💳 Nobody Cared, and He Noticed

Turns out the counter fits right in the Oval.

A Free Lunch newsletter archive of July 7, 2026

Also available:🇫🇷 Édition française


🌍 All editions
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

Good morning!

There is a genre of self-discovery reserved for men who spend a lifetime failing to be told no. The 47th President of the United States had his during four years out of office, marinating in grievance, and returned convinced the guardrails guarding him had always been made of wet cardboard. « I found out that nobody cared, » he explained, which is the sort of thing a raccoon might say after its third raid on the same bin. The bins were the ethics conventions every occupant of the White House since the Depression had at least pretended to respect. The raccoon simply climbed in.

The numbers explain the enthusiasm. Roughly $1.4B flowed to the family crypto ventures in year one, folded inside a broader $2.2B haul that dwarfs the $622M the enterprise scraped together across all of 2024. A single Emirati-linked fund bought nearly half of the flagship crypto outfit, which is one way to describe a foreign sovereign wealth vehicle taking a stake in the sitting president’s balance sheet with nobody drafting a memo about it. The stablecoin legislation, meanwhile, was signed four months after the family firm launched its own stablecoin, a sequence best appreciated by those who enjoy watching the referee score the goals while the regulator meant to police all this is quietly disassembled for parts.

He never speaks to the people who run the money, he says, and profits only because the stock market rises, a claim delivered while boarding the $400M jet Qatar handed over as Air Force One. The blind trust, that device by which presidents pretend not to know what they own, has been declined on the grounds that it would require pretending. The man has always understood that the cheapest way to escape a rule is to notice it isn’t enforced, and roughly two-thirds of Americans telling pollsters he has failed the moral bar of the office costs precisely nothing when the office no longer recognises a moral bar exists. He promised in 2016 to drain the swamp and has instead learned to farm it.

That a businessman turned president would monetise his own name is not, on its own, a scandal worth the ink. Every recent occupant of that building has left richer than they entered, through the slow alchemy of proximity to power. The old arrangement at least asked the powerful to perform reluctance, to sell the shares, to sign the trust, to maintain the fiction that the office was borrowed rather than owned. Nearly a million small investors lost $3.8B on a Trump-branded coin while the family collected fees on the way down, and the man at the top has decided the fiction was the only part that ever cost him. He is right. And that a democracy can watch its highest office turned into a payment terminal, shrug, and move on to the sports results, is the part no irony quite manages to make funny.

💳 Nobody Cared, and He Noticed

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🗞️ Top Story

  • 🇩🇪 Memory Hole. Unknown attackers detonated an explosive at a flower planter commemorating Holocaust victim Amalie Jung in Mönchengladbach, damaging the memorial and four cars while police investigate the targeted act. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇪🇺 High Five. NATO chief Mark Rutte demands member states submit concrete plans to hit the alliance’s new 5% GDP defense spending target by 2035, turning promises into paperwork. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇳🇴 Bear Minimum. A Russian Bear-F patrol plane dropped sonar buoys dangerously close to the UK’s HMS Prince of Wales, prompting British F-35s to intercept and escort it away in the Norwegian Sea. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇺🇸 Truth or Dare. Trump posts a meme on Truth Social implying Meloni is obsessed with him, turning diplomatic friction into social media spectacle days ahead of the NATO meeting. (Spiegel)
  • 🇺🇸 Summit Doubts. Donald Trump heads to the NATO summit aiming to reassure skeptical allies and is set to meet Ukraine’s Zelenskyy for high-stakes talks. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇻🇪 Fault Lines. Venezuela’s official earthquake death toll has risen to 3,535, with thousands injured and authorities silent on the true number of missing. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇨🇺 Gridlocked. The entire Cuban power system went offline Monday, with the state utility promising an investigation and millions of Cubans left waiting for the lights to come back. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇨🇳 Rocket Science, Political Fallout. Beijing’s successful ICBM test in the Pacific, described as routine, triggered immediate protests from Japan and alarm from New Zealand over regional stability. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇹🇷 Friends With Benefits. Turkey’s foreign minister claims Erdogan’s personal rapport with Trump could help resolve NATO’s internal rifts at the upcoming Ankara summit. (New York Times)
  • 🇮🇷 Strait Shooter. A tanker crew reported an attack near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, with the source still unclear and no casualties, just as shipping was supposed to return to normal. (Spiegel)
  • 🇵🇸 Power Down. Hamas has dissolved its governing administration in Gaza after nearly 20 years, paving the way for a technocratic committee led by Ali Shaath to take over daily management. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇸🇩 Child’s War. UNICEF reports at least 330 children killed or wounded in Sudan since January as fighting between the army and paramilitaries devastates civilian life. (Le Figaro)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Party Crasher. George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster, has appeared at multiple Reform UK events and accompanied Nigel Farage abroad, despite claims he holds no formal party role. (The Guardian)
  • 🇬🇧 No Vacancy. Buckingham Palace says Prince Harry cannot stay during his UK charity trip after a last-minute acceptance was deemed too late, fueling another round of royal family miscommunication. (Bbc)
  • 🇬🇧 Dough Process. Pizza Express launched an internal inquiry to check Prince Andrew’s claim he visited their Woking branch on the day of the Epstein allegations, finding no proof either way but plenty of awkward leftovers. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Blue Exit. With a rape allegation against him, Graham Platner’s campaign loses Democratic backing and faces mounting pressure to step aside before November. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Jet Set Go. President Trump plans to offer Turkey renewed access to F-35 fighter jets, reversing his own 2019 ban and daring Congress to object. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Judge and Jury. Donald Trump appointed Emil Bove III, his former trial defender, to the federal bench, raising questions about judicial independence. (New York Times)

