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Healthcare company has been targeted by activist hedge fund established by an Elliott Management alumnus

Private equity group KKR is nearing a more than $4bn take-private deal for a medical device maker recently targeted by an activist hedge fund set up by an Elliott Management alumnus.

KKR was in late-stage talks to buy Integer Holdings, valuing the group at between $125-$130 a share, or as much as $4.4bn, according to people familiar with the matter. A deal could come as soon as Monday but was yet to be formally agreed, they said.

The take-private deal would mark a triumph for Irenic Capital Management, an activist hedge fund set up by former Elliott Management portfolio manager Adam Katz, which built a 3 per cent stake in Integer earlier this year and pushed for a sale.

Integer agreed to add two directors to its board in a brokered peace with Irenic in March and a month later launched a strategic review to evaluate a range of options, including a sale. Other bidders circled Integer as part of the sale process, the people added.

Founded in 2021 by Katz and Indaba Capital alumnus Andy Dodge, Irenic has rapidly grown to $2.4bn of assets under management. It has made a name for itself by successfully agitating for take-private sales of ailing public companies including Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group and industrials company Barnes Group.

Integer, an outsourcer which manufactures devices including cardiac pacemakers and diabetes monitoring equipment on behalf of medical technology companies, is one of several companies in the sector that have struggled lately.

Shares in Integer plummeted by almost one-third in a single day last October after it slashed earnings projections. This kicked off a six-day losing streak, during which the stock shed 42 per cent and the company’s valuation fell to about $2bn. But the shares have roughly doubled since then.

Integer’s shares closed 20.2 per cent higher on Friday at a 13-month high of $121.21 following reports that a take-private deal was near. KKR declined to comment. Integer did not respond to a request for comment.

The potential deal comes amid an uptick in healthcare dealmaking. Earlier this year medical device maker Masimo agreed a $9.9bn deal to sell to Danaher and life sciences group Bio-Techne sold to Germany’s Merck KGaA in an $11.3bn deal.

Leopold Aschenbrenner vows to ‘fight another day’ after fund plunges 67% in July

Manager of AI hedge fund Situational Awareness tells investors he will learn from ‘very expensive scars’

Hedge fund manager Leopold Aschenbrenner has vowed to “fight another day” after the recent rout in AI stocks forced the once high-flying investor into a fire sale of his fund’s assets.

In a letter to investors in his fund Situational Awareness sent late on Thursday, Aschenbrenner also said he took “full responsibility” for the events that led to a 67 per cent plunge in assets in July, and said he would make it his “mission to ensure that we learn the necessary lessons from this experience”.

The fund, which was founded in 2024 and whose assets ballooned to more than $20bn on the back of a series of aggressive bets on the AI boom, would continue to operate and would not exit public equities, he said.

But Aschenbrenner added that Situational Awareness would no longer borrow money from banks to magnify its bets.

Aschenbrenner, a former employee of OpenAI and the FTX Future Fund — the philanthropic arm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire — compared the dynamics facing his fund to a “bank run” and said the fund saw “adverse trading in names publicly associated with us”.

Situational Awareness suffered severely in an AI rout this week when some of the biggest apparent equity holdings of the fund, including Bloom Energy and Sandisk, tumbled.

The San Francisco-based fund on Wednesday hashed out an emergency exit with Ken Griffin’s Citadel by selling the majority of its public equity holdings at a discount of more than 10 per cent, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The letter said the fund was still up 80 per cent on the year despite July’s losses, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

“These were very expensive scars, but I am dedicated to ensuring they will be invaluable lessons for our organisation and for myself as we move forward,” Aschenbrenner wrote. “My core promise to you is that we will not waste the opportunity to learn from these events.”

He added: “Over the past two years, we have delivered outstanding results, despite occasional sharp pullbacks. But our fund must always be structured such that we can take a loss and fight another day.” 

The letter did not disclose the fund’s latest assets under management, and many early investors are subject to lock-up agreements that mean they cannot redeem funds until at least September.

One person close to the firm said its remaining portfolio on Friday, including private investments, was worth roughly $10bn.

Situational Awareness concentrated its bets on a small number of AI-related stocks, with Aschenbrenner using borrowed funds from prime brokers to leverage his positions. He had no previous trading experience when he began investing.

A spokesperson for Situational Awareness declined to comment.

