💼 Passing the Hat

The CAC 40 loves a whip-round—with your money.

A Free Lunch newsletter archive of June 18, 2026

Also available:🇫🇷 Édition française


🌍 All editions
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

Good morning!

The best financial product in Europe has no prospectus, no entry fee and no regulator worth the name: the invoice nobody pays on time. Close to half of all business-to-business invoices in Western Europe are now settled late, on terms that routinely run past 60 days and stretch to 120 in the worst-behaved sectors. For the buyer this is an interest-free overdraft underwritten by its own suppliers; for the supplier it is the same sum borrowed back from a bank at 8%, assuming the bank still answers. The stretching is rarely an accident. A finance department that pushes its payables out by a fortnight books the gain as improved working capital, a number the market rewards, while the cost lands on a supplier with no leverage to refuse. The bigger the customer, the cheaper its money and the dearer everyone else’s.

A remedy has existed for years. Every creditor is owed automatic interest at the ECB rate plus 8 points, due the moment a payment is late, no demand required. Almost nobody issues one, and almost nobody is made to pay it. Even governments are repeat offenders: Brussels has dragged Belgium, Greece and Italy before the Court of Justice for breaching its own directive. Rather than fix the problem, the market has monetised it: factoring, reverse factoring and supply-chain finance are now whole industries devoted to lending suppliers their own money back, at a price. The Commission’s 2023 plan to cap terms at 30 days, the centrepiece of its small-business relief package, died quietly in Council last year, opposed by member states, banks and a fair number of the very suppliers it was meant to rescue. The rules are sound; the appetite to apply them is missing.

France offers the sharpest illustration. Its Senate voted on 19 February to raise the cap on late-payment fines from €2M to 1% of a group’s global turnover, €500M for a €50B company, enough to move the subject from a compliance footnote to the board agenda. A record 68,500 corporate failures in 2025, €17B of working capital drained from suppliers in a single year, 73% of directors filing the delay under normal cost of business, even as paying late lifts a creditor’s odds of failure by 25%. The deterrent is a rounding error: France’s watchdog issued €47M in fines across six months, Thales Avionics among them, the going rate for paying late rather than a reason to stop. Resignation has replaced the reminder, and from Milan to Manchester, when the invoice finally falls due, nobody picks up the phone.

💼 Passing the Hat

🗞️ Top Story

  • 🇬🇧 Crown Ambitions. Andy Burnham, famed for standing up to Westminster, now sets his sights on replacing Keir Starmer as Labour’s potential new leader. (Le Temps)
  • 🇫🇷 Palace Coup. The G7 wraps with Macron applauding Trump’s diplomatic change of heart, crediting Versailles for setting the stage for rare agreement. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇮🇹 Scroll and Toll. Meta 🇺🇸 and TikTok 🇨🇳 face Italy’s first class action from parents who allege their algorithms drove a young girl toward self-harm and suicide. (Boursier)
  • 🇫🇮 Cold War(m) Welcome. Finland scraps its decades-old ban on nuclear weapons, opening the door for NATO nukes on its soil as Russia fumes next door. (New York Times)
  • 🇪🇺 Immunity Idol. The European Parliament voted to strip Italian MEP Fulvio Martusciello of his immunity, allowing Belgian prosecutors to investigate alleged Huawei bribery ties. (Thenextweb)
  • 🇺🇸 Family Business. Jack Schlossberg, son of Caroline Kennedy and JFK’s only grandson, tries to revive the dynasty by running for Congress in a crowded Manhattan primary. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇺🇸 Red Rift. Trump’s Iran deal exposes deep divisions inside the GOP as lawmakers and party elders openly doubt the concessions secured after a costly conflict. (New York Times)
  • 🇮🇳 Fauda Diplomacy. Modi and Netanyahu’s unlikely friendship has transformed India into one of Israel’s staunchest allies, even as global outrage isolates Netanyahu elsewhere. (Financial Times)
  • 🇮🇷 Passage Pending. The US and Iran have agreed to immediately reopen key shipping lanes and end the blockade, though Iran hints transit fees may follow after 60 days. (Spiegel)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Reform and Storm. With Reform Party gains and Farage’s incendiary language, Britain’s far right is no longer fringe: it is steering the national conversation. (New York Times)
  • 🇬🇧 Burn Notice. Keir Starmer says the conviction of two Russian-linked arsonists targeting his property proves the UK faces active attempts to exploit division and undermine its democracy. (The Guardian)
  • 🇬🇧 Fleet Street. The UK expects Moscow to strike back after British forces intercepted the Smyrtos tanker carrying $40M in Russian oil, prompting the shipping industry to watch its back. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Map Quest. Georgia Republicans abruptly shelved plans to redraw congressional districts for 2028 after major protests by Black leaders and civil rights activists in Atlanta. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Count Suspicious. As LA’s mayoral votes trickled in over days, Spencer Pratt’s initial second-place standing dissolved, prompting cries of foul play from Trump allies. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Flight Risk. Congress threatens to clip Defense Secretary Hegseth’s wings, withholding travel cash until the Pentagon clarifies the Iran school and boat strikes. (Washington Post)

