European stock markets closed mixed in Friday trading with the Stoxx600 fractionally higher, Germany's DAX decreasing 0.2%, the FTSE 100 adding 0.2%, and France's CAC roughly unchanged.

In economic news, France's consumer price index, or CPI, in June rose 1.8% on year, down from the 2.4% on-year increase logged in May, INSEE reported.

Separately, Germany's CPI in June gained 2.3% on year, down from 2.6% on year in May, Destatis reported.

In corporate news, Apollo Global Management launched a $7.65 billion bid for London-based airline EasyJet on Friday, modestly outbidding rival financial house Castlelake, Reuters and Bloomberg reported. Given that Apollo Global's buyout bid is about 3.6% higher than Castlelake's existing offer, the EasyJet board said it no longer recommended accepting Castlelake's bid, which it had agreed in principle earlier this week. EasyJet shares surged past 14% in London.

Separately, Apollo has agreed to invest 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) for a minority stake in a newly established entity holding Bayer's long-acting reversible contraceptives business, the companies said Friday. Under the deal, Bayer will retain a majority stake and full operational control. Bayer shares were down 1.1% in Frankfurt.

Vodafone shares jumped past 12% in London after e& Group said it has agreed to to sell its entire stake in Vodafone to Vega, an acquisition vehicle wholly owned by the Niel family group, for $5.95 billion.

HSBC is marketing distressed commercial property loans held by its Hong Kong subsidiary Hang Seng Bank as part of its overhaul of the business following its take-private earlier this year, the Financial Times reported. Hang Seng held about $3.5 billion, or more than half, of HSBC's $6.3 billion in stage-three commercial property loans in Hong Kong at the end of 2025, the report said. HSBC shares rose 1% in London.

UBS played a key role in fueling withdrawals from Blue Owl's Technology Income fund after it advised clients to pare down their private credit holdings, the Financial Times reported. Investors began pulling large sums of money from the fund in Q4 2025 just after the Swiss banks told clients with large private credit holdings to reduce their positions, the report said. UBS shares added 0.4% in Switzerland.