
Louisiana’s State Bond Commission authorized up to $400 million in general‑obligation bonds, to be sold by competitive bid on April 16. The issuance will raise about $383.7 million, with roughly 67 % earmarked for state‑government capital projects, 26 % for local governments and the remainder for NGOs. The commission also approved a refunding plan for $285.9 million of 2016 series bonds, with pricing slated between April 16 and June 3. The bonds carry AA‑minus to AA ratings, and Fitch upgraded its outlook to positive.

The high‑yield municipal bond market is heating up early in 2024, with $2.3 billion of speculative‑grade issuance recorded YTD, representing roughly 3.4% of total municipal issuance. Strong investor appetite and a tight primary‑market supply have driven several previously shelved deals back...
Media M&A value surged to nearly $250 billion in 2025, more than double the prior year, even as deal count fell 10.1 %. The jump was anchored by two mega‑transactions: Netflix’s $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and a $55 billion take‑private of Electronic Arts....

Novartis announced the sale of its majority stake in its Indian generics and prescription business to a private‑equity‑led consortium for $159 million. The transaction transfers control of a portfolio that includes both off‑patent generics and branded medicines to the buyers. The...
South Africa’s commodity surge—gold up 65% and platinum 125%—is fueling a boom on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with mining firms delivering double‑digit returns. The JSE’s recent rule changes, cutting shareholder approval thresholds from 75% to 50% and aligning disclosure standards,...
Australian superannuation giant Aware Super has created a new private markets division, appointing Jenny Newmarch as its head. Newmarch, previously the fund’s global head of private equity, will now oversee private equity, infrastructure and other alternative assets. She will report...

Plutus Partners, a Singapore‑based single‑family office, announced it will pursue opportunistic private‑equity investments worldwide. The firm plans to allocate capital across sectors where it can add strategic value and generate outsized returns. By operating without the constraints of a traditional...

Salesforce announced the acquisition of Momentum, a San Francisco‑based conversational‑insights platform, with the purchase price undisclosed. The transaction is slated to close in the first quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2027, pending standard conditions. Momentum’s technology captures and structures data from Zoom,...
iFOREX listed on the London Stock Exchange at a £43.3 million valuation, equating to roughly 1.1× 2025 revenue and 19.4× earnings. The broker reported $55.1 million revenue and $3.0 million profit for the twelve months to June 2025, down sharply from its 2022 peak....
CapitaLand Investment reported a S$142 million H2 2025 loss, largely due to a drag from its China portfolio, while teasing a possible merger with Mapletree Investments. The combined entity could command roughly S$200 billion in assets, creating a headline‑grabbing real‑estate behemoth. However, the...

M&T Bank’s Wilmington Trust subsidiary is defending a New York lawsuit alleging it failed to fulfill custodial duties for several Tricolor‑related trusts. Plaintiffs claim the bank breached contracts and fiduciary obligations, seeking unspecified damages, interest and fees. M&T reports that...

TIP Solar, backed by GoodLeap’s residential solar leases and PPAs, has issued $179.7 million in asset‑backed securities. The ABS are collateralized by 7,812 leases held by Jaguar Solar Owner 2026‑1 and structured into A‑ and B‑tranches with anticipated repayments through March 2033 and...

Global Payments reported fourth‑quarter net revenue of $2.3 billion, a 6 % year‑over‑year increase, while net income fell to $217.5 million, missing consensus forecasts. The results sparked a 13 % surge in the stock as the company completed its Worldpay acquisition and announced a...

The latest "New Faces of Finance" roster spotlights emerging finance professionals who credit hands‑on experience as the catalyst for their rapid advancement. Each profile details a blend of early‑stage operational roles, mentorship, and digital fluency that propelled them into senior...
YETI Holdings announced that Scott Bomar, a two‑decade Home Depot finance veteran, will assume the CFO role on Feb. 23, also serving as treasurer and principal accounting officer. Bomar’s compensation package includes a $725,000 base salary, a $500,000 sign‑on bonus and significant...
BioVentrix, a Massachusetts medtech firm developing the Revivent heart‑failure system, filed an IPO prospectus on Feb. 12, targeting a Nasdaq listing under BVXX. The company estimates a $10 billion valuation in the U.S. and $16 billion globally. Revivent, a minimally invasive LV reconstruction...
Grøntvedt AS has released its draft 2024 annual financial statements and simultaneously announced a restructuring initiative aimed at recapitalising the group. The proposal, presented to bondholders of the NO0013107474 issue, was crafted with an ad‑hoc committee representing over half of...