🏛️ Economy

  • 🇫🇷 Short Supply. At VivaTech, Jeff Bezos predicted that AI will drive up demand for workers by revealing new challenges, defying automation doomsayers. (Boursier)
  • 🇩🇪 Work in Progress. The number of industrial workers in Germany has dropped to a 10-year low of 6.6M as companies hesitate to fill open positions. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇪🇺 Current Affairs. Europe faces record energy costs and supply shocks but leaders double down on the transition away from oil and gas, not the other way around. The message: fossil reliance is the real vulnerability. (Les Echos)
  • 🇪🇺 Artificial Unintelligence. ECB President Christine Lagarde warns that AI could trigger major financial crises, urging banks to brace for instability before the algorithms do it for them. (Boursier)
  • 🇺🇸 Deal or No Deal. As the G7 summit ends, Donald Trump delivers another round of contradictory trade signals to Canada, leaving Ottawa guessing on policy and partnership. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 AI Command. At the G7, Anthropic and Google DeepMind pushed for a U.S.-centric coalition to oversee artificial intelligence standards, putting America in the driver’s seat for global AI governance. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Basel Instinct. Wall Street banks are urging regulators to further relax Basel capital rules, warning that current proposals could threaten liquidity in the $29T Treasury market. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Gone with the Wind. Invenergy 🇺🇸 gets a $765M payout from the Trump administration to walk away from offshore wind leases and pivot toward gas and geothermal.
  • 🇦🇷 Artificial Persons. Javier Milei wants Congress to approve companies managed by AI, offering low taxes and few rules to make Argentina an AI haven. (Le Monde)
  • 🇨🇺 Red Market. Cuba’s Communist Party has approved a package of pro-market reforms to allow more private investment and shrink the state, with Raul Castro’s backing. (Le Temps)
  • 🇨🇳 Heavy Metal. China is accelerating its electric truck push with new policies and surging domestic sales, threatening to upend Europe’s diesel-dominated road freight industry much faster than expected. (Financial Times)
  • 🇭🇰 Tongue and Cheek. In Hong Kong, Cantonese remains the language of daily life and connection, while Mandarin is increasingly reserved for business and official deals. (Bloomberg)
  • 🌍 Scam of Thrones. Global financial fraud hit $442B in 2025, outpacing Denmark’s entire GDP as AI-powered scams turn crime into big business. (Thenextweb)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Rate Expectations. The Bank of England is set to keep interest rates at 3.75% for a fourth straight meeting, as inflation remains stubborn but manageable. (BBC)
  • 🇬🇧 Flat Out. Inflation in the UK refused to budge in May, staying at 2.8% and catching forecasters off guard just before the Bank of England’s decision. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇬🇧 Union Jacked. New research shows UK exports to the EU have dropped 12% since Brexit, and rejoining the customs union would barely move the needle. (The Guardian)

