Good morning. Progress in vaccinating Americans against Covid-19 is creeping along. Our colleagues Katie Deighton and Ann-Marie Alcántara report that while more than 25.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S., only 8.9 million shots have been delivered into arms. It’s too bad there aren’t some private-equity firms being rallied to the effort to make it more efficient.

As for industry news, today we have details on a blank-check deal involving a special purpose acquisition vehicle set up by ArcLight Capital, as our Luis Garcia and I report. The SPAC’s shares more than doubled on news it would combine with an electric vehicle maker. Also, our colleague Yuliya Chernova reports on an investment in another hot sector, where lending company Blend Labs Inc. saw its valuation double in just six months as firms clamor for the chance to invest in fintech businesses. Those stories and much more await below, so please read on...

A blank-check company backed by energy investment firm ArcLight Capital Partners agreed to acquire and take public electric vehicle company Proterra Inc. in a deal that gives it an enterprise value of about $1.6 billion, Ted Bunker and Luis Garcia write for WSJ Pro Private Equity. Shares of ArcLight Clean Transition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition company, more than doubled Tuesday on the news. The SPAC will use $278 million raised through an initial public offering in September as well as $415 million being raised in a private investment in public securities transaction to help finance the deal, regulatory filings show. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year.

Blend Labs Inc., a provider of mortgage and other consumer-lending software to financial institutions, nearly doubled its valuation to $3.3 billion within six months, another example of a fast-moving late-stage fintech deal, Yuliya Chernova writes for WSJ Pro Venture Capital. Coatue Management and Tiger Global Management, which are some of the most active tech investors participating in both public and private markets, supplied all of the $300 million in the Series G financing, according to Nima Ghamsari, chief executive and founder of San Francisco-based Blend. The round comes on the heels of a Series F financing in July when Blend was valued at $1.7 billion.

Ares Management Corp. is backing newly formed Vmo Aircraft Leasing LP, contributing to $500 million initial equity capital commitments that includes pledges from company management. The San Francisco-based company, which intends to acquire and lease a fleet of fuel-efficient planes, is led by industry veterans, including Bob Brown as chief executive. He is also CEO of Vx Capital Partners and is a former aircraft finance executive with Pegasus Aviation.

Tiger Global Management led a $450 million investment in U.K. payments company Checkout.com Group in a Series C round that values the business at about $15 billion, according to a news release. New investor Greenoaks Capital participated in the round, alongside existing Checkout backers Insight Partners, DST Global, Coatue Management, Blossom Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, and GIC, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund manager. The deal follows a Series B round that valued the London-based company at $5.5 billion barely six months ago. It was led by Coatue.

KKR & Co. has acquired an industrial distribution facility in the Phoenix area, adding the fulfillment center to its warehouse portfolio that holds properties totaling about 32 million square feet of space across the U.S. The 263,000 square foot warehouse in Goodyear, Ariz., was erected in 2019 and is fully leased to a long-term tenant.

Wafra Inc.-managed Capital Constellation is backing health-care specialist Avista Capital Partners, a health-care focused private-equity firm in New York. The deal gives Constellation, a group of institutional investors from the U.S. and abroad, a minority stake in Avista while delivering a fresh source of investment capital to the firm, according to a news release.

TPG’s impact investing arm, Rise Fund, has acquired a majority stake in natural-gas and renewable credit marketer Element Markets LLC. The Houston-based company trades in low carbon fuel standard credits, cellulosic renewable identification numbers and emission and carbon credits as well as natural gas derived from biomass, or biomethane.

Stella Point Capital is backing health-care and education marketing company Velir Inc. The Somerville, Mass.-based company provides strategic consulting, digital marketing, design and creative services to more than 60 nonprofit organizations and corporations. The New York firm’s investment is expected to accelerate the company’s expansion.

