Good morning. As the second quarter nears its end, the pace of activity from deal making to fundraising seems to be picking up. So we have a full slate of news, from the SEC highlighting the continuing issues it sees in the private-equity industry from our Chris Cumming to Blackstone Group’s Tony James on the brevity of the bargain-hunting period following the market crash in March, from Preeti Singh. And then there’s news on the latest Thoma Bravo deal, which Laura Cooper has delivered.

But there’s more news out of the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy team as well, with Cerberus cutting its offer for Bluestem Brands by a third and the Oak Hill Capital-backed Checkers burger chain looking for turnaround help. We have these stories and much more below, so please dive in...

Private-equity firms Thoma Bravo and Madison Dearborn Partners are backing the formation of Syntellis Performance Solutions LLC as an independent business. The deal values the company at roughly $500 million, WSJ Pro Private Equity's Laura Cooper reports, citing a person familiar with the situation. Syntellis previously was a unit of Kaufman, Hall & Associates, a software and consulting firm Chicago-based Madison Dearborn backed in 2014.

Blackstone Group Inc. set up a couple of opportunistic capital pools to take advantage of opportunities stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, estimating there would be “abject panic” over the outbreak, but things “didn’t really play out that way,” Tony James, the firm’s executive vice chairman, told a California pension Wednesday. The firm had expected hedge funds, mutual funds and other investment managers to sell their best assets to generate liquidity as stock markets crashed in March, Mr. James told the $17.19 billion Orange County Employees Retirement System’s investment committee, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Preeti Singh reports. The dash-for-cash was expected to let Blackstone pick up good companies, infuse them with capital and make money for the firm’s investors. But the window of opportunity closed very quickly.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has uncovered problems with conflicted relationships and inadequate fee and expense disclosures at private-equity firms and hedge funds, issues it said may have unfairly harmed investors, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Chris Cumming reports. 

Chuck E. Cheese parent CEC Entertainment Inc. said it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it grapples with the financial strain of prolonged closures sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. CEC, owned by private-equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc., said it plans to use the bankruptcy process to continue talks with its financial backers and landlords on a balance-sheet restructuring that supports its reopening and longer-term strategic plans.

With the help of regulators and lawmakers, 401(k) plans are trying to become more like the old-fashioned pension plans they replaced. The latest example involves private equity, a staple in pensions and now wants to be in your 401(k). There are some reasons for concern here, including high fees and a lack of transparency.

Cerberus Capital Management LP has cut $100 million off its bid for bankrupt Bluestem Brands Inc., the Fingerhut catalog owner that filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, Patrick Fitzgerald reports for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy. The reduced stalking-horse bid for Bluestem Brands—to $200 million from $300 million—was disclosed in court filing that describes the company’s proposed terms for exiting bankruptcy.

CVC Credit Partners has provided a $92 million credit line to Calibre Scientific Inc., the life sciences and diagnostics business owned by Los Angeles private-equity firm StoneCalibre. The funding will be used to refinance the company's debt and for acquisitions, CVC said. Calibre Scientific supplies more than 3,000 consumable products to the life sciences and diagnostics markets, with over 6,000 customers in more than 100 countries.

Accel-KKR has taken a minority stake in ATP from its growth-capital fund and also provided credit financing from Accel-KKR Credit Partners to support ATP’s acquisition of FlightDocs, a provider of maintenance tracking software for the business aviation industry. Midmarket firm ParkerGale will retain a majority stake in ATP.

Derivative Path Inc., a financial technology and services business, said it has raised $35 million in growth equity from FTV Capital, a private-equity firm focused on financial services, enterprise technology and services, as well as the payments and processing sectors. The investment marks the company’s first round of institutional funding, according to a press release.

Shamrock Capital Advisors, a private-equity firm that traces its roots to the Roy E. Disney family office, has led a $16 million investment round in Pixellot, a technology company that uses artificial intelligence to help sports teams and leagues produce video of games and stats as well as engage with their fans. Israeli investment firm Altshuler-Shaham Group also participated in the round along with existing investors Grupo Globo and the Arkin Family, according to a press release.

Ardian is leading an investment group in buying a stake in Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane SpA from IM SpA, known as TIM, under an agreement reached Wednesday. TIM has also agreed separately to sell a 3% stake in the the Italian infrastructure company to U.K.-based Canson Capital Partners, according to a news release.

Activist investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square is about to go big-game hunting in the booming world of blank-check companies, Nicholas Jasinski reports for sister publication Private Equity News. On Monday, the firm filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $3 billion, which would be the largest-ever special-purpose acquisition company. The deal includes unconventional terms that the fund believes will give it an advantage when doing a deal.

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

Pine Brook Capital Partners has sold a majority stake in WhiteStar Asset Management to fellow private-equity firm Clearlake Capital Group in partnership with the company’s management, according to a press release. Pine Brook initially acquired the stake back in 2017. WhiteStar invests in syndicated bank loans, particularly collateralized loan obligations, and has grown its assets under management to some $6 billion over the past three years, according to a press release.

Oxford Capital is exiting its investment in UltraSoc Technologies Ltd., which Siemens AG has agreed to acquire. Oxford, a U.K. private-equity firm, initially backed the company in 2017. The Cambridge, England-based company’s technology is used in making integrated circuits to put intelligent monitoring, cybersecurity and functional safety capabilities into the core hardware of systems-on-chip, according to a news release.

