|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Peak Rock to Acquire Unit of UL Solutions | Blue Owl Stock Slides as Firm Lifts Gate on BDC
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Happy Friday! As we head into the weekend, Isaac Taylor has the scoop on Peak Rock Capital’s latest corporate carveout, this time from publicly traded UL Solutions.
Meanwhile, all eyes have been on listed BDCs lately as fears over private-credit values and the impact of artificial intelligence on software companies have roiled markets in the past couple of weeks. Yesterday’s move by Blue Owl Capital to sell $1.4 billion of assets to pay out individual investors in some of its funds and shift the policy toward quarterly redemptions in one of its BDCs sent the firm’s shares plunging, as concerns about private credit among retail investors continue to grow, Matt Wirz reports for the Journal.
There’s all this and more to unpack, so dive in…
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Executives of UL Solutions and the New York Stock Exchange celebrate the company’s listing. Photo: NYSE
|
|
|
|
|
|
Peak Rock Capital is acquiring the employee health and safety software business of UL Solutions, a safety science company that evolved from certification provider Underwriters Laboratories, WSJ Pro’s Isaac Taylor reports. The transaction value exceeds $200 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. The group being carved out supplies software that provides customers with training programs focused on employee health and safety, occupational health management and workplace safety.
|
|
|
Wall Street has been eagerly selling private credit as a hot opportunity for individual investors. That sales pitch just got tougher. As The Wall Street Journal’s Matt Wirz writes, Blue Owl Capital, a poster child for the industry, said it is liquidating $1.4 billion in assets to raise money to pay out individuals who bought into some of its funds in their heyday but now want to get out. The firm hoped the sale would shore up wobbling investor confidence. Instead, the opposite happened. Stocks across the private-fund industry slid as the deal raised questions about how much fund managers can count on individuals to stay invested in hard-to-sell assets for the long
term.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$104.3 Billion
|
|
The value of private equity-backed M&A deals in the U.S. this year through Thursday, more than double the level reached during the same period last year, according to London Stock Exchange Group data
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shares in Nestlé rose Thursday. Denis Balibouse/Reuters
|
|
|
|
|
|
A joint venture with PAI Partners is in line to acquire the remaining ice cream operations of consumer products giant Nestlé, which is pulling back from a number of product areas to focus on four categories, the Journal reports. The Froneri business set up with the private-equity firm in 2016 already holds a 50% stake in Nestlé's ice cream operations, including Häagen-Dazs.
|
|
|
Stone Point Capital is investing in U.K. wealth adviser Amber River, beating out rivals that reportedly included Bain Capital. The London-based advisory firm also backed by Penta Capital oversees around £13.6 billion, or $18.3 billion, and has more than 330 professional staff.
|
|
|
Palisade Infrastructure is making a strategic investment in MicroGrid Networks, a New York-based developer, owner and operator of battery energy storage systems. Palisade is investing in the company alongside SER Capital Partners, which has backed MicroGrid since 2020 and is retaining a majority stake in the company.
|
|
|
Insight Partners led an $80 million growth investment in software company Jump, joined by others including F-Prime Capital and Peterson Partners. The Salt Lake City-based company operated by Accio provides specialized applications developed with artificial-intelligence technology for use by financial advisers.
|
|
|
Private investment firm Ariel Alternatives has acquired Front Line Power Construction, a provider of electrical construction and power infrastructure services. Cherokee Nation Businesses will serve as a minority co-investor in the deal, which is Ariel’s second investment in the energy and utility services sector in the past six months.
|
|
|
OceanSound Partners has acquired Automated Financial Systems, a provider of commercial loan servicing and loan lifecycle management technology for the financial services industry. Edward Jenkins, former chief operating officer at supply-chain risk-management software company Veriforce, has joined Automated Financial as the company’s chief executive.
|
|
|
Midmarket buyout firm HKW Management in Carmel, Ind., has acquired industrial equipment maker Handling Systems and Conveyors, based in Mabelvale, Ark., and with operations in Texas and Alabama.
|
|
|
Growth investment firm Bregal Sagemount has backed Harbor Compliance, a Lancaster, Pa.-based provider of compliance software and services for nonprofit and midmarket companies.
