💌 Inbox Full of Goodbyes
The big exit, and everyone else wants your leftovers.
Good morning!
Binance pulled its Greek licence bid on 24 June. A week later, the door slams: from 1 July, no MiCA passport, no European clients, and the exchange turns contraband across 27 member states. The rivals smelled it days ago; the inboxes are filling with the warm regulatory embrace of the also-rans, all licensed, all sound, none currently being escorted off the continent. The emails skip the quieter arithmetic of an exit. A platform leaving a market gives its users a window to withdraw, and a predictable slice of them will not. Some forgot the account exists. Some moved, changed phones, died. Some will spend 20 minutes failing a re-KYC built to outlast their patience, glance at a balance of €8, and decide it is not worth a second try. The friction is deliberate, the house quietly keeping the change.
France keeps a cemetery for exactly this money, and it is enormous. Roughly €7.87B dozes at the Caisse des Dépôts, the State's holding pen for forgotten cash, the residue of 13.65M accounts swept up since 2017. When neobanks like Orange Bank folded, their orphaned balances were shovelled into the same place. A 2014 dormancy law built the machinery: money left untouched long enough is held by the State, name attached, for 30 years, then pocketed. Some €400M has already crossed that final line. It is a grim system, but a system: a public website, a reclaim form, a civil servant whose entire job is handing the money back, the average claim worth €943.
Crypto sold the opposite promise: a bank of one's own, with no civil servant required. The small print ran the other way, leaving each holder as a one-person unclaimed-property office, good luck included. The graveyard is already vast, between 2.3M and 3.7M Bitcoin gone for good, north of $130B, entombed behind dead passwords and binned hard drives. Gerald Cotten ran QuadrigaCX and took the only keys to 26,350 coins to his grave, a $2.6B dead man's switch. Mt. Gox is still, in 2026, dribbling 2014's money back to creditors, its repayment deadline shoved to October. The Binance exit invents a fresh failure mode: a regulatory door closing while the owner looks the other way, no lost key required.
The laws written to claw dormant crypto back arrived only in 2025, and they reach for the custodian, the one thing now packing its bags. The old world only looks kinder. A forgotten balance at the Caisse des Dépôts sits on a 30-year clock, held interest-free, then absorbed, name and all, into the State that minded it. The €400M already swallowed that way drained not into a dead wallet but into a budget line. One world simply forgets the money; the other files it, stamps it, and helps itself when the clock runs out. The crypto holder, locked out of a building he may not remember entering, is at least spared the paperwork.
A Free Lunch is looking for a business partner or advertising agency to monetize its ads. Contact us!
🗞️ Top Story
- 🇬🇧 Royal Flush. King Charles has published his £12.9M tax payment for 2024-25, a transparency move that puts the monarchy’s wealth on open display for the first time. (Bbc)
- 🇬🇧 Burnham Notice. Donald Trump mocks Andy Burnham’s credentials and green stance, predicting the Labour frontrunner will keep the North Sea closed to new drilling. (Bbc)
- 🇫🇷 Phantom Menace. French forces stopped the Deliver off Sicily for violating maritime law, adding another Russian “ghost fleet” tanker to their growing collection. (Le Parisien)
- 🇧🇪 Glass Ceiling. Seven people were detained after the Liège synagogue bombing shattered windows but not resolve, as Belgian authorities hunt for answers behind the attack.
