Good morning. Today, our Luis Garcia reports that Apollo Global Management is turning its attention to European opportunities. The asset manager has roughly $72 billion in dry powder ready to invest, up 5.9% from a year ago, and ended June with a record $840 billion in assets.

Meanwhile, our Journal colleague Miriam Gottfried reports that Blackstone used a companywide call Monday to honor the late Wesley LePatner, a top executive slain in the firm’s headquarters building in a mass shooting last week, and to process lingering trauma. 

Now onto the news...

Apollo Global Management sees rising deal opportunities in Europe as it ended the second quarter with $72 billion in dry powder, or capital available to invest, up 5.9% from a year ago. “Europe is an area [in which] we are investing significant time and resources to expand,” Apollo President Jim Zelter said Tuesday during a call with analysts to discuss the New York firm’s most recent results, including reaching a record $840 billion in assets.

A week after a deadly shooter attack killed Blackstone senior executive Wesley LaPatner as she was leaving the firm's Park Avenue building in Midtown, employees of the private-equity giant are still processing the traumatic event, Miriam Gottfried reports for The Wall Street Journal. Manhattan-based Blackstone executives described a staff call on Monday as a first step in the process of returning to normalcy from the toughest times the firm has faced in its 40-year history.

The White House is preparing to step up pressure on big banks over perceived discrimination against conservatives and crypto companies with an executive order that threatens to fine lenders that drop customers for political reasons, Dylan Tokar reports for the Journal. A draft of the executive order directs bank regulators to investigate whether any financial institutions might have violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws or consumer financial-protection laws. On Tuesday, President Trump complained to CNBC interviewers that his attempted deposits had been refused by two big banks, the Journal reports.

The infrastructure strategy of CVC Capital Partners is acquiring the Canadian telecommunications tower business of SBA Communications, including some 500 wireless towers as well as rooftop and other location sites for antennae and transmission equipment. CVC is investing through its DIF Infrastructure VIII fund. Boca Raton, Fla.-based SBA is expected to net about $335 million from the sale.

Private equity firm TPG struck a deal to acquire Sydney-listed software company Infomedia at an equity value of about 650.9 million Australian dollars, or roughly $421.4 million, David Winning reports for Dow Jones Newswires. TPG is paying A$1.72 per share in cash, representing a 30% premium to Tuesday's closing price and securing support from the company's directors, "in the absence of a superior proposal."

Brookfield Asset Management is acquiring a nearly 20% indirect stake in Duke Energy's Florida operations through owner Florida Progress, investing about $6 billion that Duke plans to use to expand and modernize its generating and transmission capacity. Brookfield plans to invest about $2.8 billion by early next year, $200 million more by the end of 2026 and another $2 billion in 2027. The New York-based firm controlled by Brookfield in Toronto will invest the remaining $1 billion in 2028.

Merchant banking and investment firm BDT & MSD Partners is backing Australian pharmaceuticals and beauty products maker DBG Global Enterprises with a 1.6 billion Australian dollars minority investment that could increase by A$1 billion, equivalent to roughly $1.03 billion and $646.8 million, respectively, according to an emailed news release. The transaction comes as DBG is refinancing debt with the alternatives arm of Goldman Sachs and the credit strategy of KKR & Co., which have backed the business for the past six years. BDT & MSD Partners is backing the business through its private capital strategy.

Real-estate and credit investor Rithm Capital, has closed a one-year forward flow agreement to acquire $1 billion in home improvement loans originated and serviced by Upgrade, which offers low-cost credit and mobile banking services to consumers. This acquisition enables Rithm to underwrite and manage a high-quality pool of loans in a growing area of the market and to expand its asset-based finance operations.

Multistrategy private-equity firm Bow River Capital in Denver has acquired a 212-unit residential development in the Kansas City, Mo., market called Brookside Commons. The rental property is Bow River's third acquisition in the market.

GreyLion Partners is joining existing backer Denali Growth Partners in a new growth investment in life sciences industry software supplier Slipstream IT. The Blue Bell, Pa.-based company provides clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors with technology and digital services.

