The Federal Trade Commission and Meta today begin an antitrust trial that could result in the tech giant being ordered to spin off both Instagram and WhatsApp.

Why it matters: The outcome could determine Big Tech's appetite for future acquisitions, and possibly spark a wave of divestitures.

Catch up quick: This is Trump 2.0 trying to finish what Trump 1.0 started.

• The original case was filed in December 2020, but later dismissed by a judge for lacking sufficient evidence of Meta's market dominance.
• The FTC under Lina Khan refiled a few months later, and that's the case that kicks off today.
• It will be heard by Judge James Boasberg, who isn't exactly a Trump administration favorite. Last year he rejected Meta's motion to dismiss.

Zoom in: The trial will center on the legality of Meta's purchases of Instagram and WhatApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Both deals were reviewed by the FTC under President Obama.

• At issue is whether Meta acted illegally in its WhatsApp and Instagram acquisitions, done in 2014 and 2012.
• The FTC will argue that Meta used these deals to illegally "neutralize" rivals in its successful efforts to monopolize "personal social networking services."
• Meta will argue that it still has plenty of viable social networking rivals, and that the two apps wouldn't have grown to the same statures had they remained independent.

What to watch: A cavalcade of high-profile witnesses, including Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and Sequoia Capital partner Jim Goetz (who led the VC rounds for WhatsApp).

• The trial could last more than two months.

CVC Capital Partners has considered a takeover bid for New York-based direct lender Golub Capital, per the FT.

Why it's the BFD: Golub is one of the largest independent firms left in private credit, after several years of market consolidation.

• That makes it a shiny target for CVC, which hasn't yet made an acquisition in the space — despite kicking tires on both HPS (bought by BlackRock) and Fortress (controlled by Mubadala).

Yes, but: Golub doesn't seem to want be be bought, in part because it's already developed a deep management bench for when brothers Lawrence (CEO) and David Golub (president) retire.

• The firm declined comment, but Axios has learned that firm leadership sent an email to employees after the FT article ran, denying its premise.
• The email read, in part: "We told the journalist that we're not entertaining a sale but they decided to run the article anyway. It is aggravating to have a story like this appear, but we are so large and successful that we generate attention, including sometimes unwanted attention."

The bottom line: Private credit once again is becoming a pressure-release valve for Wall Street, as big banks seek buyers for leveraged loans amidst the tariff turmoil.

⚡ Mainspring Energy, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based maker of linear generators, raised $258m in Series F funding. General Catalyst led, joined by Amazo's Climate Pledge Fund and Temasek. axios.link/3YqaWuH

⚡ General Matter, an enriched uranium startup, raised $50m led by Founders Fund. The startup was formed by FF partner Scott Nolan, and Peter Thiel has joined its board. axios.link/3Ep4rSf

• Tapcheck, an LA-based earned wage access company, raised $25m in Series A extension funding led by insider PeakSpan Capital. It also secured a $200m credit facility from Victory Park Capital. axios.link/4lwhoKM

• BKN301, an Italian banking-as-a-service startup, raised €21.5m in Series B funding from CDP VC, Azimut Libera Impresa, SIMEST, and Alisei Forinvestments. axios.link/42wLzsH

⚡ Arnergy, a Nigerian solar energy distributor, raised $15m in Series B extension funding. CardinalStone Capital Advisers led, joined by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, British International Investment, Norfund, EDFI MC, and All On. axios.link/44q33Jz

• ConductorAI, a Biddeford, Maine-based provider of government approvals software, raised $15m in Series A funding. Lux Capital led, joined by Altman Capital, Haystack Ventures, Sunflower Capital, Humba Ventures, Also Capital, Forward Deployed VC, and Abstract Ventures. axios.link/3YsIPv0

• Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based developer of autonomous naval ships, raised $14m in seed funding from Eclipse, Riot, and Impatient Ventures. axios.link/3Rj5jLc

• Vinyl Equity, a digital transfer agent, raised $11.5m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Index Ventures and Spark Capital co-led, joined by Infinity Ventures and Cambrian. axios.link/4lvm0Ra

• Klara, a Paris-based maker of digital tools for frontline employees, raised €10m led by Endeit Capital. axios.link/44plm1v

• ClearCOGS, a Chicago-based provider of predictive analytics for restaurants, raised $3.8m in seed funding. Closed Loop Partners led, joined by Myriad Venture Partners and Hearst's Level Up Ventures. axios.link/4ltHrSP

• Noto, a provider of software for turoring centers and other lesson-based businesses, raised $3.8m in seed funding led by Base10 Partners. axios.link/3RMZyp3

⚡ Apollo (NYSE: APO) committed up to $400m to a joint venture with commercial solar company Summit Ridge Energy. axios.link/42thtGp

⚡ ArcLight Capital Partners agreed to buy Kleen Power, a natural gas-fired power plant for the New England market, from Osaka Gas and Kyuden International Americas. axios.link/3G6ZWwd

🚑 BayPine agreed to buy Salt Lake City-based clinical trials firm CenExel for around $1.5b from Webster Equity Partners (which retains a minority stake). axios.link/3G5ee0h