🏢 Real Estate

  • 🇺🇸 Home Truths. Nearly everyone now agrees the faces a severe housing shortage, but fixing it means some will lose while others finally catch a break. (Wall Street Journal)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Home Run. pending home sales jumped 3.8% in May 2026, easily beating forecasts and suggesting the housing market still has some legs left. (Boursier)

🔗 On-chain

  • 🇪🇺 MiCA-nic Trouble. Binance claims full compliance with crypto rules, but sources say its bid for a MiCA license is heading for a hard stop. (Startupcafe)
  • 🇺🇸 Prize Fight Club. UFC winners at the White House get a $1M bonus in CRO, the Trump-linked crypto that has lost 82% of its value and is nearly impossible to cash out. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Permanent Record. Polymarket 🇺🇸 traders have $345M frozen as no one can agree if the US-Iran peace deal counts as « permanent » or just wishful thinking. (Thenextweb)

💱 Listed Markets

  • 🇸🇪 Track Changes. Spotify 🇸🇪 shifts focus to product upgrades and AI features to drive profits, hoping to keep subscription fees from hitting a higher note. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇳🇴 Boardroom for One. Norges Bank Investment Management controls 1.5% of the world’s public companies, but its voting crew would struggle to staff a dinner shift. (Siliconcanals)
  • 🇺🇸 Crude Awakening. Trump’s Hormuz deal pushes oil prices down as traders suddenly see fewer reasons to panic about global supply. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 Spec Shock. Snap unveiled its long-awaited AR glasses at nearly $2,200, sending its stock down more than 5% as investors blinked at the price. (TechCrunch)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Rate Race. The 2-year Treasury yield jumped to 4.216% after Fed officials hinted at a possible rate hike this year, leaving markets bracing for more tightening. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Permit Denied. The Justice Department is siding with Elon Musk’s xAI, seeking to block an NAACP lawsuit over alleged illegal air pollution at its Mississippi data center. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇭🇰 License to Chill. JPMorgan Chase joins Goldman Sachs in cutting Anthropic’s AI access for Hong Kong employees, blaming restrictive usage terms and regulatory caution. (Financial Times)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

  • Phenna Group 🇬🇧 acquires Begalvi 🇪🇸, a compliance and certification platform for property managers backed by Oakley Capital.
  • Access PaySuite 🇬🇧 acquires Ordo 🇬🇧’s open banking infrastructure. Ordo was shut down by Neonomics eight months after its acquisition, and the deal brings native Open Banking and VRP capabilities to Access PaySuite.
  • Gareth Penny-led consortium 🇬🇧 acquires De Beers 🇿🇦 (leading the race to buy the diamond giant from Anglo American).
  • Air France-KLM 🇫🇷 acquires TAP Air Portugal 🇵🇹 (minority stake). Portugal estimates sale will close in summer 2027, final approval may take another year.
  • DeepL 🇩🇪 acquires Mixhalo 🇺🇸. Opens an office in San Francisco to expand its U.S. business.
  • Jochen Schweizer 🇩🇪 considers buying back Jochen Schweizer (adventure-experience business) 🇩🇪 from ProSiebenSat.1 🇩🇪.
  • Ravensburger 🇩🇪 acquires Steiff 🇩🇪 (heirs of Margarete Steiff sell their majority in the maker of the « button-in-ear » teddy bear. Buyer is the puzzle company).
  • Thyssenkrupp 🇩🇪 approves split of its materials division 🇩🇪.
  • Portobello Capital 🇪🇸 delays sale of Legálitas 🇪🇸.
  • Norwegian Air 🇳🇴 acquires Nordic Leisure Travel Group 🇸🇪 for $843M in cash and stock, a deal in the package-holiday sector.
  • SailPoint 🇺🇸 acquires Entro 🇮🇱. Plans to buy the Tel Aviv startup that finds and protects credentials, keys and machine accounts across cloud environments.
  • OpenAI 🇺🇸 acquires Ona 🇩🇪. Team to join Codex, focused on cloud-based enterprise AI agents and secure agent infrastructure. Closing subject to regulatory approvals.
  • Arcline Investment Management 🇺🇸 to take AstroNova 🇺🇸 private in a $272M deal. Arcline’s second take-private announced in recent weeks.
  • Blackstone-led consortium 🇺🇸 acquires Medallia 🇺🇸 after Thoma Bravo hands the troubled software company to lenders.
  • Toms Capital Investment Management 🇺🇸 targets Devon Energy 🇺🇸 after its $50bn merger with Coterra.
  • Olin 🇺🇸 acquires Huntsman 🇺🇸 in a $2.4B all-stock deal, chemicals firm.
  • Consortium including Apollo 🇺🇸 and Blackstone 🇺🇸 explores a sale of Crystal Palace 🇬🇧.
  • Tim Leiweke 🇺🇸 blocked from acquiring Benfica 🇵🇹’s 16.4% stake because of his holdings in other European teams.
  • Raymond James 🇺🇸 takes a 50% stake in Berenson & Co. 🇺🇸. Tech bankers Brendan Ryan and Jon Steele join as executives.
  • Databricks 🇺🇸 acquires Panther Labs 🇺🇸 in a cybersecurity deal.
  • LongRange Capital 🇺🇸 acquires Pizza Hut 🇺🇸 for $1.5B, excluding its China unit.
  • Brookfield 🇨🇦 sells Multiplex 🇦🇺 for $650M.
  • 1Password 🇨🇦 acquires Apono 🇮🇱 to govern in real time what humans, machines and AI agents can access inside company systems.
  • Nuvei 🇨🇦 acquires Payoneer Global 🇺🇸 for $2.75B, $7.40 per share in cash. Deal expected to close mid-2027.
  • Huaxin Cement 🇨🇳 bids for CSN’s cement unit 🇧🇷. The bid faces resistance from key shareholder Holcim 🇨🇭.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

