Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic One thing to start: The UK’s competition regulator will speed up its investigations in order to try and unlock greater investment into the country, the newly installed chair of the regulator has said.And a scoop: Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is pushing for new universal tariffs on US imports to start at 2.5 per cent and rise gradually, according to four people familiar with the proposal.In today’s newsletter: The ‘Sputnik moment’ for AITakeover talks with SGS collapseWhere junior lawyers want to workDeepSeek sparks soul searching in Big TechFew investors or advisers were aware of DeepSeek last week. Yet the Chinese start-up arrived in global markets on Monday morning with a thunderous clap.The company last week revealed its latest in a series of models that match the performance of US rivals, even though it has previously claimed to use far fewer Nvidia chips. The apparent efficiency gains in model training have sparked investor doubts about the dominant US tech strategy of pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into a handful of Silicon Valley AI groups to build the most powerful large language models.But the pain started on Monday. Global tech and energy stocks capitulated as the news ricocheted across global markets over the weekend. The sell-off started with Asian chipmakers and European semiconductor supply chain stocks, and eventually made its way to Silicon Valley.Shares in California-based Nvidia, one of the biggest beneficiaries of spending on AI chips, plunged almost 17 per cent, wiping out about $600bn of market value, a record loss in value for any company.While the stocks could still rebound this week, some investors suggested the moves were already historic. Venture capital investor Marc Andreessen called the new Chinese model “AI’s Sputnik moment”, drawing a comparison with when the Soviet Union shocked the US by putting the first satellite into orbit.Chinese AI companies have been innovating ways to drive down the cost of training and running models, partly in response to Washington’s chip restrictions that have forced them to rely on outdated technology.The first major sign of their success came over the weekend, when DeepSeek shot to the top of Apple’s App Store downloads list in the US. Some investors said the market was reassessing whether capital expenditure on AI had been too high in the US, led by companies such as OpenAI, which pledged last week to spend $500bn over four years with SoftBank on AI infrastructure.“It shows how vulnerable the AI trade still is, like every trade that is consensus and based on the assumption of an unassailable lead,” Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, told the FT.Hedge fund manager Liang Wenfeng started DeepSeek as a side hustle, funded by proceeds from his quant hedge fund called High-Flyer. In 2021, Liang ploughed money into buying Nvidia GPUs for his AI ambitions before the chips were banned from export to China. One rival founder who knows Liang well said he was “truly visionary” and “nerdy”. And “unlike other bosses at tech companies, he really understands how the technology works”.The European mega-deal that wasn’tDD and Lex warned you: the €30bn cross-border takeover talks between Switzerland’s SGS and France’s Bureau Veritas were more complicated than at first glance.When news broke of the discussions a couple weeks ago, the talks were at an advanced stage and just weeks away from agreeing a deal to create a new player in the testing and certification services industry.The market had hopes for a deal, while one source involved said there was “real conviction” for some consolidation in the fast-growing yet fragmented industry.However, on Monday the two groups confirmed their deal talks had ended without an accord. It was SGS that walked away from discussions due to contractual issues, people familiar with the matter told FT’s Adrienne Klasa and DD’s Ivan Levingston. (SGS and Bureau Veritas declined to comment.)This was not the first time that SGS and Bureau Veritas talked about a tie-up. Various conversations have taken place over the years between the leaders in the sector without success, but this one looked like it would go the distance for a hot minute. Yet there were early signs that the combination — which would have been welcome for a still-recovering European merger market — would be difficult to get over the line. For one, DD broke the news that SGS was not the only potential suitor for Bureau Veritas. Bureau Veritas called off merger discussions with FTSE 100 group Intertek in late autumn 2024 immediately before commencing the SGS talks.What’s more, Lex wrote at the time that the merger might not have delivered for shareholders. “Quality control merger fails investor smell test,” Lex headlined.Then there’s the history. Both SGS and Bureau Veritas have anchor shareholders in Groupe Bruxelles Lambert and Wendel, respectively.DD can’t help but recall another Swiss-French merger with strong investors, when France’s Lafarge combined with Switzerland’s Holcim to create a global cement leader. That “merger of egos” has not set the best precedent. Young lawyers flock to PEAs growing numbers of UK-listed companies look to move to the US, young lawyers at top London firms are losing interest in working on listings in the city.They increasingly favour roles advising on private equity deals over traditionally prestigious work for publicly listed companies. The rise of private capital and the decline in stock exchange listings are officially reshaping the legal sector.As one co-head of equity capital markets at a “magic circle” law firm told the FT: “The lack of [equity capital market] activity, and natural attrition of talent, is resulting in the slow drip-drip loss of ECM expertise — in the legal sector, and elsewhere.”At another “magic circle” firm a partner said that private equity had been oversubscribed in recent trainee rotations.Not surprisingly, legal recruiters also say that there’s a lack of interest in ECM positions these days from younger lawyers. This interest has been eclipsed by private equity and for good reason.The growing influence of high-paying US firms, which have a strong private equity focus, has encouraged junior associates to move into that practice area.The market trend does not look good. Last year the London Stock Exchange suffered its worst year for departures since 2009.Overall, UK ECM activity fell 56 per cent to $31.5bn in the 10 years to 2024, according to Dealogic data. It has barely recovered after a sharp drop in 2022. Job moves Julius Baer has said that its chair Romeo Lacher will step down, in the latest management shake-up at the Swiss wealth manager following a crisis triggered by its exposure to failed property group Signa.Citigroup’s global head of its private banking arm, Ida Liu, announced she’s leaving. It’s not known where she’s heading, but her decision follows a number of other departures by senior women at the bank. Doug Emhoff, the husband to the former US vice-president Kamala Harris, will become a partner at law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Smart readsSit-down with Lina In an interview with the FT, recently departed Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan warned of “catastrophic consequences” for America if Donald Trump’s antitrust officials fail to scrutinise private equity.Art baron Private equity chief Stephen Schwarzman is stirring the London art market with record purchases, the FT writes. His most recent interest: 18th-century portraits.Price cut The LNG export company Venture Global had grand ambitions of debuting on the public market at an equity value of $116bn, Lex writes. The reality undermines the IPO market’s recovery hopes. News round-upInvestors offloaded record volume of private equity stakes in 2024 (FT)UK banks clash with Bank of England over rules on loss-absorbing debt (FT)Vanke’s woes reignite fears for China’s property sector (FT)Tesla sues EU over tariffs on electric vehicles from China (FT)Ryanair blames Boeing delay as it cuts passenger forecast (FT)Volkswagen open to Chinese rivals taking over excess production lines in Europe (FT)UK-listed lobby group strikes US deal in consolidation play (FT)
