TheChek News Flow

Prices for material used for thermal imaging systems in military equipment at 14-year high

Chinese export restrictions on germanium, a metal crucial for the defence industry, have created a “desperate” supply crunch and pushed prices to their highest level in at least 14 years, traders say.

Germanium is essential to the production of thermal imaging systems used in military equipment, including fighter jets. But its production is heavily dominated by China and companies do not typically hold large stockpiles. 

China said in 2023 that it would halt the export of germanium, gallium and antimony following restrictions by the US and the Netherlands on advanced chips and chipmaking equipment. However, traders and analysts said exports started to nosedive in earnest from the end of 2024 onwards.

Terence Bell, of minor metals trader Strategic Metal Investments, said he had been unable to buy germanium for at least six months, with shipments from China having “completely dried up”.

“I spent my whole summer taking 2-3 [enquiries] a day from companies looking for germanium,” he said. “It’s desperate out there.”

Germanium imports to the US from China fell about 40 per cent between January and July compared with the same period in 2024, according to an analysis of trade data by Silverado Policy Accelerator, a non-profit organisation.

As of Wednesday, the price of germanium had risen to almost $5,000 per kilogramme, compared to just over $1,000 at the start of 2023, according to price reporting agency Fastmarkets. The September price is the highest ever recorded by Fastmarkets, in data going back to 2011.

Christian Hell, of trading house Tradium, said germanium demand was “through the roof”, with requests coming mostly from the US and Europe.

“Almost everybody is approaching us” and there was “panic” in the market, with Tradium unable to fulfil “all the enquiries we’re getting”, he said.

The Chinese restrictions have “devastated the ability for there to be a functioning spot market”, said Aaron Jerome, a trader at Lipmann Walton & Co. “People we used to be able to buy 100kg from, we’re lucky now if they can give us 10kg, and the price is three to four times higher.”

Like rare earth elements, germanium is economically and practically challenging to extract rather than globally scarce. It is commonly produced as a byproduct of zinc and coal fly ash.

Russia has historically been a supplier of germanium, but sanctions imposed on the country following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine have contributed to supply shortages in the west. 

In a notable signal to the market, US defence group Lockheed Martin announced in August a germanium supply agreement with producer Korea Zinc. 

Since purchasing germanium has historically been outsourced by defence companies to subcontractors, the deal was “a signal” of how challenging the market had become, said Jerome.

Global germanium demand is about 180 to 200 tonnes a year, according to Fastmarkets.

Finding substitute materials is difficult, in part given the “performance and precision requirements” of the military optics applications germanium goes into, said Caroline Messecar, a Fastmarkets analyst.

“You might need a complete redesign and there are situations where any potential reduction in accuracy is unacceptable,” she said.

Florida-based LightPath Technologies, which has received US government funding, is working on providing alternatives. “No one in their right mind is going to redesign an existing system until they have to,” but some companies were now starting to do so, said LightPath’s chief executive Sam Rubin.

Outside China, the Belgian battery materials producer Umicore and Canadian miner Teck Resources — which this week announced a $50bn tie-up with Anglo American — produce some germanium.

Nyrstar, a subsidiary of trading house Trafigura, is also considering building a germanium and gallium recovery and processing facility at its zinc smelter in Tennessee. 

The designer debuts set to make a mark in Milan and Paris

A new guard is leading the way at some of the world’s biggest fashion labels this season. Are they up to the challenge?

It’s all change in fashion, with 13 creative directors debuting their first womenswear designs for new brands this season, including Demna at Gucci, Jonathan Anderson at Dior and Matthieu Blazy at Chanel. For these designers, and the brands they lead, everything is on the line as much of the luxury sector continues to face shrinking sales and disengaged shoppers. Ultimately, the winners will be those who can reboot a brand’s image, set culture-defining trends and make profits for shareholders. The losers? Well, they may not be around for long. 

“Fashion has turned these shifts into its favourite gladiator sport — part coronation, part execution — with social media as the Colosseum and the crowd baying for blood. The houses play musical executions: the critics cheer, the investors clap, and the poor designers . . . ” the stylist Katie Grand wrote on Instagram last month. “Behind the memes and headlines are creatives whose lives and work are pulled apart in real time.”

Here we give you the lowdown on these 13 industry movers, why they have been hired and what is at stake. Let the games begin.