  • 🇬🇧 Fans Without Benefits. Amber Haque exposes how OnlyFans models are routinely exploited by managers who profit from their work while offering little protection. (Co)
  • 🇩🇪 Access Denied. After Vantor’s Ukraine data freeze exposed Europe’s reliance on US tech, Rheinmetall and Vantor now promise Germany “sovereign” satellite intelligence in their new joint venture. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Gemini Man. Noam Shazeer, co-lead of Google’s Gemini AI project, exits to join OpenAI, proving the real AI race is for talent, not just models. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Maxed Out. Anthropic faces a lawsuit in California from Karl Kahn, who claims its $200 Claude Max AI plans offer less usage than promised. (Thenextweb)
  • 🇨🇳 Bond Voyage. China’s central bank introduces a revamped rate system to inject liquidity and lift the bond market, hoping investors come along for the ride. (Bloomberg)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Cab It Yourself. Mobileye 🇮🇱 will launch its own robotaxi service in a major city in 2027, starting with 100 autonomous vehicles and aiming for 17,000 within five years. (Cnbc)

Fundraising

  • Flutterwave 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $3.2B
  • Btp Italia Sì 🇮🇹 (Sovereign bonds): €340M
  • Cellares 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $327M (Prime Radiant Partners, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Eclipse, T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Duquesne Family Office, Baillie Gifford, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI, Gates Frontier, DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth, Willett Advisors)
  • Odyssey 🇺🇸 (AI): $310M (Natural Capital, Amazon, AMD Ventures, GV, EQT, IQT)
  • Atom Computing 🇺🇸 (Quantum): $300M (Third Point Ventures, DCVC, Cisco Investments, U.S. Department of Commerce)
  • Principal Mineral 🇺🇸 (Materials): $280M (Overmatch Ventures, The New Industrial Corporation, J2 Ventures, Ensemble VC, Lane42 Investment Partners)
  • Sarvam 🇮🇳 (AI): $234M
  • Karta 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $140M (Galaxy Ventures, Community Investment Management (CIM), Illuminate, Canary, Clocktower Ventures)
  • Hydra Host 🇺🇸 (AI infrastructure): $100M
  • Genspark.ai 🇺🇸 (AI): $100M (Sozo Ventures, Korea Mirae Asset, UpHonest Capital, other existing investors)
  • Ent (Security): $100M
  • Everlab 🇦🇺 (Healthcare): AU$65M
  • Triveni Bio 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $65M
  • CNTXT AI 🇦🇪 (AI): $60M (AI71, BlueFive Capital)
  • Bland 🇺🇸 (Voice AI): $50M (Dell Technologies Capital, HubSpot Ventures, Archerman Capital, Tribeca Venture Partners, Emergence Capital, Upfront Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Max Levchin, Piotr DÄ bkowski, Jeff Lawson)
  • Vedana Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $46M (Westlake BioPartners, Canaan Partners, Dawn Biopharma, Alexandria Venture Investments)
  • Conduct 🇬🇧 (AI): £45M
  • Convey 🇺🇸 (AI): $38M (Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Pear VC)
  • Comand AI 🇫🇷 (Defense): €32M (Blossom Capital, Saab)
  • Trace Finance 🇧🇷 (Fintech): $32M (CoinFund, Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, Jump Crypto, Valor Capital, Paxos, HOF Capital, Sean Neville, Anatoly Yakovenko, Bam Azizi, Ricardo Villela Marino)