🚑 Havencrest Capital Management acquired Home Care Angels and Private Duty Home Healthcare, providers of at-home personal care services in Illinois and Michigan, respectively. axios.link/4icTBfO

• KKR agreed to buy OSTTRA, a London-based post-trade services firm, for $3.1b from CME Group (Nasdaq: CME) and S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). axios.link/3XYcYSQ

• Silver Lake is nearing an agreement to buy the Altera programmable chips business from Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), per Bloomberg. axios.link/3XXA4ZK

• Stonepeak completed its $3.1b take-private buyout of Air Transport Services Group, a Wilmington, Ohio-based aircraft leasor and cargo transport company. axios.link/4egx0NI

Two companies plan to go public this week on U.S. exchanges: Chinese teahouse operator Chagee and Washington, D.C.-based air mobility firm AIRO Group.

• Gores Holdings X, a SPAC formed by PE firm Gores Group, filed for a $260m IPO. axios.link/42kXn0M

• Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion brand, received approval from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority for an IPO, but still needs approval from Beijing, per Reuters. axios.link/42IeB9N

⚡ ADNOC is weighing a bid for the U.S. natural gas assets of Aethon Energy Management, per Reuters. axios.link/4lseZ3x

🚀 AE Industrial Partners is weighing the sale of York Space Systems, a Denver-based provider of small satellites, satellite parts and mission operation solutions that it acquired in late 2022, per Bloomberg. A deal could value York at around $2b. axios.link/4j8IxBV

• Ageas, a U.K. insurer, agreed to acquire Esure Group from Bain Capital for £1.3b. axios.link/4lw3wjx

• Gellert Global Group acquired Heartisan Foods, a Barron, Wis.-based maker of branded and private-label flavored cheese products, from Ronin Equity Partners and Landon Capital Partners. gellertglobalgroup.com

• Kodiak Robotics, an autonomous truckmaker, agreed to go public via Ares Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: AACT) at a $2.5b pre-money equity valuation. It previously raised over $200m from firms like SIP Global Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, StepStone Group, Aliya Capital Partners, and Walleye Capital. axios.link/4jAFlyT

• Better (Nasdaq: BETR) is restructuring its unusual $530 million convertible note deal with SoftBank, in which Better's CEO had been personally liable for the notes. axios.link/3ReuvT5

• Ennis (NYSE: EBF) acquired Northeastern Envelope, an Old Forge, Pa.-based envelope maker. ennis.com

• Marcum, a New York-based accounting firm bought last year by CBIZ (NYSE: CBZ), sold the remaining 50% stake in its Asia business to the unit's two founders, per the WSJ. axios.link/3Eksf9Q

• Salzgitter, a German steelmaker, ended takeover talks with a consortium of GP Günter Papenburg and TSR Recycling. axios.link/43NKor3

• Warner Bros Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD) said it's decided not to sell Polish broadcaster TVN. axios.link/4j8xvfT

• ABC Impact, a Singapore-based PE firm, raised over $600m for its second fund. LPs include Temasek, Asian Development Bank, Mapletree Investments, and SeaTown Holdings. axios.link/42tcENn

• Baukunst, an SF-based VC firm, is raising $100m for its second fund, per an SEC filing.

• Brookfield is targeting $2b for a Middle East-focused PE fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3YtiHQA

• Founders Fund raised $4.6b for its third growth equity fund, busting through its $3b target, per an SEC filing.

• Morgan Stanley Investment Management raised $2.3b for its third PE co-investment fund. morganstanley.com/im

• New Mountain Capital raised around a $3b continuation fund for Real Chemistry, a New York-based biopharma marketing and intelligence firm, per Bloomberg. axios.link/42mXJpf

• Mike Minihan, a retired Air Force four-star general, joined Paladin Capital Group as a strategic advisor. paladincapgroup.com

• KKR named partner and former CIA director and Army General David Petraeus as chair of its Middle East business, and said that managing director Julian Barratt-Due will lead investing in the region. axios.link/4igbdYq

• Sean Sullivan joined TSG Consumer Partners as a managing director and chief legal officer. He previously was a senior exec with TSG portfolio company Duckhorn. axios.link/3XXNHrS

• Tom Swerling is stepping down as Barclay's global co-head of ECM to join Deutsche Bank, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4cw1HPz

Private equity valuations fell slightly in Q1, but remained well above pre-pandemic levels and the five-year average, per new data released today by PitchBook.

• Its analysts write: "We anticipate EV/EBITDA multiples to level out as dealmaking activity broadens, as it will inevitably include lesser-quality companies that would put opposite pressure than the trend we observed of GPs bringing their best assets to market while holding on to the rest."

More valuation data: EV-to-revenue multiples rose slightly over 2024, including from 1.8x to 2.2x for U.S. deals. But, again, below pre-pandemic levels and way below the 3x in 2022.

• Debt-to-EBITDA multiples on broadly syndicated deals averaged 4.8% in Q1, matching 2023 for the lowest figure over the past decade.