Greetings Pro Private Equity readers! It’s that time of year again. Yes, government shutdown season is upon us and the clock is ticking as government leaders wrangle to secure an agreement before Uncle Sam runs out of money this Saturday. 

Meanwhile, in the private markets world, I have the 411 on the latest investment partnership being forged by Swiss investment firm Edmond de Rothschild Group’s private-equity unit and my CFO Journal colleague Nina Trentmann discusses valuations with SoftBank Vision Fund’s Louis Chuo.

Read on for more...

The private-equity unit of Swiss investment firm Edmond de Rothschild Group is forging yet another partnership around a specialist investment strategy, this time focusing on technology startups in the food and agriculture sectors, Laura Kreutzer reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity is teaming with food technology investor PeakBridge to launch a platform that initially aims to raise up to €250 million, or around $283 million.

SoftBank Group Corp. is investing billions of dollars in startups and later-stage companies around the world. Its Vision Fund holds stakes in about 250 companies. Keeping track of what they are worth is a crucial task for the fund’s managers. Louis Chuo, global head of portfolio valuations, monitoring and financial due diligence, spoke to CFO Journal’s Nina Trentmann about how the fund values its investments.

KKR & Co. is increasing its investment in ReliaQuest LLC, leading an investment that pushed the value of the cybersecurity company to more than $1 billion, according to a news release. Company founder and Chief Executive Brian Murphy, Ten Eleven Ventures and FTV Capital also participated in the investment. KKR was among the investors who put $300 million into the Tampa, Fla.-based company last year. KKR is adding to its backing through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II.

European firm Main Capital Partners is making its first foray into the U.S. by acquiring Sovren Group Inc. and adding the software maker to its Amsterdam-based Textkernel BV portfolio company, according to an emailed news release. Main Capital manages about €2.2 billion, equivalent to $2.49 billion and focuses on investing in software companies. Sovren makes artificial intelligence-based applications for analyzing resumes.

Blackstone Inc. has agreed to buy software-as-a-service company Irth Solutions LLC. The Columbus, Ohio-based company provides network infrastructure monitoring and security applications to the the energy, utility, telecommunications and media industries, according to a news release. Blackstone is investing through its energy partners strategy.

Blockchain security company CertiK Global Ltd. received an $80 million growth investment from backers led by Sequoia Capital, bringing its valuation to nearly $1 billion, according to a news release. Other participants in the series B round included Coatue Management, Tiger Global Management and Hillhouse Capital’s venture arm.

Midmarket firm Transom Capital Group said in an emailed press release that it acquired Wolters Kluwer’s legal and regulatory U.S. legal education business and renamed it Aspen Publishing. The unit publishes casebooks and legal textbooks in print and digital formats.

​​CVC Capital Partners said it is no longer in acquisition talks with Intertrust NV, a Dutch provider of investment-administration services. CVC had offered €18 per share, or about $20.30 a share, valuing the company at about €1.63 billion, and indicated that it planned to combine it with professional services portfolio company TMF Group BV. But last month Intertrust said it had received multiple expressions of interest from prospective rival bidders offering as much as €22 per share. CVC didn’t say why it was no longer in talks with Intertrust, whose shares sank about 7.5% to close Wednesday at €18.88 each in Amsterdam.

Stone Point Capital has backed a majority investment in Businessolver Inc., a West Des Moines, Iowa-based provider of employee benefits administration software and services. Stone Point joins the company’s current private-equity backers Warburg Pincus and JMI Equity.

Blue Prism Group PLC has withdrawn its backing for a buyout offer from Vista Equity Partners in favor of an improved £1.24 billion, equivalent to about ​​$1.65 billion, bid from U.S.-based SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc., a U.K. regulatory filing shows. SS&C is offering 1,275 pence per share for the enterprise automation company. Vista raised its bid to 1,250 pence per share on Nov. 25.

Rockbridge Growth Equity has acquired Marquis Software Solutions Inc. from Falfurrias Capital Partners. The Plano, Texas-based company provides marketing, compliance and other applications to the financial services industry. Falfurrias acquired the company in September 2016, according to its website.

