TheChek News Flow

Sanctioned Russian billionaire files London bankruptcy petition against former associate

Andrey Guryev brings action against Alexander Gorbachev over legal costs stemming from High Court dispute

A sanctioned Russian billionaire has filed a bankruptcy petition in London against a former associate over legal costs stemming from a dispute about a stake worth hundreds of millions of dollars in one of the world’s largest fertiliser producers.

Andrey Guryev has brought the bankruptcy action against Alexander Gorbachev, who unsuccessfully sued Guryev last year over claims that he reneged on a verbal promise — made partly in a sauna and on the street outside a pub — to grant him a substantial interest in PhosAgro.

Gorbachev, who is no relation of the late Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, lost the lawsuit after a High Court judge in September found there were “unexplained and unexplainable inconsistencies” in his claims.

He was ordered to pay Guryev’s legal costs, amounting to £12mn. Gorbachev had litigation insurance in place for £10mn, according to a court order in October, leaving a shortfall of £2mn.

The court order added that Guryev had to apply to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, an arm of the UK Treasury, for a licence “to permit the receipt by him of the sums payable”.

Legal records show Guryev filed a bankruptcy petition — an application for assets to be taken and sold to pay debts — at the High Court in December against Gorbachev, who attended an initial hearing in central London this week.

Daniel Cashman​, the barrister representing Guryev, told the court that his client was owed monies “in the millions” arising from Gorbachev’s failed court action.

James Culverwell, the barrister for Gorbachev, said that the bankruptcy petition was being contested. The proceedings were adjourned to a later date.

The dispute over the stake in PhosAgro was one of several clashes between Russian businessmen in London’s courts over contested ownership of businesses created in the buccaneering era that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev was a longtime senior manager at PhosAgro but fled Russia to claim asylum in the UK in 2004. He claimed he was entitled to 25 per cent of Guryev’s shares in the fertiliser business, estimated to be worth several hundred million dollars.

In support of the lawsuit, Gorbachev cited conversations he and Guryev purportedly had around London years ago, including in a sauna, outside a pub and in restaurants.

Guryev said that Gorbachev’s assertions had “no factual basis” and described the legal proceedings as a “shakedown”.

A six-week trial was heard last year, in which Judge Mark Pelling KC travelled to Dubai to hear Guryev’s testimony given sanctions imposed on the billionaire.

In his ruling, the judge found that there were “simply too many unexplained and unexplainable inconsistencies and inherent implausibilities” in Gorbachev’s claims. Gorbachev said at the time that the judgment was “extremely disappointing”.

The ‘David and Goliath’ fight over China’s London mega-embassy

Redevelopment of old Royal Mint site would be largest Chinese diplomatic complex in Europe

Contentious proposals for a new Chinese mega-embassy in central London have been the subject of geopolitical wrangling at the highest levels of government, but another party is also demanding to be heard: a band of local residents.

When the Beijing administration bought the site of the old Royal Mint next to the Tower of London in 2018, its aim was to build the largest Chinese diplomatic complex in Europe.

Alongside resplendent Georgian architecture and the ruins of a 14th century Cistercian abbey, the 5.4 acre purchase also included the freehold to about 100 flats across four residential blocks.

Many of the residents now living on the Chinese-government owned land oppose the proposed embassy complex, but feel their voices have been ignored as the superpower has ratcheted up pressure on the UK government to assist its application for planning permission.

“We’re definitely pawns in a wider geopolitical game,” says Mark Nygate, 64, a management accountant who is a vocal critic of the plan and a leading member of the Royal Mint Court Residents Association.

After early victories in the long-running battle, including a decision by Tower Hamlets council to block the Chinese state’s first planning application on security grounds in 2022, Nygate and his neighbours are now entering their final skirmish — and are nervous about their prospects.

Their latest crowdfunder for what they call their “David vs Goliath” fight has raised only £370 of its £30,000 target to pay for legal advice for a public inquiry into the proposals, which is due to take evidence and conduct site inspections this month.

Nygate’s ground-floor flat, where he has lived for 27 years, is the closest to the perimeter of the proposed embassy complex, just 8.5 metres from a wooden fence that marks the rear boundary of the diplomatic site.

While much of the rest of the site is protected by fortress-like walls, the Chinese government plans to have only a fence here, sparking anxiety among Nygate and other neighbours that the spot next to their homes would be vulnerable to potential assault.