Banking-focused growth investor Patriot Financial Partners in Radnor, Pa., led a $46.6 million investment in digital lender Grasshopper, joined by Glendon Capital Management, to support a combination with Auto Club Trust, FSB. New York-based Grasshopper has assets of about $1.4 billion and offers services that include banking for startups and private-equity firms, as well as consumer banking and specialty lending.

Carlyle Group has agreed to invest in Ingentis, a provider of organizational charting and analytics software, acquiring a stake from Maguar Capital Partners in Germany. As part of the transaction, the existing Ingentis management team is substantially reinvesting and will continue to lead the company. Maguar has backed the Nuremberg, Germany-based company since 2021.

Existing investors JMI Equity and Spectrum Equity have made an additional $100 million minority investment in software provider Employee Navigator. The fresh cash helped the company buy back equity from investors in the business. 

Banneker Partners and Permira today announced that funds advised by Permira have joined as a strategic minority investor in Versaterm, a Banneker portfolio company and public safety software provider.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. has boosted its bid for London-listed Spectris to top Advent International's increased offer, made last week, Elena Vardon reports for Dow Jones Newswires. KKR is now offering around £4.2 billion, or roughly $5.58 billion, for the precision-measurement company. Advent last week raised its bid to £41 a share, including an expected dividend. KKR's new £41.75 per share offer also includes the expected payout. KKR previously bid £41. Spectris said Tuesday that its directors decided unanimously to withdraw their recommendation for the Advent offer and support the new bid from KKR.

Recently formed growth investor Provest Equity Partners in Atlanta has acquired manufacturer Advanced Process Solutions in Dallas, marking the firm's first deal. The company, formerly known as Advanced Plastic Services, makes products including chemical dispensing units and fluid handling systems.

Growth investors Oak HC/FT and Intrepid Growth Partners joined Sapphire Ventures and others in a $122 million investment round in tax researcher Blue J. The deal was led by Oak and Sapphire and also included existing backers of the Toronto company.

Insight Partners in New York led a $43.5 million growth investment in supply-chain decision-support services provider Lyric, joined by others including PSP Growth. The technology company developed a system to produce customized decision parameters using artificial intelligence that clients employ to design global supply chains.

Google owner Alphabet's growth-investment fund, CapitalG, led a $100 million investment round backing marketing software developer Clay in a deal that values the business at $3.1 billion. More than 10,000 clients use the New York company's development tools to automate workflows and personalize sales and marketing functions.

Argosy Healthcare Partners in Wane, Pa., has recapitalized O.R. Staffing Solutions, which provides workers for operating rooms in acute care hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. The Chicago-based company was founded in 2015.

Poalim Equity, the investment arm of Israel-based Bank Hapoalim, is backing analytics company Glassbox with a minority investment. The company's software is used to provide insights to financial firms regarding the experience of users who visit their websites.

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

Crestview Partners in New York is selling its majority stake in interactive screen maker Elo Touch Solutions to strategic buyer  Zebra Technologies for about $1.3 billion in cash, Connor Hart reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Crestview has held its majority interest in the Milpitas, Calif.-based maker of touch screens used in retail, commercial and industrial settings since 2018.

Carlyle Group has agreed to sell Arctera to private-equity-backed enterprise software company Cloud Software Group. Carlyle initially created Arctera in 2024 through the combination of the enterprise data production business of its portfolio company Veritas with Cohesity. Vista Equity Partners and Elliott Investment Management’s Evergreen Coast Capital created Cloud Software Group in 2022 through the acquisition of Citrix Systems and subsequent combination of Citrix with Vista-backed Tibco Software in a deal valued at $16.5 billion.

Food- and beverage-focused private-equity firm Butterfly has closed a $527 million single-asset continuation fund for portfolio company Qdoba Restaurant Corp., with a lead commitment from Apollo Global Management and joined by continuation fund specialist Painswick Capital, which just closed a $1.5 billion fund dedicated to such deals. The new funding let existing investors in Butterfly funds cash out while providing expansion capital to the more than 800 store Mexican-style chain, Josh Beckerman reports for Dow Jones Newswires.

