Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and flattery is one of the quickest ways to Donald Trump's heart.

• That's the easiest way to understand what we saw yesterday from Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves, who for nearly two hours spoke and took questions during a rambling press conference that veered from bravado to xenophobia to attacks on the press.
• At one point, he even grabbed an American flag and shouted "The United States of America!"

Why it matters: Goncalves very much still wants to buy U.S. Steel, but would need Trump's help to do so.

• So he laid it on very, very thick.

Zoom in: The first thing Goncalves needs is for U.S. Steel's deal with Nippon Steel to be scrapped. That could happen if a court agrees with President Biden's block on national security grounds, in a case where oral arguments are likely to occur in early April.

• Even if U.S. Steel prevails, the deal would revert to a CFIUS controlled by Trump. At that point, Goncalves would hope for a similar action — likely with a bit more legal artifice.

Fast forward: Goncalves would then need help getting the deal past Trump's antitrust regulators, who may be more lax than Biden's but still no pushovers.

• Remember that antitrust is a major reason why U.S. Steel didn't pick Cleveland-Cliffs in the first place. Moreover, reports are that Cleveland-Cliffs would partner on its revised bid with Nucor, which means the country's top two steelmakers by volume would be purchasing No. 3.
• Goncalves at times sidestepped the antitrust questions, but at other times seemed to validate them, talking about how Cleveland-Cliffs has a monopoly on one type of domestic steel production and needs more consolidation on another in order to compete with foreign producers.

Reactions: It's not yet clear how the presser played at Mar-a-Lago, but U.S. Steel wasn't moved.

• "We are incredibly disappointed in the verbal attacks levied by Mr. Goncalves toward the outstanding local leadership across Pennsylvania, the many members of the USW who have supported the combination of U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, and the people of Japan – a critical U.S. ally."
• Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was more measured, but disputed Goncalves' claim that a Cleveland-Cliffs tie-up had his endorsement.
• You've also got to also wonder how this played in Ohio, given that Goncalves pledged to rename the combined company U.S. Steel and move its headquarters to Pittsburgh.

The bottom line: Goncalves knows what he's doing, even if it didn't look like it.

Venture Global, an export-focused LNG producer backed by PIMCO, set its IPO terms to 50 million shares at $40-$46 per share.

Why it's the BFD: This would be the largest U.S. energy IPO in over a decade, per Renaissance Capital.

By the numbers: Venture Global would have a $115 billion fully diluted market value, were it to price in the middle of its proposed range, and reports $756 million of net income on $3.45 billion of sales for the first nine months of 2024.

The bottom line: The Trump trade on this one gets very complicated, as the company itself notes in its prospectus. On the one hand, Trump is "widely expected" to support LNG exports and end Biden's pause on new approvals. On the other, Trump's tariffs (particularly on China) could have an "adverse effect" on new sales.

• LemFi, a London-based financial services platform for immigrants, raised $53m in Series B funding. Highland Europe led, and was joined by Left Lane Capital, Palm Drive Capital, YC, and Endeavor Catalyst. axios.link/4ajfqYM

🚑 Bioptimus, a French foundational AI model developer focused on life sciences, raised $41m. Cathay Innovation led, and was joined by Sofinnova Partners, Bpifrance, Andera Partners, Hitachi Ventures, Boom Capital Ventures, Pomifer Capital, and Sunrise. axios.link/4hbFXts

🚑 Robeauté, a French developer of robotic solutions for neurosurgery, raised $28m from Plural, Cherry Ventures, Kindred Ventures, LocalGlobe, Think.Health and insider APEX Ventures. axios.link/3PAwIaw

• Raspberry AI, an AI image-generation platform for fashion creatives, raised $24m in Series A funding. A16z led, and was joined by insiders Greycroft, Correlation Ventures, and MVP Ventures. axios.link/3WfYZqu

• Pipe17, a Seattle-based e-commerce order management platform, raised $15.5m in Series A funding. LFX Venture Partners led, and was joined by GLP. axios.link/3Pxwv7U

• BforeAI, a French provider of predictive attack intelligence and digital risk protection solution, raised $10m in Series B funding led by Titanium Ventures. bfore.ai

🚑 Lady Technologies, maker of a fertility tracker and pelvic floor trainer, raised $6.5m in Series A funding led by Relentless Consumer Partners. ladytechnologies.com

• Genesy, a Spanish developer of AI agents for B2B sales, raised €5m in seed funding. Samaipata led, and was joined by KFund and Itnig. axios.link/40jd0oy

• Thoras, a Washington, D.C.-based cloud cost management startup, raised $5m in seed funding. Wellington Ventures led, and was joined by Sinewave Ventures, Focal Ventures, and Storytime Capital. axios.link/4jhVaea

• Photon IP, a Dutch developer of low-power optical chips, raised €4.75m in seed funding led by Innovation Industries. axios.link/42h59KP

• Nevermined, an AI-to-AI payment protocol, raised $4m. Generative Ventures led, and was joined by Polymorphic Capital, NEAR, Halo Capital, Factor Capital, Lyrik Ventures, and Arca. nevermined.io

• Open Ledger, a startup that automates accounting tasks for small businesses, raised $3m in seed funding led by Kindred Ventures. openledger.com

⚡AlphaGen, a power infrastructure company owned by ArcLight, raised $500m from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. axios.link/3DTNe2G

• Apollo Global Management agreed to buy Argo Infrastructure Partners, which has around $6b in AUM. axios.link/429XHRG

• Arcapita and Turkish fintech Dgpays agreed to buy a majority stake in payments tech group Neopay from Dubai-listed Mashreq Bank for $385m. axios.link/42aJrrO

