Explainers
Plain-language explainers
Short pieces that explain one mechanism properly — for a reader who does not already know the field. Nothing is simplified away; every figure is sourced or marked as an estimate. Grouped by the intelligence title they support.
Background for GP & Market News
Private credit and infrastructure: the structures and mechanisms the weekly assumes you know.
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Private credit · 3 September 2026
Why private credit exists, explained
You read weekly that banks are retreating and private credit fills the gap. This piece shows the mechanism — a capital charge set by rule — with the Basel ratios, the 2013 guidance, the 2026 US re-proposal and the fund's own leverage, sourced.
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Private credit · 3 September 2026
Semi-liquid funds, explained
A "semi-liquid" fund's promise is a cap, a queue and a price. This piece compares the four main wrappers, works a gate through with round numbers, and records what the 2026 redemption wave did.
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Infrastructure · 3 September 2026
The data-centre financing stack, explained
One supply chain of money pays for a data centre in four stages, from land and power to a leased, stabilised building. Which channel pays where, why securitisation comes last, and why the chips inside are the risk the chain prices worst.
Background for Japan & Korea Allocator Intelligence
For managers raising from Japanese and Korean institutions: the plumbing that decides what they can buy.
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Japan & Korea allocators · 3 September 2026
Japan and Korea's institutional capital, explained
Japan's ¥300tn public pension and ¥230tn lifers reach funds through trust banks and gatekeepers; Korea's ₩1,866tn NPS and its mutual-aid funds award mandates by open tender and close through local feeders. The map, the decision chains and the calendar, from each institution's own disclosures.
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Japan & Korea allocators · 3 September 2026
The yen hedge, explained
A dollar fund yielding 10% pays a hedged Japanese insurer about 7.6% before fees at today's rate gap. Why the hedge costs the rate gap plus a basis, why a ten-year fund is hard to hedge, and why hedged and unhedged Japanese bids want opposite things.
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Japan & Korea allocators · 3 September 2026
Insurer capital charges, explained
Japanese and Korean insurers read a capital charge before they read a yield. How the ESR and K-ICS build those charges, the buckets side by side, and why look-through, ratings and drawdown structure decide who can hold your fund.
Background for Japan Inbound Capital Intelligence
For foreign investors deploying into Japan: the rules the market runs on.
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Japan inbound · 3 September 2026
The Tokyo Stock Exchange reform, explained
Japan's governance reform is a dated set of instruments from the exchange, METI and the FSA, and the one that changed behaviour was a request enforced by a published list. The arithmetic behind P/B 1, the timeline, and why a large tail of companies faces the request with no investor on the other side.
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Japan inbound · 3 September 2026
Japan's 5% rule, explained
Japan's large shareholding report is the best free feed on who is building positions in Japanese equities, and most foreign readers cannot read it. The rule, the 1 May 2026 changes, and how to separate conviction from noise, with a real filing worked through.
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Japan inbound · 3 September 2026
The Japanese tender offer, explained
Since 1 May 2026 a buyer must launch a tender offer at 30% of a Japanese company's votes, but the squeeze-out that follows needs two-thirds. The offer rules, the special committee, the two squeeze-out routes and the 2026 Kakaku.com contest.
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Japan inbound · 12 September 2026
Who bids for Japanese companies, explained
A small, repeating cast sets the price of most Japanese contests: Oasis, Elliott and the Murakami vehicles from the shareholder side; Bain Capital (Japan), KKR, EQT, Blackstone, Warburg Pincus and Lone Star from the bidder side; domestic sponsors on carve-outs; and, since Makino, government screening. Who they are, how each behaves, and two years of bids with prices.
General
Pieces that stand on their own.
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AI infrastructure · 1 September 2026
Unified memory, explained
Running an AI model is mostly a memory problem, not a thinking-speed problem. What that means for who wins where — with the manufacturers' own numbers, and where the popular story overstates.
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Energy · 31 May 2026
JKM–TTF parity, explained
Two gas benchmarks — one for Asia, one for Europe — used to sit apart, and a whole trading business lived in the gap. The gap has closed. What the two prices are, why they differed, and what convergence takes away.