🗝️ Who’s Got the Keys?

They haven’t lost the keys, just the will to use them.

A Free Lunch newsletter archive of May 27, 2026

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🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

Good morning!

Every government in the developed world owns a portfolio that would make a REIT manager weep into his spreadsheet. Britain holds a freehold estate worth £187B and a £49B maintenance backlog the Cabinet Office concedes is polite, given it has condition data for only 64% of the property under its watch. France runs 195,000 buildings, €74B on the books, and €142B of energy refurbishment owed by 2050 with no credible financing trajectory. The United States owns 277,000 buildings, the GSA alone manages 360 million square feet, and federal deferred maintenance has doubled to $370B between 2017 and 2024, a sum so large that DOGE made it a flagship grievance shortly before Elon Musk, briefly the world’s foremost expert on government cost-cutting, deemed his attempt at solving it « somewhat successful » and went home.

The mechanism is identical in all three jurisdictions. Ministries occupy their premises gratis. No lease, no charges, no incentive to vacate the spare 300 square metres on the third floor. Auditors in Paris, London and Washington have each filed the same report seven times, noting that nothing concentrates a department’s mind like never paying rent. The French abolished their internal billing system in 2019 on the grounds that it was « more administratively burdensome than effective », bureaucratic French for an arrangement that generated paperwork and moved no square metres. The British alternative involves Strategic Asset Management Plans and a comprehensive report promised for 2026-27. Reform by acronym, financed by deferral.

The American variant is more spirited. In March 2025 the GSA published a list of 443 federal buildings to be sold as « non-core », trimmed it to 320 the same afternoon after every Washington property was quietly removed, then walked the page back to « coming soon » and proceeded to sell a handful. The chosen exit was the sale-leaseback: dispose of the building to a private buyer and rent it back indefinitely. A manoeuvre Wall Street perfected on dying supermarkets, now applied to courthouses and Social Security offices. The fiscal logic is unassailable provided one ignores the rent payments stretching to infinity, which is precisely what makes it attractive to anyone whose horizon ends at the next budget cycle.

Berlin, with characteristic Teutonic insistence on doing the boring thing properly, separated landlord from occupant in 2005. The BImA manages 453,000 hectares with 7,000 staff, levies actual rents, and rewards administrations that shrink their footprint. It is the European model that has worked most convincingly, which is why Paris is studying it on an « experimental basis » and Washington is studying how to do the opposite as quickly as possible. The maintenance bills, meanwhile, compound at over 50% within two to four years on the Cabinet Office’s own arithmetic. Which is what one expects from a system in which the landlord and the tenant share a letterhead, and both will be retired before the buildings collapse.

🗝️ Who’s Got the Keys?