Violent terror attacks, disruptive protests and traffic disturbance are among the potential threats to local safety and quality of life if construction of the Chinese embassy goes ahead, according to a damning report by security group Crilly Consulting commissioned by worried residents.

Some spoke to the Financial Times only on the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals from their freeholder — the Chinese government. Others in nearby streets are also resistant to the plan, but declined to speak publicly because they have links to companies ultimately owned by Chinese enterprises.

One of the people living in Royal Mint Court said they suspected Beijing’s ultimate aim was to “get us out” of the properties, flatten the residential blocks and then build superior fortifications.

In 2020 the Chinese consulate in Belfast built a new boundary wall without planning permission. When the city council sought a court injunction, the Chinese consulate successfully argued that diplomatic immunity meant the court did not have jurisdiction over the land.

The uncertainty hanging over the London site has harmed the value and saleability of the flats, Nygate argues, as he describes the toll the battle has taken on him and some of his neighbours.

“Its certainly been very stressful. You don’t know whether you’ll be living here in a few years’ time . . . The pressure is having an impact on work and maybe, in some ways, my mental state as well,” he says.

His other concerns span potential surveillance of the area by the Chinese state and curbs on activities taking place there. He is a keen photographer who enjoys taking pictures of beans growing in his vegetable patch, which abuts the perimeter of the proposed embassy. He worries that wielding a camera near the sensitive site could prompt confrontations with embassy security guards.

Another resident expressed their anger towards the UK government for riding roughshod over the objections of local people about the proposals. “I’m appalled. The ministers, the [UK] government, have a duty to British citizens first, then the duty under the [Vienna] agreement” — a convention that obliges a state to help other nations carry out their diplomatic work on its territory.

In recent months several British cabinet ministers appear to have lined up behind China’s latest planning application, which was submitted last summer.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner announced she would be taking control of the decision just days before foreign secretary David Lammy flew out to Beijing to step up engagement with the Chinese government last October. It then emerged that British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chinese President Xi Jinping have discussed the embassy.

In the most recent intervention, Lammy and home secretary Yvette Cooper last month signalled their support for the application — albeit with conditions.

They revealed in a letter to the planning inspectorate that the Metropolitan Police had “withdrawn their objection” to the plans. Nygate and other residents say they believe the police have been “nobbled”.

Last November Jon Savell, the Metropolitan police’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Specialist Operations, raised a range of issues about the planning proposals and said the “vulnerability of the residents” in the apartment blocks “should not be discounted”.

In January, however, Elisabeth Chapple, the Met’s Deputy Senior National Co-ordinator of the Protect and Prepare programme, told the Planning Inspectorate that the Met had since taken into account another formal assessment of the site, which had led the police to withdraw its objection to the planning application.

A Met spokesperson said the force’s initial objection related to the “potential impact of protests on local roads”, adding: “The borough council has since reintroduced an assessment of the surrounding area’s ability to accommodate protests — this was not available at the point our objection was made.”

It has not gone unnoticed that the UK government is also seeking permission from the Chinese authorities to reconstruct its own embassy in Beijing, which some critics believe may be playing into Whitehall’s considerations about the Royal Mint site.

There are differing views among local residents about the embassy, however. While Nygate and allies insist they represent the “vast majority”, their neighbour Barry Harris is more relaxed about the proposal.

The retired surveyor, 71, who has lived on the site for 25 years, dismisses “scaremongering” about the plans.

Taking an upbeat view of the Beijing administration’s proposal, he says: “I think it will raise the area to have the embassy there . . . less graffiti, less drug taking, less disturbance in the area, because they [Chinese officials] will be there overseeing everything.”

He adds that the site has “sat empty for years, which is a crying shame, it needs to be used for something”.

In any case, Harris has long viewed it as inevitable that China will get permission for its plans, going “over the head of the local council”.

Tower Hamlets council refused the latest planning application in December, but acknowledged the matter was now in Rayner’s hands.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said a final decision “will be made in due course”.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said it had engaged a security consultant at an early stage of its “high quality” project and that its planning application “has taken into full consideration the UK’s planning policy and guidance as well as views of all relevant parties”. 

On Wednesday, Foreign Office minister Baroness Jenny Chapman told parliament it was “very important that any conditions that might be imposed are complied with” by Beijing regarding the embassy proposal.

