Friday, July 10, 2026 · Covering: Mon–Fri this week
TL;DR
Defense consolidation stayed hot as Lockheed Martin bought undersea-warfare specialist Ultra Maritime for $3.45B, extending a run of allied naval-tech deals. Private equity kept circling undervalued public companies — Castlelake locked in board support for a $7.3B take-private of easyJet, and Vista Equity teamed up on a 50%+ premium approach for French adtech firm Criteo. Markets wobbled on a soft June jobs report (just 57K added) and a tech/chip pullback, even as the Fed held rates and traders held onto hopes for a September cut.
TOP 3 DEALS
DEAL 01
Defense / Aerospace
ENTERPRISE VALUE$3.45 billion (all-cash)
STRUCTUREPE-to-strategic sale
BUYER ADVISORS (LOCKHEED)Citi (financial); Hogan Lovells & Cadwalader (legal); Fried Frank (tax)
SELLER ADVISORS (ADVENT)Guggenheim & J.P. Morgan (financial)
Lockheed is buying Ultra Maritime — a maker of sonar systems, sonobuoys and torpedo-defense gear — from private equity firm Advent International. The business folds into Lockheed's Rotary and Mission Systems unit, deepening its undersea-warfare franchise at a moment of heavy Navy demand.
Why it matters for recruiting: A clean PE-exit-to-strategic-buyer story with a full advisor lineup you can name. Note the split roles on Lockheed's side — a bank (Citi) plus two law firms and separate tax counsel — a good talking point on how large strategics staff deals. It also continues the 2026 undersea/naval-tech consolidation theme (RENK, Safran-Exail) you can tie into a defense coverage pitch.
DEAL 02
Leveraged Finance / PE
EQUITY VALUE~$7.3B (£5.5B) at £6.90/share
PREMIUM~73% to May 29 close
BUYER ADVISORS (CASTLELAKE)Advisors TBD
TARGET ADVISORS (EASYJET)Advisors TBD
U.S. investment firm Castlelake's fifth and sweetened bid finally won easyJet's board over, after four earlier offers were rejected as opportunistic. Castlelake still has to file a firm intention to bid by August 3, so the deal isn't fully signed — but the board has said it would recommend it to shareholders.
Why it matters for recruiting: Textbook UK take-private under the City Takeover Code — note the "put up or shut up" deadline (the Aug. 3 firm-offer date) that has no direct U.S. equivalent. The 73% premium and five-round bidding sequence is a great illustration of how public-company boards negotiate; expect a "walk me through a take-private" question and this is a live example. PE hunting undervalued UK-listed names is a recurring 2026 theme.
DEAL 03
Tech / TMT
EQUITY VALUE~$3.7B (offer, not yet accepted)
PREMIUM50%+ to recent price
BUYER ADVISORSAdvisors TBD
TARGET ADVISORS (CRITEO)Advisors TBD
Vista Equity Partners and Quinti Capital made an unsolicited buyout approach for Criteo, a French adtech firm that uses AI to help brands and retailers target shoppers. Criteo hasn't decided how to respond, and price, structure and financing are all still undisclosed.
Why it matters for recruiting: An early-stage, undisclosed-terms approach — useful for discussing what happens before a deal is announced (board review, standstills, financing contingency). It signals sustained PE appetite for adtech and "retail media," a sub-sector interviewers may probe under AI/TMT. Contrast the unsolicited nature here with the fully-negotiated Lockheed deal above.
SECTOR SIGNAL
DEFENSE / AEROSPACE
Beyond Lockheed-Ultra, the A&D M&A pipeline stayed strong — Q1 2026 worldwide deal value ran up sharply year-on-year, with capital concentrating in space, autonomy and undersea/production-constrained assets. PwC ↗
TECH / TMT
TTM Technologies is pushing into Europe via all-cash buys of Switzerland's STG and Germany's ILFA, adding advanced PCB capacity for aerospace/defense and medical — expected to close in Q3. StockTitan ↗
INDUSTRIALS / CONSUMER
Kroger's ~$1.65B deal for regional grocer Giant Eagle ($1.25B cash + ~$400M assumed liabilities) tees up another big antitrust test under Hart-Scott-Rodino; expected to close in 2027. CNBC ↗
HEALTHCARE
Novartis agreed to acquire UK biotech Myricx Bio, a small bolt-on adding antibody-drug-conjugate technology — part of a broader 2026 surge in biopharma dealmaking. BioSpace ↗
M&A / LEVERAGED FINANCE
PE take-private interest in UK-listed names is a defining 2026 trade — Castlelake/easyJet ($7.3B) and Vista/Criteo (~$3.7B) both landed this week at large premiums. With the Fed on hold, lev-fin desks are watching whether financing markets stay open for these mega take-privates at 4%+ base rates. CNBC ↗
MARKET TONE
Soft jobs print. June nonfarm payrolls added just 57K vs. ~115K expected; unemployment ticked down to 4.2%, partly on falling labor-force participation. HeyGoTrade ↗
Fed on hold, cut still in play. Rates held at 4.25–4.50%; futures priced a ~60–65% chance of a September cut, keeping equities supported. Keel Point ↗
Chip rout. Tech dragged indices lower mid-week as a weak Samsung print failed to steady the Nasdaq and S&P 500. TheStreet ↗
Earnings season opens. Q2 reporting kicked off with PepsiCo (Thu) and Delta (Fri) — the first read on how tariffs and consumer demand are hitting margins. Forbes ↗
Eyes on FOMC minutes. Wednesday's minutes were the week's macro anchor, with investors parsing how split the committee is on further moves. CNBC ↗
INTERVIEW ANGLE
TOPIC: TAKE-PRIVATES & THE UK TAKEOVER CODE
The easyJet situation is a clean way to show you understand how a public-to-private deal actually mechanically works — and that you know non-U.S. rules differ.
What a take-private is: a buyer (here, PE firm Castlelake) buys all public shares and delists the company, usually funded with a mix of equity and debt (leverage) — hence why it sits in leveraged finance.
Why the premium is big: to get a board to recommend a deal and win shareholder votes, buyers pay well above market — 73% here — because the current price is seen as undervaluing the business.
The UK twist: under the City Takeover Code, a bidder that signals interest faces a "put up or shut up" deadline (easyJet's is Aug. 3) — file a firm offer or walk away for months. There's no direct U.S. equivalent, so this shows you know cross-border process.
How to bring it up: "Take Castlelake–easyJet: five bids, a 73% premium, and a hard 'put up or shut up' deadline. It's a good reminder that a take-private isn't just about the number — the regulatory calendar and financing package drive whether it actually closes."