🏛️ Economy

  • 🇬🇧 Gilt Trip. Citigroup 🇺🇸 joins the exclusive club running London’s gold vaults, proving there is always room for another hand in the treasure chest. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇬🇧 Toxic Assets. The UK sanctions two Russian research institutes and seven officials for developing chemical weapons used in the poisonings of Alexei Navalny and Dawn Sturgess, adding another layer to the diplomatic fallout. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇪🇸 Full House. Spain is set to surpass 100M international visitors this year, as the tourism machine finds yet another gear. (Boursier)
  • 🇪🇺 Checkout Line. Eurozone shoppers delivered a 0.2% sales rise in May, falling short of analyst hopes and leaving the recovery on pause for now. (Boursier)
  • 🇪🇺 Mood Swing. Investor sentiment in the eurozone jumped in July, with the Sentix index rising to -3.1, far above analyst forecasts, as optimism returns. Especially in Germany. (Boursier)
  • 🇪🇺 Access Denied. The is giving the cold shoulder to Keir Starmer’s plan for the UK to participate in meetings on food, farming, and energy standards, complicating his Brexit “reset.” (Bloomberg)
  • 🇨🇭 Heavy Metal. Swiss investors keep gold on their buy list even after price swings, with individuals ditching trinkets for bars and ETFs. (Le Temps)
  • 🇺🇸 Loan Rangers. Private credit investors are riding to the rescue of buy-now-pay-later firms, keeping the easy spending party alive while traditional banks sit this one out. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇻🇪 Quake and Take. The US has pledged $300M in earthquake aid to Venezuela while controlling $8B in oil revenues seized after ousting Maduro, leaving many questioning who really benefits. (New York Times)
  • 🇨🇳 Yuan Direction. The People’s Bank of China rolls out new policies aimed at strengthening Hong Kong’s role as the leading offshore yuan hub. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇰🇷 Pump Fiction. South Korean prosecutors indicted HD Hyundai Oilbank, SK Energy, GS Caltex, and S-Oil for allegedly colluding to inflate fuel prices by $26B, proving competition is strictly optional. (Cnbc)
  • 🇭🇰 Gold Standard. Hong Kong launches a trial run of its new gold clearing system, aiming to streamline bullion transactions and attract global investors to its financial hub. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇹🇭 True Lies. Thai authorities launch a probe after a mystery investor amasses nearly $1B in True Corp 🇹🇭 shares, raising questions about ownership transparency.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Account Unavailable. The FCA says major UK banks have been steering vulnerable customers away from basic bank accounts, making it harder for the homeless and those in hardship to access essential services. (Bbc)
  • 🇬🇧 Liquid Assets. Thames Water’s creditors, including Elliott Management and Apollo, say they are ready to bid for the utility even if it is nationalised under Andy Burnham, proving that even public control cannot wash away private interest. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Exit Strategy. Student loan servicers have started giving 6.9M SAVE plan borrowers 90 days to pick a new repayment option or face automatic reassignment. (Cnbc)

