Author
Markets3 August 2026
The won went from one of Asia's worst-performing currencies to one of the world's best in a matter of weeks, as chipmakers' overseas earnings came home, foreign equity selling eased, and the Bank of Korea ended a three-year rate freeze.
South KoreaCurrenciesBank of KoreaSemiconductorsMonetary Policy
Sonal Weerasekera8 min read
Read ArticleMacro27 July 2026
Repeated heatwaves are no longer a seasonal inconvenience for Europe's economies. From lost labour productivity to rising food prices and multi-billion-euro damage bills, extreme heat is emerging as a structural drag on growth across the continent.
Climate RiskEuropean EconomyLabour ProductivityInflation
Sonal Weerasekera8 min read
Read ArticleNew Fed chair Kevin Warsh was expected to bring a dovish, rate-cutting sensibility to the central bank. Instead, his first meeting delivered the most hawkish surprise markets have seen in years, with traders now pricing in the Fed's first hike since 2023.
Federal ReserveInflationMonetary PolicyKevin WarshInterest Rates
Sonal Weerasekera7 min read
Read ArticlePrivate Equity13 July 2026
Apollo has gatecrashed Castlelake's hard-won takeover of easyJet with a higher offer backed by the airline's board, setting up a bidding war over one of Europe's best-known low-cost carriers just months after a bruising first half of the year.
ApolloCastlelakeeasyJetAirlinesMergers and Acquisitions
Sonal Weerasekera7 min read
Read ArticleMarketsPrivate Equity6 July 2026
A £5.7bn approach for DCC is as much a bet on the Irish conglomerate's years-long transformation into an energy distributor as it is a straightforward take-private deal, and it says as much about KKR's ambitions as it does about DCC itself.
KKRDCCEnergyMergers and Acquisitions
Sonal Weerasekera7 min read
Read ArticleMarketsPrivate Credit29 June 2026
Pimco, the $2.3tn bond giant built on public markets, is quietly becoming one of the most powerful actors in private credit with mega-deals for Meta and Oracle, lending to Gulf states in wartime, and exploiting the liquidity crunch hitting rival funds.
PimcoBondsSovereign DebtData Centres
Sonal Weerasekera10 min read
Read ArticleMarkets22 June 2026
Five years after TDR Capital and the Issa brothers' £6.8bn leveraged buyout, Asda has posted a £989mn loss and seen its UK grocery market share fall to a record low. The question is whether the private equity playbook is compatible with running a thin-margin grocer in one of the world's most competitive retail markets.
Private EquitySupermarketsAsdaDebt
Sonal Weerasekera8 min read
Read ArticleMarkets21 April 2026
A Connecticut credit firm is lending millions against World Cup resale tickets, betting the markup holds. The trade exposes a wider story about how Wall Street is learning to finance scarcity.
Sonal Weerasekera8 min read
Read ArticlePrivate CreditMarkets14 April 2026
Investors attempted to pull more than $20bn from the largest private credit funds in Q1 2026, only to find the exits partially closed. The episode marks the sector's first real test of cycle maturity.
Sonal Weerasekera6 min read
Read ArticlePrivate MarketsPrivate Equity28 March 2026
From Blackstone's bid for Senior plc to the largest LBO in history and a regulatory clash threatening the private credit ratings ecosystem, this week laid bare the tensions running through global private capital markets.
Private EquityLeveraged BuyoutsPrivate CreditMergers and Acquisitions
Sonal Weerasekera7 min read
Read Article