Good morning.

Park Square has raised its latest junior-debt fund, and the London firm sees a big opportunity lending to sponsor-backed companies whose exits are taking a bit longer than expected, our Luis Garcia and Isaac Taylor report.

While Wall Street denizens mostly hunker down, hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin has repeatedly taken issue with President Trump, including some of his signature policies, the Journal reports. But Griffin, who funneled $107 million to GOP candidates and campaigns in 2024, remains in contact with the White House and party leaders in Washington. 

Now onto the news...

Park Square has raised the equivalent of about $2.82 billion for its latest credit fund focused on junior debt, as the credit specialist sees opportunities to provide capital to companies that remain in sponsors' hands longer than usual, WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia and Isaac Taylor report. The London-based firm wrapped up Park Square Capital Partners V with over €2.4 billion, above a €1.75 billion goal for the pool, and 60% more than the €1.5 it collected for a predecessor vehicle about four years ago. The latest fundraising makes it the largest vehicle Park Square has raised so far for the lending strategy. With leverage and co-investments, the credit specialist can invest as much as €4 billion through the fund. So far, the firm has used the capital in 20 deals and anticipates doing 30 to 40 more.

Few on Wall Street are willing to publicly lob any criticism at President Trump. Hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin is an exception, the Journal reports. The founder and chief executive of investing giant Citadel, whose personal worth is estimated at $50 billion and who is among the largest Republican donors, has repeatedly disagreed publicly with Trump’s signature initiatives. Griffin has opined on everything from tariffs to mass deportations to the tax cuts and deficit impacts of a sprawling tax and spending bill that Trump signed into law. Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, declined to comment on Trump's relationship with Griffin.

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Apollo Global Management in New York is set to inject €3.2 billion, or about $3.75 billion, into a newly formed joint venture with German utility company RWE, which will be reinvested into electricity grid infrastructure, Adam Whittaker reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The investment will fund the expansion of German power transmission system operator Amprion, in which RWE holds a roughly 25% stake. Apollo will take an equity stake in a newly established joint venture that will hold RWE's stake in Amprion. RWE will receive the funding up front, which it will reinvest into Amprion, one of four German power grid operators with about 29 million people in its service area.

Arsenal Capital Partners is acquiring the ThermoSafe temperature-assured packaging business of Sonoco Products for up to $725 million, Colin Kellaher reports for WSJ Pro. Arsenal agreed to pay $650 million on a cash-free and debt-free basis up front and up to $75 million more based on future performance. The Arlington Heights, Ill.-based business generated revenue of more than $240 million and adjusted pretax earnings of around $50 million last year.

Exponent Private Equity-backed Natara Global is acquiring London-listed flavor and fragrance ingredients supplier Treatt for about £156.6 million, or roughly $211.6 million, Ian Walker reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Natara agreed to pay 260 pence per share for Treatt, representing a roughly 16% premium to the stock's closing price Friday. Natara makes aroma ingredients products used in the flavor and fragrance industries.

Climate-focused CEFC and Canadian pension investor La Caisse have established an agriculture investment vehicle with 250 million Australian dollars, or about $163.9 million, to generate Australian carbon credits. The vehicle, called Meldora, is managed by Gunn Agri Partners, has purchased a farm of more than 37,000 acres in Central Queensland and mining company Rio Tinto is the first credit buyer. La Caisse, legally Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, has committed A$200 million to the Meldora pool, while CEFC contributed A450 million.

Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Insight Partners and United Arab Emirates state-backed investor MGX are joining a $1 billion growth investment in software and analytics provider Databricks, in a round that values the San Francisco company at $100 billion, Angel Au-Yeung reports for the Journal. Databricks makes programs that store, catalog and process large data sets that can be used with artificial-intelligence systems. The company has about 650 clients that pay $1 million annually to use its products and services.

Private-equity firm TDR Capital has closed on a single-asset continuation deal to retain its hold on gym operator David Lloyd Leisure at a £2 billion valuation, equivalent to about $2.7 billion, including around £800 in equity commitments and £1.2 billion in rolled over debt, Sebastian McCarthy reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London, citing local reports. TDR acquired the U.K. chain in 2013 for about £750 million. The continuation deal involves a transfer to TDR Titan, whose investors include an Apollo Global Management unit and Coller Capital, from TDR's third flagship fund. The company now operates 133 clubs across the U.K. and Europe, serving about 760,000 members, according to TDR's website.

Fund manager TPG’s secondary and liquidity services strategy TPG GP Solutions has backed a $290 million single-asset continuation fund to recapitalize Earnix, a holding of venture capital investor Jerusalem Venture Partners, or JVP. The secondary transaction promises to deliver a return multiple of 8.7 for early investors in Earnix, which JVP has backed since 2005. Earnix provides pricing, underwriting and other services to insurers and banks. Early investors in the JVP fund that opted to roll stakes into the new continuation vehicle include Partners Group, HighVista Strategies, Committed Advisors and Hollyport Capital.

Africa-focused Helios Investment Partners is buying a majority interest in the Regional Data Hub data center operations of Telecom Egypt at a debt-free enterprise value of about $230 million or as much as $260 million if certain performance marks are reached. The data hub in Cairo began operations through its first phase in 2021 and the second phase is under development.

Sun Life Financial's asset-management arm is providing $200 million in debt financing to solar and battery storage project investor SolaREIT in Vienna, Va. The financing was arranged through SLC Management, which oversees assets of about 408 billion Canadian dollars, or roughly $295 billion.

Capitol Meridian Partners and Stellex Capital Management are acquiring military survival equipment supplier Beaufort through a carve-out from Survitec. The group is based in Ellesmere Port, England, and makes aerospace flight suits, liferafts and submarine-escape equipment, with about 1,200 employees in seven manufacturing plants.

