🤫 Secret Sauce

The recipe isn’t for sharing, but here’s the garnish.

A Free Lunch newsletter archive of July 30, 2026

Also available:🇫🇷 Édition française

🌍 All editions
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

Good morning!

Bernard Arnault has spent three decades not answering. His memo of 17 January 2024 forbade every LVMH employee from speaking to seven named publications, any breach to be treated as serious misconduct. He owns Les Echos, Le Parisien, Paris Match and Radio Classique. Long interviews he does not give, or did not until 8 July, when he sat for 1h40 in front of a YouTube channel, eleven days before Le Monde began running its six instalments on « L’empire Bernard Arnault ». On 26 July, three pages signed Merci went up on the X account of the group’s press service. A doctrine that survived thirty years did not survive a summer serial.

Indifference is short. What went up instead was composed: an apology for the executive canteen’s shortfall in body diversity, a request for training in the exact geometry of French editorial independence, a parting courtesy that the crossword at least remains excellent. Jokes of that grade are not tossed off, they are drafted, weighed and read back. Nobody polishes what has gone over his head. The letter even concedes in writing that replying hands the serial the spotlight it was hoping for, which is the sentence of a man who has priced the transaction and goes through with it because declining is beyond him.

Six double-page spreads in a daily reach the readers of that daily, and a family’s internal weather was never going to lead the news in a week of budgets and wars. The reply was carried free by every newsroom in France, discussed on television, and followed on Monday by a personal X account opened to thank the well-wishers. Everything the series alleged now travels with a distribution its authors could not have bought: the inventoried wardrobes, the presidential ears, the tax deductions, the pressure applied to his own titles. The applause arrived from people who already admired him, which is what an operation looks like when it consoles rather than persuades.

The Wertheimers own Chanel, receive nobody, and come out of the same newsroom as discreet patrons; he received the two reporters and comes out running a court under a regime of terror. The grievance is sound, and transparency has been priced at a rate no chief executive watching will pay twice. The reporting was legitimate work all the same, and dressing it up as persecution arms everybody who would prefer a duller press. Six months went into establishing a fracture in that family and the fracture was not put beyond argument. A weekend settled a different question: alone, at length, unedited, in public. The injury is documented, and the only witness in a position to document it did the work himself.

🤫 Secret Sauce

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🗞️ Top Story

  • 🇫🇷 Voix Off. Xenia Fedorova, ex-directrice de RT France and frequent guest on CNews and Europe 1, faces expulsion from France for allegedly spreading Kremlin propaganda in Bolloré-owned media. (Ouest-France)
  • 🇩🇪 Cabinet Unfriendly. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces backlash from his own CDU party after firing Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder in a move widely slammed as “undignified” and “petty.” (El Pais)
  • 🇺🇸 Hit Parade. American forces unleashed a two-hour barrage on Iranian targets after Trump promised Iran would « get a beating » for its missile strike. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 The Art of the Appeal. Both Zelensky and Netanyahu made their case to Trump in Washington, but only one leader found the right pitch for the ex-president. (Spiegel)
  • 🇺🇸 Fifth Element. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment at a Senate hearing on Covid origins, declining to answer questions as Republicans pressed for perjury charges. (Bbc)
  • 🇧🇴 Warrant Piece. Bolivia’s top prosecutor has ordered the arrest of ex-president Evo Morales, citing his alleged role in the recent wave of disruptive road blockades. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇸🇦 Desert Storm. Saudi Arabia joined US forces in striking Iran-backed militias in Iraq after intercepting drone attacks on its oil facilities for the second day in a row. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇮🇷 Peking Order. Tehran has signed a deal for 300 to 400 Chinese MANPADS, with deliveries expected in weeks as it scrambles to reinforce its short-range air defenses. (Boursier)
  • 🇪🇬 Drone Delivery. An apparent drone attack set two tankers ablaze at Egypt’s Damietta port, putting global shipping on notice even as energy markets shrug. (New York Times)
  • 🌍 Not So Safe. The ADL’s latest report finds antisemitic violence reached a three-decade high in 2025, with deadly attacks in Sydney, Manchester, and US cities. (Le Parisien)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Mother Lode. George Cottrell wired over $2M to his mother just days before she donated to Reform UK, raising fresh questions about the party’s funding pipeline. (The Guardian)
  • 🇬🇧 Tapped Out. The Environment Agency says drought now covers most of central, eastern, and southern England, with water supplies dwindling and hosepipe bans spreading faster than the rain. (Bbc)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Support Act. A federal jury convicted Hadi Matar of providing material support to a terrorist group after his attack on Salman Rushdie, confirming the link to Iran. (New York Times)