Milan

Brand: Gucci

Name: Demna

Date: September 23

Format: Event

CV: Maison Margiela, Louis Vuitton, Vetements, Balenciaga

The stakes: Gucci is the biggest brand owned by troubled parent group Kering, accounting for about half of group sales and two-thirds of profits. It has also reported falling sales and operating profits since 2023 (revenue last year was €7.7bn). Demna, who in his 10-year tenure at Balenciaga transformed the label into the fastest-growing brand in the Kering portfolio before a controversial ad campaign in 2022 caused a temporary drop in sales, has been tasked with bringing back growth and zeitgeisty relevance.

Brand: Jil Sander

Name: Simone Bellotti

Date: September 24

Format: Runway

CV: AF Vandevorst, Gianfranco Ferré, Bottega Veneta, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Bally

The stakes: As the first creative director chosen by Italian group OTB, which acquired the label in 2021, Bellotti will be expected to reshape the brand’s visual identity while continuing the retail and category expansion spearheaded by the Italian conglomerate.

Brand: Versace

Name: Dario Vitale

Date: September 26

Format: Event

CV: Dsquared2, Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu

The stakes: Vitale was appointed as Versace’s chief creative officer in March 2025, a month before the Italian brand was acquired by Prada for €1.25bn. As the first external designer to take the helm of Versace, which has been led by Donatella Versace since 1997, Vitale finds himself continuing the legacy of one of the industry’s most historic and beloved labels, with an annual revenue of $821mn. The designer gave a sneak peek of his plans for the label during the Venice Film Festival this month, dressing Julia Roberts and Amanda Seyfried in his first ever Versace red carpet look: a blue tailored jacket worn with a striped shirt and jeans.  

Brand: Bottega Veneta

Name: Louise Trotter

Date: September 27

Format: Runway

CV: Whistles, Gap, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Jigsaw, Joseph, Lacoste, Carven

The stakes: Bottega Veneta, the third-largest brand in Kering’s portfolio, has not been immune to the group’s woes of the past two years. However, its performance has been more resilient than others, with single-digit revenue growth in the most recent quarter. Trotter, who is known for her eye for tailoring and elegant but unpretentious designs, will have to accelerate the brand’s growth while preserving its credentials as the home of Italian leather craftsmanship.

Paris

Brand: Dior

Name: Jonathan Anderson

Date: October 1

Format: Runway

CV: Brown Thomas, Prada, JW Anderson, Loewe

The stakes: Anderson was appointed creative director of women’s, men’s and haute couture collections at Dior this June, the first designer to hold all three roles since founder Christian Dior. At Dior women’s and haute couture, Anderson succeeds Maria Grazia Chiuri, whose successful nine-year run helped grow annual revenues to £9.5bn, according to HSBC estimates. As the luxury market struggles with a global slowdown, LVMH is betting on Anderson to inject fresh energy and compelling storytelling into the megabrand, the second largest by size in its fashion and leather goods portfolio. His own label JW Anderson will go on an indefinite runway hiatus while Anderson takes on the biggest job in fashion.

Brand: Mugler

Name: Miguel Castro Freitas

Date: October 2

Format: Runway

CV: Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Dries Van Noten, Sportmax

The stakes: Castro Freitas is the first designer to be appointed at Mugler by L’Oréal, which acquired the label from Clarins in 2019. For decades, the house has been largely known for its popular fragrances Alien and Angel, but its fashion division was revitalised under Castro Freitas’s predecessor, Casey Cadwallader, gaining social media buzz and celebrity traction. Castro Freitas was most recently creative director of Max Mara-owned Sportmax, where he specialised in sculptural silhouettes and body-con dresses that share an affinity with Mugler.

Brand: Carven

Name: Mark Thomas

Date: October 2

Format: Runway

CV: Neil Barrett, Burberry, Joseph, Givenchy, Helmut Lang, Lacoste, Icicle

The stakes: French label Carven still needs to find its place in the fashion firmament, having been bought out of bankruptcy by Chinese group Icicle in 2018. The British designer, who worked closely with his predecessor, Louise Trotter, at Carven but also at Joseph and Lacoste, is expected to fully develop the label’s aesthetic codes.

