Welcome back! To see you into the weekend, WSJ Pro's Isaac Taylor has a piece on the plans of private-credit firms to take advantage of new restrictions on student loans that come into force next July.

Across the Atlantic in London, private-equity-backed marketing business MSQ Partners has batted away talk of an approach from S4 Capital, the investment firm chaired by advertising titan Martin Sorrell.

Now onto the news...

President Trump has imposed new restrictions on student loans, and private-credit firms plan to capitalize on the lending gap those limitations create, WSJ Pro's Isaac Taylor reports. The changes will take effect next July and promise to push many students—and their parents—to take on private loans, which typically charge higher interest rates and require creditworthy cosigners. Some firms, including Carlyle Group and KKR & Co., have already moved into the market.

One Equity Partners-backed marketing company MSQ Partners in London ruled out a potential tie-up with Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital, saying its private-equity owner might have held informal talks but it doesn't plan to pursue the discussions, Adria Calatayud reports for Dow Jones Newswires. On Monday, S4 Capital said it received a proposal and was in preliminary talks for a potential deal that would be structured as an acquisition of MSQ by S4 Capital.

Bridgepoint Group's Energy Capital Partners and U.K. energy company Centrica are acquiring Britain's largest liquefied natural gas import terminal, Grain LNG, from utility company National Grid in a £1.5 billion, or $2.04 billion, deal, Joseph Hoppe reports for the Journal. The private-equity firm and Centrica will each own a half interest in the terminal. Centrica said that after taking into account £1.1 billion in debt, its equity investment would amount to about £200 million. The company also expects its share of annual adjusted pre-tax profit from the terminal's operations to reach around £100 million next year and in 2027, according to a spokeswoman.

Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led a $500 million growth investment in artificial intelligence coding startup Cognition, WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal brings the company’s valuation to $9.8 billion, more than double its level earlier this year, one of the people said. Cognition declined to comment.

Inovia Capital and Radical Ventures led a $500 million growth investment in Cohere that values the Toronto-based artificial intelligence company at $6.8 billion. Other participants included strategic backers and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board.

Argo Infrastructure Partners and Brookfield Asset Management have financed their Smoky Mountain Holdings hydroelectric joint venture through the sale of $435 million of senior secured notes. The firms and Brookfield Renewable closed on a 10-year power purchase agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority last November for electricity generated by four dams operated by Smoky Mountain. The firms said the new financing will help ensure adequate power supplies for the region amid data center-driven demand growth.

Midmarket-focused THL Partners is buying clinical trial site network operator Headlands Research from KKR & Co. The company's sites help researchers develop medical advances for therapeutics and vaccines. KKR backed the Lake Worth, Fla.-based company from its founding in 2018, investing through its healthcare growth strategy. THL is acquiring the business through its ninth flagship fund.

Eurazeo in Paris has begun exclusive talks with CapVest Partners-backed Inspired Pet Nutrition over a sale of French direct-to-consumer pet food supplier Ultra Premium Direct. Erazeo said that under an agreement proposed by Inspired, Eurazeo and minority investors including Eutopia would sell their Ultra stakes to the strategic buyer. The firm said the deal, if agreed, would close later this year, subject to various approvals. Eurazeo has backed Ultra, which now serves more than 285,000 customers, since May 2021.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is investing $40 million in personnel management software provider Darwinbox through its Teachers' Venture Growth arm. The company received growth capital earlier this year from Partners Group and KKR & Co., who led a $140 million investment round in March. Darwinbox's programs use artificial intelligence technology and currently support human resources departments at more than 1,000 companies with over 4 million employees.

Searchlight Capital Partners is backing intellectual property investor Chord Music Partners with a strategic growth investment. Sam Hendel of Dundee Partners, who co-founded Chord, said the cash infusion would help drive expansion of its investment activity. Chord announced a partnership last year with recording and publishing company Universal Music Group.

Advent International's acquisition of TBI Bank in Bulgaria from digital lender 4Finance Holding in Luxembourg has been approved by the European Commission. The bank operates in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania. 4Finance reported in May that the bank's loan issuance rose 20% to €301.8 million, or about $358.9 million in the first quarter from a year earlier.

Gridiron Capital has acquired ABC Legal Services from private investment firm Aquiline. Seattle-based ABC provides service-of-process and court filing services to 29,000 clients, including law firms, businesses, government agencies and individuals.

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

Securities exchange operator Miami International, whose backers include Warburg Pincus, priced its initial public offering above the expected range at $23 per share in another sign of recent momentum for U.S. IPOs, Barron's reports. The company raised $345 million from the IPO, giving it a market value of $1.9 billion. Warburg held roughly 5.6% of the company's shares before the offering and didn't plan to sell any in the IPO, a registration document shows.

Partners Group in Switzerland is selling a majority stake in liquefied natural gas tanker ship owner CapeOmega to KKR & Co. and KKR-backed strategic buyer Ocean Yield in Norway. CapeOmega owns seven LNG carriers and expects to receive three more soon from builder and operator Knutsen, which is also a part owner of CapeOmega. Partners acquired its stake in CapeOmega in 2019, and sold the company's pipeline and shipping terminal to the Norwegian government last year.

A blank check company led by Kingstown Capital Management founder Michael Blitzer, Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. I, has agreed to acquire aerospace software developer Merlin Labs, whose backers include Baillie Gifford, First Round Capital and Snowpoint Ventures. The deal values Merlin at around $800 million. The startup based in Boston is developing software to serve as the operating system of autonomous flight vehicles. Bleichroeder, a special purpose acquisition company, was sponsored by Blitzer's Inflection Point Asset Management, which he and Kevin Shannon set up last year, according to research provider Boardroom Alpha.

Salt Creek Capital in Woodside, Calif., has acquired steel products supplier American Anchor Bolt Mfg. in Houston. Madison Street Capital advised the company on the sale.

Renewables-focused private equity firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has added Christoph Gantenbein as a managing director and head of institutional in Switzerland, where he is helping the firm open a new office in Zurich, reports Private Equity News in London. Gantenbein joins from Swiss lender Union Bancaire Privée.

European investment firm CVC Capital Partners collected more than €10 billion, or $11.7 billion, for its direct lending strategy in this year's first half, far surpassing the firm's €6 billion target. CVC said over 40% of the capital came from insurers. In addition, it reported a 20% gain in investment realizations signed during the first half, rising to €13.2 billion, compared with last year's first half.

Credit-focused Crescent Capital Group in Los Angeles has formed Crescent GP Financing Solutions to invest directly in private-equity firms that back midmarket companies. The new group is led by Gregory Hardiman in partnership with Tom Glover, both managing directors with the firm. Crescent is majority owned by Toronto-based insurer and financial services provider Sun Life Financial.

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