🧨 Snip the Red One

Everyone knows which wire not to touch (so we just add more)

16 avril 2026

Every Western democracy has a ticking fiscal device strapped to its chest, and every elected leader knows exactly which wire not to cut. In France, retirees now earn more than workers, a statistical inversion so brazen it deserves its own entry in the annals of democratic absurdity. Paris shovels roughly 14% of GDP into its pension system, a figure exceeded only by Athens and Rome, two capitals not exactly synonymous with fiscal restraint. The OECD average sits at 8%. The French figure is so colossal that it quietly dwarfs what the country spends pretending to meet NATO’s 2% defence target. Across the Channel, Westminster solved the problem with characteristic elegance: the triple lock, a mechanism guaranteeing pensions rise each year by whichever number is highest among inflation, wage growth, or 2.5%. It is a formula designed with the mathematical certainty that pensioners will, over time, outpace everyone else. Mission accomplished: 31% of British children now live in relative poverty, nearly double the rate among pensioners. The great-grandchildren are statistically more likely to go without than their great-grandparents.

The American version of this drama is slower-burning but no less inevitable. Social Security consumes 5.3% of GDP and climbing. The trust fund hits empty in 2034, at which point benefits get an automatic 19% haircut, dropping payments from roughly $1,976 a month to $1,600 for the average retiree. Congress has known this for decades. Congress has done precisely nothing. The last serious reform was in 1983, when Ronald Reagan’s commission kicked the can just far enough down the road for every subsequent president to pretend it landed in someone else’s term.

The political graveyard is international and nonpartisan. Emmanuel Macron pushed the French retirement age to 64 and got millions in the streets. Michel Barnier was toppled for suggesting a six-month delay on pension increases. François Bayrou was ejected for refusing to reverse the same commitment. Theresa May’s premiership cracked on the question of elderly care funding. Keir Starmer’s Labour tried to means-test winter heating subsidies for seniors and retreated within weeks, branded with the worst approval ratings for a new government in modern polling history. The pattern holds across borders and ideologies: touch pensions, lose power.

The arithmetic, of course, does not care about re-election cycles. Working-age populations are shrinking. Debt is swelling. Opposition parties, unable to propose the obvious, compete to find ever more exotic revenue sources, taxing microscopic slivers of the population for receipts that would not cover what a single percentage-point pension adjustment would save. The trust funds have an expiry date printed on the label. The actuaries have published it. The voters have read it. And yet every campaign season, the same candidates walk past the same ticking device, smile for the cameras, and promise to add more wire.

