NEWSLETTER of August 15, 2025

The following content has been added at finexpert:

S&P Global
EUROPE M&A BY THE NUMBERS: Q2 2025
The European mergers and acquisitions market experienced mixed activity in Q2 2025, with both deal volumes and deal sizes showing a minor increase compared to the previous quarter. Transaction values dropped -38.8% on a year-over-year basis. Deal volume remained flat growing at a meager +0.57% with 3,514 deals from 3,494. The largest transaction of the quarter took place in the Swiss Financials sector with the acquisition of Baloise Holding AG by Helvetia Holding AG for $10.3bn. US buyer interest in UK assets continued to be a trend as four out of the top 10 deals of the quarter involved a US-based buyer acquiring a UK target. >more

Oliver Wyman
EUROPEAN BANKING M&A SURGES IN 2025
European banking mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are back. Market volatility triggered by US tariff actions has threatened the global M&A recovery, with several deals delayed or canceled — but it does not seem to have dulled dealmaking in banking. European banking deals totaling a record $27 billion have been announced since the start of 2025, almost double the volume for the same period in 2024. With Europe's top banks generating substantial excess capital — over 300 billion returned to shareholders since 2022 — there is renewed capacity and appetite for M&A activity. >more

Deutsche Bank Research
DEUTSCHES STARTUP-ÖKOSYSTEM SCHÖPFT SEIN POTENZIAL NICHT VOLL AUS
Startups are central to a competitive and innovative economy. Europe has a dynamic startup ecosystem, but scaling companies is hampered by fragmented markets and reduced availability of venture capital (VC). While the startup scene in Germany is growing, insolvency figures remain high. Software is the leading sector for start-up creation, driven by growing demand for AI. Start-ups often emerge in university environments and tend to concentrate in specific centres such as Munich or Berlin. Financing is an important issue for growth-oriented start-ups. Government support is the most important external source of financing, used by almost half of all start-ups. >more

KfW Research
GERMAN VENTURE CAPITAL BAROMETER Q2 2025 
The business climate on the German venture capital market took a downturn in early summer. In the second quarter of 2025, the indicator for the VC business climate fell by 17 points to -18.8 points. The climate traffic light thus jumped back to red after having been yellow in previous quarters, when everything pointed to a new green phase soon. The assessment of business expectations has now deteriorated at an above-average rate. >more

ATTITUDES TO DEBT: THE ROLE OF MORAL VALUES
Fiona Paine, Antoinette Schoar, and David Thesmar
2025
This paper tests how people’s moral values influence their views of debt contracts. We ask participants to make decisions about debt contracts in different hypothetical situations (vignettes). We separately measure their moral values using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (Graham et al., 2009). We have three main sets of findings. First, differences in moral values strongly explain the cross-section of participants’ debt decisions. Participants with more conservative values show more support for credit score-based loan pricing, stricter forms of collateral, and tougher bankruptcy resolution. Second, when we randomly change the economic costs and benefits of debt within our vignettes, we find that participants change their answers in the direction predicted by economic theory. Third, participants’ beliefs of the functioning of the credit market strongly correlate with their moral values. Participants with conservative values are more likely to believe that strict enforcement and risk-based loan pricing provide incentives and are economically efficient. More liberal participants believe that insurance against unlucky shocks are important. Consistent with moral values being distinct from Bayesian beliefs, financial literacy does not attenuate moral values in shaping beliefs about what is economically efficient.  >more

GENDER STEREOTYPES AND ENTREPRENEUR FINANCING
Camille Hebert
2024
I document a significant gender gap in entrepreneurs' access to early-stage equity financing. Using unique administrative data on French startups, I show that this gap is particularly pronounced in male-dominated sectors. Controlling for a comprehensive set of entrepreneur and startup characteristics -- including demographics, backgrounds, and motivations -- accounts for 42% of the average gender gap. However, in male-dominated sectors, 80% of the gap remains unexplained. Growth-oriented female entrepreneurs rely more heavily on bank loans, substituting equity with debt. Finally, VC-backed female-founded startups outperform their male counterparts in male-dominated sectors. These findings suggest that context-dependent stereotypes influence equity financing decisions. >more