Private equity is accelerating its push into the retail investor pool, even as its relationships with institutional investors begin to fray.

Why it matters: This may be passing the buck, literally.

Driving the news: The SEC is seeking to lower standards for individuals to invest in private-market funds, likely by loosening accredited investor rules, after the Biden administration reversed similar efforts during Trump 1.0.

• "If an individual believes that the risk is appropriate and is protected against fraud, then our regulatory regime should not deny such individual a source of potential wealth accumulation and portfolio diversification," said then-acting SEC commissioner Mark Uyeda, in a late February speech. "Investor protection cannot be achieved through paternalistic policies."

Zoom in: The private equity industry, meanwhile, continues to offer new retail products with differing levels of qualification.

• KKR and Capital Group last week formed two funds that mix public and private credit, and said that strategies incorporating corporate buyouts are coming by next year.
• Apollo and State Street recently launched a private credit ETF, which claims to solve the inherent illiquidity issues by having Apollo provide credit assets that it pledges to repurchase if necessary.
• State Street also reportedly is in talks with Carlyle "to create a product that would combine public and private markets for individual investors."

The bottom line: Private equity has viewed retail investors as the fundraising holy grail since long before distributions dried up, so the former isn't being directly driven by the latter. But it sure is convenient timing.

Shell (NYSE: SHEL) is exploring an acquisition bid for fellow oil major BP (NYSE: BP), according to Bloomberg.

Why it's the BFD: This highlights how BP looks like something of a wounded animal, having underperformed its peers.

• Shares are down 28% over the past year, despite an attempted turnaround plan, which gives it less cushion to soften the blow of falling oil prices.

The bottom line: "A successful combination of Shell and BP would be one of the oil industry's largest-ever takeovers, bringing together the iconic British majors in a deal that's been discussed on and off for decades. The companies were once close rivals — with a similar size, reach and global clout — but their paths have diverged in recent years." — Bloomberg

• Anysphere, maker of AI coding assistant Cursor, raised $900m at around a $9b valuation, per the FT. Thrive Capital led, joined by a16z and Accel. axios.link/42HndO8

• Apex, a satellite bus developer, raised $200m in Series C funding.Point72 Ventures and 8VC co-led, joined by a16z, Washington Harbour Partners, and StepStone Group. axios.link/44oi9PT

🌎 Rainmaker, a startup that uses drones to enhance rain, raised $25m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Lowercarbon Capital led, joined by Starship Ventures, 1517 Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Garry Tan, and Naval Ravikant. axios.link/42ZKFox

• MoneyFellows, a Cairo, Egypt-based digital lender, raised $13m co-led by Al Mada Ventures and Nclude Fund. axios.link/4iQkDKx

🚑 Dawn Health, a Copenhagen-based software-as-a-medical-device startup, raised €11.5m from Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker, the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark, and Trifork Labs. dawnhealth.com

🌎 Ace Aquatec, a Scottish aquaculture tech startup, raised £7.5m. Stolt Ventures led, joined by Scottish Enterprise and Aqua-Spark. axios.link/4m5Uhag

🚑 FoodHealth, an SF-based nutrition intelligence platform, raised $7.5m in Series A funding co-led by Reach Capital and Ulu Ventures, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3GDBbIh

• Solena Materials, a London-based maker of synthetic protein fibers raised $6.7m in seed funding led by David Harding, with SynBioVen and Insempra participating. axios.link/3EOqGkS

• Skillvue, an Italian skills platform for HR-related processes, raised $6.3m in seed funding. 360 Capital led, joined by Italian Founders Fund and 14Peaks Capital. axios.link/430Krhc

• Apax Partners is in the lead to acquire the treasury and capital markets business of Vista Equity-owned Finastra for around $2b, per Reuters. axios.link/3EZdtpd

• EQT and Arctos Partners are exploring a tie-up, per Bloomberg.

• Incoming EQT CEO Per Franzén will be on my Milken panel this afternoon, discussing the state of private equity.

• Great Hill Partners acquired Vision Government Solutions, a Hudson, Mass.-based provider of property tax appraisal software, from Rubicon Technology Partners. vgsi.com

⚡ I Squared Capital is working with Enbridge (TSX: ENB) on a $5b bid for Matterhorn Express Pipeline, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4k4lsR0

🚑 Madison Dearborn Partners acquired a "significant ownership position" in NextGen Healthcare, an Irvine, Calif.-based EHR/EMR company, from Thoma Bravo. nextgen.com

⚡ Strategic Value Partners acquired a stake in Birdsboro Power, a gas-fired combined-cycle generation facility in Berks County, Pa. axios.link/43fguuX

• Thoma Bravo invested more than $100m into HubSync, a Franklin, Tenn.-based tax and accounting platform. hubsync.com

Two insurers lead the U.S. IPO calendar this week: Apollo-owned Aspen Insurance and Florida-focused American Integrity.

• eToro, a London-based no-fee trading app, is expected to launch its IPO roadshow this week, after having paused due to market volatility. axios.link/4hGDjfa

• Anthropic is offering to buy back some employee shares at a $61.5b valuation, per The Information. axios.link/44nHOs7

• SKY Leasing, an aviation investment manager, has acquired JetBlue Ventures from JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU). axios.link/3Z1iO6g

• Anduril, the defense-tech company valued by VCs at $14b, acquired Klas, an Irish edge computing and tactical comms company. axios.link/44RY6th

• Banco Santander (Madrid: SAN) agreed to sell most of its Polish assets to Austria's Erste Group for €7b. axios.link/4k3jfVF

🌎 Carrier Global (NYSE: CARR) acquired Addvolt, a Portuguese transport electrification provider. axios.link/4d12LLD

⚡ Chevron (NYSE: CVX) wants to buy the remaining 50% stake in its chemicals joint venture with Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX). axios.link/44omnXN

• Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR), an Australian gold miner, accepted a sweetened US$2.4b all-cash takeover offer from South Africa's Gold Fields (JSE: GFI). axios.link/42V96U9

• Pershing Square agreed to invest around $900m into Howard Hughes Holdings (NYSE: HHH), thus increasing its stake to nearly 47%.

• Pershing Square CIO Ryan Israel will be on my Milken panel tomorrow, discussing public equities strategies.

⚽ Redwood Holdings, led by Rob Couhig, agreed to buy the Reading Football Club and its affiliated stadium and training facility. axios.link/3Z2eiEu

⚡ Sunoco (YSE: SUN) agreed to buy Canadian fuel distributor Parkland (TSX: PKI) for around $9.1b (inlucing debt). axios.link/3GS5ieY

• Craig Bergmann joined Deutsche Bank as Americas head of capital markets and M&A legal. He previously was with Barclays. axios.link/4jznLeQ

• Andy Canovali joined Partners Capital as a managing director and head of secondaries. He previously was with Performance Equity Management. axios.link/43fWzMu

• John Lyman (ex-GV) joined Telescope as a managing partner focused on early-stage investing. telescopegp.com

• Bill Shope, a former Goldman Sachs banker who most recently was CFO of Humane, is joining tech M&A advisory firm Tidal Partners as a partner. axios.link/3GTHSG3

• West Monroe named Gil Mermelstein as CEO, effective July 1. He succeeds Kevin McCarty, who becomes executive chair. axios.link/42Kyjlq

Warren Buffett on Saturday said that he'll ask Berkshire Hathaway's board to replace him as CEO with Greg Abel at year-end.

• The big question is what Abel will do with Berkshire's massive cash pile — $347 billion, which is larger than the market cap of all but 27 companies in the Fortune 500.