🎀 Red Ribbon Blues

🗞️ Top Story

• 🇵🇱 State of the Union. Warsaw officially recognizes a same-sex marriage performed in another EU country for the first time, marking a historic shift in Polish LGBT rights. (Le Monde)
• 🇩🇰 Cold Stake. The US wants to open three new military bases in Greenland, but Trump’s team demands the land be declared US sovereign territory, a demand Denmark and Greenland flatly reject. (El Pais)
• 🇱🇻 Drone Alone. Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina has resigned after Ukrainian drones accidentally entered Latvia, sparking a coalition collapse and political crisis. (BBC)
• 🇬🇧 Labour Pains. Health Minister Wes Streeting quits in what looks like an open invitation for Labour MPs to start replacing Keir Starmer, though he stops short of triggering a contest himself. (El Pais)
• 🇺🇦 Advisor’s Fee. Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s former right-hand man, faces pretrial detention in a corruption probe, unless he can produce $2.7M for bail. Legal advice never came so expensive. (Libé)
• 🇷🇺 Cell Service. Russia’s prison population drops by 180,000 as inmates are sent to fight in Ukraine, with survival now the ultimate parole program. (Le Figaro)
• 🇺🇸 Yellow Card. Israel enforces a new “yellow line” on Lebanese territory during Washington negotiations, as Hezbollah resumes attacks and ceasefire deadlines expire like clockwork. (Le Figaro)
• 🇨🇺 Spy Hard. CIA director John Ratcliffe made a rare visit to Havana for a high-level meeting with Cuban intelligence, a diplomatic plot twist amid Cuba’s deepening energy crisis. (Le Temps)
• 🇨🇳 Trap Talk. Xi Jinping revived the « Thucydides Trap » at the US-China summit, casting China as the ascendant power urging stability and warning that Taiwan could tip the balance. (El Pais)
• 🇲🇲 Scam and Deliver. Myanmar unveils a bill seeking the death penalty for bosses of cyber scam operations who use violence or torture to coerce workers, in its first major legislative gesture since installing a civilian façade. (Le Temps)
• 🇸🇦 Stealth Royals. Saudi and Emirati forces carried out covert attacks in Iran for the first time, according to US sources, while officially insisting they are mere bystanders. (New York Times)
• 🇮🇱 Exit Strategy. Netanyahu’s Likud party fast-tracks a bill to dissolve the Knesset after losing the support of key ultra-Orthodox partners. (Le Figaro)
• 🇮🇷 Reloaded. Despite Trump’s insistence that Iran’s army is “decimated,” US intelligence leaks show Iran has restored access to most of its missile sites, casting doubt on claims of an American rout. (Le Monde)
• 🇵🇸 Waiting for Go-dot. Mahmoud Abbas, 90, pledges new Palestinian elections but skips the small detail of a date, keeping the suspense alive for another round. (Le Figaro)

• 🇬🇧 Burn Back. Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester mayor, will seek to return to Parliament as Labour MP for Makerfield amid growing pressure on Keir Starmer’s leadership. (BBC)
• 🇬🇧 Gift Aid. Nigel Farage insists the £5M he received from billionaire Christopher Harborne was a no-strings « reward » for Brexit, not a political payment, as a parliamentary probe begins. (BBC)
• 🇬🇧 Vacuum Packed. Wes Streeting quits as health secretary, citing a leadership void at the top of Labour and warning the party is directionless. (BBC)
• 🇬🇧 Labour of Love. Angela Rayner eyes Keir Starmer’s job while the March GDP figure limps in at 0.3%, suggesting the party might need a new pitch. (Bloomberg)
• 🇬🇧 Heir of Caution. Prince Harry urges the UK to separate anger at Middle East events from hostility against Jews, calling the recent rise in antisemitism « deeply troubling. » (The Guardian)
• 🇬🇧 London Calling. In a stark letter to MPs, Met chief Mark Rowley admits British Jews are unsafe in the capital as police scramble to respond to mounting antisemitic violence. (The Guardian)

• 🇺🇸 Parsing Company. House Democrats demand Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick resign after accusing him of lying about his meetings with Jeffrey Epstein and playing word games under oath. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Chief Exit. Mike Banks steps down as U.S. Border Patrol Chief, declaring mission accomplished while questions linger about past conduct and agency turmoil. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Safe Space. The Blackline Guardian Fund, a new charity, pays for bodyguards for conservative stars like Nick Shirley, collecting $436K to shield them from perceived threats. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Symbol Crashers. NYU officials scrambled to remove a flag bearing swastikas and a Star of David from a campus flagpole, as police search for the culprit. (New York Times)

