Friday Furnace

Integer's President of Cardiac Rhythm Management & Neuromodulation, Jim Stephens, has been moved to a newly created Executive Vice President of Special Projects role with a fixed end date of March 31, 2027 — and no successor named. The CRM & Neuromodulation segment generated $668.8 million in 2025 revenue, roughly 36% of Integer's total, making it the likely centerpiece of any strategic transaction. Stephens's exit agreement includes explicit change-of-control protections through that same March 2027 deadline, and layers on top of a $451,350 retention bonus awarded six weeks earlier that partially vests only upon a deal closing. Together, the structured departure window and deal-contingent pay stack signal that Integer's internal planning horizon for a potential transaction runs no later than early 2027.

GT Goodyear TIRE & Rubber Co. Management crisis

Goodyear CFO Zamarro Exits Mid-Transformation, Interim Named

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $2.0B · Live $2.0B

Goodyear CFO Christina Zamarro, a 20-year company veteran, is leaving at the end of June to pursue another opportunity, with Scott Deakin — most recently CFO of a building-materials distributor — stepping in on an interim basis at $30,000 per week. The departure lands at a sensitive moment: Goodyear is mid-transformation, executing an EMEA restructuring, and actively managing a debt maturity wall it just partially addressed with a $1.05 billion high-yield raise at 8.875%. This is the second major leadership exit in under a year to produce an interim rather than a permanent appointment, following the Americas unit president's departure in August 2025. Goodyear's underlying financials have improved — Q4 2025 segment operating income was the highest in seven-plus years and 2025 operating cash flow turned positive — but the interim CFO will own investor and lender relations through an unfinished credit cycle without direct experience in public industrial manufacturing.

CTGO Contango Silver & Gold, Inc. Post Merger Transition

Contango Drops Freshly Ratified Auditor Six Days After Shareholder Vote

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $484M · Live $484M

Contango's Audit Committee dismissed Baker Tilly US, LLP just six days after shareholders ratified the firm by a 99.76% vote, replacing it with BDO Canada LLP for fiscal year 2026. The company disclosed no disagreements with Baker Tilly and Baker Tilly's own SEC letter corroborates a clean separation. The most plausible driver is Contango's expanding Canadian footprint — the Dolly Varden merger, the Kitsault Valley project in British Columbia, and a TSX listing effective April 2026 — though the company offered no public explanation for the switch. Shareholders who voted affirmatively on June 18 were effectively endorsing an auditor the board replaced within the week, a governance sequencing gap the proxy materials gave no indication was coming.

CAPR Capricor Therapeutics, Inc. Regulatory Inflection

FDA Schedules Advisory Panel on Capricor's DMD Cell Therapy BLA

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $1.5B · Live $1.5B

The FDA has scheduled an advisory committee meeting for July 29, 2026, to review Capricor's BLA for Deramiocel in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, ahead of an August 22 PDUFA date. The convening of the panel — not flagged at resubmission acceptance — signals the agency wants independent expert input on a therapy it previously rejected via Complete Response Letter for failing to meet the substantial evidence of effectiveness standard. The Phase 3 HOPE-3 trial met its primary and key cardiac endpoints, but the p-values (0.03 and 0.04) sit at the lower bound of statistical significance, and the committee's advisory vote will be a closely watched indicator of the FDA's direction. Even a favorable outcome leaves Capricor without a functioning U.S. distribution arrangement — its sole partner is the subject of active rescission litigation — forcing the company to build commercial infrastructure for a complex cell therapy from scratch before any potential launch.

HNRG Hallador Energy Co. Pre Acquisition Financing

Hallador Loosens Credit Covenants to Accommodate $350 Million Turbine Deal

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $826M · Live $826M

Hallador Energy amended its Texas Capital Bank credit agreement — only three and a half months old — to loosen financial maintenance covenants across the board, explicitly tying the changes to its $350 million deal to acquire Siemens turbine equipment from Energy World Corporation. The total leverage ratio ceiling was raised to 4.25x for all quarters from June 30, 2026 onward, up from a range of 3.00–3.25x under the original terms, while the near-term senior secured leverage ceiling rose by 100 basis points. The move creates drawing room on the facility's $75 million revolving tranche while Hallador pursues project-level and structured financing for the turbine acquisition — financing that remains uncommitted. The urgency is underscored by a Q1 2026 EBITDA of just $5.5 million, a base against which even the pre-amendment ceilings would have been difficult to sustain once material debt is drawn.

GME Gamestop, Corp. Strategic Pivot

GameStop Issues >$600M Adjusted EBITDA Guidance as eBay Bid Advances

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $9.8B · Live $9.8B

GameStop issued adjusted EBITDA guidance above $600 million for fiscal year 2027, nearly double the $345.4 million reported in fiscal 2025, with Q1's $163.4 million run rate suggesting the target is achievable without relying on holiday-quarter strength. The metric is deliberately narrow: it strips out interest income, Bitcoin gains and losses, and eBay derivative mark-to-market movements — items that inflated Q1 GAAP net income to $389.6 million but are excluded from the operating picture management wants investors to track. The underlying drivers are real: collectibles grew to 41.8% of revenue, gross margin expanded from 34.5% to 40.7%, and SG&A fell by $26.5 million year-over-year. The guidance lands as GameStop carries $4.17 billion in zero-coupon convertible debt and pursues a non-binding eBay acquisition that would consume a significant portion of its $9.7 billion liquidity base — questions the operating forecast does not address.