🗞️ Top Story

  • 🇫🇷 Foreign Affair Play. The Paris prosecutor opens an investigation into possible foreign influence targeting LFI municipal candidates after suspicious online campaigns linked to Israel surface. (Le Monde)
  • 🇩🇪 Red Alert. After Russia told foreigners and diplomats to leave Kyiv, Germany called in the Russian ambassador and denounced the threats as a blatant violation of international norms. (Spiegel)
  • 🇵🇱 Recall and Error. Krakow’s liberal mayor Aleksander Miszalski lost his seat after a referendum, delivering Donald Tusk’s party a historic municipal defeat. (Le Monde)
  • 🇪🇺 Mission en solitaire. Face à un soutien militaire américain de plus en plus fragile, l’Europe ressort ses plans d’urgence pour se défendre si le pilier américain de l’OTAN venait à faiblir. (The Economist)
  • 🇪🇺 Spring Loaded. Unseasonal heat shatters temperature records across the UK, France, and Spain, with London hitting 95°F in May and officials blaming climate change. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Map Quest. Fourteen Republican senators in South Carolina joined Democrats to block Donald Trump’s push for a new congressional map favoring the GOP, marking a rare moment of open defiance from his own party. (Spiegel)
  • 🇺🇸 Atomic Boast. Trump promises a superior agreement to control Iran’s enriched uranium, dismissing Obama’s 2015 deal as a national embarrassment. (Le Monde)
  • 🇹🇷 Protest Protocol. After a Turkish court ousted Özgür Özel, authorities arrested İzmir mayor Mustafa Güney, prompting water cannon standoffs with thousands rallying against the crackdown. (Spiegel)
  • 🇮🇱 Passing the Target. Israel says it eliminated newly named Hamas military leader Mohammed Odeh, continuing its campaign to decapitate the group’s command. (Spiegel)
  • 🇮🇷 Net Returns. After months offline, Iran is partially restoring global internet access, ending a record blackout that left citizens cut off while officials stayed connected. (Financial Times)
  • 🏴 Braveheart Redux. Scottish lawmakers have again backed a call for an independence referendum, asking the UK government for the legal go-ahead, even as recent polls show independence is no longer a top concern for most Scots. (El Pais)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Farage Against the Machine. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party stormed local elections with 1,454 council wins, positioning itself as a serious contender to upend Britain’s political establishment. (New York Times)
  • 🇬🇧 Plan and Simple. Tony Blair’s essay slams Starmer’s Labour for having no clear strategy, warning policy drift is hurting business and the party’s future. (BBC)
  • 🇬🇧 Current Affairs. GCHQ chief Anne Keast-Butler warns that Russia is attacking UK infrastructure and democracy as cyber threats from China also intensify. (The Guardian)
  • 🇬🇧 Numbers Game. Carol Vorderman brands Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon a “cowardly man” and demands an apology for his past online attacks, now wiped from the record. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Texodus. Senator John Cornyn is ousted by Ken Paxton in a historic, costly Texas runoff, leaving the GOP establishment licking wounds while Trump’s influence shows no signs of fading. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Red State of Mind. W. Bryan Hubbard has rebranded ibogaine from “hippie drug” to Republican cause, persuading Trump to sign an executive order pushing psychedelic research. (Theatlantic)
  • 🇺🇸 Unfair Play. A federal court tossed Alabama’s new House map, ruling it discriminates against Black voters and cannot be used in November. The state plans to appeal, confusion intact. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Fight House. The White House South Lawn is being readied for a UFC cage match on June 14 as Trump celebrates turning 80 in style. (New York Times)

🏛️ Economy

  • 🇬🇧 Theme Park Discount. From June to September, UK families get reduced VAT on cinema, zoos, and kids’ meals, as the government tries to soften the economic blow of distant conflict. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇬🇷 Crop Circles. Another 39 arrests hit Greece as the EU subsidy fraud scandal grows, targeting agricultural officials accused of siphoning millions in public funds. (Le Monde)
  • 🇪🇺 Watt’s Up. Electric car sales in the jumped 38% in April, nearly matching gasoline models for the first time as fuel prices spike. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇪🇺 Silicon Bubbles. The ECB cautions that rapid private credit growth in AI and data centers may burst expectations, exposing eurozone investors to unwanted shocks. (Financial Times)
  • 🇪🇺 Watt’s My Grade? Brussels wants AI systems rated for energy use with A-to-G labels, inviting companies to weigh in on the climate cost of chatbots. The real test will be keeping up with the next upgrade. (Italian)
  • 🇨🇭 House Arrest. Swiss courts have seized two luxury properties owned by Patrick Drahi, boss of Altice 🇫🇷 and SFR, as his legal feud with Armando Pereira escalates in the tens of millions. (Le Monde)
  • 🇺🇸 Policy Violation. Insurance tycoon Greg Lindberg receives a 12-year prison sentence for orchestrating a $2B fraud, transforming client trust into a personal jackpot. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇲🇽 Eurovision. After eight years of negotiation, Mexico and the EU seal a wide-ranging trade deal, declaring themselves champions of multilateralism while keeping a wary eye on upcoming US-Mexico-Canada (TMEC) talks.
  • 🇨🇳 Mine the Gap. Despite Beijing’s safety drive, a coal-mine explosion in China reveals the space between regulation and reality is still dangerously wide. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇯🇵 Hike Expectations. The head of Mizuho floats the possibility of a significant BOJ rate increase, which would mark a break with three decades of ultra-low policy. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇳 Beyond Measure. The introduces a dashboard tracking sustainability, inequality, and quality of life, aiming to replace GDP’s blinkered view of progress with something closer to reality. (New York Times)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Delayed Delivery. The police probe into the Post Office Horizon scandal could be postponed by five years unless it gets £19.3M and 100 more investigators. (The Guardian)
  • 🇫🇷 Union Jackpot. France now backs letting UK-made cars qualify for “Made in Europe” subsidies, a major reversal that could save Nissan’s Sunderland plant. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Jump Start. SEC Chair Gary Gensler is considering changing the « gun-jumping » rules to encourage more companies to go public, aiming to revive the sluggish IPO market. (Bloomberg)