- 🇪🇺 Heat of the Moment. France raises its health alert to the highest level as Europe's record-breaking heatwave shifts east, pushing Germany and the Czech Republic to brace for 40C days and overloaded hospitals. (Bbc)
- 🇺🇸 Party of One. Donald Trump kicked off the 250th anniversary celebrations in Washington with a speech and few fans, as most musicians and much of the country tuned out. (Spiegel)
- 🇺🇸 Billion Dollar Baby. NATO chief Mark Rutte flatters Trump at the White House with charts showing a $1T rise in allied defense spending, but Trump shrugs and demands more, leaving Europe guessing what it will take to keep the on board. (Spiegel)
- 🇺🇸 Border Control. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Trump administration can physically block migrants at the US-Mexico border from seeking asylum, redefining what it means to “arrive” in the United States. (New York Times)
- 🇻🇪 Ground Zeroes. Venezuela reels after two massive earthquakes hit Yaracuy, with US models warning the death toll could reach several thousand. (Libé)
- 🇴🇲 Current Affairs. A Singapore-flagged cargo ship was struck by an unidentified projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, just as Iran and the US attempt to cool tensions over this vital shipping lane. (Le Figaro)
- 🇸🇩 Siege the Day. El-Obeid faces imminent attack from RSF fighters, prompting urgent calls from the UN and Western powers to halt the offensive before another massacre unfolds. (Libé)
- 🌍 Strait Suspense. After a ship was attacked near Oman, the UN has paused its plan to evacuate hundreds of vessels and crews through the Strait of Hormuz, citing safety concerns for mariners. (Libé)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Known Unknowns. Two young hackers who crippled Transport for London in a £39M cyber attack had been on police radar for years, but interventions failed to stop them. (Bbc)
- 🇬🇧 Labour Pains. Sir Keir Starmer has set a timetable for his resignation as prime minister after losing the confidence of Labour MPs, clearing the way for Andy Burnham to take over. (Bbc)
- 🇬🇧 Red Ed Redemption. Unison's leader publicly backs Ed Miliband for chancellor, defying other major unions and igniting Labour's internal tug-of-war over the Treasury. (Financial Times)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇩🇪 Deal or No Deal. Germany is seeing a $145B surge in mergers and acquisitions as companies rush to consolidate and investors chase the next big thing. (Bloomberg)
- 🇪🇺 Draghi Ball Z. The has already enacted 30% of Mario Draghi's 567 competitiveness recommendations, suggesting Brussels moves faster than its critics claim. (Les Echos)
- 🇪🇺 Tariff Truce. Brussels gives final sign-off to a trade agreement with the US, scrapping most duties and buying time before Trump’s next ultimatum arrives. (Le Monde)
- 🇺🇸 Gilt Trip. Gold prices hover just below $4,000 as softer inflation data cools expectations for another Federal Reserve rate hike, leaving investors less anxious for now. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Shell Game. Defense companies want more money, Trump promises support, but Congress is unlikely to refill the Pentagon’s depleted munitions stockpile anytime soon. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Tax and Run. California voters will decide in November whether to hit billionaires with a one-time wealth tax, while the state’s richest scramble to kill the proposal before it lands. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Trip Advisor. A new Bain & Co. report finds luxury spending is rebounding as wealthy Americans shift from buying status goods to splurging on travel, dining, and "inheritourism" experiences. (Cnbc)
- 🇦🇺 Ore Deal. Iron ore prices in Australia are heading for their seventh consecutive weekly drop as market demand continues to weaken, leaving miners with little to celebrate. (Bloomberg)
- 🇮🇶 Barrel of Threats. Iraq signals it may quit OPEC unless its output quota climbs, reminding the group that founding members can also walk. (Boursier)
- 🌍 Trade Winds. Global trade volumes rose 0.7% in April, defying Middle East turmoil and business jitters according to the Dutch CPB’s latest figures. (Wall Street Journal)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇪🇺 Family Values. Ryanair scraps its fee for seating parents with kids under pressure from regulators, insisting it preferred its own “progressive” approach. (Bbc)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Gauge Against the Machine. The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the PCE index, rose 0.4% in May, pushing it above the central bank’s target and complicating any talk of rate cuts. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Claim Game. Weekly unemployment filings in the fell to 215K, coming in lower than economists' 225K prediction and giving the Fed one less excuse. (Boursier)
