Welcome back! Every period of disruption produces winners and losers. And the on-again, off-again tariffs and resulting trade war are no different. In practice, however, predicting who those winners will be—and where dealmakers should be putting their money—is particularly hard in the current environment, said Kevin Desai, PwC’s U.S. deals leader.

I spoke with some of the winners for the top story in this morning's newsletter. Among them is software provider Zonos, which helps customers calculate a product’s total delivery costs, such as transportation fees, customs duties, taxes and other handling charges. Zonos' software strikes at the core of the Trump administration’s push to eliminate the so-called de minimis tax exemption that allowed duty-free entry for packages valued at $800 or less. 

And Laura Kreutzer scoops news that lower midmarket firms Angeles Equity Partners and Kain Capital are merging two portfolio companies to create what the firms say will be one of the largest independent occupational healthcare providers in the U.S.

Finally, soccer fans won't want to miss this Sunday's FIFA Club World Cup, which features an all private capital final. Premier League team Chelsea FC, owned by an American consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, will take on Ligue 1 team Paris Saint-Germain FC, owned by Qatar Sports Investments, an investment arm of Qatar's sovereign-wealth fund.

Read on for more on these stories and more...

Tariff uncertainty has hit some companies hard, but for Zonos, a private equity-backed provider of cross-border e-commerce technology, business is booming, Maria Armental reports. Zonos—whose software helps customers calculate a product’s total delivery costs, including transportation fees, customs duties, taxes and other handling charges—is among the fortunate crop of private equity-backed companies benefiting from this trade policy uncertainty. 

Lower midmarket firms Angeles Equity Partners and Kain Capital are combining two portfolio companies to create what the firms say will be one of the largest independent occupational healthcare providers in the U.S., Laura Kreutzer reports. Each firm will own a 50% stake in the combined business.

Stonepeak in New York is acquiring a roughly 50% stake in reusable packaging supplier IFCO Group from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Stonepeak is investing alongside midmarket investment firm Triton, which backed the business alongside ADIA in 2019, and together they will control the company. IFCO supplies containers that are used to facilitate over 2.5 billion shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables from producers to retailers, with more than 140 service locations to clean and repair the containers. 

Bain Capital and August Capital were among the key participants in a $150 million growth investment in software developer MaintainX, valuing the business at about $2.5 billion. The company develops maintenance and asset-management programs for mechanical equipment based on machine learning and artificial-intelligence technologies.

European buyout firm EQT AB led a $56 million growth investment in medical device developer Neuros Medical, investing through the firm's life sciences strategy. The Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based company is working on nerve-stimulating devices to treat chronic pain in adult amputees.

Trinity Capital is providing $35 million to auto insurance company Inshur to finance growth. The company focuses on insurance for commercial and on-demand delivery drivers, with more than 1 million policies sold in the U.K., one of Inshur's core markets.

Carr’s Hill Capital Partners Management, a New Orleans-based private-equity firm, is backing its first deal out of its Carr’s Hill Fund I vehicle with an investment in Freedom Intermodal, a New Orleans-based logistics company that helps facilitate the transport of bulk liquids.

New York-based private-markets firm SK Capital Partners is negotiating to acquire the medical division of European listed company LISI Group. The unit, Lisi Medical, produces metal components and assemblies for the global medical device original equipment manufacturing industry.

Neuberger Berman has backed the formation of a single-asset continuation vehicle for Strength Capital Partners to enable the Birmingham, Mich.-based firm to recapitalize and extend its hold on engineering design and infrastructure consulting firm ESP Associates. Strength Capital initially backed the company in 2018.

Growth investor BGF Investment Management in London is backing fire prevention and sprinkler systems manufacturer Rapidrop Global, according to an emailed news release. The Cambridgeshire, England-based company supplies systems for commercial and residential buildings in more than 80 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa.

Compass Group Equity Partners in St. Louis is backing the Illuminate Group, a cold-chain logistics company specializing in the last-mile, mail-order pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturing industries. The firm is investing through its third fund, which closed in April 2024 with $408 million in commitments.

Vehicle-parts supplier Stoneridge has retained bankers to explore a sale of its control-devices unit, Ben Glickman reports for Dow Jones Newswires, citing people familiar with the matter. The business produces sensors, switches and connectors needed for certain functions in vehicles. The unit has drawn interest from private-equity investors, the people said.

PeakSpan Capital led a $55 million growth investment in auto-fleet-management technology developer ServiceUp, joined by existing investors including Trestle Partners. The company works with fleet operators, insurers and repair services providers to improve efficiency.