Finance chiefs report mounting board pressure to adopt AI, mirroring similar urgency in the securitization sector. ABS leaders, like Vervent’s David Johnson, argue AI adoption must deliver speed, transparency, and control, enabling faster tape‑to‑trade cycles, cleaner data, and scalable compliance....
Multi‑currency collateral agreements create optionality that requires discounting with a cheapest‑to‑deliver (CTD) curve. While Monte‑Carlo simulation can price this exactly, it is computationally heavy. Researchers propose an analytic approximation that combines the Clark algorithm and Gauss‑Hermite quadrature, delivering near‑Monte‑Carlo accuracy...
Janus Henderson has launched a new CLO exchange‑traded fund that targets AA to A‑rated CLO tranches, offering a modestly higher expected return than its existing AAA‑focused CLO ETF. The product is designed specifically for institutional investors seeking greater yield without...
Private equity deal value surged to $2.6 trillion in 2025, a 19% increase over 2024 and the second‑largest total on record. The total number of deals fell 9%, continuing a post‑2021 decline in transaction volume. Holding periods have stretched, with the...
The article introduces the market implied discount rate (MIDR) as a forward‑looking alternative to the traditional weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Using S&P Capital IQ data on the S&P 500, it shows that MIDR often diverges from WACC, with energy...
Remitly announced Sebastian Gunningham, a former Santander Consumer Finance chair with executive experience at Amazon, Apple and Oracle, will become its chief executive on Thursday. Co‑founder Matt Oppenheimer will transition to board chair as the company reported a strong 2025...
Anthony Escamilla, CFO of Protos Security, says the modern CFO has morphed from a budget keeper into a strategic leader who oversees finance, data analytics, technology, risk and even operational functions. He highlights the accelerating pace of decision‑making, with stakeholders...

Klarna posted a record fourth‑quarter revenue of just under $1 billion, a 38% year‑on‑year rise, while gross merchandise volume hit $38.7 billion, up 32%. Active customers grew to 118 million, and the firm continued its push to become a full‑service bank. Despite the...

JM Financial Asset Management has launched a ₹1,500 crore pre‑IPO Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) under SEBI’s Category II, marking its entry into the pre‑IPO investment space. The fund will invest in companies slated to go public within the next 18 months, leveraging...

Macquarie has highlighted two key risks in PhonePe’s upcoming IPO: elevated Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) expenses that compress EBITDA margins, and a heavy reliance on a few revenue streams that could be hit by regulatory shifts. The broker estimates...
Carlyle’s Taj Sidhu expressed optimism about Europe’s private‑debt market, citing strong borrower resilience and attractive financing conditions. He highlighted low‑interest‑rate environments and a growing pipeline of mid‑market deals as catalysts for continued asset growth. Meanwhile, Configure’s latest M&A snapshot described...
eBay announced a $1.2 billion cash acquisition of Depop, the mobile fashion resale platform, from Etsy. Freshfields LLP is advising eBay, while Fenwick & West represents Etsy. The deal aims to strengthen eBay’s appeal to younger, Gen‑Z shoppers and expand its...
Getty Images announced a $3.7 billion acquisition of Shutterstock, aiming to create a global leader in stock photography. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued a provisional assessment that the merger could restrict the supply of editorial images in...

PhonePe dominates UPI transaction volume with a 51% market share, while Paytm commands only 6% but leads merchant‑payment monetisation. Paytm’s merchant device network and loan services generate higher margins—about 9 basis points versus PhonePe’s 4—resulting in ₹38.6 billion revenue and ₹2.8 billion...

Regional banks with $10‑$100 billion in assets leveraged mergers and acquisitions to outpace the broader market in 2025, boosting core deposits by more than 8% versus the industry’s 4% average. The 27 midsize lenders that completed deals saw a collective 29%...