🧨 Snip the Red One

🗞️ Top Story

  • 🇩🇪 Baby Don’t Come Back. Germany’s population is shrinking again as immigration no longer offsets falling birth rates, with a projected loss of 100,000 residents next year. (Le Monde)
  • 🇮🇹 Holy Split. Giorgia Meloni distances herself from Donald Trump after his attack on the pope and criticism over Italy’s stance on Iran, ending their right-wing alliance. (New York Times)
  • 🇪🇸 Faulty Deliveries. Spain’s sale of €1.3M in dual-use tech to Iran lands Pedro Sánchez before the ICC, thanks to a complaint by Israeli NGO Shurat HaDin. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇧🇪 Blind Spot. Belgium counts at least 120 deaths tied to police actions since 2009, but inconsistent recordkeeping and oversight leave accountability largely in the dark. (Le Monde)
  • 🇵🇱 Hungary Games. Viktor Orban’s defeat by Péter Magyar in Hungary sends shockwaves through Poland, rattling the nationalist right and energizing pro-EU forces in Warsaw. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇪🇺 Clause for Concern. Former bigwigs press for suspending the Israel accord, insisting Israel’s policies defy the agreement’s founding values. (Boursier)
  • 🇺🇸 Blow by Blow. forces hit a suspected drug boat in the eastern Pacific, leaving three dead and marking the third such strike in as many days. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Game Over. Daniel Moreno-Gama, now charged with stabbing OpenAI’s Sam Altman, told a podcast he might “Luigi” tech CEOs, referencing a real-life killer. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇨🇦 Fresh Start. Christine Fréchette becomes Quebec’s new premier after winning her party’s leadership, stepping in for François Legault with an election looming and polls in freefall. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇨🇱 Kast Away. Chile’s new president José Antonio Kast launches his first big economic overhaul, cutting corporate taxes and slashing public spending to “rebuild the nation” while the opposition cries foul over benefits for the wealthy. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇵🇪 Déjà Vote. With 91% of ballots counted, Keiko Fujimori leads and Roberto Sanchez claims second, setting up a familiar second-round faceoff in Peru as fraud accusations swirl. (Le Temps)
  • 🇰🇵 Core Strength. Inspectors at the IAEA say North Korea has made significant gains in nuclear weapons capacity, with reactor activity jumping at Yongbyon. (Spiegel)
  • 🇵🇰 Deal or No Deal. U.S.-Iran talks are set to resume in Islamabad next week, with neither side confirming a ceasefire extension but both performing optimism for the cameras. (Cnbc)
  • 🇹🇷 Known Wolf. In Turkey’s second school shooting in two days, a teen killed nine at Ayser Calik Secondary with his father’s guns, raising questions no one wants to answer. (BBC)
  • 🇳🇬 Friendly Fire. Nigerian military airstrikes on a crowded market in Yobe killed over 100 civilians, with officials claiming they were targeting jihadist militants instead. (Le Monde)
  • 🌍 Flight Path. Wars and conflict will drive 4.2M more people into displacement by 2027, the Danish Refugee Council warns, and that is without counting new Middle East crises. (Le Temps)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Parental Advisory. Downing Street has summoned leaders from Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Snap, and X to answer for child safety online, as the government weighs a ban for under-16s. (BBC)
  • 🇬🇧 Drone Alone. The UK pledges 120,000 drones to Ukraine in its largest-ever delivery, aiming to keep Russian forces outnumbered and outmaneuvered by machines. (Spiegel)
  • 🇬🇧 Pride and Prejudice. After a BBC exposé, the Home Secretary pledges to prosecute lawyers helping migrants pose as LGBT to abuse the UK asylum system for a price. (BBC)
  • 🏴 Space Oddity. Wales’s first minister urges Keir Starmer to freeze a joint US-UK space radar project, citing Donald Trump’s threats to Iran and chilled UK relations. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Ho Ho Hold Up. Prosecutors say SantaCon boss Stefan Pildes pocketed most of $2.7M raised for charity, blowing it on trips and apartments. (Cnbc)

🏛️ Economy

  • 🇩🇪 License to Drone. Rheinmetall wins a €300M deal to supply armed drones to Germany’s military, taking flight beyond its traditional tank business. (Financial Times)
  • 🇪🇸 Oil Comeback. Spain’s Repsol regains operational control over its Venezuelan oil ventures, with a guaranteed payment deal and ambitions to triple output. (Financial Times)
  • 🇪🇺 Funding Fathers. The and NATO are locked in a rivalry over who gets to call the shots on European defense money, because unity only goes so far. (Financial Times)
  • 🇪🇺 Drone Alone. Germany and Ukraine have inked a deal for mass production of AI-guided strike drones, marking Europe’s largest autonomous weapons contract to date. (Tech)
  • 🇪🇺 No Entry Under 16. The European Commission’s age verification tool will soon launch, forcing platforms to block minors without proper digital identification. (Boursier)
  • 🇳🇴 Let It Grow. Norway’s giant fund keeps piling into US markets, apparently unbothered by the federal IOU stack or the world’s headlines. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Crude Awakening. The CFTC is investigating suspicious $950M oil bets made just before Trump’s Iran ceasefire moves, raising classic questions about insider trading and market manipulation. (Spiegel)
  • 🇺🇸 Chair Force One. President Trump warns Jerome Powell to vacate the Fed chair or face dismissal, while pushing for a continued probe into Fed renovations. (Cnbc)
  • 🇨🇦 Maple Windfall. Surging oil prices boost Canada’s economy, adding billions to Surge Energy and others, though Europe sees little relief. (Le Temps)
  • 🇨🇳 Bridge Over Troubled GDP. China’s economy beat forecasts with 5 percent annual growth, but only thanks to a surge in infrastructure spending while consumers held back. (New York Times)
  • 🇯🇵 Reserves of Kindness. Japan taps into its $10B financial reserves for Southeast Asia, aiming to cushion oil price spikes and keep critical imports flowing. (New York Times)
  • 🇮🇷 Power Outage. As the Iran war rages, Rystad Energy tallies as much as $58B in regional energy damage, leaving a tangled mess of broken pipelines and bombed refineries. (Cnbc)
  • 🌍 Golden Parachute. Record central bank gold buying has quietly flipped to selling, as countries like Turkey and Russia cash in reserves to handle currency crises and war costs. (Cnbc)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Cash Flow. Drax received £999M in government subsidies for burning wood in 2025, turning trees into electricity and public money into profit. (The Guardian)
  • 🇬🇧 Blame Game. Rachel Reeves publicly accused the Trump administration of worsening global economic instability with its Iran war approach, demanding immediate de-escalation to steady markets. (Cnbc)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Betting on Power. DraftKings , FanDuel , and Fanatics are pooling $41M into super PACs targeting state elections, wagering big on reshaping gambling laws. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Limit Test. The era of unlimited federal grad loans ends this fall, with new $20,500 caps pushing many students toward riskier private debt or out of school entirely. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Boycott Club. regulators and ad giants agreed on settlement terms after a probe into whether agencies conspired to freeze out certain online platforms. (Wall Street Journal)