Ares Accelerates Fundraising and Investments Despite Lackluster Market

The firm’s investment pipeline is growing as sponsor activity picks up

• Ares Management reported record quarterly fundraising inflows of over $36 billion and deployed $35.9 billion of capital in the second quarter.
• Ares Chief Executive Michael Arougheti said the firm’s investment pipeline is accelerating, with signed nondisclosure agreements up around 35%.
• Ares Management’s total assets under management reached over $671 billion as of June 30, a 17% increase from a year earlier.

The firm reported a record fundraising quarter with inflows of more than $36 billion for the three months ended June 30, with net inflows of capital of at least $34.4 billion. It also deployed $35.9 billion of capital in the second quarter, up from $27 billion during the same period a year ago.

“When we look at the pipeline, we are seeing an acceleration quarter over quarter,” Michael Arougheti, Ares’s chief executive and co-founder, said during an earnings call Friday. He added that the number of nondisclosure agreements his firm has signed for prospective deals is up around 35% from the previous quarter.

Both private-equity fundraising and investing have suffered in recent years from a persistent gap between buyer and seller expectations on valuations that has slowed exit activity. Recent tariffs and supply-chain uncertainty stemming from the war with Iran have created additional headwinds.

But Arougheti said he sees strong institutional demand for the firm’s funds, including its credit funds. Institutional investors accounted for some 80% of equity inflows over the past 12 months. Within credit, the firm raised $9.1 billion in the second quarter for its alternative credit strategy, a significant rise from the $1.4 billion that it raised in the first quarter and $300 million from the year-ago period.

Ares’s alternative credit strategy focuses on asset-based finance, a fast-growing area of private credit that has attracted sizable capital allocations from investors. Much of that growth was driven by the firm’s Pathfinder III fund, which raised $8.5 billion in investor commitments and surpassed its $6.5 billion target.

Arougheti said he expects to see continued fundraising momentum, given that institutions remain underallocated to private credit.

Although overall fundraising remained strong in the quarter, Ares’s business-development companies focused on U.S. direct lending experienced a 20% decline in fundraising to $4.7 billion in the quarter from $5.9 billion in the first quarter.

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Arougheti also said he sees the firm’s growth in capital deployment as an indication that sponsored activity is picking up going into the back half of the year. Ares’s perpetual-capital funds were the most active in deploying capital, with around $21 billion in the second quarter, up from $13 billion in the year-ago period.

The firm’s total assets under management reached over $671 billion as of June 30, up 17% from a year earlier. It also reported higher earnings and revenue with net income of $313 million, or 49 cents a share in the quarter, up from $226 million, or 46 cents a share, a year earlier. Fee-related earnings came in at $491.1 million, up from $409.1 million in the year-earlier period, while after-tax realized income reached $467.6 million, or $1.29 a share.

Total revenue climbed to $1.43 billion from $1.35 billion, with management fees up at $1.02 billion from $900.6 million.

“We continue to translate the scale and diversification of our platform into strong financial performance with many of our key financial metrics growing more than 20% year over year, and we remain on track to achieve our financial goals for the year,” Chief Financial Officer Jarrod Phillips said.

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Safe Superintelligence And Commonwealth Fusion Lead With Billion-Dollar Deals

Another week, another bevy of big rounds. For this past week, the largest round was a reported $5 billion Nvidia-backed financing for foundational AI unicorn Safe Superintelligence, followed by a $1 billion investment in Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Other sizable rounds went to companies in sectors including energy storage, health testing, nuclear power, fintech, and, yes, AI.

1. Safe Superintelligence, $5B, foundational AI: AI lab Safe Superintelligence announced a long-term partnership with Nvidia to rapidly accelerate its growth. The deal reportedly included a $5 billion investment from the chip giant with an eye toward boosting compute resources for Safe Superintelligence, a Silicon Valley startup founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever.

2. Commonwealth Fusion Systems, $1 billion, fusion energy: Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup working on fusion energy technology and developing a grid-scale fusion power plant, raised $1 billion in fresh funding from unspecified investors. The round brings the total invested to date for the Massachusetts-based company to $4 billion.

3. Antora Energy, $550M, thermal energy storage: Antora Energy, a company that provides energy through thermal batteries to data centers, announced that it has closed on $550 million in a Series C funding round. G2 Venture Partners and Eclipse co-led the financing for the nine-year-old, San Jose-based company.