  • Undo 🇬🇧 (AI): £27.6m
  • Pramaana Labs 🇺🇸 (AI): $27M
  • Rejoni, Inc. 🇺🇸 (Medtech): $25M (ClavystBio, Amed Ventures, Ascension Ventures, Catalyst Health Ventures, Delos Capital, FemHealth Ventures, Iyengar Capital, Sparta Group)
  • Foundation Alloy 🇺🇸 (Materials): $22M (Voyager Ventures, Trust Ventures, Yamaha Motor Ventures, America’s Frontier Fund, Overlap Holdings, Material Impact, Engine Ventures, El Cap, Kanematsu Corporation)
  • NeuralTrust 🇪🇸 (Cybersecurity): $20M (Alstin Capital, VentureFriends, Seaya, Kibo Ventures, Banc Sabadell, EA Ventures Plug and Play Fund, Finaves)
  • Limitless Labs 🇺🇸 (Manufacturing): $20M (Dell Technologies Capital, Square Peg)
  • Aston Power 🇺🇸 (Energy): $20M (TDK Ventures, Building Ventures)
  • Orbio 🇪🇸 (AI): €18.09M (Dawn Capital, Visionaries)
  • Monument Technology 🇬🇧 (Fintech): £18M
  • Flagright 🇮🇳 (Regtech): $12.5M (Infinity Ventures, Sella Bank)
  • Katalyst Space 🇺🇸 (Space): $12M
  • Clair Health 🇺🇸 (Femtech): $11.6M (Khosla Ventures, a16z speedrun, Brydge Club, Treehub, Cartan Capital, AGI House, Insiders VC, Anne Wojcicki, Stephanie Coleman)
  • Rainbow Crops 🇧🇪 (Agritech): €9.7M (LIFTT, LIFTT EuroInvest, Agri Investment Fund (AIF), PINC, VIB, Corteva (Corteva Catalyst), Maia Ventures)
  • Probably 🇺🇸 (AI): $9M (a16z)
  • LIGHTBRINGER 🇫🇷 (Legaltech): €8.6M
  • Green-Got 🇫🇷 (Fintech): €8M
  • Icarus Medical (Healthcare): $7.2M
  • Gate2Brain 🇪🇸 (Biotech): €7M
  • HighGround 🇺🇸 (Defense): $6.5M (Next Frontier Capital, Tandem Ventures, Fulcrum Capital, Context Ventures)
  • Kimba 🇺🇸 (Sleep): $6.5M
  • HeyMilo AI 🇺🇸 (Recruiting): $6M (Category Ventures, Canaan Partners, Alumni Ventures, ERA)
  • Clario 🇺🇸 (Data management): $6M (Preface Ventures, Foster Ventures, Golden Sparrow, High Sage Ventures, Moment Ventures, Mentors Fund, Page One Ventures, Rain Capital, Ridge Ventures, Transform VC, Michael Callahan, Baris Aksoy)
  • CollimateHealth 🇩🇪 (Medtech): €6M (VP Venture Partners, Positron, XISTA Science Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), caesar)
  • Tenet Security 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $6M (The Westly Group, MizMaa Ventures)
  • Sloneek 🇨🇿 (HR): $6M (€5.18M) (Orbit Capital, Venture to Future Fund)
  • eMabler 🇳🇴 (Mobility): €5.5M
  • ETKLIPY 🇺🇸 (AI media): $3.8M
  • TRAK 🇪🇸 (Healthtech): €3.7M (CRB Health Tech, Angels, Decelera)
  • Qorelo 🇩🇪 (AI): $3.5M (HPI Ventures, Caesar Ventures, 10x Founders, Antler, Adesso Ventures, several Angel-Investors)
  • CardNexus 🇫🇷 (Collectibles): €3.5M (Piton Capital, Motier Ventures, Financière St James, OPRTRS, Kima Ventures, Aquiti Gestion, F4, a group of business angels and TCG content creators)
  • Intellectible 🇺🇸 (Enterprise software): $3M (Bread & Butter Ventures, Victorum Capital, Gray Ventures, Circadian Ventures, Allied VC, High Street Equity Partners, Adam Burgoon)
  • Soource 🇮🇹 (Procurement): €3M
  • Tonada 🇸🇪 (AI audio): €2.6M (Antler, Spintop Ventures, RTP Global, Triple A VC, Karaoke Club)
  • OffPlan 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $2.5M
  • NexDash 🇩🇪 (Logistics): €2.5M
  • OurMind 🇳🇱 (Healthcare): €2.1M (4impact Capital, Invest-NL, European Union, general practitioners, specialists)
  • PDKINEMATICS 🇱🇹 (Defense): €2M (Coinvest Capital, Iron Wolf Capital)