- 🇺🇸 Driven Out. Polestar 🇨🇳, the electric car brand with Chinese majority ownership, is barred from the U.S. market after a federal ban on Chinese vehicle software. (Wall Street Journal)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇺🇸 Zero Hour. The city’s Rent Guidelines Board votes 7-1 for a rent freeze on 1M regulated apartments, handing Mamdani a political win and landlords a hard stop. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇭🇰 House Rules. Property values in Hong Kong notch a sixth straight monthly gain, giving landlords a reason to celebrate and tenants something else to worry about. (Bloomberg)
- 🇮🇳 Terminal Value. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani will invest $2.1B to develop airport cities, betting on travel hubs as the next urban goldmine. (Bloomberg)
- 🇦🇺 Down Underwater. Falling home prices in Sydney and Melbourne have erased $128B in value, leaving homeowners and investors gasping for air. (Bloomberg)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Heavy Metal. UK housebuilders brace for a hit as the government doubles steel import tariffs, raising fears of pricier homes and supply chain pain. (Financial Times)
- 🇬🇧 Crown Without a Castle. Despite a £369M refit, King Charles and Queen Camilla will not move into Buckingham Palace, preferring Clarence House and a more open palace for visitors. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Freeze Frame. New York City celebrates a rent freeze for most, but the Bronx’s Tracey Towers gets left out with a looming 31% increase. (New York Times)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇺🇸 Odds and Ends. Polymarket confirmed a hack allowed thieves to steal user funds, with $3M in crypto missing and a refund scramble underway. (TechCrunch)
- 🇺🇸 Flight Club. spot bitcoin ETFs saw $6.4B in outflows over 30 days as bitcoin dropped below $60,000, marking a record investor exodus for 2024. (Cnbc)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇬🇧 Asset Missmanagement. CACEIS UK 🇬🇧 must pay £32M to WealthTek clients for not protecting their funds, as the FCA accepts a voluntary payout over a formal fine. (Financial Times)
- 🇫🇷 Gas Lighting. A French court orders TotalEnergies 🇫🇷 to include its clients' greenhouse gas emissions in its vigilance plan, exposing the gap between climate talk and fossil fuel math. (Le Parisien)
- 🇺🇸 Law and Disorder. Wall Street’s top firms face a reckoning as insider trading charges hit elite lawyers, exposing how digital deal secrets can turn trust into profit. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Memory Lane. Apple hikes MacBook and iPad prices, blaming soaring memory costs and warning customers to expect more sticker shock in the near future. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Supreme Relief. The US Supreme Court cleared Bayer 🇩🇪 of liability in a glyphosate cancer case, sending its shares soaring and its critics fuming.
- 🇺🇸 Small Wonders. IBM unveils a new chipmaking process that nearly doubles transistor density, promising 50% more power and 70% greater efficiency for AI-hungry data centers. (New York Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Toxic Assets. Chemours 🇺🇸 faces a $450M federal settlement for years of PFAS pollution, marking a first for the government but not for public health. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Pickup Artist. General Motors has unveiled its 2027 GMC Sierra 1500 lineup with new V-8 engines and a major redesign, hoping fresh looks will revive flagging sales. (Cnbc)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- Frasers Group 🇬🇧 offers Hugo Boss 🇩🇪 €38 per share in a voluntary takeover bid. Holds ~26% direct stake and will not raise the offer.
- EDF 🇫🇷 could sell a stake in Nuward 🇫🇷 to Italian companies, according to Bloomberg sources ahead of a Macron-Meloni meeting.
- Econocom 🇫🇷 acquires a 51% stake in Bagnetti 🇮🇹. Rome-based IT solutions and services provider with €30M+ annual revenue, focused on public sector, AI and cybersecurity.
- Arnaud Dessain 🇫🇷 acquires Intégrale 🇫🇷 after the company was liquidated, backed by Xavier Niel (NJJ), Christofer Descours (EPI), Patrick Pariente and Sylvain Maillard.
