Jonathan Guilford

With $31 bln of debt, deep links to the banking system and a star role in India’s energy transition, the tycoon’s empire is a crucial part of the fifth-largest economy. In this week’s Viewsroom, Breakingviews columnists discuss how US bribery charges will test those dependencies.

BlackRock , oddly enough, is looking a lot more like a streaming service. The index-fund goliath agreed to buy private lender HPS for $12 billion, to get its hands on the hottest new content to push through its formidable pipes. It’s a strategy that sometimes only partly works. Just ask Apple.

Dealmakers are getting excited after two years of middling M&A. For one thing, they’re happily waving goodbye to a consolidation-skeptical agenda that has contributed to the sluggish growth in merger activity. A judge’s decision on Tuesday to block grocer Kroger’s $25 billion acquisition of rival Albertsons , however, suggests that chief executives and their consiglieri are getting ahead of themselves.

Threats of tariffs or banning telecommunications equipment were the easy part. TikTok illustrates what happens when the trade war gets difficult.

Picture this: a U.S. insurance industry grown fat after a period of explosive growth began extending private loans, buying up debt churned out by wheeling and dealing financiers. That was the year 1905. It might also describe, in more measured form, the situation more than a century later. This time, expect traditional insurers to turn the tables and buy up private credit managers.

For traditional insurers, that seemingly simple proposition has proved far from straightforward. Prudential Logo | Image: Reuters Breakingviews

A 123-year-old steelmaker’s fate could yet become a restraint on modern-day executive power. United States Steel and suitor Nippon Steel have gone to court over U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to nix their $15 billion deal. Reversing the decision is implausible. The best outcome would be one that strengthens trust in the opaque process by which the U.S. reviews investments from overseas.

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Japan Inc’s defensive measures might get help from Uncle Sam. Buyout and credit giant Apollo Global Management is considering backing Seven & i’s founding Ito family with 1.5 trillion yen ($9.5 billion) for its take-private bid, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing sources. Global private equity firms’ gold rush in the country is intensifying, though they largely paint themselves less as barbarians at the gate than partners to domestic interests. Doing so here for the owner of 7-Eleven convenience stores will test Apollo’s ability to arrange big, novel financings.

The new US president began his term with a rush of orders signaling an immigration crackdown, shifting energy policy and more. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists debate how much will stick and why the trade barriers at the heart of his agenda are missing.