Brand: Loewe

Names: Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez

Date: October 3

Format: Runway

CV: Proenza Schouler

The stakes: McCollough and Hernandez have big shoes to fill. Their appointment follows the departure of Jonathan Anderson, who led the LVMH-owned label for 11 years and is credited with boosting its revenues from €230mn in 2014 to €1.07bn in 2024, according to Morgan Stanley estimates. The American designers, who founded Proenza Schouler in 2002, have the right credentials to take on a brand known for its focus on craftsmanship, art-school design ethos and commercially successful accessories. 

Brand: Maison Margiela

Name: Glenn Martens

Date: October 4

Format: Runway

CV: Jean Paul Gaultier, Y/Project, Diesel

The stakes: Martens joins Maison Margiela following a critically acclaimed decade for the brand under John Galliano. In his first, well-received haute couture collection for the label’s Artisanal line in July, Martens combined tributes to house founder Martin Margiela with his own penchant for deconstructed and distressed looks. He now has to translate that vision into ready-to-wear.

Brand: Balenciaga

Name: Pierpaolo Piccioli

Date: October 4

Format: Runway

CV: Fendi, Valentino

The stakes: Piccioli takes over from Demna, who transformed Balenciaga into one of the most provocative and hyped brands of the past decade with hit accessories such as the Triple S and Speed sock trainers, collaborations with mass-market brands such as Ikea and Crocs, and viral marketing moments, some of which backfired. Piccioli shares this commercial prowess: at Valentino, he also created hit accessories, such as the Rockstud style and a signature colour, Valentino Pink PP. Aesthetically, however, Piccioli is expected to reset the brand’s current streetwear-led image.

Brand: Jean Paul Gaultier

Name: Duran Lantink

Date: October 5

Format: Runway

CV: Duran Lantink

The stakes: Lantink is the first designer to permanently fill the position of creative director at the label after founder Jean Paul Gaultier retired in 2020. Since then, the label has lived on under collaborations with guest designers including Chitose Abe, Simone Rocha, Glenn Martens and Ludovic de Saint Sernin. Lantink, who under his eponymous label made a name for himself by reworking deadstock clothing into surreal and playful creations, shares a similar avant-garde and irreverent spirit to Jean Paul Gaultier. In his new role, Lantink will have to build a cohesive identity for the brand while keeping its heritage alive.

Brand: Chanel

Name: Matthieu Blazy

Date: October 6

Format: Runway

CV: Balenciaga, John Galliano, Raf Simons, Maison Margiela, Céline, Calvin Klein, Bottega Veneta

The stakes: Chanel has been more immune than others to the luxury market slump, with revenue declining 4.3 per cent to $18.7bn in 2024, so Blazy’s challenge is less financial and more stylistic. His predecessor, Virginie Viard, a close collaborator of Karl Lagerfeld who has been at the helm of the house since his death in 2019, designed some commercially successful collections that received a lukewarm reception from critics. After his brilliant reboot of Bottega Veneta, Blazy, a Frenchman who is known for his focus on craft rather than branding, is expected to inject the French label with a fresh and exciting perspective.

Ardian and EQT are also possible suitors in a deal that could fetch €10bn for the company’s owners

American Tower and private markets firm Ardian are among potential bidders interested in buying TDF Infrastructure, after a number of failed attempts to sell the French company in recent years.

Swedish alternative assets investor EQT Group and Paris-based infrastructure fund Antin are other possible buyers for the telecoms tower company, according to multiple people involved in the process.

A sale of TDF could fetch €8bn-€10bn, the people said, adding that its owners, including 45 per cent shareholder Brookfield Asset Management, have appointed bankers from BNP Paribas and UBS to find a buyer.

APG Asset Management, Arcus Infrastructure Partners and Canadian pension fund PSP Investments jointly own 45 per cent of TDF. Crédit Agricole Assurances, which has a 10 per cent stake, is not understood to be wanting to sell, according to two people familiar with the talks.

The process is at an early stage and may not result in a sale of TDF, which operates over 8,000 mobile towers across France for providers including Orange and Free, which is controlled by billionaire Patrick Drahi, the people said.

A successful sale would end a saga that has seen several attempts to sell TDF in recent years — most recently in 2023 — stall owing to a lack of buyer interest in a company that has struggled with competition from other tower operators.

But there could be a better chance of a transaction following the sale of TDF’s fibre broadband network to DIF Capital Partners in December 2024, which has slimmed down the business, said a person familiar with the talks.

Boston-based American Tower, which first entered Europe in 2012, already owns 4,400 towers in France. Chief executive Steven Vondran said in February the company saw “potential” in Europe for further acquisitions. 