- Airbus and Safran 🇫🇷 acquire Tikehau Capital 🇫🇷's stake in Aubert & Duval 🇫🇷. To be split equally between Airbus and Safran, subject to regulatory approvals, Aubert & Duval ~€960M revenue and ~4,400 employees.
- Merck KGaA 🇩🇪 acquires Bio-Techne 🇺🇸 for $11.3B, a deal in the life sciences sector expected to close by late 2026-early 2027.
- UniCredit 🇮🇹 acquires Commerzbank 🇩🇪. Institutional investors tendered 1.29% of shares, banks 11.17% and retail 0.05%, and UniCredit plans to reopen its offer for another two weeks.
- Acciona 🇪🇸 considers a fusion with Acciona Energía 🇪🇸. Citi and Goldman Sachs advising, Brookfield and KKR among investors contacted with offers expected before August.
- Stellantis 🇳🇱 and Nissan 🇯🇵 in talks to buy assets from Marelli 🇮🇹.
- Trendy Foods Belgium 🇧🇪 acquires Volckaert-Soetens 🇧🇪 after filing a notification with the BMA.
- Davion Healthcare Plc 🇮🇪 acquires Humaskan Ltd 🇬🇧 for $60M, medical technology deal with planned UK finance subsidiary and up to £100M bond programme.
- Prologis 🇺🇸 goes hostile with its $16.6B takeover proposal for Segro 🇬🇧 after management rejected its approach.
- Varonis Systems 🇺🇸, a $4B-listed cybersecurity company, draws takeover interest from Blackstone 🇺🇸, Thoma Bravo 🇺🇸 and Vista Equity Partners 🇺🇸.
- Ryman Hospitality Properties 🇺🇸 explores sale of its 70% interest in Opry Entertainment Group 🇺🇸, owner of venues like the Grand Ole Opry House and the Ryman Auditorium.
- BlackRock's AI Infrastructure Partnership 🇺🇸, Brookfield 🇨🇦, IFM Investors 🇦🇺, KKR 🇺🇸 and DigitalBridge Group 🇺🇸 are interested in acquiring Blue Owl-owned STACK Infrastructure 🇺🇸's APAC data centers.
- H.B. Fuller 🇺🇸 acquires Advanced Medical Solutions 🇬🇧 for $628M (285p a share), a maker of wound-care and surgical-glue products, deal advances despite an investor's objections.
- Ryman Hospitality 🇺🇸 lists Grand Ole Opry House 🇺🇸 for sale.
- Castlelake 🇺🇸 makes a fourth £6.50-per-share offer for easyJet 🇬🇧. EasyJet rejects it but says it will consider a higher bid and extends the offer deadline to July 5.
- Adobe 🇺🇸 acquires Topaz Labs 🇺🇸, maker of AI image and video enhancement models (Astra, Wonder), Emmy-winning production tech, to integrate into Firefly and Creative Cloud while keeping Topaz tools available standalone. Deal to close in H2 2026.
- Blue Owl 🇺🇸 is in advanced talks to buy a stake in Cleveland Cavaliers 🇺🇸.
- Energy Fuels 🇺🇸 acquires Vacuumschmelze 🇩🇪 for $1.9B, paying $718M cash to Ara Partners and issuing 66M new shares (≈20% stake).
- Sony Pictures 🇺🇸 invests $100M in Cosm 🇺🇸, a giant-screen theater operator with venues in Hollywood Park, North Dallas and Atlanta.
- Bain Capital 🇺🇸 acquires Everllence 🇩🇪 (ex-Man Energy Solutions) for €7.4B in a 51% LBO. Maker of large engines and turbines with ~16,000 employees and ~€5B revenue.
- H.B. Fuller 🇺🇸 acquires AMS 🇬🇧 for £659M.
- Jamieson Wellness 🇨🇦 explores selling itself, taps BMO 🇨🇦 and Canaccord 🇨🇦 to advise.