Insight Partners led a $31.5 million investment in engineering management company Orthogonal Networks Inc., which does business as Jellyfish. The Boston-based company, which makes cloud-based software used to manage engineering projects and workflows at companies such as Skillsoft and ZoomInfo, said revenue roughly quintupled last year. Other participants in the Series B round included existing investors Accel and Wing Venture Capital.

Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital led a $40 million investment in business software company airSlate inc. Brookline, Mass.-based airSlate provides software-as-a-service that can help companies automate business processes and have been used by clients in the biotechnology, health-care, education and insurance sectors. Other backers of the company include General Catalyst and HighSage Ventures.

SFW Capital Partners has invested in Caron Products and Services Inc., a laboratory equipment provider whose products are used in small and large molecule drug development and manufacturing, gene and cell therapy, and in academic research. The firm—which invests in instrumentation, laboratory products and software and information businesses—partnered with Caron’s chief executive Steve Keiser and vice president Dave Figel, who will be significant shareholders and maintain their positions at the helm of the business.

Audax Private Equity and Linden Capital Partners have acquired StatLab Medical Products, whose reagents and equipment are used by anatomic pathology, molecular diagnostics and other laboratories. The McKinney, Texas-based company produces and distributes more than 5,000 products, including consumables and hardware.

Trilantic North America has invested in Orva, an e-commerce company specializing in sales of footwear, accessories, home products and apparel from consumer brands. The new investment is a partnership with Orva’s founding family, which will maintain a stake in the company and run the business.

Lower middle market-focused WM Partners has acquired matcha green tea distributor Jade Leaf LLC in Seattle. The company is known for stitching together a network of family-run tea farms in Japan to source its supplies, which are sold by mass-merchandizing retailers such as Target Corp. and Walmart Inc.

Vance Street Capital has purchased biomedical films and foils maker Excel Scientific Inc. The Victorville, Calif.-based company’s microplate sealing products used by life science research, university, and testing laboratories as well as biotech, diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies. The firm invested in the founder-owned business from its Vance Street Capital III LP fund.

Littlejohn & Co. has invested in high-rise maintenance company Valcourt Building Services, investing alongside founder and Chief Executive Jeffery T. Valcourt and other managers. Founded in 1986, the McLean, Va.-based company has multiple branch locations and provides services such as window cleaning and sealing across 23 states.

Housatonic Partners is backing contact-center company Working Solutions LLC.  The Dallas-based company provides outsourced customer-contact services to a variety of consumer-facing businesses.

Latticework Capital Management in Dallas has invested in mental-health provider Beacon Behavioral Hospital. Based in Baton Rouge, La., the company’s network of treatment centers and psychiatric hospitals extends across Louisiana.

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

Silver Oak Services Partners has sold commercial real estate appraisal company BBG Inc. The Evanston, Ill., firm didn’t identify the buyer of the Dallas-based company, which also provides environmental and property assessments as well as consulting services from 38 offices nationwide. Silver Oak initially backed BBG in July 2015.

Blackstone Group Inc.’s non-listed business development company Blackstone Private Credit Fund has conducted the equivalent of a first close with $814 million raised by the vehicle tailored for individual investors through Jan. 7. The BDC makes direct loans to middle-market companies, with the capital infusion giving it the capacity to provide as much as $1.8 billion in financing with leverage included. The New York firm began raising capital for the non-bank lender late last year through its Private Wealth Solutions business.

Pharos Capital Group, a health-care focused private-equity firm based in Dallas, has rounded up at least $115 million so far for Pharos Capital Partners IV LP, according to a regulatory filing. Pharos typically invests $20 million to $50 million in health-care companies with at least $10 million in revenue and at least $2 million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to its website.

European tech investor Volpi Capital has raised €323 million (or about $392.4 million) for its second fund, Elisângela Mendonça writes for sister publication Private Equity News in London. The final tally exceeded the fund’s €300 million target.