She acknowledged that it would be “a very large embassy” if it went ahead, but added: “China is a considerably large country with considerable interests.”

EU fertiliser companies push for steeper tariffs on Russian imports

Struggling producers say new proposals to prevent dumping are ‘too little, too late’

Tariffs to stop Russia from dumping cheap fertiliser into the EU market are “too little, too late”, European producers have warned after a collapse in their earnings in recent years as their costs soared.

Blocked from selling pipeline gas into the EU in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has instead used the gas to increase its production and exports of fertiliser, which is not subject to sanctions.

“It is textbook dumping,” said one fertiliser executive, who asked not to be named.

Crucial for global agriculture, fertiliser is heavily reliant on natural gas as a feedstock, leaving European producers struggling to compete amid stubbornly high gas prices.

The European Commission on Tuesday proposed a gradual increase in tariffs on certain fertilisers from Russia and Belarus over the next three years from the current level of 6.5 per cent. The plan, which will now be voted on by the European parliament and Council of Ministers, has been carefully calibrated to avoid upsetting countries such as France and the Netherlands that have large farming industries.

However, the move did not satisfy the region’s fertiliser companies, many of which are in severe financial distress.

“The EU has dragged its feet on action,” said Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Yara International, a leading producer of nitrogen-based fertilisers based in Norway whose net income plunged 98 per cent to $54mn between 2022 and 2023. “Now an extended phase-in period only kicks the can further down the road as it will only start impacting the agricultural season from 2026 and even 2027.”

Holsether called on the EU to “increase the ambition level”, saying tariffs would help level the playing field, “but unfortunately it is too little, too late”.

Ahmed El-Hoshy, chief executive of Fertiglobe, a fertiliser company based in the United Arab Emirates, said ahead of the new EU proposals that crop nutrient producers in Europe were “facing higher labour costs, higher energy costs, higher regulation — something has got to give”. He added that tariffs “would have a big effect on the European landscape to protect industry”.

He said the US had meanwhile urged its farmers to take advantage of the situation to buy more cheap fertiliser and lower their cost of production.

Holsether warned that with natural gas prices in Europe “345 per cent higher than in the US, and even more compared to Russia”, European producers could be tempted to shift their operations across the Atlantic.

He also said the European fertiliser sector would not easily recover from a decline in production.

“These industries are not like restaurants during Covid, where you shut down and then reopen when circumstances change,” said Holsether. “When you move production elsewhere and invest in new facilities, they stay. It’s not like you then go back.”

The commission said the proposed new tariffs would apply to the 15 per cent of agricultural products from Russia for which import duties had not already been increased. “Such imports, particularly of fertilisers, make the EU vulnerable to potential coercive actions by Russia and thus present a risk to EU food security,” it said in a statement.

Under the commission’s proposal, additional tariffs on Russian and Belarusian fertiliser would start at 13 per cent and reach 50 per cent over the next three years to give farmers time to find alternative sources. This is on top of the 6.5 per cent existing duty.

Leo Alders, president of trade body Fertilizers Europe, urged Brussels to raise tariff levels to a minimum of 30 per cent and increase them further every six months.

“While we strongly support the course of action, the urgency of the current landscape demands a more ambitious approach,” he said.

Diageo sales hangover leaves investors with a headache

FTSE 100 spirits giant faces a flagging share price and falling demand for alcohol

Diageo is under pressure to set a new course as investors grow weary of languishing sales amid wider falling demand for alcohol.

All eyes will be on chief executive Debra Crew and chief financial officer Nik Jhangiani on Tuesday, when the FTSE 100 spirits giant will unveil its half-year results. Investors have called on the pair to give a clearer indication of Diageo’s growth prospects and set out a plan to tighten up costs and reduce leverage.

There are signs that shareholders are starting to lose patience.

“Investors need a clear message about what to expect in terms of future growth,” said Kai Lehmann, a senior analyst at Flossbach von Storch, a top-20 investor in Diageo. “The current 5 to 7 per cent medium-term organic sales growth target seems unrealistic.”

The results will be published days after Diageo’s share price soared to the top of the FTSE 100, prompted by reports that the company was considering a sale of its blockbuster brand Guinness, or its 34 per cent stake in LVMH’s drinks business, Moët Hennessy.

Despite a swift denial by Diageo last Sunday — and its subsequent confirmation of the $81mn sale of its Guinness breweries business in Ghana — the uptick was a sign that investors are open to some kind of shake-up. 

