January 2026 – Finance Updates

Europe’s Insurance Distribution M&A Revives Unevenly: UK, France & Nordics Outpace Germany

Europe M&A Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities

Europe’s insurance distribution M&A was uneve...

Deal volumes were down year-on-year (373 tran...

Private equity dominated continental European...

Momentum is shifting away from large insurer ...

EU Clears Mars’ $X Billion Kellanova Deal – Strategy, Risks & Regulatory Hurdles

Europe M&A Food Manufacturing

The European Commission unconditionally appro...

Mars will pay about $36 billion (including as...

Regulators concluded the combined brand portf...

The deal closes December 11, 2025, creating a...

Why the Illumina/Grail ECJ Ruling Is Redrawing EU Merger Control and Deal Risk

Global FYI Finance and Insurance

The ECJ’s Illumina/Grail ruling bars Article ...

Member states are rolling out or expanding na...

France is moving toward a criteria-based call...

Nvidia’s acquisition of Run:AI is a test case...

European Logistics M&A Surges in 2024: Cold-Chain, Warehousing Lead Growth for 2025

Global FYI Finance and Insurance

European transport & logistics M&A bucked the...

Activity skewed toward larger strategic conso...

Corporate buyers dominated (~75% of deals) an...

Warehousing/storage surged (+180% to 31 deals...

EU’s New Merger Control Puts Innovation & Investment at the Core of Competition Law

Europe Policy Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

The European Commission opened a May 2025 con...

The review would shift merger analysis toward...

Options include a unified counterfactual fram...

The Commission is also considering greater re...

Goldman Sachs Tops EMEA Investment Banking in H1 2025, Reshaping Global Strategy

Europe Firms Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage

Goldman Sachs led EMEA investment banking by ...

Its biggest jump came in the UK, where it ros...

US banks now take about 37% of EMEA investmen...

Leadership reshuffles and a sharper focus on ...

Why Bloomberg Sometimes Blocks You with Network-Based CAPTCHAs (& How to Fix It)

Americas M&A Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing

Bloomberg may block access with an “unusual a...

Common triggers include rapid requests, autom...

Fixes typically involve enabling cookies/Java...

The broader tradeoff is protecting content fr...

a16z’s $15B Raise Reshapes U.S. Venture Landscape with Focus on Growth & National Security

Global FYI Finance and Insurance

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) raised a record $1...

The haul equals over 18% of U.S. venture doll...

Strategy tilts toward AI and national-priorit...

Its scale-up revives concerns about LP and pe...

BofA Breach: SEBI Censures Insider Leak Ahead of ₹1,500 Crore ABSL AMC Block Trade

Americas Risk Depository Credit Intermediation

SEBI found Bank of America leaked material no...

Deal details were shared beyond the need-to-k...

SEBI says BofA initially denied the outreach,...

The bank is seeking a multi-million-dollar se...

Venezuela’s Energy Revival: Risks and Rewards for Oil Investors Post-Maduro

Global FYI Finance and Insurance

After Maduro’s removal in early January 2026,...

Big capital is largely on hold because core U...

Distressed Venezuelan bonds have jumped on tr...

Political legitimacy, rule of law, and enviro...