Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wants increased transparency around private equity investment in health care services companies, such as hospitals, dialysis centers, and physician groups.

• Oh, and he also wants new federal abilities to stop those deals from ever happening.

Driving the news: Markey yesterday released draft legislation called the "Health Over Wealth Act," which is aimed at both private equity and other for-profit health services providers.

• Both types of owners would be required to disclose a laundry list of financial and operational data, including around debt, political spending, wages, and the use of areas like hallways and waiting rooms for patient care.
• They'd also need to create an escrow account to cover essential health services costs for five years in the event of a facility closure.

The biggest change would be vastly expanded powers for the Department of Health and Human Services:

• Private equity firms would need to "obtain a license" from HHS to invest, either directly or indirectly, in a health care services firm. Were a firm to fail to qualify for such a license, it could be forced to divest existing portfolio companies.
• HHS also could prohibit any deal, even from licensees, while it conducts a study into the impact of private equity on health care.
• HHS also could block any sale-leaseback transaction that it believes "would lead to a long-term weakened financial status of the health care entity or place the public health at risk."

Zoom out: Markey unveiled his proposal during a subcommittee field hearing in Boston, which mostly focused on the Cerberus/Steward Health situation we discussed last month.

• Cerberus, which both Markey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) mispronounced during the hearing as "Cer-e-bus," wasn't asked to testify. Steward's CEO got an invite but ignored it.
• The hearing didn't uncover much new information, since everyone was on the same page. It was at times confusing, however, particularly when private equity got seemingly blamed for changes as hospital giant HCA, even though those changes came a decade after HCA went public.

The other side: Drew Maloney, CEO of the American Investment Council, tells Axios: "Private equity has a long history of strengthening U.S. health care and improving the lives of millions of Americans, including in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, headline-seeking politicians continue to place misguided blame on our industry instead of pursuing sound policymaking to address systemic challenges head-on."

What to watch: Warren, and to a lesser extent Markey, is gunning for DOJ or FTC to take a very hard look at Steward's recent agreement to sell its nationwide physician network to Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth.

• Also, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) is expressing concerns over private equity involvement with emergency rooms.

The bottom line: Markey's bill reads more aspirational than legislative, but it's part of growing Democratic Party pushback against private equity's involvement in health care. And the industry, which normally has plenty of D.C. support, is looking like it's on a bit of an island.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) crushed a proxy challenge from activist investor Nelson Peltz, securing support of both its top institutional backers and around 75% of retail investors.

Why it's the BFD: This was the most expensive corporate proxy fight in history, with at least $70 million spent by Disney and Peltz's Trian Partners.

Look ahead: Peltz has a history of eventually turning losses into wins. DuPont, for example, dumped its CEO one year after a failed Peltz challenge, while at Procter & Gamble he eventually made nice and joined its board.

The bottom line: Disney CEO Bob Iger employed all sorts of defenses, but none was more effective than pointing to a stock price that was up more than 25% since Peltz launched his fall campaign.

• Pigment, a French business planning and forecasting platform, raised $145m in Series D funding. Existing backer Iconiq Growth led, and was joined by Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, IVP, Meritech, Greenoaks, and Felix Capital. https://axios.link/4al8A4s

• Aerospike, a Mountain View, Calif.-based NoSQL database, raised $100m in Series E funding. Sumeru Equity Partners led, and was joined by insider Alsop Louie Partners. https://axios.link/4aiEO01

• Brim Financial, a credit-card-as-a-service startup, raised US$85m in Series C funding. EDC Investments led, and was joined by Vistara Growth and insiders White Owl Group, Epic Ventures, and Zions Bank. www.brimfinancial.com

• SiMa.ai, a San Jose, Calif.-based system-on-chip company, raised $70m. Maverick Capital led, and was joined by Point72, Jericho and insiders Amplify Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, and Lip-Bu Tan. www.sima.ai