🏢 Real Estate

  • 🇩🇪 Block Market. GdW predicts new housing investment will drop to €6B in 2026 due to high costs, with politicians urged to cut red tape before the supply crunch becomes the new normal. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇺🇸 Rent Control Freak. Cea Weaver’s tenant group wants New York to spend $2.2B in public funds to buy rent-stabilized apartments from private landlords, sparking a fresh fight over property rights. (Nypost)
  • 🇨🇦 Boxed In. Montreal’s July 1 mass move turns chaotic this year, with soaring truck prices and a housing crunch leaving many in limbo. (Le Monde)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Rate Expectations. The Scottish government proposes a « mansion tax » that could nearly double council tax bills on homes worth over £2M, targeting about 15,000 properties for new higher bands. (Bbc)

🔗 On-chain

  • 🇺🇸 Coin Toss. Nearly 1 million people lost $3.8B betting on Trump Coin, which shed 98% of its value while Donald Trump pocketed $636M in fees. (Libé)
  • 🇺🇸 Meme Street. Trump’s launch of his own memecoin marks the moment crypto became a trophy for the global far right, blending digital rebellion with old-school power grabs. (El Pais)

💱 Listed Markets

  • 🇬🇧 Risk Tolerance. HSBC has decided to stop lending to higher-risk private credit funds, citing poor returns and sector blow-ups as reasons for the retreat. (Financial Times)
  • 🇮🇹 Current Affairs. Italian oil giant Eni 🇮🇹 is investing $225M in US startup EnergyX 🇺🇸 for a 25% stake in its Chilean lithium project, aiming to secure battery materials for its new plant. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Index Lift-Off. SpaceX joins the Nasdaq-100 on Tuesday, triggering passive fund buying but facing insider lockup expiries that could send shares on a bumpy ride. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Track Record. A 170% AI rally sends BlackRock and Vanguard 🇺🇸 ETFs down divergent tracks, highlighting just how far index strategies can stray. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 Suit Up. Citadel Securities moves to join Susquehanna’s insider-trading lawsuit, proving litigation is the new sport on Wall Street. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇨🇦 Sub Prime. Canada picks Germany’s TKMS for a record-breaking contract to build 12 Arctic-ready submarines, snubbing South Korea and deepening ties with Europe as US relations cool. (Financial Times)
  • 🇯🇵 Son Burn. Masayoshi Son’s $64.6B OpenAI wager sends SoftBank 🇯🇵 shares up, but the market still treats his vision like a liability. (Financial Times)
  • 🇰🇷 Chip Happens. Samsung Electronics forecasts an 1,800% profit surge for the quarter as AI-fueled demand for memory chips sends earnings to record highs. (Bbc)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Rocket Pockets. Gwynne Shotwell pledges SpaceX stock to Trump Accounts, boosting the program’s launch with shares aimed at millions of young Americans. (Cnbc)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