American Tower, Ardian, Brookfield, Antin and EQT all declined to comment.

A deal for TDF — which also provides wireless infrastructure for broadcast and radio services — would come at a time where several other tower deals have been pulled, including Cellnex’s attempts to sell its assets in Switzerland and Poland. TDF had €799.1mn of revenue last year.

James Ratzer, analyst at New Street Research said the slow progress on tower deals reflected uncertainty about the assets’ prospects.

“With higher interest rates, uncertainty on the impact of in market consolidation and slowing tenancy growth, private sector demand for buying tower assets has slowed,” he added.

TDF, UBS, PSP, BNP Paribas, Arcus and APG declined to comment. Crédit Agricole did not respond to a request for comment.

Donald Trump’s new SEC appointee scraps aggressive enforcement agenda

Paul Atkins signals a softer approach to regulation of Wall Street than under his predecessor

The head of the top Wall Street watchdog has pledged to give businesses notice of technical violations before “bashing down their door”, as he scraps the aggressive enforcement agenda pursued under former president Joe Biden. 

Paul Atkins, who this year was appointed chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission by US President Donald Trump, told the Financial Times in an interview in Paris that the agency was geared to go after “crooks”. 

“If you lie, cheat or steal your investors and steal their money like [disgraced former financier] Bernie Madoff, we’ll leave you naked, homeless and without wheels,” Atkins said, quoting a sign posted in the office of his first SEC boss Richard Breeden.

But he added there were “other gradations of that where you have to give people notice”.

“You can’t just suddenly come and bash down their door and say ‘uh-uh we caught you, you’re doing something and it’s a technical violation’,” he said.

Atkins is reshaping the commission, an independent agency tasked with protecting US investors, as Republican regulators adopt a more business-friendly stance, unleashing deregulation drives and rowing back tough enforcement programmes adopted by watchdogs under Biden.

Since January, the SEC has dropped a string of cases and investigations targeting crypto platforms — a number of which donated to the inauguration fund for Trump. The president is a crypto champion who has reported income of almost $60mn from one of his digital ventures and has touted his own $TRUMP memecoin on social media.

Atkins did not comment on the cases.

The contrast with Atkins’ predecessor, Gary Gensler, is stark. The former SEC chair cracked down on misconduct and issued a number of wide-ranging new rules while at the helm.

“I think a lot of people rightly criticised the SEC,” said Atkins. “Especially in more recent years it was not grounded in precedent [or] predictability. It would shoot first and then ask questions later,” he added, repeating a Republican criticism that Gensler regulated through enforcement — accusations the former chair rejects.

“What I am trying to address is a market perception that . . . there was a lack of due process, a lack of notice, a lack of rule of law,” Atkins said.

He condemned the billions of dollars in fines Gensler slapped on banks and brokers for record-keeping violations — a linchpin of his enforcement programme that he argued was aimed at preserving the integrity of, and trust in, the market.

“That’s not how a regulator should have acted” in response to industry-wide behaviour, Atkins said. The approach “devolved . . . to where it became a formula: what’s your revenue, here’s your invoice”.  

Atkins argued the process should have resembled “back in school days, the teacher flapping the ruler on the table, saying ‘class, you’re out of order . . . you have six months to clear this up’.”

Record-keeping rules differ among broker dealers, investment advisers and others, he added. “It’s high time that we have this systematised.”

In another sharp departure from his predecessor, the SEC chair is aiming to fulfil Trump’s promise to make the US “the crypto capital of the world”.

Gensler argued that most tokens were securities and launched a series of lawsuits against what he deemed a “wild west” industry rife with fraud. He declined to craft crypto-specific rules, arguing securities law was sufficiently clear.

A crypto advocate, Atkins disagrees. He claims that most tokens are not securities and wants to develop rules that would allow investors to trade tokenised versions of shares and bonds — synthetic versions of securities that have the same legal rights but can trade 24/7 using blockchain technology.

“We want people not to be doing this offshore,” he said, referring to the 2022 collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX. Although many who invested in the Bahamas-based crypto exchange lost money, funds in its regulated US derivatives arm were safeguarded and returned to customers.

“It’s a really powerful example of how a good regulatory scheme can help to protect investors while something else offshore is not going to be adequate,” Atkins said.

Crypto sceptics, however, have argued FTX exemplifies the bravado of an industry that offers few investor protections.

