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Here are the top reads,
Mega deal: Thomson Reuters Corp. is hoping to jump-start growth in its core financial data business, ceding control of the unit to private equity giant Blackstone Group LP in a $17-billion (U.S.) deal to form a new joint venture. Tuesday's deal gives Thomson Reuters a powerful new partner and stable, long-term capital to compete more aggressively for space on desks at banks, trading houses and hedge funds. Story (James Bradshaw and Jeffrey Jones)
More pot listings coming: Canadians are five months away from being able to legally spark up a joint, but the party has already started in the cannabis industry, with two marijuana producers planning to go public in coming weeks. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
Market integrity: A growing chorus of Bay Street traders and money managers is sounding the alarm over a recent jump in how often a single brokerage executes both the "buy" and "sell" sides of a stock trade. Story (Christina Pellegrini, for subscribers)
Hotel industry: Hotel visionary and billionaire Barry Sternlicht is unwinding his Westin hotel portfolio in Canada with the sale of three luxury hotels in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. Story (Rachelle Younglai, for subscribers)
DEAL WRAP
Tech sector merger: Europe's top technology company SAP announced a US$2.4-billion U.S. acquisition to help it boost revenues from its cloud platform and CEO Bill McDermott said it would streamline its overall business this year to bolster margins. Story
Canadian venture deal No. 1: Montreal-based Busbud has raised $14-million in Series B funding. The round was led by iNovia Capital and includes new investors Teralys Capital, Claridge, Plaza Ventures, and Real Ventures. iNovia, Claridge, and Teralys worked together as investors in high-end vacation rental platform Luxury Retreats, which exited to Airbnb in early 2017. BetaKit
Canadian venture deal No. 2: Toronto-based Drop announced today that it has closed a $25.8-million series A round, led by New Enterprise Associates. The round also features continuing participation from White Star Capital, ff Venture Capital, and Portag3 Ventures. Portag3 and White Star Capital were part of Drop's $5.5-million seed round in October of last year. BetaKit
U.S. venture fund: AI superstar Andrew Ng has spent the past year launching a handful of new initiatives, and now he's at it again with the AI Fund, a startup incubator that will back small teams of experts looking to solve key problems using machine learning. The fund has US$175-million in its war chest to fund AI startups that arise within its walls. VentureBeat
U.S. venture deal No. 1: The SoftBank Vision Fund, a nearly US$100-billion pot of money managed by the Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, is investing US$300-million in Wag, a start-up in Los Angeles whose app lets you summon someone to walk your dog. New York Times
U.S. venture deal No. 2: Cloud-based website-testing tool BrowserStack has raised US$50-million in a series A round of funding led by Accel. The company also announced the opening of its new North American headquarters in San Francisco. VentureBeat
U.S. venture deal No. 3: Next Trucking, which matches shippers and truck carriers through an online marketplace, announced today that it has raised US$21-million in funding, in a round led by Sequoia Capital. Previous investors also joined, but the startup declined to disclose which ones. VentureBeat
U.S. venture deal No. 4: Paris-based Spendesk said today that it has raised US$9.9-million in venture capital as it prepares to scale its platform and expand across Europe. VentureBeat
U.S. venture deal No. 5: Ring, a maker of camera-enabled doorbell products, is raising US$160-million at a valuation of nearly US$1-billion, nearly double from only a year ago, according to a securities filing and investors. The Information
FINANCIAL SERVICES WRAP
Wealth management: Canada's exchange-traded fund industry will nearly triple over the next five years to $400-billion as more institutional investors are drawn to the low-cost funds, according to a forecast by Bank of Montreal. Story
WHAT WE'RE READING ELSEWHERE
Sell-side: Analysts in emerging Asia have a big problem, and it's not MiFID II. Even after a 45 per cent gain in the MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index since the start of last year, brokerages remain staunchly positive on the region's blue chips. Of the 7,000 ratings on the benchmark's 272 stocks with a market capitalization of US$10-billion or more, there are only 649 sell recommendations. Bloomberg
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Pot merger mania: Emerging industries usually follow a natural business cycle: They blossom, then they consolidate. Canada's scorching, but nascent, marijuana sector seems to be entering the second phase. What's unusual about this round of merger mania is the speed at which it's unfolding. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)