🏢 Real Estate

🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Cap and Delay. Parliament’s housing committee wants the £250 ground rent limit for leaseholders in England and Wales to start in 2027, not 2028, calling for overdue relief. (BBC)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Break in the Ice. New York’s rent freeze gets a loophole as Mamdani lets certain landlords increase rents on empty units, a small win for those in trouble. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Staircase to Stall. Home price growth in the U.S. lost momentum in March, with mortgage rates at 6.51% turning every step into a heavier lift. (Wall Street Journal)

🔗 On-chain

  • 🇬🇧 Frozen Assets. The UK accuses Justin Sun’s Huobi (HTX) of helping Russia skate around financial restrictions, freezing the exchange with new sanctions and a cold shoulder. (Financial Times)
  • 🇪🇸 Odds and Ends. Spain’s consumer ministry targets Polymarket and Kalshi for alleged gambling violations, ordering website blocks as officials decide whether betting on news is legal. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇪🇺 Stable Genius. Bank Pekao joins the Qivalis consortium as the only Polish member, helping to create a fully regulated euro-backed stablecoin for European payments. (Mamstartup)

💱 Listed Markets

  • 🇬🇧 Board Games. BP dumped chairman Albert Manifold after “serious concerns” over governance and oversight surfaced, showing some games end with a fast exit. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇫🇷 Bonded Cement. Paris judges free ex-Lafarge bosses Bruno Lafont and Christian Herrault under strict conditions after their terror-financing convictions, with bail set at €100K and €90K. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇪🇸 Risky Business. Santander is planning a synthetic risk transfer deal covering €3.3B of global corporate loans, offloading risk while keeping the loans themselves. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 Chip Happens. Micron joined the trillion-dollar club after UBS nearly tripled its price target, fueling an 18% rally on AI-fueled optimism. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Fast Track Fund. Roundhill’s DRAM ETF raced to $10B in record time, fueled by 87% gains and insatiable investor appetite for AI chipmakers. (Financial Times)
  • 🇨🇳 Memory Lane. Xiaomi reported another profit drop as soaring memory chip prices and weak demand eat away at margins in both smartphones and electric vehicles. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇰🇷 Chip Happens. SK Hynix joins Samsung in the $1T club as AI demand sends South Korea’s chip stocks and the Kospi index into orbit. (Cnbc)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Fly-Fi. American Airlines will equip over 500 planes with SpaceX’s Starlink Wi-Fi, betting that faster internet will keep high-fare passengers cruising at altitude. (Cnbc)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