The London-listed group, whose brands including Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Don Julio make up about 4 per cent of global alcohol sales, is expected to cut its medium-term sales guidance to reflect a more realistic picture as demand falters in Diageo’s crucial US market.

Growth in the wider industry has stagnated as drinkers cut back on alcohol, following an unprecedented boom during Covid-19 and the ensuing recovery, when consumers spent their savings on pricey cocktails. The hangover has hammered spirits stocks, which are now trading at a significant discount to the wider consumer category. Share prices were not helped by the US surgeon-general saying in January that alcoholic drinks should carry a warning to boost awareness about their link to cancer.

Some investors feel that Diageo has insisted for too long that the downturn is temporary, promising a recovery that has failed to materialise. The rise of weight-loss drugs — which may also be able to reduce alcohol consumption — and a growing trend for moderation has also caused jitters. Veteran investment manager Terry Smith dumped his fund’s stake in Diageo earlier this year over such concerns.

Diageo shareholder Chris Rossbach, managing partner at J Stern & Co, a private investment office, said he wanted management to “articulate the investment case more clearly”, and to focus on finding efficiencies in the business.

Tuesday will be the first trading update since Jhangiani joined from Coca-Cola bottler CCEP, and since the appointment of the new chair, former civil servant and BP executive Sir John Manzoni. Shareholders and analysts say the new team offers an opportunity to reset the narrative.

“We still have to see [Crew] fully realise the potential of the portfolio . . . she must take the initiative, reinvest and go on the offensive,” Rossbach said, adding, “we want to see more focus on costs and efficiencies”.

Crew became CEO in the summer of 2023, following the death of Sir Ivan Menezes, who had led Diageo for a decade. Crew, who previously spent a stint as the group’s head of North America, has faced investor scepticism since she was forced to issue a shock profit warning following a sales slump in Latin America. Lavanya Chandrashekar, her CFO, stepped down not long after. The company has also recently appointed a new head of investor relations.

At its last trading update, the spirits maker reported its first global drop in sales since 2020, sending the shares down more than 9 per cent in early trading. Global sales in the 12 months to the end of June fell 1.4 per cent to $20.3bn.

Flossbach von Storch’s Lehmann said he hoped the management team would provide “fresh ideas” about how to strengthen the growth profile. “We miss the sense of urgency with regards to the rising interest burden, as we would prefer the balance sheet to be less leveraged,” he added.

Diageo has accumulated growing levels of debts, amounting to $20bn net on its balance sheet, raising concerns among investors that the burden will dampen profits. Its target leverage ratio is 2.5 to 3 times net debt-to-ebitda. The ratio at the end of Diageo’s 2024 financial year was 3 times.

Jhangani in his previous role at CCEP was very focused on shareholder returns, and popular with investors as a result. Jefferies analyst Ed Mundy said they would be looking for him both to set out a plan to cut costs, as well as some reassurance on returns. “People want to see the dividend continuing to grow,” he said.

While it is Guinness that has captured recent headlines, several shareholders told the Financial Times that they were not looking for Diageo to sell the famous stout. The drink enjoyed unprecedented demand in the run-up to Christmas, causing some pubs to run dry and pouring criticism on Diageo for not foreseeing the supply squeeze.

Rossbach at Stern said that “while it’s always good to think about portfolio restructuring”, Guinness was “an irreplaceable brand . . . it’s not clear that the premium they’d get is better than what they can achieve themselves”. 

A top-20 shareholder agreed that Diageo should “definitely keep” Guinness.

Diageo has been steadily offloading underperforming brands, including Venezuelan rum Pampero and Dutch liqueur Safari. Luxury vodka brand Cîroc is also reported to be on the chopping block. The brand’s commercial association with the rapper Sean Combs came to an end last year, months before he was charged with sex trafficking. He denies the allegations.

One adviser close to the company said further sales could be under consideration and that Diageo was constantly reviewing its portfolio.

“It depends on how aggressively they want to deleverage,” he said, adding that the company could “grow into their debt”, or if they were more cautious, consider selling something larger that is not a natural fit in the portfolio, such as its African beer business, Kenya-based East African Breweries.

Diageo has already sold off its other African beer subsidiaries, in a shift to an “asset light” model in which it retains ownership of its brands, but sells its brewery operations and distribution to local operating partners, not unlike the Coca-Cola bottling system.