- Onex 🇨🇦, TriWest Capital Partners 🇨🇦 and co-investors acquire AirSprint Inc. 🇨🇦, a Calgary-based fractional private jet company. Founder Judson Macor to become chairman emeritus and CEO James Elian to remain on the board.
- HSG 🇨🇳 and Temasek 🇸🇬 acquire a majority stake in Golden Goose 🇮🇹. Permira keeps a residual stake after five years and near-tripling revenue.
- SBI Holdings 🇯🇵 acquires Bitbank 🇯🇵 for $289M. Deal set to close in October pending Fair Trade Commission approval, combining with SBI BC Trade to serve ~2.9M crypto accounts with $6.8B AUC.
- SoftBank 🇯🇵 is looking to invest in Tokyo Electric Power Co. 🇯🇵, $4.7B-listed energy company.
- Dubai Holding 🇦🇪 is exploring an investment in Hscale 🇺🇸, a private equity-backed data center builder.
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇩🇪 Bank to the Future. N26 achieves net profitability for the first time, as ex-UBS exec Mike Dargan takes the helm and revenue tops €500M. (FinExtra)
- 🇸🇪 Costume Drama. H&M 🇸🇪 saw its Q2 earnings take a $127M hit from one-off restructuring costs as its turnaround campaign drags on, with no quick wardrobe change in sight. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Screen Test. OpenAI faces a new hurdle as the Trump administration insists on vetting every early user of GPT 5.6 before rollout, citing fears of cyber threats and leaks. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Gate Expectations. Investors tried to pull $1.5B from Ares Strategic Income Fund as withdrawal requests hit 14 percent, but only a third got out. The 5 percent redemption cap leaves many waiting in line for their cash. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Claude Nine. Anthropic’s Claude is rapidly gaining ground with paying consumers, growing 75% since January and chipping away at ChatGPT’s dominance. (TechCrunch)
- 🇺🇸 Exit Strategy. Rising redemptions are pushing private credit managers in the to pursue arbitrage trades, hoping to cash in before the doors close. (Bloomberg)
Fundraising
- RWE 🇩🇪 (Energy): €4B
- XLight (Semiconductor): $350M
- Airwallex 🇦🇺 (Fintech): $320M (Addition, Baillie Gifford, Hummingbird, QED Investors, T. Rowe Price, Hedosophia, Haun Ventures, Washington University in St. Louis, Amex Ventures)
- Finn 🇩🇪 (Mobility): €100M (Portage, UVC Partners, Planet First Partners, Korelya Capital, HV Capital, Picus Capital)
- Taktile 🇩🇪 (Fintech): $110M (Goldman Sachs, Balderton, Index Ventures, DIG Ventures, Tiger Global, Visionaries, Y Combinator)
- Trase 🇺🇸 (AI): $107M (ARCH Venture Partners, Red Cell Partners)
- Runpod 🇺🇸 (AI): $100M
- Redo 🇺🇸 (Commerce): $81M (Smash Capital, Pelion Venture Partners, Cervin Ventures)
- Sail Research 🇺🇸 (AI infrastructure): $80M (Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, Redpoint Ventures, Theory Ventures, Vine Ventures, CRV, A*, Abstract Ventures, John Hennessy, Lip‑Bu Tan, Tri Dao)
- Arca 🇺🇸 (Wealth management): $64M (General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Venrock)
- Oblenio Bio 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $62M (Pfizer Ventures, Deep Track Capital, GV, Aditum Bio)
- Float Financial 🇨🇦 (Fintech): CAD $85M (Inovia Capital, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Garage Capital, BDC Capital, Northleaf)
- Patronus AI 🇺🇸 (AI): $50M (Greenfield Partners, Notable Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Datadog, Samsung, Factorial Capital, Gokul Rajaram, leading AI and software executives)