Lumos Capital Group, a private-equity firm focused on growth-stage investments in companies focused on human capital development, has rounded up at least $116.6 million for Lumos Capital Fund I LP, according to a regulatory filing. Lumos typically invests $10 million to $30 million in companies across sectors that include educational technology, workforce development and other knowledge services, according to the firm’s website. The firm was co-founded by Victor Hu, former global head of education technology and knowledge services team in the investment banking arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and James Tieng, a former principal at private-equity firm Quad Partners.

Pam Hendrickson, the chief operating officer of Riverside Co., has been named to the newly created role of vice chair of the American Investment Council's board of directors. The trade association represents the private investment industry. She will remain with Cleveland, Ohio-based Riverside, which she joined in 2006.

Sumeru Equity Partners has promoted Ben Cox and Faton Gjuka to operating director. Mr. Cox joined the firm in August 2018 while Mr. Gjuka also joined that year, according to their LinkedIn pages.

Lazard Ltd. has hired James J. Orozco as a managing director in its financial advisory business, covering financial sponsors from San Francisco. He joins from GCA Advisors, where he was a managing director and led its financial sponsor practice, working with private-equity and venture firms.

Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Co. has promoted Tom Shaw to principal from vice president. He joined Indianapolis-based HKW in 2016 and previously worked at Wynnchurch Capital.

Sudden excitement about the flurry of startups going public through so-called blank-check companies is enriching some of the biggest players in finance, particularly hedge funds. The gains come through the unique rights given to early investors in special-purpose acquisition companies which look to acquire promising startups and take them public. As the vehicles become more popular, the hedge funds that invest in them early, such as Magnetar Capital, Glazer Capital and Millennium Management, can earn lofty returns without much risk. Amrith Ramkumar explains how the trade typically works. 

Infrastructure-focused investment firm Foresight Group Holdings Ltd. plans to go ahead with an initial public offering of shares and list on the London Stock Exchange, Ian Walker reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Foresight had assets under management of £6.8 billion (equivalent to $9.19 billion) on Sept. 30, including £6.1 billion in infrastructure assets and £700 million in private-equity holdings, according to a regulatory filing in London. The firm managed 292 infrastructure assets and 104 private-equity investments. Foresight’s filing didn’t indicate how much money it expects to raise through the IPO.

Brightwood Capital Advisors co-founder and former co-chief executive Damien Dwin is launching Lafayette Square Holding Co., an impact-focused investment firm with $100 million in financing from Morgan Stanley. Mr. Dwin, who is Black, and other Lafayette members and employees own more than 90% of the firm’s equity. Lafayette is also backed by Capricorn Investment Group's Sustainable Investors Fund and Schusterman Family Investments, according to a news release. The firm’s strategy includes investing in affordable housing, smaller businesses and taking stakes in diverse investment managers.

A real estate broker has been arrested and faces criminal charges of securities and wire fraud and two property investment funds managed by his company, MG Capital Management LP, face civil fraud claims from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the FBI and SEC. The SEC claims that fund manager Eric C. Malley and the firm solicited investments in MG Capital Management Residential Funds III and IV, raising $58 million “primarily on the strength of a fabricated investment track record,” according to a news release. The SEC said Mr. Malley and his New York-based firm “misappropriated more than $7 million in investor assets” and used phony financial reports to conceal huge losses from the funds. The agency sued Mr. Malley and the company on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The company and Mr. Malley didn’t respond to a message seeking comment. Separately, the Justice Department and the FBI said Mr. Malley had been arrested Tuesday in New Canaan, Conn., where he lives and will be tried in the New York federal court.

Add-on acquisitions accounted for a record 72.5% of all private-equity buyouts last year, up from 68.5% in 2019, as private-equity firms increasingly embraced the strategy of expanding portfolio companies through acquisitions, according to a PitchBook Data Inc. report. Fund sponsors, meanwhile, welcomed add-on deals as a safer way to deploy capital against an uncertain economic backdrop, the report says.

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Ted Bunker; Laura Cooper; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Laura Kreutzer; Preeti Singh; Chitra Vemuri.

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