CHRN Chronoscale, Corp. Distressed

Applied Digital Opens $100M On-Demand Credit Line to Controlled Unit ChronoScale

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $3.2B · Live $3.2B

Applied Digital has opened a $100 million unsecured credit line to ChronoScale, a unit it controls, through a Demand Grid Promissory Note carrying no maturity date and no notice requirement before repayment can be called. Applied Digital can demand the full outstanding balance back at any moment — an unusual feature at this scale that creates acute liquidity risk if ChronoScale draws heavily and Applied Digital's own priorities shift. The governance picture compounds the concern: four of ChronoScale's seven board members, including its chairman and Applied Digital's CEO Wes Cummins, simultaneously sit on Applied Digital's board, making true arm's-length oversight difficult despite Related Party Committee approval. Nothing has been borrowed yet, and the facility remains a standby option, but ChronoScale's audited financials through December 2025 already carried going-concern language — meaning the company enters this arrangement without a strong independent liquidity cushion.

HUBG Hub Group, Inc. Management crisis

Hub Group Sets CFO Separation Pay as Dual Restatements Continue

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $2.7B · Live $2.7B

Hub Group disclosed the separation terms for former CFO Kevin Beth, who departed May 27, 2026 alongside COO Brian Meents in what the board explicitly described as corrective leadership action tied to its ongoing restatement review. Beth receives $45,688 per month during a six-month advisory transition, with unvested restricted stock continuing to vest, followed by a lump-sum severance equal to three months' base salary contingent on signing a release. The departures coincide with two overlapping restatements: a 2025 quarterly restatement tied to a discrete vendor payment recording error, and a broader 2023–2024 restatement involving revenue recognized prematurely, incorrectly, or without adequate support — a more serious accounting concern. No COO replacement has been named, and the CFO seat remains filled on an interim basis, leaving Hub Group's senior finance and operations leadership in flux while the restatement process continues.

FUL Fuller H B Co. Leveraged Acquisition

H.B. Fuller Acquires UK Medical Firm AMS for £715 Million

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $3.4B · Live $3.4B

H.B. Fuller agreed to acquire UK-listed Advanced Medical Solutions Group for £715 million (285 pence per share), funded entirely through two Goldman Sachs bridge credit facilities totaling roughly $3 billion that carry escalating interest margins every 90 days, creating strong pressure to refinance quickly. The deal adds approximately $300 million in annual revenues and targets $55 million in run-rate synergies by 2031, with AMS's surgical adhesives, wound dressings, and biosurgicals expected to lift H.B. Fuller's margins toward its stated 20%-plus EBITDA goal. The acquisition will push net leverage meaningfully above the current 3.1x, and management has committed to returning to its 2.5x–3x target within two years of closing through synergy capture, organic growth, and cash generation. Whether an integration playbook built on smaller bolt-ons translates to a £715 million cross-border deal in regulated medical device markets is the central question to watch.

UUUU Energy FUELS, Inc. Strategic Expansion

Energy Fuels to Pay $718 Million Cash for Vacuumschmelze in Landmark Pivot

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $3.7B · Live $3.7B

Energy Fuels agreed to acquire Vacuumschmelze, a German high-performance magnetic materials manufacturer, for $718 million in cash plus roughly 65.9 million shares and up to $135 million in potential preferred shares — the largest deal in the company's history. The cash component will be funded from existing reserves, including the $700 million in convertible notes raised in October 2025 for White Mesa and Australian project spending, plus a new $250 million Goldman Sachs term loan with no financing condition. The acquisition lands while the ASM deal remains unclosed, stacking two simultaneous cross-border transactions and adding a German industrial manufacturer to a portfolio built around uranium mining and rare earth processing. The seller retains a board nomination right and a one-time veto over an independent director nominee for as long as the Ara parties hold at least 7.5% of outstanding shares, with 65.9 million shares subject to a graduated twelve-month lock-up.

ULH Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. Family Controlled Related Party

Universal Logistics Sells Property to Moroun Family Entity for $38 Million

At edition (Jun 26, 2026) $403M · Live $403M

Universal Logistics sold a New Jersey facility to an entity affiliated with Chairman Matthew T. Moroun and director Matthew J. Moroun for $38 million in cash plus the transfer of a second Newark property — with both agreements signed and closed on the same day. The deal was approved by disinterested board members and the Audit Committee, but no independent valuation or fairness opinion was disclosed, leaving investors unable to assess whether the combined consideration was fair for the Kearny asset conveyed. The timing is notable: the company's new CFO was 23 days into his role at closing, and a recently disclosed material weakness had specifically flagged deficiencies in controls over complex accounting transactions — a description that fits a related-party real estate swap. For a company carrying over $750 million in debt, less than $18 million in cash, and a swing from $4.94 earnings per share in 2024 to a $3.79 loss in 2025, the terms on which real assets move to affiliated parties carry significant weight for minority shareholders.