🏢 Real Estate

  • 🇬🇧 Royalty Fee. The Duchy of Cornwall, led by Prince William, pocketed £2.5M in public funds for a deserted prison overrun by rodents and pigeons. (Le Parisien)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Candy Crushed. Suneil Setiya, hedge fund boss at Quadrature Capital , quietly acquires Nick Candy’s £275M mansion, putting financiers at the top of London’s property game. (Financial Times)
  • 🇬🇧 Plot Twist. Barratt Redrow plans to buy up to 40% less land this year, blaming the Iran conflict and mortgage pressure, putting Labour’s 1.5M homes target further out of reach. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Low Bar. A drop in 30-year mortgage rates to 6.42% nudged total application volume up 1.8% last week, mostly thanks to refinancers chasing relief. (Cnbc)

🔗 On-chain

  • 🇫🇷 MetaMatch. MetaMask users will soon find Société Générale-FORGE’s USD CoinVertible stablecoin available thanks to a partnership with blockchain heavyweight Consensys. (Boursier)
  • 🇪🇺 HODL My Beer. European crypto fans turn out to be mostly young men chasing quick gains, not the revolutionaries their LinkedIn profiles promise. (Financial Times)
  • 🇬🇧 Pound for Bound. Nigel Farage pushes Stack BTC’s £2M bitcoin buy, highlighting the Reform leader’s own £215K investment in the crypto venture. (The Guardian)
  • 🇺🇸 Bet Big. Bernstein estimates prediction markets will reach $1T in volume by 2030, even as regulators and platforms like Kalshi battle for control. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Capitol Wagers. Prediction market giants Kalshi and Polymarket blitz Washington with ads, pop-up bars, and lobbyists as lawmakers threaten tighter controls. (Cnbc)

💱 Listed Markets

  • 🇳🇱 Chip Happens. ASML raised its 2026 sales forecast to as much as €40B as unstoppable AI demand keeps its chipmaking machines in high gear. (Cnbc)
  • 🇪🇺 Factory Settings. Stellantis considers giving Dongfeng access to its idle European factories, hoping a rebooted partnership will save jobs and cut costs. (Boursier)
  • 🇺🇸 Stub Hubris. Live Nation was found guilty of using its power over ticketing to overcharge music fans and pressure venues, according to a federal jury. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Heel Turn. After selling its assets for $39M, Allbirds spun itself into “NewBird AI” and watched its stock soar over 500% overnight. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Bug Hunt. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon admits Anthropic’s Mythos model uncovered an unexpected trove of cyber vulnerabilities, as AI tools create new problems faster than banks can patch them. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Culture Clash. Ex-Google engineer Steve Yegge’s viral post questioning the depth of AI adoption inside Google prompts a sharp, public rebuttal from Demis Hassabis and other AI execs. (Venturebeat)
  • 🇺🇸 AI of the Tiger. Nvidia’s Ising models promise to sharpen quantum computing’s claws, offering enterprises real-time error correction with a side of open-source bravado. (Siliconrepublic)
  • 🇺🇸 Buyback Mountain. The biggest banks spent a record $33B on share buybacks in Q1, turbocharged by deregulation and surging profits. Wall Street always finds a way to reward itself. (Financial Times)
  • 🇯🇵 Peak Performance. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged to an all-time high as hopes for a US-Iran peace deal fueled a rally across Asian markets. (Cnbc)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