• Berkshire Partners and Court Square invested in Thrive, a Foxborough, Mass., cybersecurity and IT manages services company, from backers like MC Partners. thrivenexgen.com

• Bland Landscaping, a portfolio company of Comvest Private Equity, acquired Koehn Outdoor of Jacksonville, Florida. blandlandscaping.com

🚑 Cengage Group, an ed-tech company backed by Apollo, acquired Visible Body, a Framingham, Mass., provider of 3D models and software for the sciences that had raised funding from Lineage Capital and Capitala Group. cengagegroup.com

• Collars & Co., a Bethesda, Md., clothing brand, is weighing inbound interest from strategics and PE, per Axios Pro. axios.link/40w5TdO

• Crimson Phoenix, a U.S. intelligence community-focused portfolio company of Godspeed Capital, acquired Blackspoke, an Arlington, Va., IT consultancy. crimsonphoenix.com

• Goldman Sachs is in advanced talks to buy Danish telematics firm Trackunit from Hg for more than $1b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4jcPa6F

• Gryphon Investors agreed to acquire a majority stake in Spindrift, a Newton, Mass.-based maker of sparkling water products. It also said that founder and CEO Bill Creelman will become chair, while Dave Burwick (ex-CEO of Boston Beer Co. and Peet's Coffee) becomes CEO. drinkspindrift.com

• GRAM ABF acquired UniVista Insurance, a distributor of insurance products to Hispanic communities in Florida and Texas. univistainsurance.com

🚑 New Mountain Capital agreed to invest in Access Healthcare, a Dallas-based revenue cycle management firm that Bloomberg reported could be worth around $2b. axios.link/4gSbAbA

• New Mountain also invested in Union Healthcare Insight, a Washington, D.C.-based healthcare research and insights platform. unionhealthcareinsight.com

• Superior Environmental Solutions, a portfolio company of Palladium Equity Partners, acquired Mobile, Ala.-based American Remediation & Environmental. sesinc.com

🚑 TA Associates completed its €1.2b tender offer for German e-health company Nexus. axios.link/3C9CH2W

🚑 Cycle Pharmaceuticals acquired Banner Life Sciences, a High Point, N.C.-based biotech focused on relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis in adults, from JLL Partners. axios.link/40xfZLF

🚑 Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) agreed to buy Scorpion Therapeutics, a Boston-based precision oncology company, for $2.2b in cash (FT reported around $1b upfront). Scorpion had raised $420m from firms like Frazier Life Sciences, Lightspeed, Willett Advisors, Omega Funds, Vida Ventures, Atlas Venture, Abingworth, Fidelity, Boxer Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Surveyor Capital, Invus, Wellington Management, Nextech Invest, OrbiMed, Logos Capital, Woodline Partners, and Casdin Capital. axios.link/40uBmgh

• MoonPay, last valued by VCs at $3.4 billion in 2021, agreed to acquire crypto checkout startup Helio, which previously raised $3.3m from Peak and Lightspeed Faction. axios.link/40tZNuh

• AccountsIQ, an Irish accounting platform backed by Axiom Equity, acquired ExpenseIn, a provider of expense management software for invoicing. axios.link/3PEaIeE

🍪 Crumbl, a Lindon, Utah-based cookie chain, hired North Point to explore a sale that could fetch nearly $2b (including debt), per Reuters. axios.link/4hgFiXU

• MAI Capital Management of Cleveland acquired Concentric Wealth Management, a Lafayette, Calif., RIA with $662m of AUM. mai.capital

• United Rentals (NYSE: URI) agreed to buy smaller rival H&E Equipment Services (Nasdaq: HEES) for $4.8b in cash, or $92 per share (109% premium to yesterday's close). axios.link/4j88lP7

• StepStone Group raised over $1.4b for an infrastructure co-investment fund. axios.link/4hdbKKr

• AlixPartners named David Garfield and Rob Hornby as co-CEOs, succeeding Simon Freakley (who becomes exec chair). alixpartners.com

• Chetan Bhandari joined Angeles Equity Partners as head of capital markets for the PE firm's operations group. He previously was with Greenhill & Co. axios.link/4fWaV82

• Kelly Downey (ex-Norseland, Unilever) joined Yellow Wood Partners as an operating partner focused on the CPG industry. axios.link/4fRkK72

⚡ First Reserve promoted Yuri Larrabee to managing director and both Wes Fischer and Jonathan Lee to directors. firstreserve.com

• Jason Frank joined midmarket investment bank BDO Capital Advisors as president and CCO. He previously led advisory for Cabrera Capital Markets. axios.link/3DSCSjH

• Anna Hammer is stepping down as chief investment officer at Länsförsäkringar Liv, in order to take the sale role at Swedish pension Andra AP-fonden. axios.link/3Pyogs7

• Eanna Murphy joined Stonepeak as an operating partner focused on data centers and digital infrastructure. He previously was co-COO of Yonder Group. axios.link/3E33w9o

• Michael Murrer joined Wedbush Securities as head of gaming, lodging and leisure investment banking. He previously was with Jefferies. axios.link/3DPVqBd

• Jen Pipeszak will become COO of JPMorgan Chase and took herself out of the running to succeed Jamie Dimon. She'll instead replace Daniel Pinto, who will step down as bank president and CEO in June and retire at the end of 2026. axios.link/3DSwSrj

• Visible Ventures promoted Yuriy Dovzhansky to partner. axios.link/3Wigx5p

Corporate spinoffs are bulking up, Axios Pro's Michael Flaherty writes.

• This includes yesterday's IPO filing from Titan America, the U.S. business of Belgian cement giant Titan Cement. The carveout will list on the NYSE, with Renaissance Capital estimating that it could raise around $500 million.
• Plus, there's a Bloomberg report that Honeywell is planning to split up under activist pressure.