Midmarket-focused Signal Hill Equity Partners is investing in design and engineering services providers Kluber Architects + Engineers, bundling the business with two similar operations to create a group with more than 160 professionals.

Midmarket private-equity firm Eagle Merchant Partners is investing in Guidewell Education, a Sacramento, Calif.-based company that offers services that include college counseling, test preparation and academic mentoring. As part of the deal, Guidewell is also acquiring Reach Cambridge, a U.K. provider of summer camps and academic enrichment programs.

Healthcare specialist Archimed is backing skincare company Groupe Laboratoire Rivadis, with majority shareholder Christian Lainé reinvesting in the business as part of the deal, according to an emailed news release. The French company's products include cosmetics and  skincare lotions for babies and older people. Archimed is investuing through its MED Rise fund.

TorQuest Partners in Toronto is backing Waste Solutions Canada, joined by the company's co-founders. The London, Ontario-based business provides waste disposal and recycling services.

EMZ Partners made a minority investment in French legal, accounting and consulting firm Implid, along with fifty other managers that reinvested in the transaction. The debt was arranged by Ardian.

Hg Capital invested in Winnipeg, Manitoba-based workforce management software and services provider Payworks.  

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

Private-equity firm TJC has agreed to sell Anchor Packaging to strategic buyer Georgia-Pacific, a manufacturer that owns consumer brands such as Brawny paper towels and Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper. TJC initially backed St. Louis-based Anchor, a maker of rigid packaging and cling wrap, in 2019.

European private-credit firm Pemberton Asset Management has amassed $1.7 billion for a new fund that offers net asset value debt financing collateralized across portfolios of investments by private-equity firms. The final close of  Pemberton’s NAV Financing Core Fund I brings the total assets that Pemberton manages for its NAV financing and GP solutions unit to $2.7 billion.

Peninsula Capital Partners has raised $400 million for Peninsula Fund VIII to support mezzanine debt and equity investments in midmarket companies. Investors backing the fund include the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System and the Wisconsin Investment Board, according to WSJ Pro Private Equity’s LP Commitments database. So far Peninsula has backed seven main portfolio companies out of the new fund and the firm expects the fund to be 50% deployed by year-end.

Rockbridge Growth Equity Management in Detroit has closed on more than $360 million for its RB Equity Fund III and related pools, exceeding a $350 million target. The closing brings the firm's assets under management to over $1.7 billion.

Kartesia Asset Finance has collected nearly €200 million so far for Kartesia Asset Finance III, including a €50 million commitment from the European Investment Fund, according to an emailed news release. Kartesia has a €500 million target for the vehicle, which is managed by midmarket asset-based financing specialist Flexam Invest and has reached a second closing. Kartesia acquired Flexam in 2023.

Investment bank Lazard has tapped Christopher Hogbin to run its $248 billion asset-management arm, succeeding Evan Russo as chief executive starting in December. Hogbin was most recently with AllianceBernstein as global head of investments. Russo is moving into an advisory role with New York-based Lazard, which he joined in 2007.

Coller Capital has added James Peoples as director, head of northern Europe private wealth distribution, based in London, according to an emailed news release. He was previously with Franklin Templeton.

Hunter Point Capital, which invests in private fund managers, has added Phiras Soubra as a managing director in the Middle East. He was previously with Campbell Lutyens in Dubai.

Late-stage growth investor Athena Capital in New York has added Serena Dayal and Avi Golan as investment partners, according to an emailed news release. Dayal was previously with SoftBank Group's Vision Fund while Golan was chief executive of cybersecurity-focused Sygnia Consulting.

Midmarket firm JLL Partners is adding Jeff Hunter as chief AI officer at the firm. Hunter previously served as senior managing director at litigation consulting firm Ankura, but his career also includes stints with Capgemini and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he served as chief data scientist and founder of the data science center of excellence, respectively.

OpenGate Capital has added Thomas Pinks to its business development team to lead deal sourcing and investment origination efforts across Europe and other parts of the world. Pinks most recently worked at Aurelius Equity Opportunities in London.

Juan Diego “JD” Vargas is joining TPG as a partner on the firm’s climate transition infrastructure investment team in New York. Vargas previously served as a partner on the infrastructure team of EQT and before that he was a director at energy-focused firm First Reserve.

Specialist firm J.F. Lehman & Co., which invests in the aerospace, defense and related sectors, announced a number of additions and promotions, including elevating Michael Leber to managing director and Peter Kohler and Cianan Moore to senior associate.

Smaller health-services company investor Vesey Street Capital Partners has expanded its Strategic Advisory Board with the additions of Glenn Eisenberg, Todd Gustin and Chip Khan.

Investment bank Baird has hired Thomas Vermeiren as a director focused on GP-led secondary deals. Vermeiren joins from Morgan Stanley, where he advised private equity- and infrastructure fund managers on such deals. Vermeiren will report to co-heads of the Global GP Solutions Group, Jeremy Duksin and Alex Mejia. 

Retirement and savings firm Phoenix Group is preparing to move management of around £20 billion, or about $27 billion, in house from U.K. fund manager Aberdeen as part of a broader shift of assets that back Phoenix annuities, David Ricketts reports for sister publication Financial News in London. Currently, London-listed Phoenix manages only about £5 billion of its £39 billion annuities portfolio internally. Overall, Phoenix oversees around £295 billion and has roughly 12 million clients.

Private-markets investment facilitator iCapital is investing in secondaries-focused Tangible Markets and partnering with the company to establish client access to a system for trading in secondhand stakes in private funds. New York-based Institutional Capital Network, as iCapital is legally known, aims to integrate access to Tangible's auction-based system for trading slices of private-equity, private-credit and hedge funds, among other things.

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

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