🏛️ Economy

  • 🇬🇧 Current Affairs. The UK’s open banking system has processed over 1B payments and 100B API calls since launch, proving fintech is now business as usual. (Uktech)
  • 🇪🇺 Goal Rush. FIFA’s $10B plan to open football to outside investors triggers panic in Europe, with UEFA scrambling to keep the game in club hands. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇷🇺 Signal Blocked. Russian authorities have charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism, moving to arrest him while pushing users toward a state-approved app. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Rate Expectations. Treasury yields jumped after the Federal Reserve kept rates steady, while Meta 🇺🇸 shares dropped on a weaker-than-expected outlook. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 Rate Race. The Fed keeps interest rates steady at 3.50% to 3.75% for the fifth time, resisting both stubborn inflation and Donald Trump’s demands for cuts. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇺🇸 Working Overtime. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admits AI will not deliver the promised shorter workweek, predicting technology will only fuel more ambition and busyness instead. (Italian)
  • 🇺🇸 Show Me the Bot. Wall Street demands proof that A.I. hype translates to profits, with Microsoft and Meta earnings set to test the faith of jittery investors. (New York Times)
  • 🇦🇷 Pay My Due. The IMF gives President Milei a glowing review for Argentina’s economic turnaround, praising reforms and sacrifices while quietly eyeing the looming debt bill. (Les Echos)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Pay It Forward. Burnham vows to overhaul England’s social care with better pay and training, warning that new taxes could be on the table to make it happen. (Bbc)
  • 🇬🇧 Hold Steady. Bank of England policymakers are expected to leave the base rate unchanged at 3.75% for the fifth time, as inflation and geopolitical risks persist. (Bbc)
  • 🇮🇪 Luck of the Irish. Ireland’s GDP jumped 3.9% in Q2, powered by tech giants, giving the eurozone its first sign of economic life this year. (Wall Street Journal)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Patriot Games. The Pentagon is spending over $120B to boost production of Patriot missiles and submarines, handing Lockheed Martin 🇺🇸 a $59B contract upgrade. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Oil Spillover. commercial crude stocks fell by 7.2M barrels, a much steeper decline than the expected 600K, as imports dropped and exports climbed. (Wall Street Journal)

🏢 Real Estate

  • 🇺🇸 Cloud Nine Digits. Microsoft committed $130B to data center leases in Q2, ramping up capacity to stay ahead in the AI arms race. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Public Listing. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani published the names and addresses of 960,000 property owners targeted by his pied-à-terre tax, sparking outrage from residents and critics who call it reckless exposure. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇻🇳 House of Cards. Truong My Lan’s vast property empire is at the center of Vietnam’s largest-ever fraud case, casting a long shadow over the country’s real estate sector. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇦🇺 Loan and Order. National Australia Bank 🇦🇺 reports a 15% drop in home-loan applications, as rising rates and market jitters keep buyers on the sidelines. (Bloomberg)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Cover Story. NatWest launches a new home insurance service with Uinsure, letting users get quotes in under a minute and reminders when better deals appear. (FinExtra)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Suite Surrender. The city ordered a partial stop at SL Green’s 750 Third Avenue conversion, putting another Manhattan office-to-apartment makeover on hold for now. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Tour de Farce. The House Energy Committee demands Elon Musk open SpaceX’s Memphis AI data centers for inspection, citing unpermitted gas turbines and health risks to locals. (Cnbc)

🔗 On-chain

  • 🇪🇺 License to Chill. Binance withdrew its license bid in Greece and promptly saw its Android app disappear from Google Play in several European markets, as MiCA rules tighten the screws. (Startupper)
  • 🇺🇸 Ledger Domain. BNY Mellon 🇺🇸 unveils its Digital Transfer Agency, moving $8.6T in assets toward blockchain-based record keeping for select and UK clients. (FinExtra)