🏛️ Economy

• 🇪🇺 Subsidy Diet. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz calls for the to ditch subsidies in favor of more investment in its next long-term budget, rejecting new shared debt proposals. (Le Figaro)
• 🇬🇧 Growth Spurt. UK GDP surprised with a 0.3% rise in March, as consumers and businesses rushed to spend before Iran war price hikes hit harder. (BBC)
• 🇨🇭 Class Action. A UNICEF report finds Swiss students’ academic outcomes still depend heavily on family background, with the gap between rich and poor children among the widest in the developed world. (Swissinfo)
• 🇺🇸 Bohemian Rapsody. Czech arms mogul René Holeček is orchestrating a big entrance into the weapons market, hoping American defense budgets hit all the right notes. (Bloomberg)
• 🇺🇸 Trust Issues. Newly released ethics documents reveal Donald Trump was involved in hundreds of millions in transactions with giants like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft in 2026, though the exact nature of his assets remains vague. (Le Monde)
• 🇺🇸 Gas Pains. With gasoline at $4.51 per gallon and inflation at a three-year high, JD Vance insists the White House cares about buying power, even as Trump says otherwise. (Boursier)
• 🇺🇸 Code of Conduct. Sixty-five percent of American workers admit they have skipped AI tools at work, citing environmental, ethical, or privacy worries. The machines can wait while humans debate. (Cnbc)
• 🇨🇦 Current Affairs. Mark Carney unveils a plan to double Canada’s electricity output, pitching it as essential for the country’s climate and economic ambitions. (Bloomberg)
• 🇨🇳 Oil Be Back. U.S. President Trump announces China will import American oil again, aiming to revive a flow that nearly dried up by 2025. (Cnbc)
• 🇮🇳 Final Bill. Gautam Adani nears a settlement with the SEC, suggesting the US chapter of his regulatory saga may finally be winding down. (Bloomberg)

• 🇬🇧 Stability Optional. CEOs across the UK call out the government’s focus on internal drama rather than growth, claiming it puts investment and jobs at risk. (Financial Times)
• 🇬🇧 Peak Performance. The UK posted a 0.6% quarterly growth, outpacing the US and Europe as economists warn this may be the high point of 2024. (Financial Times)

• 🇺🇸 Trial Balance. The AI surge gifts California a $16.5B budget surplus, reshaping political loyalties and rewriting the rules for state spending. (Bloomberg)
• 🇺🇸 Brain Drain. MIT warns that falling grad enrollment and shrinking budgets could jeopardize its academic edge, with administrators bracing for impact. (Bloomberg)
• 🇺🇸 Claim Game. jobless claims increased by 12,000 to 211,000 last week, slightly above forecasts, though employers are still avoiding mass layoffs. (Wall Street Journal)

🏢 Real Estate

• 🇺🇸 Home Less. Governor Hochul’s revised pied-à-terre tax plan will target fewer NYC second homes than first projected, trimming the count from 13,000 to 10,000.
• 🇺🇸 Flat Interest. mortgage rates remain nearly unchanged this week, even as inflation jumps, leaving homebuyers with one less surprise for now. (Bloomberg)

🔗 On-chain

• 🇬🇧 Coin Toss. Facing heavy criticism, the Bank of England may drop its £20K stablecoin limit and rethink how much cash issuers must park at the central bank. (FinExtra)
• 🇬🇧 Stable Compromise. The Bank of England is set to soften its proposed stablecoin rules after industry backlash, admitting earlier plans may have been too strict for digital asset firms. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Bill Coin. The crypto industry is lobbying for the Clarity Act, a 309-page bill that would loosen regulations and redefine digital assets outside traditional securities law. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Bet Street. Virtu Financial has begun trading on Kalshi, the event-betting exchange luring Wall Street players with wagers on everything from Fed moves to weather. (Bloomberg)

