacturer Arconic in an all-cash $5.2B deal (BW)

• German business software developer Software AG approved Silver Lake Management’s $2.61B offer to purchase the company (RT)

• Apollo Global Management is in talks with Air France-KLM about a $550.7M cash injection (RT)

• Liontrust Asset Management is purchasing Swiss asset manager GAM for $121M (BBG)

• An affiliate of Miami International Holdings will purchase FTX’s LedgerX business for $50M after the latter received bankruptcy court permission for the sale (RT)

• India’s Adani Ports completed its sale of sanction-hit port in Myanmar for $30M (RT)

• Freight forwarder Flexport purchased Shopify’s logistics unit in an all-stock deal that gives Shopify a 13% stake in the company (RT)

• US PE firm Summit Partners is looking to sell a stake in Swiss wealth manager Cinerius Financial Partners (RT)

• UBS is weighing options, including a sale or IPO, of Credit Suisse’s Swiss unit (RT)

• Blackstone is weighing options, including a sale, for Dutch merchant bank NIBC (RT)

• Telecom Italia set a final deadline of June 9 for improved bids for its landline grid (RT)

VC

• Lit Communities, a provider of infrastructure for broadband in unserved and underserved communities, received $150M in funding from Oak Hill Capital (FN)

• Impact Nano, a chemical manufacturing company focused on sustainable computing materials, raised $32M in total funding from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Intel Capital, and others (FN)

• Tarabut Gateway, an open banking platform, raised a $32M Series A led by Pinnacle Capital (FN)

• Promamec, a Moroccan medical equipment and consumables distributor, received a ~30M minority equity investment from Vantage Capital (FN)

• Liquido, a LatAm generation payments company, raised $26M in funding from Index Ventures, Base Partners, Restive Ventures, and more (FN)

• Patient billing communications platform Inbox Health raised a $22.5M Series B led by Ten Coves Capital (PRN)

• Slash, an online banking platform for the hustle economy, raised a $19M seed round led by NEA (FN)

• Surgical safety technologies startup SST raised a $15M Series A led by U.S. Venture Partners and Sant Ventures (FN)

• NFT marketplace and aggregator AlienSwap raised a $12M strategic round from NEXT Leader Capital and C Ventures (FN)

• Setscale, a fintech startup providing purchase order financing for SMBs, raised a $9.5M seed round and up to $70M in debt from Fin Capital, Great Oaks, Mantis, WndrCo, Ethos, and Jaws (PRN)

• Domo Health, a digital health startup, raised $9.5M in funding from Hirslanden Group, the Single Family Office Cleste, and more (FN)

• Drug discovery startup MultiOmic Health raised a $6.2M round led by Hoxton Ventures (FN)

• GoodShip, a collaborative cloud-based analytics and transportation procurement platform for shippers, raised a $5M seed round co-led by Ironspring Ventures and Chicago Ventures (BW)

• Airspeed, a platform connecting employees, raised a $5M seed round led by Greylock and Venrock (BW)

• Openlayer, an ML validation and testing platform, raised a $4.8M seed round led by Quiet Capital (BW)

• Tristero, a startup developing decentralized dark pool tech, raised a $4.8M seed round led by General Catalyst and Steel Perlot (FN)

• Cloud-based workspace collaboration startup Genemod raised a $4.5M seed round led by defy.vc and LDV Partners (FN)

• Moonsense, a fraud prevention solutions provider, raised a $4.2M seed round led by XYZ Ventures and Race Capital (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Blackstone is considering an IPO for Spanish gambling company Cirsa, which could be worth several billion dollars (RT)

• Joby Aviation, an all-electric aircraft startup, received a $180M equity investment from Baillie Gifford in a secondary offering (TC)

SPAC

• UK tech solutions provider Noventiq will merge with Corner Growth Acquisition Corp. in a $1B deal (BW)

Debt

• Credit Suisse repurchased $1.6B worth of Ecuadorean debt (RT)

• Suriname reached a restructuring agreement with creditors over two outstanding dollar-denominated bonds for $650M or a 25% ‘haircut’ (RT)

Bankruptcy

• Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is seeking to recoup $3.9B in cash/crypto from bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global Capital (RT)

Fundraising

• German VC HV Capital closed its ninth ‘Fund IX’ at $781M, its largest ever fund to date (TC)

• Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures raised $243M to invest in AI startups (BBG)

• Canadian early-stage VC Brightspark raised $75M for its Brightspark Canadian Opportunities Fund II (FN)

Crypto Corner

• US court ordered SEC to respond to Coinbase regulatory allegations within 10 days (CD)

• Deloitte is looking to use blockchain technology to establish digital credentials for regulatory compliance and verification for eCommerce (BBG)

• Israel seized Binance crypto accounts to thwart Islamic State and Islamist Hamas group (RT)

• Coinbase to pause issuing new loans to customers on May 10 (CD)

Exec’s Picks

• Forbes published its latest Midas List, ranking the best venture capital investors in 2023.

• Front Office Sports published a good piece on Las Vegas as a destination for professional sports teams.

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