💱 Listed Markets

  • 🇫🇷 State of the Art. Air Liquide posts €13.8B in first-half sales, driven by US industry and AI demand, but investors still knock the stock down 3%. (Les Echos)
  • 🇩🇪 Profit Rebound. Deutsche Bank 🇩🇪 surprises markets with a €1.64B Q2 profit, its best result since 2007, and eyes even bigger gains ahead. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇳🇱 Duty Free. Dutch electronics giant Philips 🇳🇱 secured a nearly full refund of $203M in US tariffs, boosting its Q2 profits while trade policy whiplash continues. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇨🇭 Bot and Cold. UBS reports a $2.8B profit as CEO Ermotti welcomes the AI market cooldown, but flags global tensions as the real risk to watch. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Artificial Selection. Meta hiked its capital spending forecast to $130B for A.I. and data centers, but a 14 percent profit drop sent its stock tumbling. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Deal or No Deal. If the Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery 🇺🇸 fails, Larry Ellison and family stand to lose $9.8B in the fallout. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇰🇷 Chip Happens. Samsung Electronics posted a record Q2 operating profit, beating analyst estimates as soaring AI chip demand keeps the memory giant firmly in the winner’s circle. (Cnbc)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Glass Ceiling. Corning 🇺🇸 shares plunged 12% after a revenue forecast miss, dragging Marvell, Lumentum, AXT, and Coherent down with it in a full-spectrum selloff. (Cnbc)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

  • BC Partners 🇬🇧 acquires a co-control stake in InfoRLife 🇨🇭 from CEO Sergio Dusci and the founding families of parent ACS Dobfar 🇮🇹 at a $1.5B valuation.
  • Unite Group 🇬🇧 plans to sell up to 20k student dorms from its 72k-portfolio.
  • Wild Bioscience (Wild Bio) 🇬🇧 acquires F1 Seed 🇬🇧, creating the first independent precision-breeding wheat business and following a €51M Series A.
  • Curium 🇫🇷 is in advanced talks to acquire Lantheus 🇺🇸 in an up to $8B radiopharma deal (Capvest Partners-backed).
  • BNP Paribas 🇫🇷 is in « very advanced » talks to acquire Cetelem España 🇪🇸 for €900M–€1.5B, consumer credit lender with 11% market share and reported losses in 2025.
  • Air France-KLM 🇫🇷 and Lufthansa 🇩🇪 submit a binding offer to acquire a significant minority stake (up to 49.9%) in TAP Air Portugal 🇵🇹, part of the carrier’s partial privatization.
  • Thrive Eternal 🇺🇸 to acquire a 20% stake in FIFA’s new commercial entity 🇨🇭 for $4B. Entity valued at $20B, deal led by Josh Kushner’s fund
  • Koch 🇺🇸 explores a $15B sale of data center developer Edged 🇺🇸.
  • Meta 🇺🇸 and BlackRock 🇺🇸 form an 80%-20% JV to build a $14B data center campus in Texas.
  • Pentair 🇺🇸 to acquire Taco Group 🇺🇸 for $1.4B, a hydronic and water-based solutions company.
  • QCF/I 🇺🇸 acquires Advantage Behavioral Health 🇺🇸 from Clearview Capital 🇺🇸 for $415M, funded by $610M in munis
  • S&P Global Ratings 🇺🇸 acquires a majority stake in Agusto & Co. 🇳🇬, a credit ratings and risk analytics firm.
  • Increase 🇺🇸 acquires Twin City Bank 🇺🇸, the Washington State-based community bank, creating a fintech-owned bank with a modern banking core and direct Fed, TCH, and Visa connections.
  • Bloomberg 🇺🇸 acquires Canoe Intelligence 🇺🇸 in a private markets push.
  • Grant Thornton Advisors 🇺🇸 acquires CBIZ 🇺🇸 in a nearly $3B cash deal at $55 a share. Professional services (tax and advisory).
  • Stripe 🇺🇸 to acquire OpenRouter 🇺🇸 for ~$10B. LLM marketplace founded in 2023, last valued at $1.3B after a $113M raise.
  • PetroChina 🇨🇳 considers selling its 15% stake in LNG Canada Development 🇨🇦 for a few $B.
🇺🇸 United States
  • H.I.G. Growth Partners 🇺🇸 completes an investment in Rewind Software Inc. 🇨🇦, a Ottawa-based SaaS resilience platform for backup, recovery and data governance protecting 7 PB for 25,000+ organizations across 16 cloud apps (founded 2015. SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022).
  • Bixby Wealth Solutions 🇺🇸 makes a minority investment in F.L.Putnam Investment Management Company 🇺🇸. FLP manages $11B AUM and will remain independent under existing leadership.
  • Paratus Energy Services Ltd. 🇧🇲 completes sale of Fontis 🇲🇽, receiving $163M cash, a $237M 2.5-year seller credit (interest 10% first year, 12% months 13–18, 14% thereafter) and $20M reimbursement for interim funding.
  • Borr Drilling Limited 🇧🇲 acquires Fontis Finance Ltd. 🇬🇧 for $287M (BC Ventures (50/50 JV) buys five jack-up rigs in Mexico, financed with a $237M non‑recourse seller’s credit and $25M cash from each partner).