4. Function, $450M, health testing: Austin-based Function, a provider of lab testing, imaging, and personal health information that markets to consumers, secured $450 million in growth financing from General Catalyst.

5. Antares, $370M, nuclear energy: Antares, a nuclear fission energy company that develops compact microreactors for defense and space applications, raised $370 million in Series C equity funding. Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital led the financing for the three-year-old company, which raised $100 million in debt funding alongside the equity investment.

6. Simile, $200M, AI simulation: Simile, a developer of AI tools for running simulations, said it picked up over $200 million in fresh funding at a $2 billion post-money valuation. Greenoaks led the round, which comes just five months after the Palo Alto-based company launched its product.

7. ThreatLocker, $190M, cybersecurity: Cybersecurity provider ThreatLocker closed on $190 million in Series F funding to hone its platform and expand internationally. Elephant led the round for the Orlando-based company.

8. CAIS, $170M, fintech: New York-based CAIS, an alternative investment platform for independent financial advisors, secured $170 million in Series D financing. Vista Equity Partners led the round, which set a valuation for the company of more than $2 billion.

9. PEX, $160M, fintech: PEX, an AI-enabled provider of prepaid and charge cards for businesses, along with tools to track finances, raised $160 in equity and debt funding, with Bluff Point Associates as lead investor.

10. Eliyan, $145M, AI infrastructure: Eliyan, a developer of connectivity technology for AI infrastructure, completed its Series C with a total of $145 million at a $1 billion valuation. Seligman Ventures led the financing for the five-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company.

The temporary suspension of the Schengen agreement was prompted by concerns over the migrant crisis in Ceuta.

Italy's Interior Ministry has ordered the closure of the country's sea and air borders with Spain, temporarily suspending the Schengen free movement regime between the two countries.

The move was announced on Thursday evening by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Deputy Prime Ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini following the arrival of thousands of migrants in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta.

The decision was formally approved on Friday morning during a meeting at the Interior Ministry chaired by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, based on assessments by Italy's Committee for Migration Analysis and Border Security.

France has also decided to strengthen controls along its land border with Spain, President Emmanuel Macron announced, while offering support to the Spanish authorities to help manage the emergency in the North African enclave.

Spain and the EU react

On Thursday evening, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares condemned his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani's call to suspend the Schengen agreement and summoned Italy's ambassador to Madrid for explanations.

According to Italy's ANSA news agency, Spain's Foreign Ministry stressed that the migration crisis in Ceuta "has nothing to do with the regularisation of migrants approved by the Spanish government", but was instead triggered by an interpretation of the recent Supreme Court ruling on migrants who entered by swimming, which was "exploited by mafias and criminal organisations".

By Friday, however, several EU countries had moved closer to Italy's position, including Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Sweden.

"Spain has completely failed to protect the external border of the Schengen area from incursions. This cannot continue," Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen wrote on X.

"The situation in Ceuta is unacceptable and I am in close contact with the Spanish authorities. I reiterate that there are no movements towards mainland Europe or other member states," European Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner wrote on X.

"The Schengen Borders Code," Brunner added, "contains special provisions that apply to Ceuta and Melilla, and checks on people departing from Ceuta remain in force."

Against the backdrop of an election campaign ahead of next year's general election, the proposal to suspend Schengen has sparked intense political debate in Italy and drawn praise from several European far-right parties, including France's National Rally, Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the UK's Reform UK.

T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom merger stalls

T-Mobile’s US executives have told its controlling shareholder, Deutsche Telekom, that they no longer support a proposed $300 billion merger between the two companies, citing both shareholder and potential regulatory concerns, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some of T-Mobile’s non-controlling shareholders — generally large institutional investors — have told the US company that they would oppose a merger with Deutsche Telekom, the people said, a slower-growing business compared to its American counterpart.

Deal talks between T-Mobile and Telekom kicked off earlier this year and the two companies planned to put a deal to a vote in order to secure the approval from T-Mobile’s non-controlling shareholders, one of these people said. But now, T-Mobile executives aren’t confident the deal would be approved by those shareholders, that person said.