Aperture Investors, a $5 billion alternative-asset manager, has hired Nick Turgeon, formerly of Castlelake, to lead its new asset-based finance strategy as global head. The strategy is targeting $1 billion to invest in underpenetrated market segments.

MPowered Capital, an investment firm that backs emerging managers, has promoted Chrissie Chen Pariso to managing partner at the firm, joining the firm’s founder and chief executive Marcia Page as a partner. Pariso joined MPowered in 2020 as the firm’s first full-time employee.

Seattle-based healthcare-focused firm Frazier Healthcare Partners has made a raft of promotions, including Carol Eckert to senior vice president on the investor relations team. On the investment team, the firm promoted Andrew Wu to vice president as well as Daniel Ewnetu and Luke Ostrander to senior associate roles.

Lane42 Investment Partners, an asset manager founded in March, is expanding its leadership bench, adding two partners, Victoria Aparece and David Farber. Aparece was most recently with Centerbridge Partners while Farber was with Santander.

Food- and consumer-brands-focused firm Kainos Capital in Dallas has hired Ryan Horstman as chief financial officer. He most recently held the CFO role at Vortus Investments. Horstman succeeds David Knickel, who remains an adviser to Kainos.

The differences in how startups adapt to or incorporate artificial intelligence into their operations and strategies are contributing to a widening gap in the ease with which they reach Series A growth investment rounds, WSJ Pro’s Matthew Strozier writes. The average time it takes for U.S. startups with at least $1 million in initial pre-seed or seed funding to reach a series A round has reached 2.5 years, up from only 1.5 years in 2015, according to a Crunchbase analysis.

Professionals in the secondaries segment of the illiquid alternative-assets sector will see bigger bonus increases this year than other industry segments, with gains of 10% or more, according to new estimates from Wall Street compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates. The firm cited a continuing robust pace of activity to meet liquidity demands of fund investors. The next highest increases, ranging as high as 7.5%, will go to those in the private-credit segment. Participants in large private-equity bonus pools aren't expected to see any increase this year, while those in firms focused on midmarket and smaller deals likely will see no gain and may see 5% cuts in the payouts, Johnson forecast.

Hamilton Lane's fee-related earnings climbed nearly 31% to about $83.7 million in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2026, which ended June 30, while assets under management increased about 8.6% to $140.88 billion and assets under advisement rose 4.3% to $845.29 billion. The Conshohocken, Pa.-based asset manager and adviser's net income fell about 8.9% to $53.7 million. or $1.28 a share, from the year-earlier period. Hamilton Lane shares gained 3.9% to close at $156.77 Tuesday in Nasdaq trading.

Conditions appear to be improving for some firms on the fundraising trail, according to data provider Preqin, which found nearly one-third of funds closed during the first half of this year did so within six months, up from 14% in 2024 and 16% in 2023. However, not all funds are benefiting equally. Preqin also noted that across all private-markets funds, the average time it took to close funds rose to 25 months in the first half of this year, up from a 16-month average in 2020.

Mark Serocold knows what wealthy European investors want, Kristen McGachey writes for sister publication Financial News in London. The head of Ares Management's wealth strategy for Emea, he has been tasked with raising the profile of the $546 billion alternatives giant in high-net-worth hot spots such as the U.K., Italy and Switzerland. The firm’s wealth business has amassed $44 billion since inception in 2021—less than a fifth of rival Blackstone’s $279 billion of private wealth assets. However, Ares aims to manage $100 billion globally on behalf of rich individuals by 2028.

Life and health insurers as well as annuity providers are increasingly relying on third-party asset managers to guide their investments, ratings provider A.M. Best reports. Last year, more than 43% contracted with a single asset manager to deploy at least 10% of their investable assets, up from 32% in 2016. Those that used one or more advisers to invest over 50% of their assets climbed to over 35% last year from about 27% in 2016, according to the report. Best cited a shift to structured assets and private credit as a driver of the change.

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