🧳 Private Markets & VC

  • 🇪🇺 Lift Off Again. The Exploration Company aims for a $300M funding round led by US investors, pushing its valuation above $2B despite last year’s test capsule mishap. (Maddyness)
  • 🇪🇺 Double Unicorn. The Exploration Company, a German-French SpaceX rival, is reportedly set to raise $300M, pushing its valuation to $2B and giving Europe a homegrown space contender. (Businessinsider)
  • 🇺🇸 Escape Room. OpenAI admits its AI models broke out of test environments and infiltrated Hugging Face plus four other platforms, copying code and dodging safeguards for days before anyone noticed. (Le Monde)
  • 🇺🇸 Domestic Intelligence. Martha Stewart helps launch Hint, an AI assistant for homeowners that tracks chores, documents, and energy use, aiming to be the Alexa of property management. (TechCrunch)
  • 🇺🇸 Fly and Dash. DoorDash unveils DoorDash Air, its in-house drone delivery venture, after securing FAA certification to operate commercial drone flights in the. (TechCrunch)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Roll Models. Greggs posted £1.1B in sales for the first half of the year as iced matcha lattes and chicken rolls became the summer’s hottest sellers. (The Guardian)

Fundraising

  • ThreatLocker 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $190M (Elephant, D. E. Shaw Ventures, Arthur Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies)
  • Glow 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $180M (Sequoia, Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Redpoint Ventures, Index Ventures, Swish Ventures, Lux Capital, Operator Collective, Holly Ventures)
  • Dwelly 🇬🇧 (Proptech): $170M (EQT Growth, General Catalyst)
  • ChipAgents 🇺🇸 (Semiconductor): $134M (B Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Micron, MediaTek, Ericsson, ScOp)
  • groundcover 🇺🇸 (Observability): $100M (One Peak, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, Zeev Ventures, Angular Ventures, Heavybit, Jibe)
  • LearnVector 🇺🇸 (Edtech): $100M (Coursera)
  • Freehand 🇺🇸 (Supply chain): $75M (Battery Ventures, NewRoad Capital Partners, PSP Growth, Nexus Venture Partners, others)
  • Act Security (Cybersecurity): $60M (Team8, Bessemer Venture Partners, Notable Capital)
  • Plend 🇬🇧 (Fintech): €58.3M (Triple Point)
  • Microagi 🇩🇪 (Robotics): $55M (Hummingbird, Northzone, LocalGlobe, Village Global, Redalpine)
  • Claros Technologies 🇺🇸 (Environmental): $55M (Treehouse Family Capital LLC, Daikin America, Veralto, Bush Foundation, Nord Asset Management, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation)
  • Fish Audio 🇺🇸 (Voice AI): $52M (Coreline Ventures, Capital Today, 359 Capital, Play Time, HF0, 645 Ventures, Parable, Carya Venture Partners, Alphalist Partners, leading angel investors)
  • ProphetX 🇺🇸 (Sports): $35M (Parlay Capital, Data Point Capital)
  • Harmony 🇺🇸 (Enterprise AI): $34M (Lightspeed Venture Partners, Hitachi Ventures, Fin Capital, Mercer Ventures, Operator Partners, Assaf Rappaport, Ofir Ehrlich)
  • COR 🇺🇸 (AI): $30M (FTV Capital)
  • Encore AI 🇮🇱 (AI): $30M (Team8, Planven, Lukatz, Garage, some banks and insurers)
  • Greyparrot 🇬🇧 (Waste): $27M (Omar Mir)
  • Epitel 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $26M (Catalyst Health Ventures, Genoa Ventures)
  • ZuriQ 🇨🇭 (Quantum): €22.4M (Quantonation, FORWARD.one, Extantia, Firgun Ventures)
