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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

US private equity group TPG is nearing a €7bn deal to acquire the German metering company Techem, in a takeover that would rank among the largest such transactions between buyout groups in Europe this year.

TPG may reach an agreement to acquire Techem from Switzerland’s Partners Group for up to €7bn as soon as Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. The timeline might yet slip and no final decision had been taken, they cautioned.

Founded in 1952, Techem now has roughly 60mn devices around the world that offer homeowners and tenants data on their energy and water usage. It has nearly 4,300 employees and generates more than €1bn of total sales, according to its website.

The company is part of a sector that has experienced rising investor appetite as it benefits from the energy transition and consumer shifts towards more sustainable power usage. In the past year, the private equity group KKR acquired the UK’s Smart Metering Systems in a £1.4bn deal.

Private equity groups are also under growing pressure to distribute cash to their backers to compensate for a broader slowdown in initial public offerings and takeovers.

The Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC will invest alongside TPG in the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. TPG will make the investment through its TPG Rise Climate fund, which is directed at sustainability-focused investments.

A sale by Partners Group of Techem to TPG would rank among the largest deals between PE firms in Europe this year. The number of transactions has been depressed by uncertainty caused by market turbulence and current high interest rates.

The group is also is in talks to buy a stake in Europe’s largest second-hand fashion site Vinted at a €5bn valuation, the Financial Times has previously reported.

Partners Group led a consortium to acquire Techem in 2018 in a €4.6bn deal. Techem had previously been delisted by Macquarie immediately before the financial crisis.

Partners Group had $149bn in assets under management at the end of June. TPG has $229bn of assets under management.

Representatives for Partners Group, TPG and GIC declined to comment.

President Biden discussed the federal response to Hurricane Helene during a press conference on Monday, vowed that he would visit some of the most devastated areas – but not yet. 

At the end of the press conference, which was interrupted by his frequent coughs, the president grew defensive when a reporter pressed him on who was in command over the weekend to direct hurricane response. Biden spent the weekend at his beach home in Delaware. 

The heated exchange happened at the White House after Biden concluded his remarks and turned to leave the Roosevelt Room. 

“And the hurricane. Mr. President, why weren’t you and Vice President Harris here in Washington commanding this this weekend?” a reporter yelled as the president exited. 

“I was commanding it,” Biden retorted from the doorway. “I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well. I command it. It’s called a telephone and all my security people.” 

Biden turned again to leave as the reporter began to ask, “Is it not important for the country to see?” The president left, and the door closed mid-question. 

ASHEVILLE RESIDENTS BATTLING ‘APOCALYPTIC’ AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE HELENE AFTER DEADLY FLOODING, LANDSLIDES

At the start of his remarks, Biden assured that he and his team were “in constant contact with governors, mayors and local leaders” regarding Hurricane Helene. 

The president noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell is on the ground in North Carolina and will remain in the Asheville area. Biden recognized reports indicating more than 100 people are dead and about 600 people remain unaccounted for and cannot yet be contacted as a result of the storm. 

“We’re keeping them all in our prayers and all the lives lost and those particular unaccounted for. There’s nothing like wondering is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father alive and many more who remain without electricity – water, food and communications and homes and businesses have washed away in an instant. I want them to know we’re not leaving until the job is done,” Biden said. 

“Also want you to know I’m committed to traveling to the impacted areas as soon as possible, but I’ve been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now,” Biden added. 

NORTH CAROLINA LAWMAKER COMPARES AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE HELENE TO A ‘WARZONE’

He explained that he would visit later in the week. “We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any – any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis. My first responsibility is get all the help needed to those impacted areas,” Biden said. “I expect to be there later this week.” 

“I’m directing my team to provide every, every available resource as fast as possible to your communities to rescue, recover, and to begin rebuilding,” Biden said. 

President Biden coughs as he speaks about the federal response efforts for Hurricane Helene at the White House on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

In addition to FEMA, Biden said he directed the Federal Communications Commission to help establish communications capability, as well as the National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Defense “to provide all the resources at its disposal to rescue and assist in clearing debris and delivering lifesaving supplies.” 

So far, more than 3,600 personnel have been approved so far, the president said. He also approved requests from the governors of Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia and Alabama for an emergency declaration. 

Biden said that as president he’s seen “firsthand the devastating toll that disasters like this take on families and communities” and has heard “dozens of stories from survivors about how it feels to be lefty with nothing.” He urged those in impacted areas to head to the warnings from emergency officials.