  • Sky 🇬🇧 acquires ITV 🇬🇧’s media and entertainment arm for £1.6B. Sale includes broadcast channels and ITVX, excludes ITV Studios, and Sky has agreed £2.1B of content spending over five years.
  • EG On The Move 🇬🇧 acquires Prax Group 🇬🇧 (85 petrol forecourts from the collapsed oil company, bringing EG On The Move to about 285 forecourts across the UK).
  • Ben Francis 🇬🇧 in talks to buy back part of a 20% stake from General Atlantic 🇺🇸. Stake was sold for $1.3B in 2020.
  • Thales 🇫🇷 acquires Exail Technologies 🇫🇷 for €134 per share (totaling a €3.9B valuation), buying a 35.51% stake from the Gorgé family ahead of a mandatory public tender offer.
  • 2050 🇫🇷 acquires Future Positive Capital 🇫🇷 (reprise de la gestion du fonds. La fondatrice délègue pour raisons personnelles, Sofia Hmich reste sans poste opérationnel, le reste de l’équipe n’est pas conservé).
  • Ipsen 🇫🇷 acquires Memo Therapeutics 🇨🇭 in a mega-deal valuing the transaction at €700M+ (€200M upfront cash + €500M in milestones).
  • InfraVia 🇫🇷 acquires D-Marin 🇬🇷 for more than €1bn, high-end yacht marina group with 28 locations and ~14,300 berths.
  • Banijay Gaming 🇫🇷 acquires JOA 🇫🇷, the #2 French casino operator with 33 casinos, ~€430M gross gaming revenue in 2025 and ~4.6M annual visitors.
  • Renk Group 🇩🇪 acquires David Brown Defence 🇬🇧 for $200M-$250M.
  • Volkswagen 🇩🇪 is considering selling its 8.3% stake in Bayern Munich 🇩🇪 via its Audi and Porsche subsidiaries.
  • Rai Way 🇮🇹 and EI Towers 🇮🇹 fail to reach a $4.6B merger agreement.
  • ING 🇳🇱 acquires Singular Bank 🇪🇸 with a 40% stake, leading a new investor group. Management keeps 15.5%, ProA Capital 15%, Actinver 8%, family fortunes 21%.
  • Halcyon Equity Partners 🇬🇷 acquires Kayak 🇬🇷, a historic premium ice cream, frozen yogurt and desserts group. Deal completed with support from Lambadarios Law Firm and PwC Greece.
  • Alpha Bank 🇬🇷 acquires Altius Insurance 🇨🇾, signing a definitive agreement for 100% of its share capital via Alpha International Holdings S.A.. Altius operates in life, health and general insurance, with completion expected Q4 2026 subject to regulatory approvals.
  • Carlsberg 🇩🇰 and Sapporo Breweries 🇯🇵 form a joint venture to cooperate in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, covering Carlsberg’s operations in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore plus Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
  • Sanoma 🇫🇮 acquires Fluentbe 🇵🇱 (100% stake. Polish online language-learning platform using AI, ~40k students, 1,000+ tutors, ~26M PLN annual revenue.)
  • Michal Strnad 🇨🇿 is in talks to buy a 14% stake in Pirelli 🇮🇹 from Sinochem Holdings 🇨🇳 for $1.1B+.
  • Novartis 🇨🇭 acquires Myricx Bio 🇬🇧 for up to $1.5B, paying $1.1B upfront and $400M in milestones. Oncology, early-stage technology.
  • Equinor 🇳🇴 acquires BP 🇬🇧’s 37.2% stake in the Bay du Nord offshore oil project in Canada. Project expected to tap 400M+ barrels in its initial phase, based on an FPSO with subsea tie‑backs, target first oil 2031 and estimated investment ~$14B.
  • Yara 🇳🇴 acquires Gulf Coast Ammonia 🇺🇸’s production plant in Texas for $1.3B
  • Ondas Inc. 🇺🇸 acquires DZYNE Technologies 🇺🇸 in an $875.8M cash-and-stock deal. Investors to receive $200M cash and ~$675M in stock, with over half the shares locked for six months.
  • Solstice Advanced Materials 🇺🇸 in talks to merge with Element Solutions 🇺🇸, a potential deal valuing the combined specialty-chemicals group at about $27B, likely mostly stock with a cash component.
  • Versant Media Group 🇺🇸 acquires Full Swing 🇺🇸 for $530M in cash, a golf simulator maker of hardware and software used by consumers, athletes, coaches and commercial venues.
  • Lone Star Funds 🇺🇸 acquires ContiTech 🇩🇪 for $4.6B plus up to $286M in contingent payments. Industrial products maker with ~20,000 employees, earlier announced ~3,000 job cuts and planned €150M annual savings.
  • Blue Owl 🇺🇸 buys a minority stake in Cleveland Cavaliers 🇺🇸, a deal involving an NBA franchise.
  • Blackstone 🇺🇸 meets investors on Indurent 🇬🇧 exit for £6B.
  • Vertex Pharmaceuticals 🇺🇸 to acquire Crinetics Pharmaceuticals 🇺🇸 for $10B, $85 a share; $8.8B net of cash.
  • O’Reilly Automotive 🇺🇸 offers to acquire the auto parts unit of Genuine Parts 🇺🇸 for $10B+ cash.
  • Lockheed Martin 🇺🇸 leads the race to acquire Ultra Maritime 🇬🇧 for $3.5B from PE firm Advent.
  • Blackstone 🇺🇸, CVC 🇱🇺, and MUFG 🇯🇵 bid for a 50% stake in MoMo 🇻🇳, in a deal that could value it at $2B.
  • Columbia Threadneedle 🇺🇸 merges with Patrizia 🇩🇪 to combine their UK property trusts into a $2B AUM fund.
  • Apollo 🇺🇸 struggles to offload Heritage Grocers Group 🇺🇸, a Hispanic-focused grocery chain.
  • Rogers Communications 🇨🇦 acquires NBA and NHL team assets 🇨🇦 for $3.1B, sports franchises and media rights.
  • Rogers Communications 🇨🇦 acquires Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment 🇨🇦 for $3.06B (C$4.35B), taking full control of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and Scotiabank Arena. Deal expected to close in Q4.
  • GFL Environmental 🇨🇦 is eyed for a take-private by private equity suitors 🇺🇸; $15B-listed waste management giant.
  • Adnoc Distribution 🇦🇪 acquires Shell Downstream South Africa 🇿🇦 for $1B, covering 580 service stations, lubricants, commercial fuels, aviation and marine businesses.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