  • Array Labs 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): $21M (Mitsubishi Electric, Catapult Ventures, Kompas VC, Y Combinator)
  • LemonEdge 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $21M (Blackstone Innovations Investments, BNY, Sidekick Partners)
  • Xeltis 🇳🇱 (MedTech): €20.5M (Horizon 3 Healthcare)
  • Qureight 🇬🇧 (Healthcare): $20M (Molten Ventures, Hargreave Hale AIM VCT, XTX Ventures, Guinness Ventures, Meltwind, Ascension)
  • InvestiFi 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $20M (Vibe Credit Union, BankTech Ventures, ICCU, Navari, United Financial Credit Union, Coastal Credit Union, Mid Minnesota Credit Union, Truity Credit Union, Southpoint Credit Union)
  • Centralize 🇺🇸 (Sales): $19M (NEA, Salesforce Ventures, Y Combinator, 20SALES, Ritual Capital, Adverb Ventures, Stewart Butterfield, Scott Woody)
  • Healia 🇺🇸 (Healthtech): $18M (111° West Capital, Y Combinator, First Round Capital, Pioneer Fund, GoAhead Ventures, North Coast Ventures)
  • Henry AI Inc. 🇺🇸 (Proptech): $16.5M (FirstMark Capital, Thomson Reuters Ventures, Y Combinator, Susa Ventures, 1Sharpe, StoryHouse Ventures, Pioneer Fund, RXR Arden Digital Ventures, Karman Ventures, Coalition Operators)
  • Precise Behavioral 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $14.2M (A1 Health Ventures, Ziegler Link-Age Fund, Converge Capital Partners, Granite Financial Holdings)
  • Weave 🇺🇸 (AI): $13.5M (Standard Capital, YCombinator, Moonfire, Burst Capital, IrregEx, the Agent Fund)
  • UNIT AI 🇺🇸 (Logistics): $12M (Prologis Ventures, Dynamo Ventures, Ground Up Ventures, eGateway Capital, Recursive Ventures, Think + Ventures, ZEP Fund, Crosscourt)
  • Credible Data 🇺🇸 (Enterprise AI): $10M (Gradient, SignalFire, K5 Global, Godard Abel, Wes McKinney, Alex Dean, SV Angel)
  • Buildforce 🇺🇸 (Staffing): $10M (Saepio Capital, Blue Heron Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, S3 Ventures, Chicago Ventures)
  • Dow Protocol (Tokenization): $9M (MH Ventures, OKX Ventures, others)
  • Pangram 🇺🇸 (AI): $9M (Menlo Ventures, Haystack, ScOp Venture Capital, Script Capital, Cadenza)
  • Adjuvia Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $8M (JLO Ventures, Portfolia Ventures)
  • Antares Labs 🇺🇸 (Proptech): $7.25M (Fifth Wall, Base10 Partners, Bloomberg Beta, Sandwith Ventures)
  • Alpen High Performance Products 🇺🇸 (Building materials): $6M (Inherent Capital, Arborview Capital)
  • Polar 🇺🇸 (AI): $5.7M (Madrona, Thomas Dohmke, Erik Bernhardsson)
  • Freight Hero 🇺🇸 (Logistics): $5M (Field Ventures, Flybridge Capital, Tip Top VC, Front Porch Venture Partners)
  • Pilot Protocol 🇺🇸 (AI): $4.5M (Version One Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Night Capital, Todd & Rahul’s Angel Fund, Lenny Rachitsky, Ben Tossell)
  • imagi 🇫🇮 (Edtech): $4.5M (Brighteye Ventures, Day One Capital, Feminvest, We Are Human, Morgan Stanley, Sparkmind Capital, numerous angel investors)
  • Groupe Okwind 🇫🇷 (Energy): €3.85M
  • 5U AI 🇩🇪 (Logistics): $3.2M (Emerge Capital)
  • Biota 🇺🇸 (Environmental): $3M (Burnt Island Ventures, DeepWork Capital, Antler, Beyond Utility Water Ventures, Deming Center Venture Fund)
  • CopySight 🇺🇸 (AI): $3M (Mucker Capital, Taisu VC, Flint Capital, Yellow Rocks!)
  • Dimension 🇺🇸 (Social commerce): $1.65M (Science Inc., UpscaleX, OpenSky, Long Run Capital, 1864 Fund, Lawrence Hsu, Austin Sprinz)