Atkins said the SEC needs rules to govern “smart contracts” that promise instant settlement of trades via crypto, but warned companies that are already offering tokenised US stocks trading to be “very careful” as the commission developed rules. “The securities laws do apply if they’re trading securities.”

There are three reforms that could reduce complexity while preserving resilience

The naysayers of banking regulation in Europe have it wrong. Since the Great Financial Crisis, it has been a success story. European banks are arguably more resilient than ever. But the post-crisis reforms were the result of extended and complicated negotiations that had to balance many different interests and goals.

Thus, European banking regulation is also more complex than ever. Regulators and supervisors must ask: is it time to simplify? Lobbyists will say yes, but simplification must not be mistaken for deregulation. The aim is not to lower standards, but to make the rules more transparent and effective.

Banks now face a maze of requirements. Large EU banks must comply with at least eight parallel “stacks” of requirements, spanning frameworks for both capital and the resolution process to manage the orderly failure of a bank. Each stack contains multiple layers — minimum requirements, buffers and supervisory add-ons — each with its own logic and consequences for non-compliance. The result is a byzantine regulatory framework that is difficult for banks, supervisors and markets to navigate. Worse, unintended interactions between different requirements risk threatening the effectiveness of the framework, especially in times of stress.

Take capital buffers: supervisors require banks to have additional capital to absorb losses, allowing them to maintain lending to companies and households in difficult times. But banks must also meet other regulatory demands in parallel, such as the resolution requirements or the overall cap on leverage. This can prevent banks from using the buffers as intended. In times of loss, these parallel requirements may become binding, forcing banks to shed assets and deleverage — potentially amplifying systemic stress. In addition, the overlaps can create confusion about which resources are truly available in a crisis.

Does this mean we should deregulate? Absolutely not. But after more than a decade with the current system, it is time to examine where simplification is possible. This means making rules more transparent and effective, without lowering standards. Three reforms could reduce complexity while preserving resilience:

Only use the strongest form of capital for meeting going-concern capital requirements. Banks currently meet their requirements with various types of capital, but Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) — comprising shares and retained earnings — is the strongest and most reliable form for absorbing losses. Other instruments, such as Additional Tier 1 and Tier 2, are less transparent and have proved less effective or even counter-productive in periods of stress. Recognising only CET1 would halve the number of parallel requirements and ensure robust loss-absorbing capacity.

Separate capital and resolution requirements. At present, the same euro of capital is used to meet both capital and resolution requirements. This double-counting causes problems: either capital buffers are tied up in resolution requirements and cannot act as safety cushions in a crisis, or there are insufficient resources left to cover losses and protect taxpayers during the resolution of a failing bank.

You cannot have your cake and eat it. A clear solution is to separate capital and resolution requirements, with the latter met by instruments other than CET1. This ensures CET1 is available to absorb losses while the bank is still operating, while at the same time dedicated resources are reserved for use if the bank fails and enters resolution. This approach allows both frameworks to function more effectively.

Merge and simplify capital buffers. The current system features a bewildering number of buffers, such as capital conservation, systemic risk and countercyclical buffers. These could be consolidated, ideally into a single “releasable” buffer that supervisors can lower in periods of stress and a single “non-releasable” buffer to cover bank-specific idiosyncratic and systemic risks.

These reforms would reduce the number of stacks and layers of requirements, making the regulatory framework more effective, transparent and easier to manage, without sacrificing resilience.

Banks would be able to plan and use their capital more efficiently, supervisors could focus on the risks that matter and markets would have a clearer view of each bank’s resilience. Ultimately, resilient European banks are in the best position to support a competitive and more productive European economy.

Card reader company wants to raise cash to buy up competitors

UK card reader company SumUp is exploring a stock market listing that could value the business at $10bn to $15bn and offer the London Stock Exchange a rare boost.

The London-based fintech is weighing up an initial public offering in either London or New York, according to two people familiar with the company’s view.

They added that it had been discussing the plans with investment banks, and was aiming to float in the next year. One person said that SumUp’s founders would remain the largest shareholders, and that it was aiming for a $10bn-$15bn valuation.

SumUp is hoping to raise cash to buy up competitors. One person familiar with the company’s thinking said it believed the payment processing market was ripe for consolidation, particularly in Europe.

In 2022, SumUp raised €590mn in a fundraising round led by private equity giant Bain Capital that valued it at €8bn euros. It had targeted a valuation of €20bn.