  • Hg 🇬🇧 acquires Rightsline 🇺🇸 for about $500M including debt.
  • CapVest 🇬🇧-backed Curium 🇫🇷 offers to acquire Lantheus 🇺🇸 at a $7B valuation.
  • Ampere Analysis 🇬🇧 acquires PlumResearch 🇵🇱, a media audience data startup.
  • Groupe Bastide 🇫🇷 sells its subsidiary Experf 🇫🇷 to Sapio Group 🇮🇹.
  • Loxam 🇫🇷 acquires 50.3% of Mills Locação, Serviços e Logística 🇧🇷, a leading Brazilian equipment rental company, with a revenue of nearly €315M in 2025.
  • Altago 🇫🇷 acquires L’Hexagone 🇫🇷, a specialist in honeycomb cardboard, enhancing its portfolio.
  • TotalEnergies 🇫🇷 is exploring a 50% stake sale in its European renewables assets for several hundred million dollars.
  • Saint-Gobain 🇫🇷 to divest its tile distribution business in the Nordic countries to Ecco 🇩🇰, with an expected revenue of €100M by 2025.
  • Keyrus 🇫🇷 in exclusive negotiations to sell its Israeli subsidiary Vision.bi 🇮🇱 to Deloitte Israel.
  • Rewe 🇩🇪 may sell some or all of its Penny Market 🇮🇹 stores in Italy, with interest from Lidl 🇩🇪 and Aldi 🇩🇪.
  • Groupe Bruxelles Lambert 🇧🇪 backs CVC 🇬🇧’s $12.4B cash offer for Italian drugmaker Recordati 🇮🇹 at a 13% premium.
  • Orsted 🇩🇰 is exploring a $1B sale of its US onshore renewables assets.
  • Eli Lilly 🇺🇸 to acquire Curevo 🇺🇸, LimmaTech Biologics 🇨🇭, and Vaccine Company 🇺🇸 in deals worth up to $4B.
  • v4c.ai 🇺🇸 announces a Series A investment from Databricks Ventures 🇺🇸 and Tquila 🇬🇧, marking a significant milestone for the company.
  • FedEx 🇺🇸 makes a $9B cash buyout offer for InPost 🇵🇱, with the offer running until the end of July.
  • Centerbridge Partners 🇺🇸 is in talks to acquire a minority stake in Merritt Properties 🇺🇸 from Neuberger Berman for $3B, including debt.
  • Devon Energy 🇺🇸 acquires 16.3k undeveloped acres in the Delaware Basin for $2.6B.
  • Underdog Global Partners 🇺🇸 is in talks to acquire Napoli 🇮🇹 from the De Laurentiis family for $2.3B.
  • Apollo 🇺🇸 offers to acquire Bodycote 🇬🇧 for $2B cash at a 27% premium.
  • Matador Resources 🇺🇸 acquires 5.1k undeveloped acres in the Delaware Basin for $1.1B.
  • Itausa 🇧🇷, GIC 🇸🇬, and Equipav 🇧🇷 plan to jointly bid for a strategic investment in the privatization of water utility Copasa 🇧🇷.
  • JD.com 🇨🇳 launches a €2.2B bid for Ceconomy 🇩🇪, which operates MediaMarkt and Saturn brands across Europe.
  • FountainVest 🇨🇳 is considering a $1B sale of Small Precision Tools 🇨🇭.
  • Mubadala 🇦🇪 offers $1.91B for a share block in GlobalFoundries 🇺🇸.
  • Turbogen Ltd. 🇮🇱 is negotiating to acquire a 50% stake in Elbatech Ltd. 🇮🇱, valued at approximately ILS 600M.
  • No relevant deals to summarize from the provided information.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

  • 🇩🇪 Myth(os)Busting AI. Brian Gorenc, head of Zero Day Initiative, calls the hype around AI’s security prowess “a marketing trick” and doubts its supposed hacking superpowers. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇺🇸 Duty Calls. The government hits First Brands with its first formal claim over alleged tariff fraud, testing corporate nerves and customs declarations alike. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 Rocket and Roll. Elon Musk prepares SpaceX for public trading, fueling talk that he may combine it with Tesla and create a powerhouse for everything from rockets to roadsters. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Glow Opportunity. Five startups, including Oklo and Exodys Energy, have been tapped to negotiate for the right to use surplus plutonium as fuel, turning America’s nuclear baggage into a business case. (TechCrunch)
  • 🇺🇸 Rover Achiever. NASA taps Blue Origin with a $188M contract to deliver lunar rovers, as the Artemis program prepares to settle in for the long haul. (Washington Post)
  • 🇺🇸 Out of the Box. Dropbox co-founder Drew Houston will step down as CEO after 19 years, handing the reins to Ashraf Alkarmi and moving to executive chairman. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Dock and Roll. Prologis and American Bureau of Shipping anchor TMV’s $200M fund targeting port logistics and supply chain startups as the sector gets a fresh look. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Fuel’s Errand. Oklo, the nuclear startup backed by Sam Altman, saw its shares jump after being selected for a new reactor fuel program that could change its fortunes. (Bloomberg)