  • Covivio 🇫🇷 acquires four hotels 🇮🇹 in Milan for €217M, expanding its presence in the hospitality sector.
  • Revaia 🇫🇷 invests $40M in Synera 🇫🇷 to accelerate deployment of its agent-based AI in industrial engineering.
  • Nemetschek 🇩🇪 acquires HCSS 🇺🇸 from Thoma Bravo 🇺🇸 at a $2.4B valuation.
  • Deutsche Börse 🇩🇪 acquires a 1.5% stake in Kraken 🇺🇸 for $200M at a $13.3B valuation.
  • UniCredit 🇮🇹 and Commerzbank 🇩🇪 are in merger talks, but facing disagreements over valuations.
  • Bawag Group 🇦🇹 acquires Permanent TSB 🇮🇪 for $1.9B, ending government ownership since 2008.
  • Hexagon 🇸🇪 acquires Waygate Technologies 🇺🇸 for $1.45B from Baker Hughes.
  • Gunvor 🇸🇪’s outgoing owner Torbjörn Törnqvist receives ~$1.2B in a management buyout.
  • Fred Blackford 🇬🇧 builds a $500M stake in ByteDance 🇨🇳.
  • Intertek Group 🇬🇧 is exploring a breakup of its testing and assurance units from its energy and infrastructure divisions, valued at $9B.
  • Standard Life 🇬🇧 acquires Aegon UK 🇳🇱 for £2B, enhancing its assets in the UK retirement market.
  • McBride 🇬🇧 to acquire Eurotab 🇫🇷 for €40M, a manufacturer of cleaning tablets.
  • Blastr 🇳🇴 is the preferred bidder for SSUK 🇬🇧, previously part of Sanjeev Gupta’s empire, which was placed in compulsory liquidation.
  • H.I.G. Capital 🇺🇸 acquires Inventus Power 🇺🇸, a provider of advanced battery and power systems.
  • Esco Technologies 🇺🇸 acquires TBG’s Megger Group 🇬🇧 for $2.35B in a cash-and-stock deal.
  • Sazerac 🇺🇸 offers to buy Brown-Forman 🇺🇸 for around $15B.
  • Lucid 🇺🇸 raises $750M in fresh funds from major backers including Saudi’s PIF and Uber.
  • UL Solutions 🇺🇸 acquires MET Labs 🇺🇸 from Eurofins Scientific 🇫🇷.
  • Blue Owl 🇺🇸 is nearing a deal to acquire a minority stake in BlackFin Capital Partners 🇫🇷.
  • Caterpillar 🇺🇸 acquires Monarch Tractor 🇺🇸.
  • Instacart 🇺🇸 acquires Instaleap 🇨🇴.
  • Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism 🇺🇸 acquires Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🇺🇸 from Block Communications.
  • AppDirect 🇨🇦 acquires PartnerStack 🇨🇦, a partner relationship management platform with a significant market presence.
  • Parex Resources 🇨🇦 acquires assets from Frontera Energy 🇨🇦 and Colombia state-owned Ecopetrol 🇨🇴, beating out rival GeoPark 🇨🇱.
  • Yancoal Australia 🇨🇳 acquires an 80% stake in Kestrel 🇦🇺 from EMR Capital and Adaro Capital for $2.4B.
  • ADNOC 🇦🇪 is in talks to acquire Shell 🇬🇧’s gas station network in South Africa for ~$1B.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

