President Trump yesterday signed an executive order that should make it easier for 401(k) retirement plans to invest in private equity and other alternative assets.

• Supporters argue this will encourage diversification, thus improving long-term performance, and democratization of lucrative asset classes.
• Critics argue that the risks outweigh the rewards, citing everything from high fees to low transparency.

Catch up quick: Federal rules discourage defined-contribution plans from investing in alt assets, although it's not necessarily illegal.

• As such, they mostly invest in stocks and bonds.
• Trump tried to soften the guidance during his first term, but his language was rescinded by President Biden.
• Private equity views 401(k)s as the holy grail of untapped capital, with around $12.5 trillion in value.

What's in the EO: Trump is giving the Labor Department 180 days to reevaluate regulatory interpretations and, if necessary, propose changes.

• This includes prioritizing ways to curb litigation risk for retirement fund administrators. It's not possible to stop all lawsuits, but this signals that the government itself won't sue.
• He also instructed the SEC to revise applicable rules and guidance to better facilitate retirement fund investments into alt assets.
• Alt asset classes referenced by the EO include private equity, private credit, crypto, real estate, and infrastructure project finance. Venture capital isn't explicitly mentioned, but it would seem to fall within the bucket.

The big question: Will private equity find a pot of gold or just a sackful of nickels?

• Just because 401(k) plan sponsors can invest in alt assets doesn't necessarily mean that they will, and even enthusiasts acknowledge that there could be a long learning curve.
• Target-date funds may be the earliest adopters, given their long-term horizons, while asset classes with income components (e.g., private credit, some real estate) might gain traction before vanilla private equity.
• Lots of challenges still need to be solved, including around reporting timelines. Expect a new layer of tech infrastructure to get built, and a new wave of fund placement agents to emerge.
• The biggest sponsor winners may be those that can offer multiple strategies, continuing a capital concentration trend that's left many private equity firms with light pockets.

The bottom line: Private capital fundraising has fallen for three straight years, in part because limited partners have become frustrated with distribution shortfalls.

• Trump might have just given the industry a big mulligan. Rather than fixing the underlying problems, it can just get a new set of LPs.

The Justice Department yesterday agreed to approve UnitedHealth Group's (NYSE: UNH) $3.3 billion acquisition of home health and hospice provider Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED), pending certain divestitures.

Why it's the BFD: The settlement preempts what would have been the Trump administration's first major health care antitrust case, albeit based on a Biden-era lawsuit, with regulators worried that the deal would give UnitedHealth too much market power.

• It still must be approved by a federal judge.

Zoom in: UnitedHealth and Amedisys plan to sell 164 facilities to KKR-backed BrightSpring Health Services (Nasdaq: BTSG) and Pennant Group (Nasdaq: PNTG).

• They previously had agreed to divest certain clinics to VitalCaring Group, a portfolio company of Vistria Group and Nautic Partners.

The bottom line: Trump 2.0's antitrust philosophy remains fuzzy, but so far seems to prefer negotiations over trials.

🚑 Minghui Pharmaceutical, a Shanghai-based dermatology biotech, raised $131m. OrbiMed and Qiming Venture Partners led, joined by TF Capital, BioTrack Capital, 5Y Capital, New Day Fund, and Wider Link Enterprise Investment. axios.link/4oJyFBZ

🚑 Apreo Health, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based medical device maker focused on emphysema, raised $130m in Series B funding. Bain Capital Life Sciences and Norwest led, joined by F-Prime, Intuitive Ventures, Lightstone Ventures, and Santé Ventures. axios.link/4osHYWC

• Capacity, a St. Louis-based support automation platform for contact centers, raised $42.6m in Series D funding led by TVC Capital and Toloka.vc. It also secured $50m in debt. axios.link/3J4gK8F

• Bit2Me, a Spanish digital asset platform, raised €30m in funding led by Tether Ventures. axios.link/46MRqOj

🚑 August Health, an SF-based provider of senior living tech, raised $29m in Series B funding. Base10 Partners led, joined by General Catalyst, Matrix Partners, Equitage Ventures, Senior Living Transformation Co., and Stanford University. axios.link/40Wa0jj

• Casap, a New York-based credit card dispute fintech, raised $25m led by Emergence Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Primary Venture Partners and SoFi. axios.link/47lKzeN

• Fort Robotics, a Philadelphia-based provider of robot safety solutions, raised $18.9m in Series B extension funding led by Tiger Global. axios.link/4md3OMq

🚀 Orbital Operations, developer of a high-thrust orbital vehicle, raised $8.8m in seed funding. Initialized Capital led, joined by Harpoon Ventures, DTX Ventures, Rebel Fund, TRAC VC, Karman Ventures, and Immad Akhund. axios.link/41yPSDT