🚑 Biolinq, a San Diego-based developer of multi-analyte biosensors for metabolic health, raised $58m. Alpha Wave Ventures led, and was joined by Niterra, RiverVest Venture Partners, AXA IM Alts, Global Health Investment, Aphelion Capital, Senvest Management, Features Capital, and Taisho Pharmaceutical. www.biolinq.com

• Coalesce.io, an SF-based provider of data management software, raised $50m in Series B funding. Industry Ventures and Emergence Capital co-led, and were joined by 11.2 Capital, Bob Muglia, DNX Ventures, GreatPoint Ventures, Hyperlink Ventures, Next Legacy Partners, Snowflake Ventures, and Telstra Ventures. www.coalesce.io

• Electronica Finance, an Indian provider of micro and SME loans, raised $48m. LeapFrog Investments led, and was joined by Aavishkaar Capital and Encourage Capital. www.electronicafinance.com

• SingeInterface, a Singaporean provider of SaaS to help offline businesses get online, raised $30m. Asia Partners led, and was joined by PayPal Ventures. https://axios.link/3TItGmk

• Bizplay, a Korean expense management and business travel company, raised $22.5m from JB Financial Group. https://axios.link/3J3IrLs

🔥 BurnBot, an SF-based developer of wildfire prevention robots, raised $20m in Series A funding. ReGen Ventures led, and was joined by Toyota Ventures, AmFam Ventures, Convective Capital, Blue Forest Asset Management, Skip Capital, Overture Ventures, Lowercarbon, and Pathbreaker Ventures. https://axios.link/49oINHf

🚑 Manifold, a Newton, Mass.-based clinical research platform, raised $15m in Series A funding. TQ Ventures led, and was joined by Calibrate Ventures, SK Ventures, and TTCER Partners. www.manifold.ai

• Nucleai, a Chicago-based provider of spatial biomarker software, raised $14m led by M Ventures. https://axios.link/3W22yl5

• Agora, a stablecoin issuer, raised $12m in seed funding. Dragonfly led, and was joined by General Catalyst and Robot Ventures. https://axios.link/3J52Qjq

🚑 Aligned Marketplace, a Park City, Utah-based employer primary care provider, raised $8m in seed funding co-led by A* Capital and Maverick Ventures. www.alignedmarketplace.com

• Iceberg Data Lab, a French environmental data startup, raised £8m in Series A funding. Beringea led, and was joined by MAIF Avenir and AXA Investment Managers. www.icebergdatalab.com

• Warwick Acoustics, a British developer of energy-efficient loudspeakers, raised £7m led by Mercia Ventures. https://axios.link/4ajrQzj

• SiftHub, an AI assistant for sales teams, raised $5.5m in seed funding. Matrix Partners India and Blume Ventures co-led, and were joined by Neon Fund. https://axios.link/3J4VFHR

• Home From College, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based professional career platform for Gen Z, raised $5.4m in seed funding led by GV. https://axios.link/3TZYYGy

🚑 HealthArc, a Hackensack, N.J.-based virtual care provider, raised $5m led by ScOp VC. www.healtharc.io

🚑 Universal Brain, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based digital precision psychiatry platform, raised $3.2m in seed funding led by Anri. www.universal-brain.com

• Condukt, a British business verification startup, raised £2.5m in pre-seed funding from Lightspeed and Cocoa. https://axios.link/49oiiSm

• Bavest, a German B2B fintech, raised €1.1m from ReZoom Capital and Nautic Ventures. https://axios.link/3J2tlWn

👻 Ghost Autonomy, a Mountain View, Calif.-based developer of automated driving solutions, has shut down. It had raised over $200m from firms like Khosla Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Coatue, OpenAI Startup Fund, and Founders Fund. https://axios.link/3xfgcqn

• International Paper (NYSE: IP) said it would seek a second listing in London were it to succeed in its £5.72 all-stock takeover offer for British paper and packaging firm DS Smith (LSE: SMDS). https://axios.link/3PO4ABe