  • 🇸🇪 Second Hand. Filip Tysander sells his entire stake in Daniel Wellington 🇸🇪 to US giant Timex 🇺🇸, ending his journey with the Swedish watch brand that once redefined influencer marketing. (Breakit)
  • 🇸🇪 License to Bill. Klarna is seeking an FDIC-insured U.S. bank charter, hoping to bring its payments and lending operations in-house and cut out the middlemen. (Cnbc)
  • 🇪🇺 Capex and the City. Europe’s equity bankers are pinning their hopes on a surge in corporate investment to offset the ongoing IPO drought, as deal pipelines run dry. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 Quant and Out. quant hedge funds are suffering their longest losing streak since 2023 as momentum strategies unravel, leaving algorithms searching for answers instead of alpha. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇦🇪 Credit Where It’s Due. Mubadala 🇦🇪 is opening its $25B private credit business to external investors, inviting outsiders to join Abu Dhabi’s lending ambitions for the first time. (Bloomberg)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Start Me Up. UK startups raised $17B in the first half of 2026, with AI grabbing 74% of VC funding and deeptech nearly doubling its share. (Techfundingnews)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Billennium. Millennium 🇺🇸 saw two of its trading pods generate $3.7B in a single month, reminding rivals that scale is its own strategy. (Bloomberg)

Fundraising

  • Kuaishou Technology 🇨🇳 (Video AI): $2.8B (Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, others)
  • Shanghai Biren Technology 🇨🇳 (Semiconductors): $892M
  • Skello 🇫🇷 (HR): €200M (Bridgepoint, Partech, XAnge, Founders, Management)
  • Even Realities 🇨🇳 (Wearables): $150M (Meituan, Tencent, Sequoia China)
  • Qolab (Quantum hardware): $54M (UC Investments)
  • Thought Machine 🇬🇧 (Fintech): £44.8M
  • Bespoke Labs 🇺🇸 (AI): $40M (Wing VC, Mayfield, The House Fund, Tristan Handy, Anthropic angels, OpenAI angels, Meta angels, 8VC, Jeff Dean, Spiros Xanthos, Dheeraj Pandey)
  • Broccoli AI 🇺🇸 (Operations): $25M (Khosla Ventures)
  • LinqAlpha (AI): $22M (Atinum Investment, AVP, GFT Ventures)
  • Sherpa.ai 🇪🇸 (AI): $18M (Forgepoint Capital, Mundi Ventures, Ekarpen, Allegra Holdings, SETT)
  • Hive 🇳🇴 (Robotics): $15M (SuperSeed, Veriten, Skyfall, Nysnø)
  • Luxonis 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $14M (Denali Growth Partners)
  • CurifyLabs 🇫🇮 (Healthtech): $14M (Sandwater, HealthCap, Tesi, Lifeline Ventures, unnamed US customers and employees)
  • Extended (DeFi): $12.5M (eToro)
  • THEA (AI): $8M (Maven11 Capital, Hack VC, others)
  • CCRAFT (Photonics): $7.8M (QBIT Capital)
  • Worldmodeldata 🇬🇧 (AI): £7M (IonaStar Capital)
  • Alsa (Payments): $6.5M (Alibaba, Tribe Capital)
  • TaiSan 🇬🇧 (Battery materials): £4.65M (Eos Advisory, Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, Mercia Ventures, AFI Ventures, EverQuest Capital Partners, Adeline Arts & Science, Techmind, InnoEnergy, TSP Ventures, Exergon, Heartfelt, Innovate UK)
  • Aylight 🇨🇭 (Photonics): €4.5M (Elaia, Swisscom Ventures, Verve Ventures, Plug and Play)
  • Balance 🇪🇸 (Healthtech): €3M
  • Stoa 🇬🇧 (Fintech): $2.4M (£1.8M) (Bespokeist Partners, Ingenii Capital, Force Over Mass Capital, Fuel Ventures, Suneel Hargunani, Rachel Sestini)
  • Rivage 🇫🇷 (Proptech): €1.5M (Kima Ventures, Nicolas Goyet, Gérard Deray, Jean Boucher, Quentin de Metz)
  • Ekip 🇫🇷 (Employee benefits): €1.5M (historical investors, ShareInvest, founding team)

