The owners of Kaefer are exploring a sale of the German industrial services company, which could be valued at up more than €2 billion ($2.3 billion), people familiar with the matter said. Industrial plant builder SMS Group GmbH and buyout firm Altor Equity Partners are working with Deutsche Bank AG on a potential disposal of their joint 50% holding in Kaefer, according to the people. Kaefer genera...
The owners of Kaefer are exploring a sale of the German industrial services company, which could be valued at up more than €2 billion ($2.3 billion), people familiar with the matter said. Industrial plant builder SMS Group GmbH and buyout firm Altor Equity Partners are working with Deutsche Bank AG on a potential disposal of their joint 50% holding in Kaefer, according to the people. Kaefer generates about €250 million in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to the people. The business has attracted interest from private equity firms, they said. Deliberations are in the early stages and there’s no certainty that any of the owners will proceed with a transaction, the people said. Representatives for Altor, Deutsche Bank, Kaefer and SMS declined to comment. With around 35,000 employees, Bremen-based Kaefer provides technical industrial services such as insulation, scaffolding and surface protection to sectors including oil and gas, shipbuilding and mining. Kaefer’s founding Koch family sold half of the company to Altor and SMS in 2021, saying at the time that the partnership would help Kaefer to focus on sustainable areas such as energy transition and decarbonization. Private equity firms are showing increased appetite for industrials assets as they seek safe havens from the volatility around software , a popular sector now under threat from artificial intelligence.
Johannesburg’s benchmark stock index is heading for its worst month in almost two decades, reeling from a double hit as the Iran war saps demand for emerging-market assets while plunging precious-metal prices weigh on the country’s miners. The FTSE/JSE All Share Index was down 13% in the month through March 27 at the close on Friday, the most since the height of the global financial crisis in Sept...
Johannesburg’s benchmark stock index is heading for its worst month in almost two decades, reeling from a double hit as the Iran war saps demand for emerging-market assets while plunging precious-metal prices weigh on the country’s miners. The FTSE/JSE All Share Index was down 13% in the month through March 27 at the close on Friday, the most since the height of the global financial crisis in September 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s a sharp turnaround after the gauge logged 12 straight monthly gains through February, the longest streak on record. The precious metals and mining sector, which accounts for a quarter of the index’s weighting, has tumbled 27% since the start of the Middle East conflict, wiping out this year’s gains as gold and platinum prices slumped. That came amid a broad selloff of emerging-market stocks as investors fret that the spike in oil prices will fuel inflation, forcing central banks to raise interest rates. “Profit-taking in precious metals counters on de-risking has amplified the hit on South African equities,” SBG Securities analysts Deanne Gordon and Adele Fermoyle wrote in a note. South African stocks had been one of the big winners of the past year, jumping 43% in in the 12 months through February in a rally helped by a meteoric surge in gold prices and signs of cooler inflation. But with oil prices topping $100 a barrel and the war in the Middle East putting a chill on investor sentiment, investors have quickly unwound those bullish bets. The losses now mean South African stocks rank among the worst in the world, with only Dubai, Indonesia and Korea falling more since the start of the war. It’s not only miners that have plunged. Construction and materials, retailers and banks are among sectors that have fallen more than 10% this month. Some investors remain positive on South African stocks, seeing this months’ decline as an opportunity to add exposure. SBG Securities in March reiterating its overweight view on So...
MIT 与卡内基梅隆大学研究团队提出的蛋白质生成智能体模型 VibeGen，通过将序列生成与振动动力学预测相结合，实现了从头蛋白质设计。研究结果表明，该生成式智能体所设计的蛋白质，不仅能够折叠为稳定且新颖的结构，还可在主链层面上重现目标振动振幅的分布特征。 蛋白质是生命体系中核心的功能分子，但其功能并非由静态结构单独决定，而源于持续变化的构象动态。在复杂能量景观的框架下，蛋白质在生理条件下于飞秒至...
MIT 与卡内基梅隆大学研究团队提出的蛋白质生成智能体模型 VibeGen，通过将序列生成与振动动力学预测相结合，实现了从头蛋白质设计。研究结果表明，该生成式智能体所设计的蛋白质，不仅能够折叠为稳定且新颖的结构，还可在主链层面上重现目标振动振幅的分布特征。 蛋白质是生命体系中核心的功能分子，但其功能并非由静态结构单独决定，而源于持续变化的构象动态。在复杂能量景观的框架下，蛋白质在生理条件下于飞秒至毫秒的多尺度运动中维持动态平衡，使之成为真正的分子机器。 正因如此，蛋白质动力学异常与多种疾病密切相关。例如，肿瘤抑制蛋白 p53 依赖构象可塑性发挥作用，致癌突变会削弱这一能力；CFTR 突变则通过扰乱门控动力学引发囊性纤维化。这些事实表明， 蛋白质的「运动」本身就是功能的重要决定因素。 因此，从动力学出发理解并设计蛋白质，正成为结构生物学与生物工程的前沿方向。 过去几十年中，研究者发展了核磁共振、氢氘交换质谱、冷冻电镜等实验手段，以及分子动力学模拟、简正振动模（vibrational normal modes）分析等计算方法来刻画蛋白质动态。但这些方法要么流程复杂、难以规模化，要么计算成本高、时间尺度受限，难以支撑大规模研究。 近年来，深度学习与生成式 AI 为蛋白质研究带来新的可能。以 AlphaFold2 为代表的模型已实现高精度结构预测，也有方法可预测二级结构、结合位点乃至振动特征。然而， 现有方法大多仍停留在「结构或单一属性」层面，缺乏对本征动力学的系统建模。 在设计领域，RFdiffusion、AlphaFold3 等框架仍将结构视为近似刚体，尚未真正引入动力学约束。因此，如何建立「序列-结构-动力学-功能」的统一映射，并实现基于动力学的可控设计，仍是核心难题。 近期， MIT 与卡内基梅隆大学的联合研究团队提出了蛋白质生成智能体 VibeGen， 通过将序列生成与振动动力学预测相结合，实现了从头蛋白质设计。研究结果表明，该生成式智能体所设计的蛋白质不仅能够折叠为稳定且新颖的结构，还可在主链层面上重现目标振动振幅的分布特征。 相关研究成果以「VibeGen: Agentic end-to-end de novo protein design for tailored dynamics using a language diffusion model」为题，已发...