Blue Point Capital Partners has acquired traffic safety products manufacturer Brimar Industries Inc. The Garfield, N.J.-based company mainly does business through online sites according to a news release.

Windjammer Capital is acquiring Paragon Energy Solutions LLC, investing alongside management of the parts supplier to the nuclear power industry, according to an emailed news release. Windjammer is backing the Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company through its $870 million Senior Equity Fund V.

Growth investor Seacoast Capital is buying a minority stake in ​​Lone Star Overnight for $20 million, obtaining preferred shares and subordinated debt in the Austin, Texas-based parcel delivery business, according to a news release.

Atlanta-based private-equity firm Crown Capital Investments said it has acquired Climalock LLC, a Warsaw, Mo.-based company that designs, builds and installs panel systems used to accommodate temperature control.

Los Angeles-based Diversis Capital Management LP said it has acquired Fishbowl, a provider of desktop and online manufacturing and warehouse management software for QuickBooks.

Pittsburgh-based midmarket firm 3 Rivers Capital has acquired a majority stake in Blue Chip Group, a Salt Lake City -based food and beverage company whose brands include Augason Farms, a producer of emergency preparedness food products.

The U.K.’s 3i Group PLC has acquired a majority stake in Puerto Rican waste services business EC Waste LLC from Post Capital Partners, according to a news release. Post Capital first backed the business in 2014, when it was carved out of Waste Management Inc. The company operates four disposal sites in Puerto Rico and plans to build a natural gas collection project at one of them.

Graham Partners Inc. has taken a majority stake in Woodland Foods Ltd., which supplies specialty food ingredients and culinary products.

Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.

A blank-check company backed by investment firms Broadscale Group and Hepco Capital Management has agreed to acquire and take public electricity-market technology company Voltus Inc. in a deal that values the startup at about $1.3 billion, Amrith Ramkumar reports for The Wall Street Journal. The special-purpose acquisition company, called Broadscale Acquisition Corp., also plans to raise $100 million through a private placement with investors that include Equinor Ventures and Twitter Inc. co-founder Ev Williams.

A blank-check company backed by TPG Capital won shareholder approval for its acquisition of vacation-rental services provider Vacasa Holdings LLC and said it expects to close the deal by Monday. Special purpose acquisition company TPG Pace Solutions Corp.’s offer values Portland, Ore.-based Vacasa at about $4.5 billion. The SPAC is backed by TPG Pace Group, the Fort, Worth, Texas-based firm’s permanent capital arm. Vacasa’s backers when the deal was announced in July included Silver Lake, Riverwood Capital, Level Equity Management and NewSpring Capital. Vacasa Inc. shares are expected to begin trading on Tuesday.

Renewable natural-gas producer Opal Fuels LLC is merging with a special-purpose acquisition company to go public with a valuation of roughly $2 billion, the companies said. White Plains, N.Y.,-based Opal produces renewable natural gas, or RNG, by capturing methane from landfills and dairy farms and converting it into an alternative to diesel fuel. It then delivers RNG to trucking customers such as United Parcel Service Inc. and Waste Management Inc. with fuel stations in 42 states. RNG can also be sold to utilities or turned into green hydrogen fuel, Opal says.

HIG Capital has sold Sustana Group to Blackstone Inc.’s tactical opportunities investment unit, roughly seven years after buying the company out of Cascades, Inc. Sustana, of De Pere, Wis., manufactures sustainable recycled fiber, paper and packaging products.

Abry Partners has acquired peer-review rankings publisher Best Lawyers LLC from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, investing alongside management of the Augusta, Ga.-based company, according to emailed news releases. Levine Leichtman had backed the company for about three years, and the sale is returning more than three times the firm's invested capital in the company, a person familar with the deal told WSJ Pro Private Equity's Laura Kreutzer. 