💱 Listed Markets

• 🇸🇪 BNPL and Out. Klarna finally breaks even for the first time since its blockbuster IPO, reporting $1M in profit after pivoting away from its buy now, pay later roots. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Chip Happens. Nvidia’s market cap surges toward $6T as the AI boom sends its shares on a record-breaking run that leaves rivals in the dust. (Bloomberg)
• 🇺🇸 Cohen the Barbarian. GameStop’s Ryan Cohen slams eBay leadership as « losers » after his $56B takeover offer is rejected, promising not to back down quietly. (Boursier)
• 🇺🇸 Chip Tease. The has cleared Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chips to Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and JD.com, but Beijing’s last-minute hesitation leaves every deal frozen. (Boursier)
• 🇺🇸 Prime Numbers. Amazon surges on AI-driven profits, putting its $2.9T valuation within striking distance of the exclusive $3T market cap club. (Bloomberg)
• 🇺🇸 Chip Shot. Cerebras Systems shares are set to jump 82% following the biggest IPO of the year, as AI hype keeps the rally alive. (Bloomberg)
• 🇨🇳 Air Force Fun. Donald Trump claims China agreed to buy 200 Boeing 🇺🇸 planes, though the market expected a much bigger haul and shares promptly dipped. (Boursier)
• 🇯🇵 Lost in EVlation. Honda reports its first annual loss in 70 years, blaming weak electric vehicle demand, US policy shifts, and fierce Chinese competition for a $2.68B shortfall. (BBC)
• 🇭🇰 Listing Frenzy. Hong Kong’s IPO boom, led by mainland tech giants, is fueling a hiring spree at law firms desperate to keep up with demand. (Financial Times)

• 🇬🇧 Bag to the Future. Burberry’s £2,000 Cotswolds tote has become a must-have for wealthy Americans, boosting the brand’s profits and proving luxury loves a postcode. (The Guardian)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

• LVMH 🇫🇷 sells Marc Jacobs 🇺🇸 to WHP Global 🇺🇸 and G-III Apparel Group 🇺🇸 in an $850M deal, with both buyers splitting ownership 50/50.
• Ludoil 🇮🇹 acquires a 51% stake in ISAB 🇮🇹 from PE fund G.O.I. Energy.
• Raiffeisen Bank International 🇦🇹 raises its cash bid for Addiko Bank 🇦🇹 by 15%, currently at a 10% discount to its $625M market cap.
• CSG 🇪🇺 offers to buy a stake in KNDS 🇫🇷🇩🇪 ahead of its planned IPO, potentially valued at $30B.
• Tate & Lyle 🇬🇧 in talks with Ingredion 🇺🇸 over a $3.7B takeover offer.
• Toscafund Asset Management 🇬🇧 proposes a £1B buyout of Spire Healthcare 🇬🇧, the UK’s largest private hospital operator.
• King’s College London 🇬🇧 merges with Cranfield University 🇬🇧, creating a new « super-university » in the UK.
• Gallant Capital Partners 🇺🇸 makes a strategic investment in NCCO 🇺🇸, a leading foodservice solutions provider.
• Boyne Capital 🇺🇸 invests in YZY Fragrances 🇺🇸, a branded fragrance company focused on perfumes and colognes.
• SKECHERS 🇺🇸 raises its offer in response to a lawsuit related to 3G Capital 🇧🇷’s $9.4B LBO.
• Blackstone 🇺🇸 walks away from a proposed $4B deal with New World Development 🇭🇰 after control issues.
• Sazerac 🇺🇸 invests in SIPMARGS 🇺🇸, a canned cocktail brand backed by Alix Earle.
• Jetstream Venture Fund 🇺🇸 invests in Wonderlab Bio 🇺🇸, a pioneer in off-the-shelf cell therapies, expanding its health tech portfolio.
• Balance Point Capital Advisors 🇺🇸 invests in The Edge 🇺🇸 as part of its acquisition by Serent Capital 🇺🇸.
• Equinox Gold 🇨🇦 acquires Orla Mining 🇨🇦 in a $5.1B stock deal.
• Brookfield 🇨🇦 has amassed a $2B stake in SpaceX 🇺🇸 ahead of its IPO.
• PJ Millennium 🇨🇳 to acquire a 38% stake in VNET Group 🇨🇳 from Shandong Hi-Speed Holdings for $940M.
• SoftBank 🇯🇵 makes a last-minute offer to acquire Cerebras Systems 🇺🇸, an AI chipmaker, before its planned IPO at a $34B valuation.
• Aichi Financial 🇯🇵 and San ju San Financial 🇯🇵 will merge to form an entity valued at over $3.5B.
• Insider One 🇹🇷 acquires Bluecore 🇺🇸 in a $1B cash-and-stock deal ahead of a planned IPO.
• Saudi Aramco 🇸🇦 is seeking to raise $10B in a sale and leaseback of its real estate holdings.
• No relevant information provided for summarization.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