🚑 Translucent AI, a fintech platform for health care operators, raised $7m in seed funding. NEA led, joined by Virtue, FPV, and Redesign Health. axios.link/3JoM6GX

• Ardian agreed a stake in Diot-Siaci, a French corporate insurance brokerage group, from Ontario Teachers. axios.link/3UO1sr1

• Blackstone and Thoma Bravo are in talks to acquire Iress (ASX: IRE), an Australian fintech that could be worth around A$2b. axios.link/4ljsUIc

• Declaration Partners acquired a majority stake in CP Group, a San Diego-based maker of material recovery facilities and sorting technologies. cpgrp.com

• HPS Investment Partners invested in Lido Advisors, an LA-based wealth advisor whose backers include Charlesbank Capital Partners and Constellation Wealth Capital. axios.link/40S8kr2

• L Catterton acquired a minority stake in Indian restaurant group Dishoom at a reported £300m valuation. axios.link/46IsOpP

• One Equity Partners agreed to acquire a stake in Baton Rouge, La.-based industrial services firm Brown & Root from Bernhard Capital Partners. Existing backer KBR (NYSE: KBR) will continue to own a position. axios.link/4otcf7M

• Revolution Beauty (LON: REVB) rejected a takeover offer from True, per Reuters. axios.link/3USw8Ya

• Story3 Capital Partners invested in Adanola, a U.K. active womenswear brand. axios.link/4md3WeS

• Vertex, a Wind Point Partners portfolio company, acquired LitCon, an Alexandria, Va.-based provider of dispute resolution solutions. litcongroup.com

🚑 Heartflow, a Mountain View, Calif.-based cardiovascular disease diagnostics company, raised $317m in its IPO. It priced at $19 (above range), for a $1.7b fully diluted value, and will list on the Nasdaq (HTFL). The company had raised over $900m from firms like Bain Capital Life Sciences, HealthCor Partners, Wellington, and USVP. axios.link/4m3FnAN

• Czechoslovak Group, the Czech arms company that last year bought Vista Outdoor's (NYSE: VSTO) ammo business, is prepping an Amsterdam IPO that at a €30b valuation, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4oGCA2m

🚑 CorMedix (Nasdaq: CRMD) agreed to buy Melinta Therapeutics, a Parsippany, N.J.-based maker of infectious disease antibiotics, from Deerfield Management for $300m in cash and stock. axios.link/4mtNKoZ

🚑 Doximity (NYSE: DOCS) is paying up to $63m to acquire Pathway Medical, a Montreal-based clinical reference startup that had raised around $6m from Yamaha Motor Ventures, Formentera Capital, BoxOne Ventures, Verge HealthTech Fund, and Amplify Capital. axios.link/4ltriM8

• Meta (Nasdaq: META) acquired WaveForms, an SF-based audio AI startup that last year raised $40m in seed funding led by a16z, per The Information. axios.link/459oyi3

• Ripple will pay $200m to buy Rail, a Canadian stablecoin platform that had raised $15m from Galaxy Ventures, Accomplice VC, Weekend Fund, and Sapphire Ventures. axios.link/4osUwNH

• AT&T (NYSE: T) is seeking to sell its Mexico unit for more than $2b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/47kJUdy

• Boeing (NYSE: BA) received U.K. antitrust approval for its $4.7b agreement to buy Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR), a plane parts maker it spun out two decades ago. axios.link/3URLr3m

⚡ Lyten, a San Jose, Calif.-based battery startup valued by VCs at nearly $1.2b, agreed to buy the remaining Swedish and German assets of bankrupt battery maker Northvolt. axios.link/3UR2nXH

• US Foods (NYSE: USFD) said that Performance Food Group (NYSE: PFGC) rebuffed its takeover approach. axios.link/4fMyKAN

• Accel-KKR raised $1.9b for a single-asset CV for portfolio company Isolved, a Charlotte-based provider of HR management software. isolvedhcm.com

• General Atlantic is considering raising a secondaries fund, per Axios Pro. axios.link/45ozYwZ

• Silver Lake launched a $400m digital infrastructure platform in partnership with principals at Commonwealth Asset Management. axios.link/4m760EZ

⚡ ArcLight named Angelo Acconcia as firm president. He joined the firm in 2022 from Blackstone. axios.link/4myhMrK

• Bain Capital Ventures promoted Abby Meyers and Ron Miasnik to partners. baincapitalventures.com

• Scott Barek joined Evolution Credit Partners as a managing director. He previously was with BofA. axios.link/3UP8aNo

• Guillermo Baygual is leaving JPMorgan Chase to join Citigroup as co-head of M&A, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3UjOzFa

• President Trump said he'll nominate Council of Economic Advisers head Stephen Miran to fill a vacant seat on the Fed's board of governors. axios.link/3USVsxa