Welcome back! This morning kicks off with a story from our Wall Street Journal colleagues, who report on Japan's pledge to invest $550 billion in the U.S. as part of a recent trade deal. Meanwhile, the Journal's columnist Jason Zweig highlights some potential flaws of private-market expansion into retirement accounts. 

Now onto the news...

As part of a trade deal reached this week, Japan agreed to invest $550 billion in projects across strategic U.S. industries, including energy, semiconductor manufacturing and shipbuilding. The White House said Trump would have final say over where the money goes and that the U.S. would keep 90% of profits on any investments, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Private-markets firms have spent years pitching interval funds and tender offers to wealthy individuals touting the benefits of the vehicles long-hold periods and limited volatility. But the Journal's columnist Jason Zweig takes aim at such contentions citing two such funds that now hope to list on the public markets, which he says highlight the flaws of offering such funds to retail investors.

WHP Global, whose backers include Ares Management, is among the potential suitors eyeballing the acquisition of fashion brand Marc Jacobs from its listed partner LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the Journal reports. The deal could fetch around $1 billion, according to people familiar with the process.

KKR is backing the first Asia-Pacific deal out of its global climate investment strategy with an agreement to commit 500 million Australian dollars, or about $327.9 million, to support CleanPeak Energy in growing and developing a pipeline of distributed solar, battery storage and micro‑grid solutions in Australia.

Transom Capital Group is slated to close its acquisition of a majority stake in publicly traded SigmaTron International on July 28, after the deadline for shareholders to tender their shares expired. Roughly 4.4 million shares were tendered representing nearly 72% of the issued outstanding shares.

Sagard Credit Partners will provide a credit facility of up to $100 million to Saltire Capital for its acquisition of SanStone Investments, an owner and operator of heavy equipment dealerships.

Growth-equity firm PSG is investing $125 million in HeroDevs, a provider of security and compliance for open-source software.

Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.

While private-equity exits via trade sales were down slightly in the first half of 2025, corporate acquirers continued to strike deals with private-equity fund managers scrambling to monetize aging portfolio company investments, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Exits to corporate strategics totaled 1,191 in the first half, down 3% from 1,231 trade sales during the same period in 2024.

U.K.-based Inflexion is looking to raise between €3.5 billion, or around $4.1 billion, and €4 billion for its latest flagship buyout fund, sister publication Private Equity News reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The midmarket private-equity firm is set to launch its Buyout Fund VII later this year, having closed its predecessor buyout fund at the hard cap figure of £2.5 billion in 2022.

Secondary firm Timber Bay has collected at least $157 million so far for its latest fund, Timber Bay Fund III.  The City of Cincinnati Retirement System allocated $5 million to the fund in November, according to WSJ Pro’s LP Commitment data.

Partners Group has raised at least $361 million so far from at least nine investors, according to public documents. The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund allocated up to $50 million to the fund, Partners Group Direct Infrastructure IV, according to WSJ Pro’s LP Commitments data.

A new report from S&P Global Ratings found a rise in the use of payment-in-kind debt for business-development companies, indicating potential stress. PIK-paying loans grew to 10.92% of BDC portfolios in the fourth quarter of 2024, up from 10.19% the previous quarter, which could suggest growing stress as a result of slower U.S. growth and the impact of tariffs on companies.

Liminatus Pharma is evaluating the formation of a digital asset investment vehicle that will target up to $500 million. The prospective subsidiary would operate independently of Liminatus’s core clinical pipeline and focus on digital asset allocation.

Send us your tips, suggestions and feedback. Write to:

Maria Armental; Ted Bunker; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Rod James; Laura Kreutzer; Isaac Taylor; Chitra Vemuri.

Follow us on Twitter:@wsjpe, @LHVGarcia, @LauraKreutzer