Analysts expect Diageo to report 0.4 per cent organic sales growth in the six months to December, and a 2.2 per cent decline in operating profit. Its operating margin is expected to fall 79 basis points.

“The bottom line is that we have had a bit of a boom and bust in spirits, and we are now trying to clean up the base,” said JPMorgan analyst Celine Pannuti. “It could be massive to acknowledge this and then take the market through that new narrative.”

Beijing attacks ‘arbitrary’ moves and says it will file WTO lawsuit

Beijing has hit out at new 10 per cent tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese exports, saying it will “take necessary countermeasures to defend its rights and interests” as trade tensions between the two powers enter a new phase.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that China opposed the tariffs, which it said were introduced “under the pretext of the fentanyl issue”.

“The US needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff hikes,” the MFA said.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization.

The additional 10 per cent levies come alongside new 25 per cent tariffs on exports from Canada and Mexico, as President Trump embarks on an expanded trade war, following a range of measures imposed on China by the US during his first term.

Trump said the influx of “illegal aliens” and drugs, including the opiate Fentanyl, had created a “national emergency” that justified the tariffs.

During last year’s election campaign, he had warned of tariffs as high as 60 per cent against China, but subsequently signalled a rate of 10 per cent. He has linked the levies to the country’s role in the flow of ingredients or “precursors” for fentanyl.

China agreed to take actions to stem the flow of precursors at a summit between President Xi Jinping and then-president Joe Biden in San Francisco in November 2023. Since then, Beijing has taken some actions that were welcomed by the Biden administration, but critics, including some in the outgoing administration, wanted China to do much more.

Although widely anticipated, the measures pose a significant challenge to Xi Jinping’s government at a time when weaknesses in domestic demand have made it particularly dependent on exports for economic growth. Last year, China’s trade surplus hit a record high of close to $1tn.

Tao Wang, chief China economist at UBS Investment Bank, said the tariffs had been imposed more quickly than expected and that the blanket 10 per cent rate was more expansive than phased measures under Trump’s first administration.

“This is broader and likely much bigger than the first round,” she said, adding that many expected Trump to add more tariffs once his officials completed a review of trade policy in April.

Wang said she expected a hit to China’s GDP of 0.3 to 0.4 per cent.

In a report published last week, Morningstar said the 10 per cent tariffs would most affect home appliances, home furnishings, lithium batteries and electric vehicles in China. But it added many companies would “likely see an impact of less than 5 per cent of their respective total revenue” and that they “may not be as bad as feared for some industries”.

Beijing also faces trade tensions with the EU over tariffs imposed on its electric vehicles last summer, which have led to a wave of countermeasures on products from cognac to dairy. 

The money was frozen after payments alarmed Justice Department investigators who found Russia, Turkey used nuclear plant to sidestep U.S. sanctions

A few months after invading Ukraine, Russia sent a series of huge payments to Turkey. In short order, it transferred more than $5 billion with the promise of more to come.

To the outside world, the money was to pay for Turkey’s first nuclear-power plant. Decades in the making and championed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it was being built and financed by Russia’s state atomic conglomerate.

Over in New York, the transfers caught the attention of Justice Department investigators tasked with policing Wall Street. The reason? Two of America’s pre-eminent banks, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup C -0.53%decrease; red down pointing triangle, handled the flow of money.

The investigators found that Russia and Turkey used the nuclear project in 2022 to dance around U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia’s central bank, according to people familiar with the matter. Technocrats in Moscow slipped billions of dollars through the U.S. banks into a friendly country, from which the money could bankroll Russian state initiatives.

JPMorgan and Citigroup aren’t targets of the investigation, which hasn’t been previously reported. However, $2 billion of the Russian funds are trapped at JPMorgan after the U.S. government halted some of the bank transfers.

U.S. prosecutors in 2024 prepared to try to seize the money on the grounds it was the proceeds of sanctions evasion, money laundering and bank fraud. But they were blocked in the final stretch of the Biden administration, the people said, because the White House wanted to avoid angering Turkey, a vital but sometimes contentious ally.

Different parts of the U.S. government, such as the State Department and National Security Council, often weigh in before the Justice Department takes steps that might have national-security or diplomatic implications. A request to ice a case altogether is rare, according to former prosecutors.