An uprooted tree landed on a pickup truck in front of a home on East Main Street after Hurricane Helene on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Glen Alpine, North Carolina.  (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

“Take this seriously. Please be safe. Your nation has your back and the Biden-Harris administration will be there until the job is done,” Biden said. 

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The president also acknowledged three members of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department who were seriously hurt in a crash near the Texas-Louisiana border over the weekend. 

“One of the brave teams that volunteered to be there was from San Diego County Fire Department, set to travel all the way from California to North Carolina to help, but on their way they were in a terrible car accident in Louisiana. We pray for their full recovery. But it was a bad accident,” he said.

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The writer is former chief of MI6 and UK ambassador to the UN

In the past two weeks, Israel has used its huge military advantage, underpinned by AI-enhanced intelligence, to overwhelm Hizbollah. The organisation has lost its top leadership and many of the next generation. Its communications system has been destroyed, as have many of its rocket and missile launch sites. This comes after Hamas’s military capacity has been largely dismantled.

It feels like we are witnessing a substantial shift in the balance of power in the Middle East, in Israel’s favour and at Iran’s expense.

Since Hamas’s brutal October 7 assault a year ago, Iran has been loud on rhetoric but has done little of substance to protect the militias it helped build up. In his UN speech, President Masoud Pezeshkian put the priority on lifting sanctions — a goal diametrically opposed to getting involved on Hizbollah’s behalf. Iran’s vice-president for strategic affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said recently that supporting the Palestinians didn’t mean going to war for them. Iran seems cowed, lacking the will and military capacity to respond and not prepared to risk instability at home as it enters an uncertain leadership transition.

Israel has smelled the weakness in Tehran and is driving home its advantage. No one should feel sorry for Hizbollah — for over 40 years, it has used violence to accumulate power in Lebanon. Those who live by the sword die by the sword.

How will Hizbollah respond now it has been brought to its knees? It still has the much-vaunted precision missiles which could strike at Israeli cities. Iran may be holding Hizbollah back as these were provided as a deterrent against an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. We don’t know if Iran has a dual key over their use. But if Israel starts to destroy the missile arsenal then Hizbollah may face a “use it or lose it” moment.

Widespread Israeli civilian deaths would probably trigger a ground invasion by Israel, which some in Hizbollah might relish — a chance to even the scores in the hostile terrain Israeli forces would have to advance through. For that reason, Benjamin Netanyahu would probably prefer to keep his troops on Israel’s side of the border rather than marching to Beirut’s southern suburbs and to the Bekaa Valley where Hizbollah’s most deadly missiles are probably located. A more limited advance to the Litani River is possible but would leave Israel half in and half out, with no exit strategy.

An alternative path for Hizbollah would be a resort to international terrorism. When well-organised regional groups lose their leadership, a more extreme and violent entity can take their place. Isis emerged after more sophisticated opposition groups in Iraq and Syria were dismantled. Killing seasoned political leaders like Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh is a gamble for Israel but one it seems ready for.

Tough military action against Iranian-backed militias dovetails neatly with Israel’s politics, which lean further and further to the right. Enduring stability for Israel will ultimately only come with a political solution in the region. But the same domestic dynamics that are driving Netanyahu to press home Israel’s advantage make a broader political settlement more distant. The best time to engage in a political process is when you are strong and your enemies are weak. But the make-up of Israel’s ruling coalition makes a political initiative with the divided and badly led Palestinians hard to conceive.

It is usually the Americans who try to midwife political progress in the region. But the Biden administration’s power — never very strong in the Middle East — is wilting. It takes months for a new administration to decide on its priorities, and the approaches of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris would be very different. Meanwhile, the Middle East will remain tense and volatile.

One actor we have heard little from in the past year is Syria. The Syrian regime used to be the arbiter in Lebanon and was willing to kill any Lebanese politician who didn’t bow to diktats from Damascus. The regime is now much weaker after the civil war and Bashar al-Assad is not a patch on his father when it comes to political power plays. But Syria remains relevant as an ally of Iran, Russia and Hizbollah, and a crucial link in Hizbollah’s supply chain.

Although Hizbollah helped the Assad regime survive in 2013-14, Damascus will want to stay aligned with Iran if it can. It also has bitter memories of the 1982 Lebanon war when the Syrian air force intervened only to be destroyed by Israel. With Iran and Syria focused on their own issues, only the distant Houthis seem up for attacking Israel, so far to little effect. This may be the start of the final chapter for the Axis of Resistance.