Alok Singh’s Bridge Growth Partners has agreed to sell software-as-a-service provider Finalsite to Veritas Capital. Bridge Growth first backed the educational website software maker in 2016. The Glastonberry, Conn.-based company has about 8,000 client schools in 115 countries.

Tikehau Capital is selling its remaining stake in fellow Parisian private-equity firm Eurazeo SE through a secondary offering of more than 1.7 million shares in the publicly traded firm. The holding represents almost 2.2% of Eurazeo’s share capital, Tikehau said in a news release. The firm sold about 2.1 million Eurazeo shares last month, earlier filings and S&P Global Market Intelligence data indicate. Eurazeo shares were little changed Wednesday, trading at €72.50 each.

Low midmarket firm Brixey & Meyer Capital has sold portfolio company 3 Sigma to Duraco Specialty Tapes, a company backed by OpenGate Capital, according to an emailed press release. 3 Sigma is a Troy, Ohio-based company that provides coating technologies and powerful in-house adhesive formulation capabilities.

Pfingsten Partners has sold commercial safe and file cabinet maker FireKing International LLC to a portfolio company of York Capital Management, according to an emailed news release. New Albany, Ind.-based Fire King customers include retailers and financial institutions.

Keyhaven Capital Partners Ltd, a secondary firm focused on the European lower midmarket, has rounded up the euros equivalent of at least $163.2 million so far for Keyhaven Secondaries Fund III LP, according to a regulatory filing. The firm is seeking €500 million, the equivalent of $567 million for the offering, sister publication Private Equity News previously reported.

NextEnergy Capital in London aims to raise £500 million, or roughly $665 million, for a subsidy-free solar infrastructure fund, with as much as half of the money coming from the U.K. Infrastructure Bank, according to an emailed news release. The commitment marks the U.K. bank’s first private-sector transaction. The capital is expected to back about 30 solar-power installations with a generating capacity of around 1 gigawatt, enough to power about 280,000 average households.

Sturbridge Capital, a secondary firm focused on acquiring interests in funds of funds, secondary funds and tail-end stakes in other private-equity funds, is seeking $300 million for Sturbridge Diversified Private Equity Fund III LP, according to a regulatory filing.

Brighton Park Capital has made a series of promotions, including moving up Monica Romano to partner and chief financial officer, according to a news release. The firm also named Kevin Magan, Sam Kentor and Catherine Wallis as partners and Tim Drager as a principal. It also elevated Andrew Camel to vice president.

Boston-based impact investment firm Arctaris Impact Investors said it has hired Janney Chang Lucki as director of investor relations for the firm. Ms. Lucki previously served as director of client relations at Spring Mountain Capital.

Eurazeo SE has renewed Virginie Morgon’s term as chief executive and chair of the publicly traded firm’s executive board for four more years, according to a news release. Her new term will start in March 2022. She began leading the firm in 2018, expanding its assets under management to €27 billion, or roughly $30.62 billion.

Tikehau Capital has named Vincent Archimbaud as head of wholesale sales for Europe, based in Paris. He joins from Lombard Odier, where he was a director in third party distribution operations.

KKR & Co. has formed an advisory council to provide insight on sustainability topics such as climate change, diversity, social issues and corporate governance. The group is led by Robert Eccles, the founding chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and includes Claudia Zeisberger, founder of the Global Private Equity Initiative, according to a news release.

Big leveraged buyouts are back, and this year’s crop might just be a taste of things to come, Miriam Gottfried writes in The Wall Street Journal. Private-equity firms have announced a record $944.4 billion worth of deals in the U.S. so far this year, including buyouts and exits, 2.5 times the volume in the same period last year and more than double that of the previous peak in 2007, according to Dealogic. Driving many of the deals are the billions of dollars flowing into private-equity coffers as institutions such as pension funds seek higher returns in an era of low interest rates.

Correction
Private-equity firms have announced a record $944.4 billion worth of deals in the U.S. so far this year, including buyouts and exits, according to Dealogic. Monday’s newsletter incorrectly said they had announced $944.4 billion worth of buyouts.

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