Fundraising

  • Amp 🇺🇸 (AI): $1.3B (a16z, Y Combinator)
  • Hark 🇺🇸 (AI): $700M (Parkway Venture Capital, NVIDIA, AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, ARK Invest, Brookfield, Greycroft, Prime Movers Lab, Align Ventures, Tamarack Global)
  • Modal 🇺🇸 (AI): $355M (Redpoint Ventures, General Catalyst, Accel, Menlo Ventures)
  • FM Logistic 🇫🇷 (Logistics): €320M
  • ICEYE 🇫🇮 (Space Tech): €300M (Citi, Danske Bank)
  • Stord 🇺🇸 (Logistics): $250M (Strike Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Franklin Templeton, Baillie Gifford, G Squared, Bond, Lux)
  • Kalshi 🇺🇸 (Prediction market): $200M
  • OpenRouter 🇺🇸 (AI): $113M (CapitalG, NVentures, ServiceNow Ventures, MongoDB Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, Databricks Ventures, a16z, Menlo Ventures)
  • OpenRouter 🇺🇸 (AI): $113M
  • Rain 🇵🇦 (Prediction Markets): $100M
  • Fresha 🇬🇧 (Wellness): $80M
  • Commure 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $70M (General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Morgan Stanley, Kirkland & Ellis)
  • SOKAI 🇪🇸 (Life Sciences): €64.5M (Quercus Investments, Columbus Venture Partners)
  • Scapia 🇮🇳 (Travel-Fintech): $63M
  • Pivot 🇫🇷 (Software): $40M (Forestay Capital, Notion Capital, Hedosophia, Visionaries Club, Emblem)
  • Catena Labs 🇺🇸 (Finance): $30M (a16z crypto, Acrew, Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, QED, Oak, Fin, IDG Capital)
  • August Robotics 🇦🇺 (Robotics): $30M (Big Pi Ventures, Blackbird, Skip Capital, Tanarra, Future Family Office, GS Futures)
  • Cyient Semiconductors 🇮🇳 (Semiconductors): $30M
  • P2 Science 🇺🇸 (Chemistry): $23M (Sofinnova Partners, Emerald Technology Ventures, GS Futures, Lewis & Clark Partners, dsm-firmenich ventures, Connecticut Innovations, Elm Street Ventures, Chanel, BASF, Safer Made, L.P.)
  • Lucis 🇫🇷 (Healthcare): $20M (Singular, General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Resilience)
  • Prelude 🇩🇪 (Fintech): $20M (20VC, Singular, Seedcamp, Deel, FDJ UNITED Ventures)
  • allO 🇺🇸 (AI): $14M
  • ClearOps 🇩🇪 (AI): €8.6M (Hitachi Ventures, Schoeller Group, Barkawi Group)
  • Coachbetter 🇨🇭 (Sports tech): $8.2M (Brighteye Ventures, Swiss Founders Fund)
  • Trajektory 🇺🇸 (Sports-tech): $8M
  • Didit 🇺🇸 (Identity): $7.5M (Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, Orange Collective, Founders Future, Phosphor Capital, SaaSholic, Rebel Fund)
  • Foundation 🇺🇸 (Hardware): $6.4M (Fulgur Ventures, Arche Capital)
  • Arito AI 🇺🇸 (AI): $6M
  • ThIA Santé Mentale 🇫🇷 (Healthcare): €5M (Irdi, Sofilaro, Generali, AG2R La Mondiale)
  • Certo 🇫🇷 (RegTech): $3.5M (Daphni, Entrepreneurs First, Motier Ventures, Transpose Platform)
  • Tequipy 🇵🇱 (IT Automation): €3M (Smedvig Ventures, Manta Ray, Unfold.vc)
  • Ellipse Bikes 🇫🇷 (Mobility): €1.5M (SideAngels, Bpifrance, Caisse d’Épargne)
  • Mathew 🇪🇸 (Edtech): €1.2M (Encomenda, Decelera)
  • Creotech Quantum S.A. 🇵🇱 (Quantum Tech): 81.2M zł
  • Vendorside 🇹🇷 (Software): Unknown
  • Nuvolog 🇹🇷 (Logistics): undisclosed (APY Ventures, THY GSYF, Start-Up GSYF, Fuat Pamukçu, Ahmet Arslan)
  • SolarSquare 🇮🇳 (Renewable Energy): $55-60M (B Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Elevation Capital)
  • Visium 🇨🇭 (AI): Amount raised undisclosed (Columbus Venture Partners, Concentric, Thomas Wolf, Peter Sarlin, Sam Bourton)

Fund Watch

  • Barings 🇺🇸: $19B (global private credit strategy, raised over two years)
  • CPPIB 🇨🇦: $3B
  • StepStone 🇺🇸: $2.2B (6th PE secondaries fund) + $200M
  • Eurazeo 🇫🇷: $1.2B (5th lower MM PE fund)
  • Shamrock Capital 🇺🇸: $813M (4th fund, media and entertainment-focused PE)
  • Lauxera Capital 🇪🇺: $600M (2nd fund, health tech investor)
  • BAI Capital 🇨🇳: $600M (new growth fund, target $800M)
  • Mouro Capital 🇪🇸: $400M (3rd fintech VC fund)
  • Skybound Venture Capital 🇪🇺: $38M (new deeptech fund, oversubscribed)
  • ICG 🇬🇧: (launching 6th large cap GP-led secondaries fund)
  • Elevation Capital Partners 🇫🇷: (launching 2nd secondaries FOF)
  • Fortress Investment Group 🇺🇸: N/A (JV with Arrow Global, acquiring European loan portfolio)

