Senate Republicans have shaded the U.S. solar industry, making sharper cuts to tax incentives than originally anticipated.

Why it matters: This could put a major chill on new solar infrastructure investments, and maybe cause rescissions of existing ones.

• It also comes as private equity investment in solar already was declining.

What's new: Solar and wind power projects would need to be put into service by the end of 2027 to qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act's production and investment tax credits, whereas earlier Senate language only required that they begin construction by the end of 2027.

• A surprise addition late Friday adds new taxes on solar and wind projects that have even attenuated links to Chinese materials — even if they're not getting subsidies, Axios' Ben Geman writes.
• Tax incentives for residential solar also got scrapped.
• Don't be surprised to see consolidation, fire sales, and bankruptcies.

Yes, but: This is all part of a giant reconciliation bill that hasn't yet passed either house of Congress in its final form, despite clearing a major procedural hurdle over the weekend.

The big picture: The math is about to change not only for investors in solar power, but also for those in competing energy sources. And I'm not just talking about the new tax credit for metallurgical coal.

• Renewables like nuclear, in which there's been a ton of recent VC investment, don't get hit with the excise taxes for using Chinese components.
• There also are big new tax incentives for carbon capture, which could be a boon for both Big Oil and some climate-tech investors.

The bottom line: It's not quite the "all-in" domestic energy strategy that many in the market had been promised.

The Justice Department and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) have settled an antitrust lawsuit over HPE's $14 billion takeover of Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), less than two weeks before the trial was to start.

Why it's the BFD: This further consolidates the network equipment market, and creates a more viable rival for top dog Cisco.

Zoom in: The combined company agreed to sell HPE's Instant On wireless networking unit and a license for the source code to Juniper's Mist business (used its WLAN products).

The bottom line: The Trump 2.0 antitrust regime seems much more amenable to remedies than did its predecessor, although it's still too early to draw conclusions.

• Cato Networks, an Israeli cloud security platform for remote workforces, raised $359m in Series G funding at a $4.8b valuation. Vitruvian Partners and ION Crossover Partners were joined by insiders Lightspeed Venture Partners, Acrew Capital, and Adams Street Partners. axios.link/3I3MJFn

• Cred, a predictive intelligence startup, raised $15m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Defy.vc led, joined by HOF Capital, Alumni Ventures, LDV Partners, Streamlined Ventures, SilverCircle, Octopus Ventures, BAM Ventures, and Gaingels. axios.link/4l9BtWJ

• Skynopy, a French provider of ground station services for low-Earth orbit satellites, raised €15m. Alven led, joined by Expansion, Omnes, CNES, and Heartcore. axios.link/3GkIOUb

• Bonx, a French provider of ops software for European manufacturers, raised $8.6m in seed funding. 9900 Capital led, joined by Kima Ventures, Purple, OSS Ventures, and Dynamo Ventures. bonx.tech

⚡Tibo Energy, a Dutch energy management platform, raised €6m in seed funding. Kompas VC led, joined by Hitachi Ventures, WEPA Ventures and insiders SET Ventures and SpeedInvest. axios.link/4esW8lP

• Cosma, a French deep-sea mapping startup, raised €2.5m led by WIND and Ternel. axios.link/4kimIQ7

🚑 Epigenica, a Swedish developer of high-throughput epigenetic screening tools, raised $2.2m led by Voima Ventures. axios.link/4ewiCmb

⚡Google increased its investment in Commonwealth Fusion Systems, as part of a new strategic agreement. axios.link/3TfgyoX

• Atlas Holdings agreed to buy the North American business of U.K. steelmaker Evraz, backed by sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, for up to $500m. axios.link/44NkaE3

• CenterOak Partners acquired Now CFO, a Salt Lake City-based provider of outsourced finance and accounting services for SMBs. nowcfo.com

• I Squared Capital has bailed on its takeover efforts for Hong Kong broadband provider HKBN (HK: 1310), two months after China Mobile agreed to acquire a 15.5% stake from TPG at the sale share price (HK$5.23) that I Squared had planned to pay. axios.link/3TN8gof

• Monetate, a New York-based e-commerce personalization platform owned by Centre Lane Partners and GarMark Partners. acquired SiteSpect, a Newton, Mass.-based provider of A/B testing whose backers included Boathouse Capital, Multiplier Capital, and NewSpring Capital. monetate.com

🚑 Neopharmed Gentili, an Italian portfolio company of NB Renaissance and Ardian, agreed to buy the European business of hereditary angioedema drug Orladeyo from BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BCRX) for up to $264m. axios.link/3I67MHt

• NorthEdge acquired Oak Engage, a U.K. provider of employment engagement SaaS, from Maven Capital Partners. axios.link/4kd2WFx

• Stellex Capital Management agreed to buy the air and noise filtration tech business of Germany's Dürr Group. durr.com

• Stonepeak completed its acquisition of Forgital, an Italian maker of forged components for the aerospace sector, from Carlyle. axios.link/3OVwBpt

• TorQuest Partners agreed to financial advisory firm GlassRatner from B. Riley Financial (Nasdaq: RILY) for nearly $118m. axios.link/4kXRYoC

• Triton agreed to buy Prenax, a French subscriptions management business, from LBO France. axios.link/40xvUJc

No major IPOs are expected this week on U.S. exchanges.