HealthEdge Investment Partners-backed Westone Laboratories Inc. has sold its music division, Westone Audio LLC, to Lucid Audio LLC. The division makes in-ear monitors used in performances by musicians. The move will let the parent company focus on its hearing health products, according to a news release. HealthEdge acquired Westone in October 2017.

Macquarie Group Ltd.’s U.K.-focused infrastructure debt strategy has collected roughly £2.7 billion ($3.35 billion) in commitments, the Australian investment firm said Wednesday. The amount includes more than £220 million for its second U.K. fund focused on acquiring inflation-linked debt and about £2.5 billion raised for separately managed accounts to be invested alongside the fund.

PA Capital, formerly known as Private Advisors, has rounded up at least $258.3 million so far for its latest fund of funds focused on small buyout deals and the managers that back them, according to a regulatory filing. The firm has also raised at least $75 million so far for its newest secondary fund, PA Secondary Fund VI LP, and $17.4 million for PA Capital Direct LLC, separate filings indicate. The amount raised so far for PA Small Co Private Equity Fund IX, LP is more than half of the $420 million the firm raised for its eighth small company private equity fund, which closed last year.

London-based Tenzing announced it raised £400 million ($497.3 million) for its second private-equity fund, doubling the amount collected for its predecessor three years ago, Selin Bucak writes for Private Equity News. The firm said Tenzing Private Equity II was raised in nine weeks and is the first buyout fund raised through an entirely virtual process, according to data provider Preqin Ltd.

Italian investment bank Mediobanca and U.S. fund manager Russell Investments are partnering to launch their third private markets fund, Elisângela Mendonça writes for Private Equity News. The new strategy will be marketed until Sept. 30 by Mediobanca's private banking division, which serves high-net-worth individuals, and managed by Russell Investments. Mediobanca Private Markets Fund III is set to "exploit new opportunities that arise" following the market dislocation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the groups said in a joint statement.

FEG Private Investors, an affiliate of Fund Evaluation Group, has collected $86.3 million so far for FEG Private Opportunities Fund V, LP, its latest fund-of-funds offering, according to a regulatory filing. The unit closed the fund’s predecessor, FEG Private Opportunities IV LP, last year with $165 million, according to a press release issued at the time.

Yellow Wood Partners, a Boston-based private-equity firm focused on consumer-facing companies, said it has named James Stammer as an operating partner. Mr. Stammer has worked with Yellow Wood for many years, including as chief executive of its former portfolio company PDC Beauty & Wellness Co., which it sold in 2017 for around $1.43 billion.

Grant Thornton LLP said it has named Carlos Ferreira as its national managing partner for private equity starting August 1. Mr. Ferreira succeeds Doug Gawrych, who will retire at the end of the fiscal year, according to a press release.

Jeff Ubben is retiring from ValueAct Capital to launch an activist investment firm Inclusive Capital Partners. Inclusive Capital will seek to help company boards and management teams address climate change and social inequality, according to a press release. Other co-founders of the new firm include ValueAct Capital co-founder George F. Hamel, Jr., Lynn Forester de Rothschild, founder and chief executive of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism; and Eva Zlotnicka, managing director of the ValueAct Spring Fund. ValueAct launched the ValueAct Spring Fund in 2018 to address global environmental and societal problems through activist investing. Mr. Ubben will continue to manage the fund after he transitions to Inclusive Capital along with the entire fund’s investment team.

Chicago family investment firm Pritzker Private Capital has hired David P. King as an operating partner on its health-care team, starting Aug. 3. He will lead the team with Michael Dal Bello, an investment partner with the firm.

Oak Hill Capital-backed Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. is turning to financial advisers to navigate the coronavirus pandemic's impact on a business model that was already deteriorating, Soma Biswas and Heather Haddon report for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy, citing people familiar with the matter. The burger chain has hired investment bank Miller Buckfire & Co. and turnaround adviser Mackinac Partners to explore a potential restructuring, these people said. Oak Hill bought the chain in 2017

Catalio Capital Management has completed its spinout from Camden Partners Holdings. Catalio, formerly known as Nexus, is now an independent firm focused on investments in biomedical technology companies. Created by George Petrocheilos and Jacob Vogelstein, Catalio’s investment team includes Tom Brooks, founding partner of Anthem Energy and formerly of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Edward Mathias, formerly a partner and senior advisor at Carlyle Group Inc.

Blackstone Group Inc., one of the most coveted employers on Wall Street, is throwing out a key section of its recruiting playbook in a bid to improve its hiring process and increase diversity, Miriam Gottfried writes for The Wall Street Journal. Blackstone officials say the firm is shifting more of its recruiting efforts from hiring investment banking professionals to on-campus recruiting, already its main source of talent and one that it is expanding to bring in more candidates directly from schools, including historically black colleges and universities and women’s colleges.

Olympus Corp. is getting out of the camera business after 84 years to focus on medical devices, Kosaku Narioka reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The Tokyo company, which has been under pressure from ValueAct Capital to improve shareholder returns, said Wednesday that it planned to sell its camera unit to private-equity firm Japan Industrial Partners Inc. by the end of the year.

Private equity firm FSN Capital said it has been awarded €87 million ($98 million) by an arbitration tribunal in Denmark after Swedish buyout group Procuritas was found liable for failings at a portfolio company, Selin Bucak reports for Private Equity News.

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