Brookfield Asset Management announced the formation of a dedicated team to pursue 401(k) investment opportunities. The move follows a 40% increase in the firm’s private‑wealth capital‑raising last year, underscoring strong fundraising momentum. By targeting retirement‑plan assets, Brookfield aims to broaden...
Prescient Investment Management’s Cheree Dyers argues that digital assets and tokenised instruments can boost capital efficiency and settlement speed, but only if they dovetail with existing custody, clearing and regulatory frameworks. She highlights that faster, near‑real‑time settlement reduces counter‑party exposure,...

ISDA’s new board chair Amy Hong reaffirmed the association’s 40‑year mission to keep derivatives markets safe and efficient, while charting a 2026 agenda focused on technology and regulatory alignment. She highlighted the continued push to finalize Basel III trading‑book rules and...

Jonathan Epstein, founder of DCALTA, has spent over a decade lobbying for retirement savers to gain access to private‑fund investments. He argues that broader participation can boost portfolio diversification and returns for workers. On the brink of a major regulatory...

Nasdaq Stockholm’s president warned that the exchange must act after Klarna chose a New York listing, a move that underscores growing competition from U.S. markets. Last year Nasdaq Stockholm and its Nordic peers captured 60% of Europe’s equity capital‑market activity,...

Private equity firms EQT AB and Vitruvian Partners have engaged Evercore and Goldman Sachs to explore a sale or initial public offering of cyber insurer CFC, targeting a valuation around £5 billion. The advisers are assessing both London and New York as...
The US leveraged loan market opened 2026 with extraordinary vigor, posting $168.2 billion in new issuances during January—the strongest monthly total in over a decade. By mid‑February, activity slowed dramatically, with only $25.9 billion of new deals launched through February 18, the lowest...
Technology private equity deal activity surged in 2026, with total deal value climbing 67.4% year‑over‑year while the number of transactions rose a modest 13.4%. The gap between value and count indicates that firms are executing larger, mega‑cap deals rather than...
Middlesex Water Co (MSEX) reported 2025 income from continuing operations of $191.4 million, a 5.7% increase year‑over‑year, while full‑year net earnings fell to $190.4 million due to the Everest spin‑off. The electric utility segment saw earnings decline to $64.9 million, whereas natural‑gas earnings...
Gentherm reported record $1.5 billion revenue for 2025, a 2.9% increase, and secured $2.2 billion of automotive new‑business awards, including $485 million in Q4. Adjusted EBITDA fell to $175 million (11.7% of sales) amid higher material costs, while operating cash flow rose 7% to...

Etsy announced it will sell its second‑hand fashion app Depop to eBay for $1.2 billion in cash. Depop, which posted roughly $1 billion in gross merchandise volume and 7 million active buyers in 2025, was acquired by Etsy in 2021 for $1.62 billion. The...

Sprite’s aviation securitization platform is launching a $495 million asset‑backed securities (ABS) program backed by lease contracts on 30 aircraft. The issuance comprises three fixed‑rate tranches with an anticipated repayment date in March 2033 and a final legal maturity in March 2041. World...
McKinsey reports that generative AI has slashed M&A costs by roughly 20% and accelerated deal timelines by 10% to 30%. The technology enables faster target identification, due diligence, and integration, especially amid geopolitical and supply‑chain disruptions. Bain finds one in...

Canadian fintech investment plunged 75% in 2025, falling to US$2.4 billion across 113 deals, down from a record US$9.9 billion in 2024. AI and digital‑asset firms dominated the reduced deal flow, while later‑stage platforms attracted the bulk of capital. The three biggest...
A Texas federal judge denied the Federal Trade Commission’s emergency request to extend a seven‑day pause on its order that dismantles a sweeping pre‑merger reporting rule. The FTC now has until Thursday to seek relief from the Fifth Circuit Court...
The SEC has proposed amendments to Form N‑PORT that give investment companies an extra 15 days to file their monthly portfolio reports and shift public disclosure from a monthly to a quarterly cadence. The changes also eliminate the “Names Rule”...

Don Backstrom, co‑founder of the municipal advisory firm Backstrom McCarley Berry & Co., died at 84 from cancer. He launched the Los Angeles‑based firm on his 61st birthday in 2002 and served as managing director through July 2025, then part‑time until his death. Backstrom’s career spanned...

Northeast public issuers are grappling with crumbling infrastructure, rising construction costs and a wave of federal funding cuts. Tariffs and buy‑American requirements are inflating bus purchases for NJ Transit, while the Gateway tunnel project remains stalled after a $205 million funding...