Fund Watch

  • D.E. Shaw 🇺🇸: $5B (Lithic, hedge fund. Closed to new cash after $5B AUM)
  • Frontier (Stripe-led) 🇺🇸: $915M
  • Stone Point Capital 🇺🇸: $610M
  • Ardian 🇫🇷: Undisclosed (BuyOut VIII. Buyout fund for companies valued €400M–€2B. First closing)
  • Kos Biotechnology Partners 🇬🇷: $123M (first global fund, life sciences VC)
  • Weinberg Capital 🇫🇷: €120M (WCP Eiréné Développement, LBO small-cap et capital‑développement pour la base industrielle et technologique de défense)
  • Catalyst România 🇷🇴: €100M (new PNRR-backed VC fund, early-growth/expansion. Up to €8M/company)
  • Anterra Capital 🇳🇱: $100M (3rd fund, sustainable VC for food & agriculture)
  • Thena Capital 🇬🇧: $60.4M (first fund, UK early-stage medtech. First all-female GP team)
  • Andalusian Government 🇪🇸: €10M (co-investment fund for tech startups. Launching Tandem scaleup hub in Seville)
  • Varangians 🇸🇪: €10M (Varangians, Ukraine-focused DefenceTech fund)
  • Wave Ventures 🇪🇪: €10M (3rd fund, early-stage Nordics & Baltics, equity-free grants)
  • EXANTE 🇲🇹: €1M (Gecko Fund, grant programme for critical open-source trading and data infrastructure)
  • Andreas Flodström 🇸🇪: 100M SEK (Varangian fund, closed at >100M SEK)
  • RockawayQ 🇨🇿: CZK500M (new industrial‑tech fund. Initial CZK500M from Havrlant & Otava, targeting CZK2B+)
  • Serengeti Asset Management 🇺🇸: first close (Big Cat Private Stock Finance Fund, private stock-finance fund lending against shares of late-stage growth companies. Amount not disclosed)
  • Blackstone 🇺🇸: TBD (SablePointe Credit Strategies, new ABF credit platform)