• McGraw Hill, a Columbus, Ohio-based educational publisher owned by Platinum Equity, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $1b. It reports an $86m net loss on $2.1b in revenue for the year ending March 31, 2025, versus a $193m net loss on $1.96b in revenue for the year-earlier period, and plans to list on the NYSE (MH).

• NielsenIQ, a Chicago-based consumer research firm backed by Advent International and KKR, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $1b. It reports a $716m net loss on $1.78b in revenue for 2024, versus a $472m net loss on $1.5b in revenue the prior year.

• D. Boral ARC Acquisition II, a SPAC led by execs from D. Boral Capital and ARC Group, filed for a $250m IPO. axios.link/4nwMD9C

• FIGX Capital Acquisition, a financials SPAC, raised $131m in its IPO. axios.link/4jZxcEA

⚡ Pyrophyte Acquisition II, an energy SPAC led by Bernard Duroc-Danner (EVI), filed for a $175m IPO. axios.link/4kcBk3z

• Yorkville Acquisition, a TMT SPAC led by former T-Mobile ad exec Kevin McGurn, raised $150m in its IPO. axios.link/4j6upci

President Trump yesterday said that he has a "group of wealthy people" who've agreed to buy TikTok from ByteDance and that he'd share details in "about two weeks."

• Trump also acknowledged that he'd likely need approval from China, which hasn't yet been forthcoming.

🚑 Abbvie (NYSE: ABBV) agreed to acquire Capstan Therapeutics,, for up to $2.1b. Capstan had raised $340m from firms like Leaps by Bayer, OrbiMed, Pfizer, Novartis, and Vida Ventures. axios.link/3I7bD71

🚑 Council Capital hired Solomon Partners to sell ViaQuest, a Dublin, Ohio-based provider of services for patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, per Axios Pro. axios.link/44xT7MS

• EQT sold Swedish luxury menswear brand Eton to a group of individuals that includes Mikael Schiller, Caspar Callerström, and Thomas von Koch. axios.link/45GXcAq

🚑 KKR agreed to sell its 46.4% stake in Indian drugmaker JB Pharma to Torrent Pharmaceuticals for $1.4b. axios.link/3TUspsx

• Banca CF+, an Italian specialty lender backed by Elliott, offered to buy rival Banca Sistema (Milan: BSTA). axios.link/4kYMMRo

• Home Depot (NYSE: HD) agreed to buy Georgia-based building products distributor GMS (NYSE: GMS) for $5.5b (including debt), beating out an unsolicited $5b takeover bid from Brad Jacobs' QXO (NYSE: QXO). axios.link/3Te2z2F

• Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) agreed to sell its Playa portfolio of 15 resorts for $2b to a joint venture of KSL Capital Partners and Rodina. axios.link/40wWpOV

• GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV) is weighing a sale of industrial software unit Proficy, which could fetch up to $1b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/44oqj9b

• Porsche is weighing a sale of IT services and consulting unit MHP, per Reuters. axios.link/4lAE1wV

• U.K. antitrust officials said they're investigating Boeing's (NYSE: BA) $4.7b agreement to buy Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR), a plane part maker it spun out two decades ago. axios.link/3ZW4iNO

• Chingona Ventures of Chicago is raising $50m for its third fund, per an SEC filing. chingona.ventures

• Lindsay Goldberg is raising $4b for its sixth fund, per a public pension document. axios.link/4481bow

• Growth Capital Partners of London is raising its sixth fund, per an SEC filing. growthcapital.co.uk

• Recognize, a New York-based PE firm focused on digital services, raised $1.7b for its second fund. recognize.com

• Stephen Culhane joined White & Case as a partner focused on private funds. He previously was with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer. axios.link/3Th8JPu

• Kyle Gross, Rob Hughes, and Kyle Brockett left Citizens Financial to launch a private credit advisory called Koo Capital. axios.link/448CfNJ

• IVP hired Helen Clement (ex-Wellington Management) as a partner and head of capital formation, and Jimena Nowack (Dawn Capital) as a partner. The venture firm also promoted Shreyas Garg and IR chief Kelly O'Kane to partners. ivp.com

• Alessandro Verdirrame joined Ares Management as head of Italy for EMEA wealth management. He previously was with Goldman Sachs. axios.link/4lpWH2a

The S&P 500 hit an all-time high on Friday, rising around 5% on the year, but 2025 actually has been kinder to many foreign stock markets, Axios' Madison Mills writes.

• The German DAX is up 20%. The Chinese Hang Seng is up 24%. Toronto is up 7%.