- xCures 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $46M (Innovius Capital, iGrow, GKCC, Spring Mountain Capital)
- Leyden Labs 🇳🇱 (Biotech): €40M (European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, Invest-NL, Gates Foundation Strategic Investment Fund, ClavystBio, and others)
- Connie Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $40M (HealthQuest Capital, JSL Capital, Khosla Ventures, aMoon, Pitango HealthTech)
- NexGen Cloud 🇸🇪 (AI Cloud): $34M (USD.AI)
- Runlayer 🇺🇸 (AI): $30M (Felicis, Khosla Ventures)
- Coval 🇺🇸 (AI): $28M (Norwest, Base10 Partners, Twilio Ventures, Y Combinator)
- Hera 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $27M (Bain Capital Ventures, Accel, IA Ventures, angels including the CFO of Mount Sinai)
- Copia Automation 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $26M (AE Ventures, Squadra Ventures, KAS Venture Partners, Construct Capital, Lux Capital, Ironspring Ventures, Renegade Partners)
- Nebulock 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $25M (FirstMark, Bain Capital Ventures, Decibel, Zetta Venture Partners, Step Function)
- equipal 🇬🇧 (Fintech): £16.25M
- VARM 🇩🇪 (ClimateTech): €17.5M (ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund, GET Fund, Aurum Impact, Emerge, Pale Blue Dot, noa)
- Upside 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $20M (Aquiline, Flare Capital Partners, 645 Ventures, Freestyle Capital, Triple Impact Capital, Techstars)
- Almetra 🇩🇪 (Industrial AI): €16.3M (blisce/, NAP, Merantix Capital, Robin Capital, Underline, Critical Ventures, business angels)
- Caplight Technologies 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $16M (BlackRock, Fin Capital, UBS Investment Bank, LEAP Global Partners, DB1 Ventures, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, Dash Fund)
- Netris 🇺🇸 (AI infrastructure): $15M
- MokN 🇫🇷 (Cybersecurity): €13M (GV, Datadog, Moonfire, Ovni Capital)
- GrailPay 🇺🇸 (Payments): $10.5M (MissionOG, EJF Ventures, Counterpart Ventures, Construct Capital, Commerce Ventures, SSC Venture Partners)
- Sopht 🇫🇷 (Greentech): €7.5M (Ternel, Axeleo Capital, Wind Capital, FDJ United Ventures)
- Sazabi 🇺🇸 (Observability): $8M (J2 Ventures, Village Global, Y Combinator, Orange Collective, 60+ angels including Vercel, Cursor, LangChain, OpenAI, Anthropic, GitHub, Replit, Browserbase)
- Tombot 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $7M (Caduceus Capital Partners, Wavemaker 360, the Lutheran Foundation)
- Orthogonal 🇺🇸 (Infrastructure): $4.3M (Pantera Capital, Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, Decasonic, Blast, Outbound, Surreal)
- Neurometric AI 🇺🇸 (AI): $4M (Betaworks, ex-Ante, Everywhere.vc, Encoded, Vermillion, Abstraction, Mu Ventures, Jason Calacanis, Dharmesh Shah)
- Haïku 🇫🇷 (Legaltech): €3M (Newfund NAEH Innopy, Newfund Velocity)
Fund Watch
- Churchill Capital Corp XI 🇺🇸: $2.5B
- Deep33 🇮🇱: $200M
- Stratos Ventures 🇮🇱: $50M (target $80M, early-stage DefenseTech fund for Pre-Seed & Seed)
- Nucleo Ventures (ex-Fortech Ventures) 🇷🇴: €34M (new VC for CEE startups; €1.7M pre-seed grant program)
🔔IPO
- Le Slip français 🇫🇷 (Apparel): hopes to raise €5M in an Euronext Growth Paris IPO on July 14 (total deal up to €15.8M. Share price €14.80).
- OpenAI 🇺🇸 (AI): leaning toward waiting until 2027 for an IPO, with no deal size disclosed.
- Reformation 🇺🇸 (Apparel): filed for an IPO, with number of shares and price not disclosed.