Last year, Reuters reported that SumUp was working with Goldman Sachs on a secondary share sale that it hoped would value the business at $9bn.

SumUp’s chief financial officer, Hermione McKee, said in 2023 that there was no rush for the company to IPO.

The news comes amid a wave of investor interest in UK fintechs. The Financial Times has recently reported that Starling is gearing up for a secondary share sale that could value it at £4bn and that Revolut is in talks with investment firm Coatue over a new fundraising round. 

A UK IPO by SumUp would also deliver a rare win for the London Stock Exchange, which has had to contend with a three-year listings drought: lower valuations compared with the US have prompted UK companies to debut there or to shift their listings.

UK-based money transfer company Wise is in the process of relisting in the US. Klarna, while the Swedish buy-now-pay-later group, listed in the US this month.

SumUp was founded by Marc-Alexander Christ, Stefan Jeschonnek, Jan Deepen and Daniel Klein in 2012. It makes card readers for use by small and medium sized businesses, and has 4mn customers in 36 countries. It also provides business accounts and invoicing services.

Last year, it had a target of €160mn in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, a measure of profitability.

SumUp declined to comment.

The inside details of their 14-year romance come pouring out in dueling lawsuits that show the danger of mixing work and home life.

There’s a joke about scratching the surface of the fashion industry and finding — more surface.

And as true as that can be in a world of celebrity air kisses and all-too-perfectly imperfect Instagram posts, there is plenty underneath in fashion. It’s just not always pretty.

Proving that again is the knockdown-drag out fight between Net-a-porter founder Natalie Massenet and her romantic partner of 14 years, Erik Torstensson, cofounder and creative director of the denim brand Frame.

The power couple went from all smiles at all the fashionable parties to slinging lawsuits back and forth.

It is an instance of love, family and big money mixing very uneasily. And the stakes are high.

First and foremost, the former couple are fighting over custody of their 7-year-old son. Then, according to Massenet’s suit filed last month in Los Angeles Superior Court, there’s the $95 million she spent on “expensive properties, lifestyle expenses, vacations, and more based on Torstensson’s promises to repay her in kind.” The suit suggests Torstensson is able to pay as he has a $100 million stake in Frame and “substantial positions” in Kim Kardashian’s Skims, as well as Good American, Safely and Brady.

The explosive suit dragged the whole affair into the spotlight — and in dramatic fashion.

Massenet’s suit alleged that Torstensson “confessed to her that he was a ‘liar, an alcoholic, a drug addict, a sex addict and that it had gone on for seven years.’” Backing that up, the suit included texts and images he allegedly traded with prostitutes and drug dealers.

While salacious lawsuits are nothing new, it was an unusually thorough airing of dirty laundry for the so-often refined world of fashion.

Massenet’s suit claimed Torstensson lived in a one-bedroom apartment without even a bed frame when they met.

“Early and often in their relationship, Torstensson promised Massenet that, if she funded the extravagant lifestyle that he desired, introduced him to her high-profile business contacts, and supported his business ventures, he would repay her. Torstensson made clear that whatever assets and investments were Massenet’s would remain hers,” the suit said.

“Yet, once some money began to come in, Torstensson actually diverted those funds to rent flashy private planes and art to impress his peers, rather than make good on his promises,” the suit alleged. “In reality, Torstensson planned to use Massenet’s fame and fortune to leverage his public standing, reputation, and finances, while draining Massenet’s assets on their expensive lifestyle, and then cut her out of her investment in Torstensson.”

In a statement over the weekend, Bonnie Eskenazi, Torstensson’s attorney, said: “Erik Torstensson is a talented businessman with a proven track record of success, a trusted counselor and, above all, a loving father. It is sad that Ms. Massenet would file a public lawsuit so vengeful and obviously meritless without any regard to the harm it would cause their family — and we will vigorously contest it.”

Last week, Torstensson filed a child custody suit in New York Supreme Court, accusing Massenet of being an unfit parent.

The suit has been sealed, but its contents were reported by The New York Times last week and a person familiar with the paperwork confirmed the details to WWD.

Torstensson’s suit alleged that Massenet “loved the limelight” and sought to “exert control of him.” It also claimed she “used drugs regularly,” “ingested alcoholic beverages heavily” and at times “turned violent” with him.

