Park Square Capital and SMBC are setting up a new 3bn direct lending fund which will be a joint venture between the two firms, banking sources said on Thursday. Fundraising is expected to close shortly on the joint venture, which will provide unitranche loans to European mid-market companies, the sources said.

A man rides a horse through a bonfire as part of a ritual in honour of Saint Anthony the Abbot, the patron saint of domestic animals, in San Bartolome de Pinares, about 100 km west of Madrid, Spain, on Monday, Jan. 16, 2017. On the eve of Saint Anthony’s Day, hundreds ride their horses through the narrow cobblestone streets of the small village of San Bartolome during the “Luminarias,” a tradition that dates back 500 years and is meant to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires and protect them for the year to come.

Patrick Zhang, President of Huawei Marketing and Solutions Department, and Vicente Munoz, Telefonica Group s Chief Internet of Things Officer, at MoU signing The two companies have already started their first trials of a NB-IoT solution and are aiming to start to launch commercially in Europe and Latin America during 2017. The MOU marks the beginning of a new phase of comprehensive collaboration for the two companies.