  • 🇪🇺 Fund Rush. Since the pandemic exposed supply chain fragility, every European state seems to want its own sovereign wealth fund, treating investment as national armor. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇺🇸 Leveraged Defense. Private equity mogul Steve Feinberg swaps Wall Street for Washington, leading the charge for Trump’s $1.5T Pentagon spending spree. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Access Granted. Paolo Zampolli is cashing in by selling introductions to Donald Trump and his administration, with buyers reportedly paying up to $20B for a twenty-minute audience. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Returns Policy. AQR and Quantinno roll out tax-driven hedge funds that are all the rage, but the only guaranteed return may be regulatory scrutiny. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Clear as Mud. John Waldron of Goldman Sachs says private credit funds are marketed with little transparency about their illiquid nature, leaving buyers in the dark. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Toxic Output. The NAACP is suing Elon Musk’s xAI, alleging its unpermitted Mississippi power plant dumps illegal pollution into Memphis’ Black neighborhoods, in apparent defiance of the Clean Air Act. (The Guardian)
  • 🇺🇸 Seed and Repeat. Y Combinator stayed the most active fintech investor in Q1 2026, even as its deal count fell 39% from last year. (Crunchbase)
  • 🇺🇸 Cloud Nine Zeros. Anthropic has reportedly turned down investor offers that would value the AI startup at around $800B, more than double its last round. (Boursier)
  • 🇮🇱 Wonka, Rebooted. Celleste Bio says it has made real chocolate bars with lab-grown cocoa butter at Cadbury‘s 🇬🇧 factory, aiming to end dependence on West African cocoa. (Financial Times)