• 🇫🇷 AI, Aye Aye. French AI giant Mistral AI suffered a cyberattack as a hacker claims to have stolen internal code and is now auctioning it for $25K in crypto. (Le Parisien)
• 🇩🇪 Weight Watch. Milka 🇨🇭 faces legal trouble in Germany after cutting 10g from its Alpine Milk bar and keeping the wrapper, with the court calling it deception. (Le Parisien)
• 🇺🇸 iSue. OpenAI is weighing legal action against Apple, accusing the iPhone giant of dragging its feet on their AI integration deal and prioritizing profit over partnership. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Open and Shut. Closing arguments wrap in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, with a jury now set to offer its guidance while the judge calls the shots. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Fund Run. Investor withdrawals from private credit BDCs just exceeded new contributions, marking a reversal in the sector’s cash flow trend. (Bloomberg)
• 🇨🇳 Loan Starved. China’s new lending dropped sharply in June, with credit growth missing forecasts and signaling renewed caution from banks and borrowers. (Bloomberg)

• 🇺🇸 Dr. No. California and Oregon have started enforcing new laws targeting private equity in healthcare, sending early warnings to investors who cross into medical care. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇺🇸 Camelot Unscripted. Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, launches a congressional bid marked by abrupt naps, vanishing acts, and enough campaign chaos to make even old-school Kennedys blush. (New York Times)

Fundraising

• Blue Origin 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): $50B-$100B
• Anthropic 🇺🇸 (AI): $30bn (Dragoneer, Greenoaks, Sequoia Capital, Altimeter Capital)
• Mind Robotics 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $400M
• Fractile 🇬🇧 (AI): $220M (Factorial Funds, Accel, Founders Fund)
• Forus 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $160M (Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Accel)
• Oishii 🇺🇸 (Agriculture): $150M
• CREATE Medicines 🇺🇸 (Biotechnology): $122M (Newpath Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Hatteras Venture Partners, Alexandria Venture Investments)
• Degron Therapeutics 🇨🇳 (Biotechnology): $40M (LAPAM CAPITAL, GTJA Investment Group, Fortune Capital, CSPC & Growth, ApicHope, GF Xinde, CASSTAR, Kinghall Ventures, GAGE Capital)
• Exponent 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $40M (Chailease, K8 Capital, Inauguration Capital, Kyle Kuzma)
• equipifi 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $34M (Left Lane Capital, Curql, PHX Ventures)
• Judgment Labs 🇺🇸 (Infrastructure): $32M
• BranchLab 🇺🇸 (Pharma): $26M (McKesson Ventures, FCA Venture Partners, Sanofi Ventures, AIX Ventures)
• Stitch 🇸🇦 (Fintech): $25M (Andreessen Horowitz, Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures, SVC)
• GovWell 🇺🇸 (GovTech): $25M (Insight Partners, Work-Bench, Bienville Capital)
• CREW Carbon, Inc. 🇺🇸 (Water-tech): $25M (Burnt Island Ventures, AP Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Builders Vision, Kibo Invest, Idemitsu Ventures, New York Ventures, Counteract, ANIMO Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, Ponderosa Ventures, Echo River Capital)
• Wirestock 🇺🇸 (Data): $23M (Nava Ventures, SBVP, Formula VC, I2BF Ventures)
• Butterfly Medical 🇮🇱 (Healthcare): $21M (European Innovation Council, Junson Capital, MedVenture, New Rhein Healthcare Investors)
• Adfin 🇬🇧 (Fintech): $18M (Index Ventures, Visionaries Club, Stéphane Kurgan, Andrey Khusid)
• Xpanner 🇺🇸 (Construction): $18M (Korea Investment Partners, KB Investment Co.)
• Optura 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $17.5M (Salesforce Ventures, Echo Health Ventures, Susa Ventures, Matrix Partners, HC9 Ventures)
• Anomaly Insights 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $17M (Sound Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Link Ventures, Redesign Health, RRE Ventures)
• Urologic Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $11M (Edge Medical Ventures, SHD Partners, Longevity Venture Partners)
• Synthetic 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $10M (Khosla Ventures, Basis Set Ventures, Tobi Lütke, Kaz Nejatian, Zach Abrams, Cosmin Nicolaescu, Michael Tannenbaum)
• Hint 🇺🇸 (Home Management): $10M
• Origin Lab 🇺🇸 (AI): $8M (Lightspeed Venture Partners, SV Angel, Eniac, Seven Stars, FPV)
• Saile 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $2.2M (Matchstick Ventures, Headwater Ventures)
• Boundary 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $2M (Galaxy Ventures, BlackWood, FirstBlock Capital)
• Coworked 🇺🇸 (AI): $1.8M (Open Opportunity Fund, Two Ravens, Underdog Labs, Techstars)
• Roxberry 🇺🇸 (Beverage): Amount not disclosed