🔔IPO

  • Nexi 🇮🇹 (Payments): CDP Equity to increase its stake to 29.9% in the $5B-listed firm.
  • InPost 🇵🇱 (E-commerce): an international consortium has launched a buyout for 100% of InPost S.A. valued at €7.8B.
  • Applied Aerospace 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): seeking $682.5M in its IPO backed by Greenbriar.
  • Safepoint 🇺🇸 (Insurance): seeking $283.3M in its upcoming IPO.
  • Madison Square Garden Sports 🇺🇸 (Sports): preparing to spin off NHL team New York Rangers from NBA team New York Knicks to unlock shareholder value, valued at $8.5B.
  • GameStop 🇺🇸 (Retail): seeking shareholder approval to significantly increase its authorized share count for an eBay acquisition.
  • HanchorBio 🇹🇼 (Biotech): pricing its IPO at NT$120 per share ahead of its listing on the Taiwan Innovation Board on May 29, 2026.
  • CK Hutchison 🇭🇰 (Infrastructure): aiming to raise $2B at a $30B valuation in a dual London and Hong Kong IPO for its global retail unit AS Watson.
  • Zepto 🇮🇳 (E-commerce): set to file for a $1B IPO India, previously valued at $7B.

🧳 Debt

  • Groupe Volta 🇫🇷: secured €15.6M in mezzanine debt from Zencap AM for solar projects.
  • Cox 🇪🇸: secured a $70M bridge loan for a $4.2B asset acquisition in Mexico.
  • GA Telesis 🇺🇸: raised $650M in a new credit facility to expand its liquidity profile to over $1.6B.
  • JPMorgan 🇺🇸: seeking to offload risk tied to over $4B in PE NAV loans.
  • Danaher 🇺🇸: raised $3B in a record Swiss franc bond private placement to finance its $9.9B takeover of Masimo.
  • Vizsla Silver 🇲🇽: secured a MXN$173M working capital facility with FIFOMI for the Panuco project.
  • Toyota 🇯🇵: set terms for a $630M bond sale with a five-year coupon at its highest since 1999.
  • Asia Digital Engineering 🇲🇾: secured a $100M bank loan to refinance private credit.
  • Thailand 🇹🇭: aims to raise $5B through notes and loans as bond yields rise.
  • Bank Tabungan Negara 🇮🇩: acquired $1.1B in pension loans from Bank SMBC Indonesia.
  • Kenya 🇰🇪: plans to raise $772M through green bonds to enhance agricultural output.

❌ Failures

  • Okaïdi 🇫🇷: the children’s clothing chain plans to close 60 stores and cut up to 290 jobs in France due to ongoing judicial recovery.
  • Groupon 🇺🇸: the company will lay off nearly 400 employees, expecting $7M to $13M in pretax charges due to restructuring.
  • Intuit 🇺🇸: the company announced it will lay off over 3,000 employees, about 17% of its workforce, to focus on AI integration.
  • SQream 🇮🇱: the Israeli AI infrastructure startup was ordered to pursue a sale due to heavy debt.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

  • 🇬🇧 Into the Blue. The Charles Darwin Foundation uncovers a brand new blue octopus species at crushing depths, forcing scientists to rethink what they knew about deep-sea cephalopods. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇬🇧 Cold Case, Hot Bath. Janice Nix was convicted for killing her five-year-old stepdaughter Andrea nearly fifty years after claiming the fatal burns were an accident, thanks to her stepson’s testimony. (BBC)
  • 🇨🇭 Space Out. A Swiss-led study finds that isolation at Antarctica’s Concordia station fuels loneliness and mistrust, with crews splitting by nationality as tensions rise. (Swissinfo)
  • 🇺🇸 Fallout Shelter Feud. At the “largest survival community on Earth,” residents are locked in lawsuits and disputes over everything but actual Armageddon, from property taxes to promised pools. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇨🇦 Ice Breakers. Canadian researchers have matched DNA from the Erebus wreck to living relatives, putting names to three sailors lost in the infamous 1845 Arctic disaster. (BBC)

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