Fundraising

  • FluidStack 🇺🇸 (Cloud): $1B (Jane Street, Situational Awareness)
  • ACE & Company 🇫🇷 (Investment): $228M
  • Glydways 🇺🇸 (Mobility): $170M
  • Sygaldry 🇺🇸 (AI): $139M (Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Initialized Capital)
  • Terremoto Biosciences 🇺🇸 (Biotechnology): $108M (RA Capital Management, Deep Track Capital, Osage University Partners, BeOne Medicines, OrbiMed, Third Rock Ventures, Novo Holdings, Cormorant Asset Management)
  • nEye.ai 🇺🇸 (Tech): $80M (Sutter Hill Ventures, CapitalG, M12, Socratic Partners)
  • Turion Space 🇺🇸 (Space): $75M (Washington Harbour Partners, Aurelia Foundry, Forward Deployed VC, FoundersX, Center15 Capital, Magnetar, HOF Capital, Industrious Ventures)
  • Artemis 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $70M (Felicis, Brightmind)
  • Bluefish AI 🇺🇸 (AI): $68M (Threshold Ventures, NEA, Amex Ventures, TIAA Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Crane Venture Partners, Laconia, Swift Ventures)
  • Wayve 🇬🇧 (Mobility): $60M (AMD, Qualcomm Ventures, Arm)
  • HockeyStack 🇺🇸 (SaaS): $50M (Bessemer Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Uncorrelated Ventures)
  • Alloy Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $40M (8VC, JIC Venture Growth Investments, Echo Capital, Mubadala Capital, Presight Capital, Thiel Capital, Founders Fund, Alexandria Venture Investments, Gaingels, Ulysses Diversified Holdings)
  • Calyxo 🇩🇪 (Biotech): $40M
  • Synera 🇩🇪 (AI): €35M (Revaia, UVC Partners, ISAI Cap Venture, Spark Capital, BMW i Ventures, Cherry Ventures)
  • Parasail 🇺🇸 (AI): $32M (Touring Capital, Kindred Ventures, Samsung NEXT, Flume Ventures, Banyan Ventures)
  • NanoTech Materials 🇺🇸 (Materials): $29.4M (HPI Real Estate & Investments, Goose Capital, Milliken & Company)
  • Verismo Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $28M
  • Gizmo 🇬🇧 (EdTech): $22M (Shine Capital, Ada Ventures, Seek Investments, GSV, NFX)
  • Auctor 🇺🇸 (Software): $20M (Sequoia Capital, M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures, OneStream, Y Combinator, Tercera, Dig Ventures)
  • ONTO Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $20M (ARTIS, Humania)
  • Pillar 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $20M (a16z)
  • Sonire Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $18M (Santé Ventures, Fast Track Initiative, Nomura SPARX Investment, SBI Investment)
  • Keebler Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $16M (Flare Capital Partners, Sands Capital, Aviano Ventures, Everywhere Ventures, Freestyle Capital, Hustle Fund, MBX Capital, New Stack Ventures, Tau Ventures, Tweener Fund, Underdog Labs)
  • Ratio 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $15.8M
  • HYFIX 🇺🇸 (Semiconductors): $15M (Craft Ventures, Catapult Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Finality Capital)
  • Kelluu 🇫🇮 (Aerospace): €15M (NATO Innovation Fund, Keen Venture Partners, Gungnir Capital, Tesiyer)
  • Rork 🇺🇸 (AI): $15M (Left Lane Capital, Peak XV, True Ventures, Goodwater, a16z Speedrun)
  • Casavo 🇮🇹 (Proptech): €12M (Project A, Picus Capital, EVRG 18, Salica Investments)
  • Nesto Software GmbH 🇩🇪 (Software): €11M
  • Wamo 🇬🇧 (Fintech): €10M (3TS Capital Partners, Oleka Capital)
  • Helical 🇩🇪 (Biotechnology): $10M (redalpine, Gradient, BoxGroup, Frst, Aidan Gomez, Clement Delangue, Mario Götze)
  • AlphaNet 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $10M
  • Donecle 🇫🇷 (Aerospace): €10M (Irdi Capital Investissement, Swen Capital Partners, GSO Innovation, Aris Occitanie)
  • OpenGradient 🇺🇸 (AI): $9.5M (a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, SV Angel, Foresight Ventures, Pragma, SALT, Symbolic Capital, Canonical Crypto, Black Dragon, NEAR, Celestia, Thanefield Capital)
  • Gitar 🇺🇸 (Developer Infrastructure): $9M (Venrock, Sierra Ventures)
  • Nava 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $8.3M (Polychain, Archetype)
  • TraqCheck 🇬🇧 (HRtech): $8M (IvyCap Ventures, IIFL)
  • Prefix 🇺🇸 (Facility Management): $7.5M (Collide Capital, Slow Ventures, Connexa Capital, Kyle Archer, I2BF, Bienville Capital)
  • Yoga Joint 🇺🇸 (Health & Wellness): $5.5M
  • Debbie 🇺🇸 (Consumer Rewards): $5.3M
  • Timeshifter 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $5.3M (Skip Capital, Scott Farquhar, Nico Rosberg, Michael López-Alegría, Brian Kelly)
  • Clean Food Group 🇬🇧 (Biotech): £4.5M (Clean Growth Fund, New Agrarian)
  • GameRun 🇺🇸 (Sports): $4M
  • Mission Control Games 🇹🇷 (Gaming): $4M (General Catalyst, Arcadia Gaming Partners)
  • Flare 🇩🇰 (Tech): $3.6M (20VC)
  • Modern Relay 🇺🇸 (AI): $3M (Point Nine, Emerge, Amino Collective, Common Magic, Charlie Songhurst, Michael Boehler, Thomas Clozel)
  • SolvaPay 🇸🇪 (Fintech): €2.4M (Redstone, MS&AD Ventures, Antler, Greens Ventures)
  • Peak Quantum 🇩🇪 (Quantum): €2.2M (Cloudberry Ventures, United Founders, QAI Ventures, Golden Egg Check)
  • Graftcode 🇵🇱 (Developer Platform): €2.1M (Hard2beat, DigitalOcean Ventures, Heartfelt Capital)
  • Rebound Technologies 🇺🇸 (Energy): $2M
  • Ralio 🇬🇧 (Fintech): £1.8M (Sure Valley Ventures, Seed X, Love Ventures, Plug and Play, rule30, Adeline Arts and Science, Endurance Ventures, Campus Fund, Alan Morgan, Antler)
  • StirLight 🇬🇧 (Manufacturing): £1.25M (Haatch Ventures, The British Business Bank, D2N2, angel investors)
  • Shubuo 🇹🇷 (Advertising): $1M (Turpe, Gedik Yatırım, Inveo Yatırım Holding)
  • Obriy AI 🇺🇦 (AI): $500K (N1 Investment Company)