The suit also said she initiated the romantic relationship, turning to him on a flight and saying, “Kiss me,” while she was still married — an overture that allegedly led to the pair having sex in a car outside her London home and again in a car in Ibiza during her family’s vacation.

The two eventually took their relationship out of the backseat and went public as a blended family with her two daughters from a prior relationship and then their son.

A spokesperson for Massenet told WWD over the weekend: “Erik Torstensson filed a confidential child custody claim — under seal — in relation to his and Natalie’s 7-year-old son and simultaneously leaked it to the media. Torstensson’s improper use of the family court process is nothing more than a vindictive smear campaign in response to Natalie’s claim against him in California to settle financial matters. Natalie’s claim was filed as a last resort, after many months of trying to persuade Erik to mediate privately and thoughtfully, for the sake of their son and with respect to their 14 years together.

“This action is clearly not in the interests of their child and is typical of Torstensson’s behavior that led to the breakdown of the couple’s relationship and the recent changes to his professional roles. Natalie remains open to mediation and to the private resolution of this family matter. Throughout her life and career, Natalie has led with integrity and transparency, expecting the same in her personal relationships.”

The surface layer in fashion can be an important part of the substance. Creatives and business executives cultivate a lifestyle and then, in one way or another, seek to package and sell it either to consumers or to industry contacts. In 2017, Massenet bought a seven-bedroom, $15.5 million East Hampton, N.Y., home that Torstensson would use to entertain friends and contacts and further his businesses and investments, according to her suit.

But when life crumbles, there’s sometimes just no easy way to wrap things up and move on like there is in business.

Susan Scafidi, founder and director of Fordham Law School’s Fashion Law Institute, said the case reminded her that before pair-ups were based on romantic interest, they were financial arrangements.

“Mixing business and pleasure can be a toxic cocktail, but the prophylactic antidote is a well-drafted prenup and/or contracts memorializing even the couple’s subsequent intra-marital business agreements,” she said.

Divorces are more clearly defined in legal terms than romantic breakups.

“As I used to tell my students when I taught property, and very briefly family law, ‘If she liked it, then she should’ve put a ring on it — and executed a prenup!’ An antenuptial agreement is not an anti-nuptial agreement, or at least not necessarily,” Scafidi said.

So Massenet seems to be looking to move the dispute to the realm of business, where everything is dollars and cents and can be hashed out.

Her initial suit argued: “Torstensson is responsible for the damages he caused to Massenet, which include the millions he scammed from her, and a return on her investment in him and his ventures. While Massenet is emotionally devastated and in shock caused by Torstensson’s outrageous behavior, this is a case of a return on investment in a man who leveraged Massenet’s capital and brand to build wealth, while she bore the majority of the costs. Massenet is demanding now what any investor would — a fair, equitable return on the investments she made, value she created, and costs she carried.”

Alternative for Germany puts centre left SPD under pressure in North Rhine-Westphalia’s municipal poll, early projections show

Alternative for Germany is set to make strong gains in local elections that underlined the far right party’s advance in Germany’s western industrial heartland and presented the first poll test for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government.

According to early estimates released by state broadcaster WDR on Sunday, AfD secured about 15 per cent of the votes in municipal elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous federal state, up from 5 per cent in 2020.

AfD, which is co-led by Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, became the second-largest party in parliament in federal elections in February after obtaining a record 21 per cent vote share, including strong results in the country’s former communist east.

But in recent years, AfD has also drawn support from voters in the western Ruhr region, an area that has witnessed high immigration and struggled with deindustrialisation.

In local elections on Sunday in North Rhine-Westphalia, AfD’s surge came at the expense of Merz’s junior coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats.

The SPD was projected to secure 22 per cent of the vote, according to early estimates, which would represent slippage of two percentage points compared with elections in 2020. The Green party was also set to lose ground, falling 7 points to 13 per cent.

Merz’s centre-right Christian Democrats took solace in the fact the party was able to maintain its leading place in the western state, with a 34 per cent vote share. That result would be unchanged on 2020.

Hendrik Wüst, the 50-year-old CDU state premier in North Rhine-Westphalia, said he was “grateful” that voters had kept the party in the lead.

But he acknowledged the AfD’s strong showing in traditional SPD industrial strongholds posed difficult questions for the centre-left and centre-right parties over issues including migration and welfare benefits.

“Everyone will ask themselves what are the right answers in terms of poverty, migration? Are all parts of our social systems really fair?” he told national broadcaster ARD.