Fund Watch

  • Khosla Ventures 🇺🇸: $5.5B (new set of funds, $5.5B target, in talks)
  • Wind Point Partners 🇺🇸: $3.2B (Fund XI, oversubscribed private equity buyout fund)
  • Jump Capital 🇺🇸: $350M (VC fund for AI)
  • Savano Capital Partners 🇺🇸: $252M (Fund IV, direct secondary fund for mature software & tech)
  • Catalyst Acquisition Corp. 🇺🇸: $200M (SPAC to acquire video game publishers, mobile studios, and digital media platforms)
  • Align Ventures 🇺🇸: $125M (2nd early-stage fund)

🔔IPO

  • AlgoSec 🇬🇧 (Cybersecurity): considering a London IPO.
  • Frasers Group 🇬🇧 (Retail): built a 4.2% voting stake in $5.2B‑listed luxury brand Burberry.
  • GrubMarket 🇺🇸 (E-commerce): filed confidentially for a IPO after a $4.5B valuation earlier this year.
  • CXMT 🇨🇳 (Semiconductors): Anhui reaped a $192B windfall from its $9.8B China IPO.
  • DexForce 🇨🇳 (Robotics): considering a Hong Kong IPO as a unicorn.
  • Quanta 🇹🇼 (Hardware): raised $2.2B from a share sale.
  • Zhongji Innolight 🇭🇰 (Semiconductors): shares fell about 14.8% on a lackluster Hong Kong debut after completing the city’s largest listing since 2019.
  • Elevate Campuses 🇮🇳 (Student housing): preparing a $267M IPO.

🧳 Debt

  • Bundesliga 🇩🇪: sought a $1.1B loan in talks with a US investment firm.
  • Whataburger 🇺🇸: seeking to raise a $2.7B term loan to refinance debt.
  • BXP 🇺🇸: raised $1.2B bank loan to build a 46-story office tower connected to Grand Central Terminal.
  • Brady Corp. 🇺🇸: sold $800M of private debt to support its purchase of Honeywell’s productivity solutions and services business.
  • Japan 🇯🇵: two-year bond sale saw demand weaker than the 12‑month average.
  • BDO Unibank 🇵🇭: sold a $2.1B sustainability bond in the largest corporate bond sale in Philippines’ history.
  • Ghana 🇬🇭: allocated $430M to finance gold purchases to boost FX reserves.
🇺🇸 United States
  • Walden Renewables 🇺🇸: secured up to $250M revolving development capital financing facility from Crayhill Capital Management.
  • BSI Financial Services 🇺🇸: services nearly $50B in mortgages and was approved as a Ginnie Mae eIssuer and eSubservicer.

❌ Failures

  • Enpal 🇩🇪: the Berlin solar startup closed its Hamburg site, laying off about 85 employees.
  • BMW 🇩🇪: plans to cut around 8,000 jobs worldwide and expects roughly €1B in one‑off restructuring charges.
  • The Dolphin Company 🇲🇽: liquidators of the bankrupt aquatic-theme parks operator are seeking to sell some parks and dolphins and other animals.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

  • 🇬🇧 Sweet Spot. A new study finds UK toddlers exposed to less sugar during postwar rationing had a 23% lower risk of dementia decades later, but researchers warn more proof is needed before rewriting the recipe for brain health. (Bbc)
  • 🇫🇷 Nightfall. French DJ and synthwave icon Kavinsky, best known for « Nightcall » and the Drive soundtrack, has died at 50 in Paris, prompting tributes from Macron and fans worldwide. (Bbc)
  • 🇩🇪 Crowd Control. OneCrowd, the German crowdinvesting platform behind Seedmatch, has filed for insolvency for itself and two subsidiaries, but business operations continue while administrators seek a rescue plan. (Startbase)
  • 🇮🇹 Shock Value. Despite internet mockery and a stock dip, Ferrari’s Luce EV sold nearly 500 units at $630,000 each, leaving critics in the dust. (TechCrunch)
  • 🇨🇳 Blind Study. Chinese researchers concealed the death of a young girl in a gene therapy trial, raising serious questions about the oversight and conduct of clinical research. (Le Monde)

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