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

RA Capital Management-backed biopharmaceutical company Verona Pharma has agreed to be acquired by strategic buyer Merck for roughly $10 billion. The drugmaker agreed to pay $107 for each American depository share, Colin Kellaher reports for The Wall Street Journal. The healthcare-focused firm has backed the company since at least July 2020, when Verona Pharma raised $200 million in a private placement.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board is selling its majority stake in Sahyadri Hospitals Group in India to Temasek-backed peer Manipal Hospitals. The Canadian pension fund investor acquired its interest in Sahyadri in 2022 The chain now operates more than 1,400 beds, with around 2,500 clinical staff and 3,500 support workers. The sale was expected to yield a price of as much as $650 million, the Journal has reported. Ontario Teachers' didn't disclose a deal value, but Indian news site Mint said the asset fetched around $750 million to $760 million.

Blackstone-backed casino operator Cirsa saw its shares trade as high as €16 in their trading debut in Spain on Wednesday but closed at €15, the stock's initial public offering price. The company aimed to raise as much as €453 million, or roughly $531 million, through the IPO, with plans to use part of the capital to repay debt and to fund expansion, Najat Kantouar reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Blackstone acquired the company about seven years ago.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has rounded up more than $3.6 billion for its seventh flagship vehicle, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners VII, concluding a fundraising effort that began in 2022. The firm surpassed its $3.3 billion target with investors that included the North Carolina Retirement System, which put in $150 million, and the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, which pledged up to $200 million, according to the WSJ Pro Private Equity LP Commitments database. The new vehicle is about 44% larger than its predecessor, which the firm closed in 2018.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management has raised more than $280 million for North Haven Venture Capital Opportunities Fund I to back venture-capital and growth managers and companies in North America, Asia and Europe.

Pan-Asia alternative-asset manager Templewater and Future Fund Oman have set up Energy Transition Fund with each partner committing $100 million to the vehicle, the first of its kind in the Sultanate of Oman.

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe in New York has added Brian Kane as a senior adviser to the firm's healthcare strategy. He was most recently president of health insurer Aetna, part of CVS Health.

Citigroup has hired senior dealmaker Ludovic Ingelaere as a managing director for its leveraged finance team as it aims for more work from private-equity firms, Paul Clarke reports for sister publication Financial News in London, citing people familiar with the matter. Ingelaere previously worked for Deutsche Bank.

About three-quarters of institutional infrastructure investors reported selling assets above their book marks, leading to premiums typically ranging from 6% to 20% when the holdings are sold, according to the EDHEC Infrastructure & Private Assets Research Institute in London. A recent report, based on a survey of 79 investors and service providers, called into question the interim values assigned to the assets and their alignment with fair value. The study findings also suggest valuation methodologies vary widely, and more than half rely primarily on forecasts from asset managers. The institute's director and the study's author, Timothy Whittaker, said enhanced governance and standardized valuation protocols are needed to improve transparency and comparability and to uncover risks that are often obscured by current practices.

Vacancies in the once-hot U.S. warehouse market are surging, with more space open for occupation than at any time in the past 11 years, the Journal's Liz Young reports. The average warehouse vacancy rate across the U.S. ticked up to 7.1% in the second quarter from 6.9% the previous quarter and 6.1% a year earlier, as companies hold off leasing new space amid rapidly changing trade policy. Private-equity firms such as Blackstone have invested heavily in warehouses and related logistics assets in recent years.

French fashion entrepreneur Cécile Reinaud, who founded maternity brand Seraphine, has hit out at its private-equity owner following the company’s collapse into bankruptcy, Zoe Hu reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London. Reinaud openly criticized London-based firm Mayfair Equity Partners, calling its decision to list the company on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 “a short-sighted move driven by greed, not growth.” Mayfair declined to comment to Private Equity News on Reinaud’s statement.

Swiss buyout firm Partners Group has opened a Miami office and named Jose Mahomar, a managing director and global head of consultant relations, to head the location. Partners is sharing the office with recently acquired real-estate investor Empira Group, and Empira's Rafael Aregger, head of U.S. investments, will lead the group's operations there.

Fortress Investment Group has collected €408 million, or about $478 million, for its second European collateralized loan obligation, Fortress Credit Europe BSL 2025-2 DAC. The CLO is comprised mainly of senior secured, first lien, broadly syndicated loans and has a reinvestment period of about 4.6 years.

Mountaingate Capital veteran Layton Rogers and Nick Dolan have launched Spur Ridge Capital to invest in the lower midmarket.

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Maria Armental; Ted Bunker; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Rod James; Laura Kreutzer; Isaac Taylor; Chitra Vemuri.

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