🔔IPO

  • Kriptown 🇸🇪 (Market infrastructure): launches a friendly takeover bid for Spotlight Group, operator of Spotlight Stock Market, to create a pan‑European, tokenised market operator.
  • Kardigan 🇺🇸 (Biotech): raised $400M in an upsized IPO.
  • MMG 🇭🇰 (Mining): seeking to raise $1.6B via a share placement and convertible bond sale.
  • Merdeka Gold Resources 🇮🇩 (Gold mining): planning a Hong Kong listing to raise about $300M with backing from Glencore, Mercuria and Trafigura.
  • Mynt (Globe Fintech) 🇵🇭 (Fintech): board and shareholders approved a potential jumbo IPO that could be the Philippines’ largest, size undisclosed.
  • NSE 🇮🇳 (Exchange): preparing an IPO that could become India’s largest ever, boosting a cooling market and paving the way for other mega listings.
  • Manipal Hospitals 🇮🇳 (Healthcare): planning a $1B India IPO as soon as July.
  • UzNIF 🇺🇿 (Sovereign wealth): preparing to IPO Uzbekistan Airways, amount not disclosed.

🧳 Debt

  • Air France-KLM 🇫🇷: signed a €1B multi-purpose credit facility with 12 banks, maturing June 2028 (1‑yr extension option).
  • Openchip 🇪🇸: received a €10M loan from Catalonia’s government to advance its microprocessor R&D.
  • Solar Foods 🇫🇮: secured €77.8M in grant and loan financing for its Factory 02 expansion.
  • STMicroelectronics 🇨🇭: seeking to raise $1.5B in a bond sale.
  • Long Lake Management 🇺🇸: marketing $2.5B debt package to back its $6.3B acquisition of Amex GBT.
  • Phoenix Tailings 🇺🇸: received a $500M loan from the.
  • Vanderbilt University 🇺🇸: plans to sell $430M of munis.
  • REM 🇨🇦: raised $1.3B in a bond sale.
  • Argentine 🇦🇷: a obtenu la garantie de la Banque mondiale pour emprunter 2B$.
  • Philippines 🇵🇭: raised $2.5B in its second international bond sale of 2026.
  • JSW Realty 🇮🇳: advanced talks to raise a $170M loan from shadow lender Tata Capital.

❌ Failures

  • Thames Water 🇬🇧: struggling utility moved closer to temporary nationalization after creditors’ rescue deal was deemed « insufficient. »
  • Duralex 🇫🇷: placed in redressement judiciaire and facing a cession plan after a 9.3M€ rescue (including real estate) failed to restore its viability.
  • Ubisoft Barcelona 🇫🇷: announced a restructuring cutting 51 jobs (~28% of its staff).
  • PayPal 🇺🇸: is reportedly shutting down its corporate venture arm, which had invested $850M into more than 80 companies.
  • Brightline 🇺🇸: struck a deal with creditors holding $985M of municipal bonds to extend a debt payment due Monday.
  • Ares 🇺🇸: Ares and businesswoman Michele Kang are close to a deal to take control of French club Olympique Lyonnais from John Textor’s Eagle Football.
  • Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance 🇺🇸: will liquidate assets, dissolve the company, and return capital to investors after selling its CRE loan portfolio in April.
  • Pudgy Party 🇺🇸: fermé moins d’un an après son lancement, le jeu NFT a mis la clé sous la porte faute de joueurs.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

  • 🇪🇸 Flight Risk. Former Spanish PM José Luis Zapatero is questioned by a judge over alleged irregularities in a €53M airline bailout, with the investigation tracing back to insider trading flagged in France. (Le Monde)
  • 🇳🇱 Fur Real? A Dutch study reveals that cuddling your cat may lift daily spirits, but it does not calm you down in a crisis. (Der Standard)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Proto-Henge. A newly discovered 5,000-year-old wooden post structure near Stonehenge suggests prehistoric Britons were already sun-watching long before the stones arrived. (BBC)
  • 🇬🇧 Leaf Me Alone. Experts confirm the Major Oak of Sherwood Forest, famed as Robin Hood’s legendary hideout, has died after 1,200 years of standing watch. (BBC)

Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to get the next ones.