Mergers & Acquisitions looks at the impact of the coronavirus on middle-market M&A. TurboTax maker Intuit is reportedly close to buying Credit Karma. Ghost kitchens attract investors.

Private equity firms Bain Capital and Boyu Capital are among bidders for SML Group, a closely held garment label maker for fashion brands and retailers.

The purchase will push the maker of TurboTax deeper into the consumer finance space.

The coronavirus has emerged as a dominant theme in earnings calls for public companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, Hasbro, Walmart and XPO. What about the middle market? Dealmakers from Riverside and Paul Hastings weigh in

Piper Sandler buys chemicals-focused investment bank the Valence Group. Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade acquisition could trigger a wave of financial services deals. Mergers & Acquisitions examines trends driving Manufacturing M&A.

Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade deal is being interpreted by analysts, investors and investment bankers as just the start of a long-predicted series of deals big enough to reshape the upper echelons of the U.S. financial industry.

Morgan Stanley buys E*Trade, as the retail brokerage sector consolidates. Sycamore picks up stake in Victoria’s Secret. New Forever 21 owners plan to keep stores afloat. PE News from TA and Thompson Street.

Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy in September after struggling with large, expensive locations and losses in some international markets, while suffering from the same online competition that has forced U.S. retailers to close thousands of stores in recent years.

L Brands Inc. agreed to sell a controlling stake in its Victoria’s Secret brand to private equity firm Sycamore Partners in a deal that values the lingerie brand at $1.1 billion.

The retail-brokerage industry is being reshaped by price wars and consolidation.

Lower mid-market PE firm Align raises second fund. LendingClub buys online bank. Dell divests cybersecurity unit. Blue Apron considers a sale of the company. Mergers & Acquisitions takes a look at 5 trends driving manufacturing M&A.

The tech giant has sought to simplify its sprawling empire of hardware, software and security businesses that operate under the Dell Technologies banner, seeking to keep up with changing industry trends and to pay down debt.

CardWorks also specializes in non-prime credit cards and loans for recreational and marine vehicles.

Franklin Resources buys Legg Mason to compete against low cost index funds. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos forms climate change fund. Pier 1 goes bankrupt. 1-800 Flowers picks up PersonalizationMall.com from Bed Bath & Beyond. Lower mid-market PE firm raises fifth fund.

Bezos, the world’s richest person, is under pressure to balance Amazon’s need to deliver goods quickly with the environmental consequences of the rapid growth of online shopping.

Pier 1’s shoppers have been defecting to e-commerce players like Wayfair Inc., as well as conventional giants like Walmart Inc. that have expanded in the category.

In an era when traditional stock-pickers are under intensifying pressure, Franklin agreed to buy Legg Mason to create a firm with a combined $1.5 trillion in assets.

Odyssey closes sixth fund. Mergers & Acquisitions examines trends driving manufacturing M&A. Google’s Waze acquisition comes under FTC scrutiny. TA, Platinum, make deals.

Tesla is no longer a tiny niche player that makes cool-but-expensive cars only in high-cost California, but getting to this point required taking on about $12.5 billion of debt, double the amount of cash and equivalents it had at year end.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission just ordered major technology companies to fork over details on waves of small acquisitions made during the last decade.