Despite relaxing Germany’s debt brake and unveiling a massive €1tn spending plan for defence and infrastructure, Merz has been grappling with low public approval ratings and frustration among business leaders as the Eurozone’s largest economy continues to stagnate.

Merz has promised an “autumn of reforms”, vowing to overhaul welfare benefits and the pension system by allowing workers to continue working beyond the country’s retirement age.

But tensions inside Merz’s coalition, and the SPD’s poor electoral results in North Rhine-Westphalia, may make it harder to push through ambitious reforms.

Era of ‘invisible’ submarines ending with next-gen tech that could prevent one in 20 from escaping attack

A new defence industry study from China suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) could soon make it extremely hard – even nearly impossible – for submarines to survive in a future naval conflict.

The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Electronics Optics & Control and led by senior engineer Meng Hao with the China Helicopter Research and Development Institute in August, unveiled for the first time an advanced AI-driven anti-submarine warfare (ASW) system capable of hunting even the quietest submarines through intelligent, real-time decision-making.

According to the research, the new ASW system could reduce a submarine’s chance of escape to just 5 per cent, meaning only one out of every 20 submarines would likely escape detection and attack.

As global powers intensify their race to put AI into military use, the study suggests the era of the “invisible” submarine – long a cornerstone of naval deterrence – may be coming to an end.

Instead of relying on old search patterns, the AI system acts like a smart commander in the ocean.

It uses data from sonar buoys dropped by helicopters, underwater sensors, radar and even ocean temperature and salt levels to build a live picture of what is happening under the sea.

Then, it quickly decides where to look, how to adjust its equipment and how to respond when a submarine tries to escape by zigzagging, going silent or releasing fake signals to throw off the hunters.

In computer simulations, this AI system was able to find and track enemy submarines about 95 per cent of the time, no matter how hard they tried to hide.

Even when submarines used hi-tech decoys or drones to distract the searchers, the AI kept up and stayed on their trail.

Submarines have long been viewed as the ultimate asymmetric weapon: able to deliver nuclear strikes, gather intelligence or sink carrier groups while remaining nearly undetectable.

The US Navy, for instance, maintains that large fleets of nuclear submarines could be a deterrent to the rapidly growing PLA Navy in a future conflict.

The US nuclear submarine fleet consists of about 70 nuclear-powered submarines as of mid-2025, according to openly available information.

These submarines could blend into the background noise of the ocean and they could carry cutting-edge drones to distract the hunters.

In traditional anti-submarine warfare, a quiet submarine equipped with advanced decoys has a survival chance as high as 85 per cent, making them “one of the biggest threats” to China’s surface fleets, according to Meng’s team.

But AI could make the strategy outdated.

“The ultimate success rate keeps stable at around 95 per cent,” Meng and his colleagues said.

The system operates on a three-layer architecture: perception, decision making, and human-machine interaction.

First, the AI fuses real-time data from sonar, radar, magnetic anomaly detectors and oceanographic sensors to build a dynamic picture of the undersea environment. It accounts for shifting variables like water temperature, salinity and background noise – conditions that traditionally hinder sonar effectiveness.

Then, in the decision layer, a multi-agent reinforcement learning model pits AI “hunter” agents such as helicopters and sonobuoys against simulated “prey” agents, including submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles.

Through thousands of simulated engagements, the AI learns optimal tactics, such as forming sonar barriers, executing coordinated sweeps or concentrating sensors in high-probability zones.

Critically, the AI does not just detect submarines, it anticipates their behaviour. In simulations, it recognised evasive tactics like “silent running” or zigzag manoeuvres and adjusted search patterns accordingly.

Even when submarines deployed decoys or operated in complex acoustic environments, the AI maintained a high detection rate, according to the researchers.

The project team also built large language model-based assistant interfaces to coordinate different AI agents’ interaction with human operators, translating complex sensor data and AI-generated strategies into plain-language recommendations.

It dramatically reduced cognitive load during high-pressure missions, they said.

The researchers say this technology could still get even better.

Future versions could team up with drones in the air, ships on the surface and unmanned vehicles underwater, creating a complete “three-dimensional” hunting network.

The AI could also keep learning during real missions, getting smarter with every deployment.

And lighter, faster versions could be installed on smaller combat robots, allowing more platforms to make quick decisions without needing to send data back to a central base.