- Doncasters 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): IPO said to be more than 30 times oversubscribed.
- Kalshi 🇺🇸 (Prediction markets): considering a IPO but not in 2026, valued at $22B after a Series F.
- Open Farm 🇨🇦 (Petcare): delaying its Toronto IPO to the fall after planning to raise about $300-$400M.
- Zhipu 🇨🇳 (AI): a $125B-listed startup considering a Hong Kong issuance to raise several billion dollars.
- SK Hynix 🇰🇷 (Semiconductors): the $1.2T-listed chipmaker is seeking to raise $30B in a US listing.
- Lingyi 🇭🇰 (Electronics): rose in Hong Kong after a $1.1B IPO debut.
- MNT-Halan 🇪🇬 (Fintech): planning an Egypt IPO of its Egypt unit targeting a $1B valuation.
- Dangote 🇳🇬 (Conglomerate): launching a $40B IPO that’s spurring a rush of new retail investors in Nigeria.
🧳 Debt
- Air France-KLM 🇫🇷: placed €500M of 5‑year senior unsecured notes with a 4.25% coupon.
- Hunyvers 🇫🇷: secured €5M from Vatel Capital via an initial €1.76M convertible bond (additional tranches to reach €5M).
- European Union 🇪🇺: disbursed €3B, the first tranche of a €90B loan package for Ukraine’s recovery.
- Exosens 🇪🇺: obtained €140M from the European Investment Bank to fund R&D and industrial investments in defence, surveillance and photonics.
- GRAIL 🇺🇸: completed $110M equity financing with Samsung entities.
- Stonepeak 🇺🇸: sold $2.5B of private bonds to refinance a loan tied to its Louisiana LNG export terminal investment.
- ByteDance 🇨🇳: in early talks for a record $20B offshore loan.
- Vingroup 🇻🇳: will receive $255M in private credit from Temasek’s SeaTown Holdings and Oman Investment Authority for its hospitality arm.
- Almaty Airport 🇰🇿: seeking a loan to refinance debt and revamp its facilities.
- Côte d'Ivoire 🇨🇮: can immediately draw about $832.8M from the IMF.
❌ Failures
- Réalités 🇫🇷: delayed publication of 2025 annual accounts to July 31, 2026, postponing creditor conversion capital raises to H2 2026 pending AMF approval.
- Michelin 🇫🇷: will close its BFGoodrich Tuscaloosa plant (≈1,200 employees) by end‑2028 and has booked a €220M provision for closure costs.
- Flink 🇩🇪: streicht ein Viertel der Stellen in der Zentrale und krempelt die Struktur um, um Profitabilität zu erreichen.
- Notion 🇺🇸: is shutting down its email product Notion Mail on September 22, saying users have handed inbox control to its AI agents.
- 601W Companies 🇺🇸: defaulted on a $343M Blackstone loan for a 40-story downtown Chicago office tower.
- Tricolor 🇺🇸: the collapsed sub‑prime auto lender's ex‑COO pleaded guilty to fraud.
- Shapoorji Pallonji Group 🇮🇳: offered bondholders a 30 bps fee to extend $1.5B of Goswami Infratech debt.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇫🇷 Hotspot Trouble. As temperatures soar across France, Internet connections melt down too, though providers claim everything is under control. (Le Parisien)
- 🇫🇷 Plane Lies. Regional papers including Nice-Matin ran a bogus private jet investment ad with a forged Air France-KLM logo, only suspending it after three printings. (Libé)
- 🇲🇽 Diplomatic Immunities. Former prosecutor Alejandro Gertz disclosed a lavish personal fortune as he takes up the role of Mexican ambassador to the UK, after years of secrecy. (Le Monde)
- 🌍 Monkey Business. Scientists discover that chimps, gorillas, and bonobos laugh in fixed patterns, while humans remix their giggles to fit the moment. (New York Times)