A Trump administration official said the U.S. government will keep reviewing its sanction regimes and act against people who try to evade them. The Turkish presidency referred questions to the energy ministry, which declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned atomic entity, said all funds allocated to the nuclear plant have been used to finance the project and pay for contractors and other social and financial commitments in Turkey. “As for the funds that have been unjustly withheld through third parties’ influence, we expect the matter to be resolved,” she said.

The cat-and-mouse game shows the limitations of sanctions as an instrument of economic war, and the trade-offs the U.S. encounters as it tries to defend the financial system against suspected misuse, while juggling delicate diplomatic relations.

The Justice Department believes the order to sidestep the sanctions came right from the top in Moscow and that the head of the Bank of Russia played an important role, said the people familiar with the matter.

After the U.S. and allies froze the Bank of Russia’s currency reserves in February 2022, the bank’s leader, Elvira Nabiullina, said publicly the government would challenge the move in lawsuits. In private, the central bank and a pair of state-backed companies received instructions from the Kremlin to find a way for Russia to put the funds to work, the people said.

It was a tough assignment. Shifting dollars generally requires interacting with American banks, and they were banned from transacting with the Bank of Russia.

Nabiullina and other senior Russian officials devised a possible route out. It ran through entities that the West had exempted from sanctions to make sure global energy and food markets didn’t break down.

Russia and Turkey agreed unsanctioned Gazprombank, the banking arm of Russia’s state gas company, would lend about $9 billion to the nuclear plant being built by Rosatom, which also wasn’t under sanctions, the people said. What they didn’t disclose: The Bank of Russia would secretly fund the loan, and the nuclear project wasn’t its only purpose.

For Turkey, the incentive was to top up the greenback supply in its financial system. Turkey’s central bank was borrowing dollars from commercial banks at the time so it could shore up the lira without raising interest rates in the face of galloping inflation.

Moscow sought to create an offshore dollar reserve to fund Russian interests outside America’s gaze. Under Moscow’s plan, the nuclear plant could hand dollars to Russian firms that also had accounts at Turkey’s biggest bank, state-owned Ziraat. That would remove the need to ping money in and out of the U.S., which risked detection.

Representatives for the Bank of Russia, Gazprombank and Ziraat didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Unlike other allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Turkey didn’t impose sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and instead expanded its economic relationship with Moscow at a time of financial stress. Turkey has straddled the divide between Russia and the West during the war, sending lethal weapons to Ukraine and leveraging its ties with the Kremlin to broker a prisoner exchange that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in 2024.

Expensive nuclear plants financed in complicated ways offer a convenient way to conceal money moving for other reasons. Russia is building or paying for more than a dozen reactors overseas with plans for many more, part of a push to exert influence through nuclear energy.

At first, the plan worked. In the summer of 2022, Gazprombank sent $3 billion through Citi to the nuclear plant’s deposits at Ziraat. A bit more than $2 billion ran through JPMorgan.

After the alarms went off at the Justice Department, U.S. officials contacted JPMorgan to block the next batch of $2 billion from reaching Turkey. The funds were frozen.

Justice Department officials wanted to seize the money through a civil forfeiture complaint last year. The White House and State Department were nervous.

Officials feared a complaint implicating Turkey could undermine cooperation with Erdogan’s government on everything from prisoner exchanges and counterterrorism work to efforts to stabilize Syria and end the war in Gaza.

A big reason for the trepidation, some of the people said: The Justice Department suspects one of Erdogan’s top lieutenants, intelligence director Ibrahim Kalin, was involved in the payments in 2022.

Kalin was the presidential spokesperson and a powerful national security adviser at the time. He now leads Turkey’s main intelligence agency. Turkey’s then-finance minister Nureddin Nebati was also a key player in the transfers, the people said.

Kalin and Nebati didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Bashar al-Assad’s downfall in Syria at the hands of Islamist rebels added to Erdogan’s clout in the Middle East. In the aftermath, the U.S. feared Turkey might send forces into territory held by American-backed Kurds.

Around that time the White House asked the Justice Department to stand down.

It now falls on the Trump administration to decide whether to reboot the case. In President Trump’s first term, charges that Turkish state-owned Halkbank violated U.S. sanctions on Iran were a flashpoint in relations with Erdogan.

Tech is upbeat about more companies going public this year, thanks in part to a new presidential administration that has promised to ease regulations and embrace industries like crypto and AI.

But there were already early signs of bullishness — especially in fintech — thanks to the wildly successful 2024 IPO of ServiceTitan, a SaaS platform for the trades.