⚡ EV Realty, a San Anselmo, Calif.-based commercial vehicle charging provider, is forming a $200m joint venture with GreenPoint Partners to develop charging hubs for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. https://axios.link/49rn3dI

• Once For All, a French portfolio company of GTCR, acquired Nalanda, a Spanish provider of supply chain risk and compliance management software, from PSG Equity. www.onceforall.com

• TPG agreed to buy Classic Collision, an Atlanta-based provider of auto body repair services, from New Mountain Capital. https://axios.link/3J65sxl

• Arsenal Capital Partners sold Seal For Life, a Houston-based maker of protective coatings and sealing solutions, to Henkel. www.sealforlife.com

⚡ BlackRock and KKR sold their 40% stake in Adnoc's oil pipeline to Abu Dhabi-based Lunate. https://axios.link/4aCgdmM

• Revolution Food, a provider of meals to California and Nevada school students, is seeking a buyer, per Axios Pro. It's raised over $250m in VC funding from firms like Westly Group, Unilever, Revolution, and LS Point Management. https://axios.link/4amMM8w

• ServiceTitan, a tradesperson software firm valued by VCs at around $7b, agreed to buy Convex, a sales and marketing platform for commercial services. Convex had raised over $70m from firms like Notable Capital, Realm Capital Ventures, Fifth Wall, GGV Capital, and a16z. www.servicetitan.com

• Summit Partners hired Raymond James and Centerview Partners to find a buyer for Dr. Squatch, a men's grooming brand that could fetch more than $2b, per Reuters. https://axios.link/49mLVUa

Editor's note: The April 3 newsletter was corrected to show BC Partners provided $400m (not $800m) in debt funding to NFL football helmet maker Riddell.

Source: Giphy

• KISS agreed to sell its song catalog, name, image, and likeness to Sweden's Pophouse Entertainment for more than $300m. https://axios.link/4anDhG8

🚑 Kaiser Permanente completed its acquisition of Pennsylvania-based health system Geisinger. https://axios.link/3xiVR3r

🚑 Mitsui & Co. and Rohto Pharmaceutical agreed to buy Singapore's Eu Yan Sang, a traditional Chinese medicines maker, for around US$594m. https://axios.link/3TJghu4

• Paramount (Nasdaq: PARA) has entered exclusive merger talks to be acquired by Skydance Media, the entertainment firm run by by David Ellison, after rebuffing a takeover offer from Apollo Global Management.

• Saint-Gobain (Paris: SGO) agreed to buy Bailey Group of Cos., a Canadian maker of commercial metal framing and building systems, for C$880 million in cash. https://axios.link/4aK7cbr

• Bitkraft Ventures raised $275m for its third gaming-focused VC fund. https://axios.link/4ak4auq

🚑 Canaan Partners is raising a new health care-focused VC fund, per an SEC filing.

• Clarion Capital Partners raised $677m for its fourth fund, and promoted David Ragins to president of private equity. www.clarion-capital.com.

• Maniv, an Israel-based seed-stage investment firm, raised $140m for its third fund. https://axios.link/3U3vuHV

• Paradigm, a crypto-focused VC firm, is in talks to raise $750m-$850m for a new fund, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3J3nTmc

• SK Capital Partners, a New York-based PE firm focused on specialty materials, ingredients, and life sciences, raised $2.95b for its sixth fund. www.skcapitalpartners.com

🌎 Rich Lesser and Jeff Johnson joined B Capital's climate investment group as vice chair and general partner, respectively. Lesser is ex-CEO of Boston Consulting Group, whole Johnson was with Temasek. www.b.capital

🚑 Anzu Partners promoted Henk Both to principal. https://axios.link/3J3hDuX

The leveraged loan market has officially shrugged off high-rates, with Q1 borrowing hitting near-record levels, Axios' Kate Marino writes.