Fund Watch

• Capital Fund Management 🇫🇷: $27B (quant hedge fund, expanding in China)
• Antares Capital 🇺🇸: $8.5B (3rd senior loan fund)
• Dymon Asia Capital 🇸🇬: $8B (hedge fund, AUM target by Q3)
• Boyu Capital 🇨🇳: $3B (new fund, private equity)
• S2G Investments 🇺🇸: $1B (debut growth fund, energy and food security)
• Capital A 🇪🇺: $600M (5th flagship fund, raised in 2 months)
• Finback Investment Partners 🇺🇸: $500M (2nd PE fund)
• Duration Ventures 🇺🇸: $375M (debut fund, early-stage enterprise AI)

🔔IPO

• Ledger 🇫🇷 (Crypto): paused its $4B US IPO plans.
• Gens Aurea 🇮🇹 (Gold): seeking to raise $350M-$600M in Italy’s largest IPO in three years.
• TSK 🇪🇸 (Engineering): raised $175M in Spain’s first major IPO this year.
• Cerebras 🇺🇸 (AI): raising $5.6B in its IPO at a valuation of over $56B, debuting on Nasdaq under the symbol ‘CBRS’.
• Fervo Energy 🇺🇸 (Energy): raised $1.9B in an upsized IPO, debuting with a $10.2B market cap after a 33% rise.
• Goeasy 🇨🇦 (Finance): $340M-listed subprime lender adopts a poison pill to prevent M&A bids after a 77% YTD stock decline.
• Metis TechBio 🇨🇳 (Biotech): surged 127% in its trading debut after raising $270M for a $3.5B market cap in its Hong Kong IPO.
• Impact Therapeutics 🇨🇳 (Biotech): surged 108% in its trading debut after raising $108M in a Hong Kong IPO.
• Adtek 🇭🇰 (AI): has filed for a Hong Kong IPO, joining the wave of Chinese AI listings.
• Bharti Airtel 🇮🇳 (Telecom): increasing stake Airtel Africa with a $2.9B share swap ahead of an IPO for Airtel Money.
• UzNIF 🇺🇿 (Finance): raised $604M for a $1.95B valuation in a dual London and Uzbekistan IPO.

🧳 Debt

• Stegra 🇸🇪: unlocked $1.8B of undrawn credit lines after securing $1.6B in equity.
• Wells Fargo 🇺🇸: sold $6B of investment grade bonds.
• Whirlpool 🇺🇸: in talks for a bond sale to address $3B of nearing maturities.
• Venezuela 🇻🇪: embarking on a $150B debt restructuring amid political turmoil.
• MUFG 🇯🇵: seeking to offload risk on $2B of loans to private credit.
• Adani Power 🇮🇳: plans to raise $835M local debt markets for expansion.
• Modern Star 🇦🇺: sweetened terms on a $410M loan by 25-50 bps.
• Healthe Care Australia 🇦🇺: sweetened terms on a $325M loan by 25-50 bps.
• A2Z Cust2Mate Solutions Corp. 🇮🇱: secured $30M in non-dilutive financing for smart cart manufacturing and deployment.

❌ Failures

• IKB 🇩🇪: the German lender has a $40M exposure to the collapsed UK mortgage lender MFS.
• Ebookers 🇨🇭: the online travel provider will close its Swiss business on September 2, 2026, with ongoing bookings until then.
• Parker 🇺🇸: the payments startup filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on May 7 with assets and liabilities between $50M and $100M.
• Cisco 🇺🇸: the tech giant is cutting nearly 4,000 jobs, around 5% of its workforce, to invest more in AI and cybersecurity despite reporting record revenue.
• Braskem Idesa 🇲🇽: the Mexican petrochemicals joint venture is nearing a deal for a $250M DIP loan amid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

• 🇫🇷 Reality Bites. Journalist Loïc Hecht investigates why leading scientists and Silicon Valley insiders seriously consider the theory that our world is just computer code running somewhere else. (Le Parisien)
• 🇩🇪 Kinder Surprise. A child digging in a Berlin playground unearthed gold jewelry, luxury watches, and €6,000 cash, prompting police to hunt for the treasure’s true origins. (Le Parisien)
• 🇨🇭 Duck and Cover. Swiss police shut down the A16 near Porrentruy for 30 minutes to rescue nine ducklings trapped on the highway, giving commuters a new reason for delays. (Le Temps)
• 🇺🇦 Breadlines. In Ukraine’s shelled villages, French baker Loïc Nervi drives past drones and debris to hand out bread, proving carbs can be a lifeline. (France Info)
• 🇹🇭 Faith and Order. Buddhism in Thailand operates as a state-sanctioned force, merging spiritual legitimacy with royal and military power from palace to parliament. (New York Times)