Fund Watch

  • Hayfin Capital Management 🇬🇧: $17B+ (private credit flagship fund)
  • Starwood Capital Group 🇺🇸: $10B+ (latest opportunistic real estate fund)
  • Coller Capital 🇬🇧: $6.8B (2nd credit secondaries fund)
  • Hamilton Lane 🇺🇸: $3.8B (co-invest fund, mid-market private equity)
  • CVC 🇬🇧: €3B (Catalyst III, mid-market European buyout fund, tickets up to €250M)
  • Eurazeo 🇫🇷: €2.3B (Eurazeo Secondary Fund V, 5th secondary private equity fund, final close)
  • CPPIB (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) 🇨🇦: $1.75B (investment to support EQT/EdgeConneX AI infrastructure buildout)
  • CXMT 🇨🇳+Alibaba 🇨🇳: $577M (deeptech fund, launched jointly)
  • B Capital 🇺🇸: $500M (Ascent Fund III, early-stage AI-focused venture fund, hard cap)
  • Azalea 🇸🇬: $350M (first evergreen PE fund, anchor commitments)
  • Seedcamp 🇬🇧: $320M (7th fund, to invest in US)
  • Behrman Capital 🇺🇸: $250M (CV for truck and trailer tarp provider Shurco, led by Coller Capital)
  • Magellan Capital 🇦🇪: $250M (evergreen credit fund targeting GCC ABF)
  • Marlinspike Partners 🇺🇸: $127M (Disruptive Technology Fund II, early-stage dual-use VC for national security & advanced manufacturing)
  • Kos Biotechnology Partners 🇺🇸: $123M (debut life sciences fund)
  • 100×100 🇮🇳: $100M (2nd climate tech VC fund, currently raising)
  • Climentum Capital 🇩🇰: €60M (Fund II, first close of €100M target. Seed & Series A climate hard‑tech in Europe)
  • Omni Ventures 🇺🇸: $33M (Fund I, oversubscribed pre-seed manufacturing tech fund)
  • 🇺🇸 Do you want me to assume Altera is a US firm and use the flag, or can you confirm the country?

🔔IPO

  • Mastrad 🇫🇷 (Housewares): seeking a significant capital increase (amount not disclosed) to shore up equity after H1 with -622 k€ shareholders’ equity and 148 k€ net cash.
  • Agility Robotics 🇺🇸 (Robotics): planning a SPAC deal valuing it at about $2.5B and expected to raise over $620M.
  • Holtec International 🇺🇸 (Nuclear): heading for a IPO to help finance a $10B expansion, after securing up to $3.2B in support for the Palisades restart.
  • Hub International 🇺🇸 (Insurance): seeking a $3B IPO backed by Hellman & Friedman.
  • Jersey Mike’s 🇺🇸 (Restaurants): filed to raise $1B in a IPO at an over $12B valuation.
  • Cumberland Farms 🇺🇸 (Convenience): owned by EG Group, filed for a IPO.
  • Csquare 🇨🇦 (Data centers): seeking $1.35B in an IPO.
  • Genneia 🇦🇷 (Energy): filed for a US IPO, becoming the first Argentine company to list in the US in seven years.
  • Luxshare 🇨🇳 (Electronics): said to price its Hong Kong listing at the top of the range.
  • Londian Wason New Energy Tech 🇨🇳 (Materials): filed for a US IPO.
  • K Raheja 🇮🇳 (Property): said to delay a $700M IPO.
  • SBI Funds Management 🇮🇳 (Asset management): seeking to raise $1.2B an India IPO at a lowered $12B valuation.
  • Mohalla Tech 🇮🇳 (Social media): seeking to raise $400M an India IPO.
  • PB Fintech 🇮🇳 (Fintech): MacRitchie (Temasek) plans to sell $200M of shares at a 5% discount.
  • TAQA 🇦🇪 (Energy): Abu Dhabi wealth fund to take it private, terms undisclosed.