|
|
|
Colorado-based independent sponsor Spur Ridge Capital is backing spinal implant and technology distributor Axis Medical in Denver. The investment is expected to support the company's expansion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advent International is selling the Prisma payments processing business and cash-access infrastructure provider Newpay, both units of Group Prisma in Argentina, to strategic buyer Visa. The deal leaves the parent with its third main operating unit, Payway, a merchant acquiring business. Boston-based Advent first backed Prisma in 2019.
|
|
|
|
|
Midmarket-focused buyout firm HGGC in Palo Alto, Calif., has wrapped up HGGC Fund V at $3.2 billion, above the fund’s $2.5 billion target and its original $2.8 billion upper limit. One investor that disclosed a commitment to the fund is the Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association, which pledged $15 million. The fund had backed at least four portfolio companies prior to its final close: compensation services provider Equity Methods, benefits-management services company Sterling Brokers, U.K. energy and sustainability consultant Inspired and alternative-asset and corporate services provider Centralis Group.
|
|
|
Recently formed Palm Peak Capital in Boca Raton, Fla., has raised $374 million in committed capital for its debut investment pool, Palm Peak Capital Fund I, reaching the firm's upper limit for the vehicle. Formed in 2024 by Steve Liff, Daniel Florian and Jeremy Stone, Palm Peak focuses on lower midmarket companies and has so far backed manufacturer Pacific Shoring Products and electronics manufacturing equipment supplier Domaille Engineering from the new fund.
|
|
|
Star Mountain Capital has closed on $286 million for its second Small Business Investment Co. fund, SBIC Fund II, to invest alongside other Star Mountain vehicles. The firm makes both debt and equity commitments through the U.S. Small Business Administration.
|
|
|
Ares Management has priced its second Europe-focused collateralized loan obligation at more than €300 million, or $353.5 million. The credit-focused firm's Ares European Direct Lending CLO II is comprised of direct loans to over 70 midmarket companies mainly located in Western Europe.
|
|
|
|
|
Lead Edge Capital has promoted Zach Ullman to partner at the growth investment firm, where he now co-leads the firm’s special-situations team, according to a post on the firm’s LinkedIn account. Ullman joined Lead Edge in 2017.
|
|
|
|
|
Corsair Capital in New York is suing CapStreet Group in Houston over a deal in which Corsair acquired a majority stake in CapStreet-backed restaurant software provider HungerRush. Corsair alleges in a Delaware court filing that CapStreet and certain former top company executives misrepresented certain financial controls, product and client information before the transaction closed in June 2022. CapStreet remained a minority investor in the Houston-based business after Corsair took over. Corsair said its efforts to place adequate controls on the company's accounting, fixing its software and replacing most of the management
came at a significant cost. A CapStreet representative said that “the allegations made [in the lawsuit] are meritless, and we will vigorously defend our firm against this lawsuit.”
|
|
|
Apollo Global Management has sent out a letter to fund investors to assure them that recently released documents from the Justice Department's inquiries into the activities of Jeffrey Epstein didn't contain any information that wasn't previously turned up by the New York firm's own review. "Neither Marc Rowan nor anyone else at Apollo (excluding Leon Black) had either a business or personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," Apollo said in the publicly released letter. Co-founder Black, who left the firm in 2021, had retained Epstein as a tax adviser, and Rowan and other Apollo employees
provided him with information related to that work, Apollo said. "While Mr. Epstein sought to do work with the Apollo co-founders other than Mr. Black, it was declined at every turn."
|
|
|
Private-equity firms worldwide raised $208 billion for infrastructure funds last year, an annual record and roughly 59% more than 2024, according to Preqin. North America-focused funds accounted for about 52%, or $110 billion, of last year's total, up from 19% in 2024, while those targeting Europe raised $86 billion, or 41% of the total, the research provider said in a report.
|
|
|
Tikehau Capital in Paris deployed some €7.6 billion, or $8.9 billion, during the year ending Dec. 31, 2025, a 35% increase over the prior year, according to the listed firm’s latest annual results. Tikehau ended 2025 with €52.8 billion, a roughly 8% increase over 2024 levels.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|