Fund Watch

  • Accel 🇺🇸: $5B (late-stage fund, investing in AI technology)
  • Court Square Capital 🇺🇸: $3.8B (5th flagship fund)
  • Stellex Capital Management 🇺🇸: $2.4B (3rd flagship fund)
  • Carlyle 🇺🇸: $1.5B
  • Goldman Sachs 🇺🇸: $1B
  • Lockheed Martin 🇺🇸: $1B (VC fund, increased allocation)
  • Dominus Capital 🇺🇸: $640M (4th flagship PE fund)
  • Topspin Consumer Partners 🇺🇸: $328M (3rd consumer-focused private equity fund, oversubscribed)
  • ACE & Company 🇨🇭: $228M (2 funds, secondary investments & independent sponsors)
  • Across Ventures 🇺🇸: $100M (venture capital fund with SBI Holdings, US-Japan innovation)

🔔IPO

  • Icape 🇫🇷 (Tech): launching a share buyback program with a maximum of €5M at €30 per share.
  • Gérard Perrier Industrie 🇫🇷 (Industrie): plans to transfer its listing from Euronext Paris to Euronext Growth, pending shareholder approval on June 16, 2026.
  • SumUp 🇬🇧 (Fintech): planning a London IPO with a valuation expected between $10B and $15B.
  • Equinor 🇳🇴 (Energy): cut its stake in renewables developer Scatec from 16% to 8% in a $170M block trade.
  • DeepX 🇰🇷 (AI Chips): preparing a Korea IPO.
  • Service Long March Tyres 🇵🇰 (Tires): seeking to raise $28M in Pakistan’s biggest IPO yet.

🧳 Debt

  • Caisse d’Épargne Cepac 🇫🇷: co-arranged a €1.4B debt refinancing for European Camping Group.
  • Golden Goose 🇮🇹: marketing a $1B bond sale to fund its LBO by Chinese PE firm HSG.
  • Sotheby’s 🇺🇸: will sell an $825M junk bond in a refinancing push.
  • Herbalife 🇺🇸: reviving an $800M junk bond sale.
  • Tory Burch 🇺🇸: planning a $700M leveraged loan sale to repurchase a stake from General Atlantic.
  • Goldman Sachs 🇺🇸: raised $750M in an investment grade bond sale.
  • Blue Owl 🇺🇸: raised $400M in a bond sale from its private credit fund.
  • JPalmer Collective 🇺🇸: secured $135M in syndicated financing led by Texas Capital and Dime Community Bank.
  • CSN Mineracao 🇧🇷: seeking a $200M prepayment against iron ore cargos.

❌ Failures

  • Sirius Media Production 🇫🇷: the company entered judicial reorganization on April 14 to negotiate with creditors.
  • Stegra 🇸🇪: the Swedish green steel producer secured €1.4B to avoid bankruptcy and complete its decarbonized steel plant.
  • Hokodo 🇬🇧: the B2B buy now, pay later app shut down after struggling to gain traction in the market.
  • BBC 🇬🇧: the broadcaster announced plans to cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs to achieve £500M in savings over two years.
  • Spirit Airlines 🇺🇸: facing potential liquidation amid rising fuel prices and ongoing bankruptcy discussions with creditors.
  • TCW Group 🇺🇸: wrote off its entire ~$30M equity stake in Red Lobster while marking $56M of debt at par.
  • Saks 🇺🇸: the bankrupt luxury retailer secured court approval to sell its corporate jet for $6M in Chapter 11 proceedings.
  • Snap 🇺🇸: the company announced the elimination of about 1,000 jobs, representing 16% of its permanent workforce, to cut costs and enhance productivity.
  • Evergrande 🇨🇳: the founder pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud amid the company’s collapse.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

  • 🇫🇷 Brush with Luck. Parisian engineer Ari Hodara scored a Picasso valued at €1M in a €100 ticket raffle, as organizers celebrate a record fundraising haul. (BBC)
  • 🇬🇧 Eau No. UK consumer groups sound the alarm after testing reveals horse urine in counterfeit perfumes sold online, with fake goods fueling organized crime and endangering buyers. (BBC)
  • 🇬🇧 Bard and Breakfast. A new study pinpoints the exact Thames-side property bought by William Shakespeare in 1613, challenging the idea he retired quietly to Stratford. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Still Life. When the Hunley was raised off Charleston, archaeologists found its crew sitting at their stations, victims of a fatal underwater explosion that left no time to react. (Ouest-France)
  • 🌍 Shell Shock. Researchers uncovered a 250M-year-old Lystrosaurus egg, proving our mammal lineage started with shells long before fur. (Le Temps)

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