🧳 Debt

  • TenneT Germany 🇩🇪: plans its first bond sale to fund huge grid investments.
  • Germany 🇩🇪: plans to borrow over €800bn by 2030, including €200bn+ next year to fund defence.
  • Intrum 🇸🇪: returns to Europe’s junk bond market after an equity raise.
  • Doktor.se 🇸🇪: säkrade en Swedbank-kredit på 1,5 miljarder kronor.
  • EQT 🇸🇪: secured a $4.4B sustainability-linked loan tying interest rates to portfolio companies’ ESG performance.
  • Hungary 🇭🇺: selling its first eurobond to harvest a post-Orban rally (amount not specified).
  • Boston Airport 🇺🇸: borrowed $812M to fund a revamp as traffic soars.
  • Rivian 🇺🇸: offering 75M shares to meet Energy loan terms.
  • Rithm Capital 🇺🇸: arranged $515M in fixed-rate refinancing for 31 West 52nd Street.
  • Paramount Skydance 🇺🇸: raised $49B in debt to back its $110B takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
  • Sound Inpatient Physicians 🇺🇸: had a $1B financing pulled by Barclays.
  • Welltower 🇨🇦: preparing a C$750M Canadian-dollar bond sale.
  • Yuanta 🇹🇼: seeking $1.3B via syndicated loans.
  • ICICI Bank 🇮🇳: talks to raise over $500M its first benchmark-sized dollar bond sale since 2017.

❌ Failures

  • Baillie Gifford 🇬🇧: announced a voluntary departure programme while refocusing on higher‑growth segments. Manages about £200B in assets.
  • Santé Cie 🇫🇷: French authorities seized the bank accounts of the Ardian-backed home medical assistance firm.
  • Northern Fiber Holding 🇩🇪: the struggling German fiber network operator, formerly owned by UBS Asset Management, will be acquired by iCON Infrastructure with lender approval to avoid insolvency.
  • Sequana Medical 🇧🇪: declared bankrupt by the Ghent commercial court after employing 43 people. IPO €8.50/share, now €0.61.
  • Microsoft 🇺🇸: is cutting 4,800 jobs (2.1% of its workforce), with Xbox losing about 20% of staff and four studios being spun off.
  • Aventiv Technologies 🇺🇸: creditors took control from Platinum Equity in an out-of-court deal, retaining take-back paper of over $500M.
  • Extenet Systems 🇺🇸: after failing to secure rescue financing from an equity backer, the telecom infrastructure firm is seeking a reprieve on upcoming interest payments.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

  • 🇬🇧 Gold Standard. St Wilfrid’s Church in Melling was set to close until a hidden stash of gold coins worth £30,000 appeared under the altar just in time to fund repairs. (Bbc)
  • 🇫🇷 Phish and Chips. After an analyst intentionally failed six phishing tests and was fired, France’s top court confirmed that GDPR breaches require proof of real harm before compensation is awarded. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇪🇺 Early Risers. ESA’s Euclid mission, with Swiss scientists on board, has identified the most ancient quasars yet, illuminating the universe’s infancy. (Swissinfo)
  • 🇨🇳 Rock Star. The Tianwen 2 spacecraft from China has arrived at asteroid Kamo’oalewa, getting within 20 km to start mapping and sampling, with Beijing now eyeing a place among the world’s top space collectors. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇰🇷 Monopoly Money. A South Korean bank manager stole €40,000 from a safe and replaced the cash with board game bills featuring cartoon characters, proving some heists really are child’s play. (Le Parisien)

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