Separately, T-Mobile executives have also been told by government officials that regulators — including the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States — would likely seek a guarantee that T-Mobile’s US revenue would be reinvested in or otherwise remain in the country, the people said. The company generated adjusted free cash flow of roughly $18 billion last year, and paid more than $2 billion in dividends to Deutsche Telekom alone.

A T-Mobile spokesperson declined to comment. Spokespeople for Telekom and the Treasury Department, which oversees CFIUS, did not respond to requests for comment

iPhone 18 Pro is coming very soon, and it might cost much more than its predecessor, with a second report now predicting a starting price around $1,399.

Analyst Jeff Pu corroborates expectation of roughly $300 price increase for iPhone 18 Pro

Last month when Apple warned that product price hikes were coming, The Wall Street Journal predicted a $1,399 starting price for iPhone 18 Pro.

This number was based on skyrocketing component costs for RAM, storage, and the device’s pricey new camera system.

Now today, analyst Jeff Pu has shared his own expectations for iPhone 18 Pro pricing—and they’re eerily similar.

In a research note seen by 9to5Mac, Pu predicts iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will increase by $250-300 each.

That means a starting price for iPhone 18 Pro of $1,349-1,399 and $1,449-1,499 for Pro Max

The report attributes this increase to higher costs for the A20 Pro chip, LPDDR5X memory, and NAND storage. The latter two are expected to carry costs for Apple that are up roughly 3x over last year.

Apple could always choose to take a hit on margins for the sake of keeping prices lower. Though its recent hikes on other products makes that unlikely.

These are unprecedented times for component costs, but based on the company’s historic margin patterns, iPhone 18 Pro starting near $1,399 seems very possible.

What are you expecting from iPhone 18 Pro pricing? Let us know in the comments.

US nuclear reactor company Westinghouse files for IPO

Brookfield-owned company plots listing nine years after cost overruns forced it into bankruptcy protection

Westinghouse Electric, the US nuclear reactor design and services firm, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering as it seeks to benefit from a revival in interest in nuclear power. 

The Pennsylvania-based company, which is jointly owned by investment firm Brookfield and uranium producer Cameco, made the filing nine years after calamitous cost overruns at nuclear plants in Georgia pushed it into bankruptcy. 

Westinghouse is the latest in a string of US nuclear energy companies to announce a public flotation, as they seek to cash in on a wave of investor appetite for a technology they hope will power the artificial intelligence boom. 

The company is also benefiting from US government financial backing following Donald Trump’s pledge last year to slash regulation and invest tens of billions of dollars to reopen and build new fleets of reactors to provide the power needed to “win” the global AI race. Last month, the US Energy Department said it would commit to $17.5bn in loans to rebuild the country’s nuclear supply chain. 

One person familiar with the decision said Westinghouse wanted to have access to a wider pool of capital to fund significant growth in the coming years. 

This month Holtec International, one of America’s largest nuclear energy supply companies, filed for an IPO to raise money to help fund a $10bn plan to build small modular reactors. In April X-energy, a developer of SMRs, raised $1bn in a Nasdaq flotation and this month Standard Nuclear, a nuclear fuel manufacturer, filed to go public. 

Last year, the US government announced a plan to build $80bn of new Westinghouse reactors in the US, using funding from Japan.

If the orders are placed before 2029, the US government will have the right to take 20 per cent of the equity of Westinghouse. This is also conditional on Westinghouse hitting a valuation of at least $30bn, and would be diluted down to about 8 per cent given the warrants attached to the deal.

Adam Stein, director of nuclear energy innovation at the Breakthrough Institute, a think-tank, said Westinghouse’s return from bankruptcy to the public markets was a “symbolic moment” and an indicator of the scale of the US nuclear renaissance.

“If the US plans to build more large reactors, Westinghouse’s AP1000 is the most likely option. The nuclear energy market is seeing an unprecedented level of investment that does not appear to be a passing phase,” he said.

Confidential filings allow companies to prepare for a listing away from public market scrutiny, and Westinghouse has not yet decided on the number of shares to offer or a price range. 

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Westinghouse built the world’s first commercial nuclear reactor in 1957 and six of its flagship AP1000 reactors are in operation today, with 14 more under construction. Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria have all placed orders since Brookfield bought the company from its previous owner Toshiba in 2018 for $4.6bn. 

Cameco bought into Westinghouse at an enterprise valuation of $8.2bn in November 2023.