TechCrunch has compiled a chronological list of companies that have either announced that they plan to go public this year or have been reported to have confidentially filed for a 2025 IPO. And we’ve also included those that filed as far back as 2023 and could finally go public this year.

The confidential filing process allows companies to submit their registration documents to regulators without making them public. But companies can delay or even withdraw their filings, depending on market conditions.

eToro: The Israel-based trading platform filed confidentially in January 2025, reportedly seeking a $5 billion valuation.

Voyager Technologies: The space and defense tech startup confidentially filed in January 2025 and will likely be valued between $2 billion and $3 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company, based in Denver, sells a wide variety of defense– and space-based solutions, from propulsion technologies to airlocks.

Karman Holdings: Another space and defense startup, Karman confidentially filed to go public in January 2025 and aims to raise up to $100 million in an IPO, it announced. The company, which specializes in missile technology, is based in Huntington Beach, California, and could be valued at $3 billion or more, Bloomberg reported.

Chime: The digital bank confidentially filed to IPO in December 2024 and is looking to go public in 2025. The company, which is based in San Francisco, was last valued at $25 billion in 2021.

Klarna: The Swedish buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech confidentially filed in November 2024 for an IPO that’s been a long time in the making, paving the way for it to go public sometime in the first half of 2025. Klarna’s valuation rose to $14.6 billion in 2024.

Genesys: The AI cloud startup announced its confidential filing in October 2024. The company is based in Menlo Park, California, and was most recently valued at $21 billion in 2021, it said in a press release at the time. The company is eyeing a 2025 IPO that could raise as much as $2 billion, Bloomberg previously reported.

Clario: The clinical trial software provider confidentially filed in June 2024 seeking a $10 billion valuation. The company, based in Philadelphia, is looking to go public in 2025, Bloomberg reported.

Cerebras: The chip startup that aims to compete with Nvidia confidentially filed to IPO in August 2024, it announced. The company is based in Sunnyvale and is reportedly aiming to roughly double its current $4 billion valuation. The startup’s plans are facing potential delays due to concerns from U.S. regulators about its close ties to G42, a UAE investor and its main customer, Reuters reported. Fun fact: OpenAI once considered buying Cerebras around 2017.

Circle: The New York-based stablecoin provider filed confidentially in January 2024. While the exact timing remains unclear, in October 2024, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire told Bloomberg it remained “very committed” to going public despite prior delays. President Trump’s embrace of crypto and promise to end government crackdowns on the industry could bolster its chances. The company’s valuation is around $5 billion according to stock that’s been trading on the secondary market, Coindesk reported.

Harry’s: The New York-based consumer company, which makes razors and other personal care items for men, has confidentially filed to go public, Reuters reported in March 2024, citing sources that the firm was nearing $1 billion in revenue and is profitable. The firm was last valued at $1.7 billion in 2021.

Omada Health: The San Francisco-based diabetes startup confidentially filed in the summer of 2024, Business Insider reported, amid hopes of a warmer IPO market in 2025. It was last valued at $1 billion in 2022.

Shein: The fast-fashion giant confidentially filed to IPO in the U.S. in 2023, but its hopes were dashed over congressional scrutiny of its supply chain and labor practices. It reportedly filed confidentially to IPO in the U.K. in 2024 and is still seeking to IPO as of 2025, although its U.K. foray is also meeting resistance from lawmakers there. Shein, headquartered in Singapore and with operations in China, was last valued at $45 billion in 2024, dropping from a $100 billion valuation in 2022.

General Atlantic: The San Francisco-based growth equity investor, which has backed firms like Facebook and Airbnb, confidentially filed to go public in 2023, Bloomberg reported. The firm has $96 billion in assets under management following its acquisition of U.K. PE firm Actis, according to a January 2024 announcement. There’s been no public updates on General Atlantic’s IPO plans since its 2023 filing, though.

Oyo: The SoftBank-backed Indian hotel aggregator confidentially filed in India in March 2023, Reuters reported, after a prior attempt fell through. While that attempt didn’t pan out, either, the company is reportedly planning to file again in the first quarter of 2025. Oyo hit a $3.8 billion valuation in 2024.

While the year started out hot for large megaround deals, it has slowed considerably. Just three startups raised nine-figure rounds this week and you barely needed a round of $60 million to make this list.

