| Morning all, Craig McGlashan here with the Europe Wire from the London newsroom. Things are moving quickly out there. As I write, the US government has postponed planned tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, went ahead with levies on Chinese products (China has since retaliated with tariffs of its own) and we’ve yet to see whether the EU or UK will be hit with anything. Would love to get readers’ thoughts on all this – drop me a note at craig.m@pei.group if you’d like to chat. In the meantime, we’re looking at a different area of potential government action that could impact dealmaking – foreign direct investment regulation. Dechert’s Chris Field shares his thoughts with PE Hub on the subject, while we take a brief look at Bain & Company’s freshly released M&A report. Deals-wise, we’ve got HIG Capital buying into a machine tool manufacturer in Germany and IK Partners taking a majority stake in a provider of environmental compliance services in the UK. Uncertainty Bain & Company is “optimistic” for the year ahead in M&A, according to its latest M&A report, released this morning. One reason for the optimism is how “companies have pursued M&A despite three years of headwinds, including high interest rates and regulatory scrutiny.” It’s regulatory scrutiny we’re focusing on this morning. While many M&A players expect the current US administration to take a softer line on antitrust issues than its predecessor, the same might not be true for another area of regulation, Chris Field, co-head of international law firm Dechert’s private equity practice and its corporate group in London, told me. Find out where the obstacles could be in the premium version of the Wire. Tooling up HIG Capital is the latest private equity firm to buy into a long-established family business, after it announced an investment in the Heller Group, a machine tool manufacturer in Germany. Read more about the deal in the premium version of the Wire. Consolidation play IK Partners is taking a majority stake in HSL Compliance, a provider of environmental compliance services in the UK, with a plan to further consolidate the sector. Find out details including HSL's growth over the last few years in the premium version of the Wire. Right, that’s it from me today. Obey Martin Manayiti is on US Wire duty later today and I’ll be back in the Europe chair tomorrow. Cheers, Craig Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ... | 