1. Helion Energy, $425M, energy: Fusion startup Helion Energy locked up a $425 million Series F — valuing the company at $5.4 billion — as the company looks to commercialize its fusion technology. The round included participation from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Sam Altman. The Everett, Washington-based startup has now raised more than $1 billion. In November 2021, Helion closed a $500 million Series E. The new round further illustrates investors’ appetite for new energy sources as power needs increase due to AI and other advances. In 2023, Helion announced a power purchase agreement with Microsoft to deliver electricity from its fusion plant starting in 2028, and a customer agreement with Nucor to develop a power plant in the 2030s. Helion has just started operating its seventh generation prototype, Polaris, which is expected to demonstrate the first electricity produced from fusion. The company’s new round is the second-largest in the fusion sector since the start of last year, per Crunchbase data. Last October, Pacific Fusion, a startup attempting to create a nuclear fusion-based energy source, raised more than $900 million in a Series A led by General Catalyst.

2. ElevenLabs, $180M, artificial intelligence: Voice AI startup ElevenLabs raised a $180 million round led by Iconiq Growth and Andreessen Horowitz at a $3.3 billion valuation. The raise comes about a year after the startup locked up an $80 million Series B at a unicorn valuation. The Brooklyn-based company allows creators, enterprises and others to use AI software to replicate voices in dozens of languages. Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs has raised $281 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Openly, $123M, insurance: The most expensive purchase most people will ever make is their home, so it matters who insures it. Openly provides independent insurance agents with a platform that offers coverage to homeowners and streamlines processes, improves risk underwriting and helps with claims. The Boston-based insurtech startup raised $123 million in equity financing led by Eden Global Partners this week, and another $70 million in debt. In 2023, the company raised a $100 million Series D, also led by Eden Global Partners. Founded in 2017, the company has raised nearly $431 million, per Crunchbase.

4. Atalanta Therapeutics, $97M, biotech: Boston-based Atalanta Therapeutics, a biotechnology using RNA interference for the treatment of neurological diseases, completed a $97 million Series B co-led by EQT Life Sciences and Sanofi Ventures. The company will use the cash to support clinical trials of its experimental RNAi therapies for KCNT1-related epilepsy and Huntington’s disease. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $207 million, per Crunchbase.

5. (tied) Mercor, $75M, human resources: San Francisco-based recruiting startup Mercor raised a $75 million round led by Felicis that values the company at a $2 billion valuation, per a report. The company started the process in December and the final total could still increase. Founded in 2023, the company has raised nearly $109 million, per Crunchbase.

5. (tied) Veir, $75M, power grid: Woburn, Massachusetts-based Veir, a developer of superconducting platforms for AI-driven data centers and utilities, closed a $75 million Series B led by Munich Re Ventures. Founded in 2019, the company has raised nearly $112 million, per Crunchbase.

7. Castelion, $70M, defense: Castelion, a defense manufacturer developing long-range hypersonic strike weapons, raised a $100 million Series A in a mix of debt and equity. The El Segundo, California-based startup creates what it calls “affordable, mass-produced hypersonic long-range strike weapons” that serve as a “non-nuclear deterrent.” The Series A — which includes $30 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank — was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Defense tech has garnered major headlines in the past several months after massive raises by the likes of Anduril Industries and artificial intelligence defense software developer Helsing. Just late last year, defense and critical infrastructure tech startup Chaos Industries raised $145 million in a Series B. Already this year, Firehawk Aerospace raised a $60 million Series C and Onebrief locked up a $50 million Series B.

8. (tied) Helicore Biopharma, $65M, biotech: South San Francisco-based Helicore Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical startup focused on the treatment of obesity and related conditions, emerged from stealth mode with $65 million in a Series A co-led by OrbiMed and Versant Ventures.

8. (tied) Smart Wires, $65M, electronics: Durham, North Carolina-based Smart Wires, a company that develops solutions for a more reliable and affordable power grid, raised $65 million in a new investment that included participation from BP Energy Partners. Founded in 2010, the company has raised $248 million, per Crunchbase.

10. Rad AI, $60M, health care: San Francisco-based Rad AI, an artificial intelligence-enhanced radiology firm, reportedly locked up a $60 million round led by Transformation Capital that values the company at $525 million. Founded in 2018, Rad AI has raised more than $140 million, per the company.

The largest deal outside the U.S. came from the Iberian Peninsula.