Welcome back. Markets sold off yesterday after Kevin Warsh put the fight against inflation in the spotlight in his first meeting as Fed Chairman, with a number of Fed officials projecting at least one rate increase before year end. 

That pivot complicates the broader deal environment and threatens to exacerbate market bifurcation. First-half data already paints a stark picture: Average U.S. deal size has nearly quadrupled compared with the first half of 2025, while deal volume has dropped 34%, according to PwC.

Meanwhile, Dean Seal and Laura Kreutzer report on Arcline’s move to take AstroNova private—a classic operational play that highlights how private equity is capitalizing on volatility to snap up assets at attractive prices. 

Finally, please note that WSJ Pro Private Equity won’t publish on Friday in observance of the Juneteenth holiday in the U.S. We'll be back Monday.

Now on to the news...

The Federal Reserve’s first statement under Chairman Kevin Warsh clocked in at only 132 words. Wall Street was troubled by the final six of them: “The Committee will deliver price stability,” Hannah Erin Lang, Sam Goldfarb and David Uberti report for The Wall Street Journal. The central bank held its benchmark rate steady, as expected. But officials’ quarterly economic projections showed that nine of 19 officials penciled in at least one rate increase by the end of the year, up from none in March.

Arcline Investment Management has agreed to take private AstroNova in a deal valued at $272 million, Dean Seal and Laura Kreutzer write for WSJ Pro. The data visualization and printing technology company said Wednesday the deal calls for Arcline to pay $29 a share in cash. That represents a nearly 74% premium to Tuesday's close at $16.69. AstroNova operates in two segments: the underperforming product identification business, which includes specialty printing systems and related supplies, and the profitable aerospace business, which accounted for about 31% of revenue in the most recent year, ended Jan. 31.

WSJ Sports: The Next Sports Economy will bring together investors, team owners, executives and advisers at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York July 15-16 for conversations on the forces transforming the business of sports. Join leaders from across finance, media, ownership and operations as they sit down with WSJ reporters to explore the future of investment, governance and value creation across the global sports landscape

Blackstone, Apollo Global Management and FS KKR Capital are leading an investor group that has agreed to take the keys of Thoma Bravo-backed software company Medallia in a restructuring deal that the Journal previously reported would have Thoma lose the $5.1 billion it invested in the company in 2021. The company’s recapitalization will dramatically reduce Medallia’s outstanding debt and the investor group is also investing $150 million of new capital into the company.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, or CPP Investments, is pledging around 70 billion Indian rupees, or roughly $742 million, to a strategic partnership with Indian data-center operator CtrlS Datacenters. As part of the deal, CPP Investments will invest around 40 billion rupees to acquire a roughly 8% stake in CtrlS and will commit up to 30 billion rupees to a joint venture that will develop hyperscale data centers across India.

Montagu is acquiring a majority interest in software and services company BMC Helix through a carve-out from KKR-backed BMC Software. Helix provides agentic artificial intelligence-based enterprise services to clients. KKR acquired BMC in 2018.

Thoreau Group, a healthcare investment firm formed by former New Mountain Capital executive Matt Holt, is backing billing services provider Ensemble Health Partners, joining Berkshire Partners and Warburg Pincus as an investor in the Cincinnati-area business. Bloomberg News and Axios both pegged the deal at around $12 billion. Ensemble manages billing, claims management and related services for hospitals and other healthcare providers. 

New Mountain Capital in New York is acquiring a majority interest in power engineering services provider Commonwealth Associates, with the company's managers and employees retaining a significant interest in the business. The Jackson, Mich.-based business works with electric utilities on transmission, generation and renewables projects. 

BlackRock's HPS Investment Partners is backing banking technology company Behavox with a $175 million preferred-equity investment, joining existing backers including SoftBank Group and Index Ventures. The fresh cash injection allowed Behavox to pay off a $70 million debt facility provided by Hercules Capital in 2024. Based in London, Behavox uses artificial-intelligence technology in back-office functions such as trade and communications surveillance, data retention and policy management.

Apis Partners Group is backing payroll processor BIPO with a $50 million investment from its $1.23 billion third fund. Singapore-based BIPO provides services to over 5,600 clients from more than 50 offices, focusing mostly on the Asia-Pacific region.

BC Partners’ credit unit and Verance Capital, a growth investment firm focused on media, sports and entertainment companies, are backing Invisible Narratives, an entertainment company founded in 2018 by former head of Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Studios Adam Goodman. The two investment firms have made a $25 million investment tied to the company’s initial acquisition of YouTube animated video series Skibidi Toilet.

Investcorp is backing information-technology company Metra, the fourth investment made by Investcorp Saudi Pre-IPO Growth Fund. The family-run business in Dubai distributes hardware and software and has a strong presence in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with some 500 regional employees.

Buyout firm TPG’s transition infrastructure strategy has agreed to acquire two waste-management companies from fellow private-equity firm Allied Industrial Partners to create a waste infrastructure provider. The firm is buying Waste Eliminator, which serves commercial and industrial waste generators in Georgia and South Carolina, and Liberty Waste Solutions, which provides integrated waste and recycling solutions in North Carolina. The transaction marks the third investment out of TPG’s debut Transition Infrastructure fund.

Infrastructure-focused Morrison Group has acquired solar-energy projects in Arizona with a total generating capacity of roughly 357 megawatts from Hanwha Renewables under a partnership formed earlier. The projects are known as Atlas V and Atlas VI in La Paz, Ariz., and both are in the final stages of coming online. The projects have 15-year supply contracts with Southern California Edison. Morrison invested through its Chrysalis Renewables.

Argyle Capital Partners, a Toronto lower midmarket firm, backed H&S Building Supplies. Based in Vaughan, Ontario, H&S provides building supplies for the residential rental market.

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

Engineering Group, an Italian digital services company backed by Bain Capital and Neuberger Berman's NB Renaissance, is selling its Alfahealth and Industries eXcellence Group units to consulting company Accenture. Reuters reported that the deal was worth about €900 million, or $1 billion, citing a source familiar with the matter. Taken together, the two units represent about 18% of Engineering's net revenue last year and a quarter of the company's adjusted pre-tax earnings. The company reported adjusted earnings of €2.38.8 million on revenue of about €1.76 billion in 2025. NB Renaissance and Bain Capital acquired Engineering in 2020.

Real-assets investor Stonepeak has sold its 50% stake in Canadian natural gas liquids pipeline system KAPS Pipeline back to publicly traded Keyera Corp. for a little more than $1.2 billion. Stonepeak initially announced it would acquire the 50% stake in the pipeline from Keyera back in 2022.

Investment company Strawberry and private-equity firms Altor and TDR Capital are selling significant stakes in hotel and travel experiences company Nordic Leisure Travel Group, which Norwegian Air Shuttle has agreed to acquire for an initial $833 million as it seeks to boost revenue by integrating its flights with a network of hotels and experiences, Dominic Chopping reports for the Journal. Strawberry and Altor will each wind up with stakes of 8.9% in the combined business, while TDR will own 4.4%. The three firms acquired the business following the bankruptcy of U.K. travel company Thomas Cook Group in 2019.

Pan-European venture firm Earlybird and multistage investment firm Atlantic Vantage Point, or AVP, are nearing a first close for E2D, a European dual-use and defense-technology fund with a €500 million, or nearly $580 million, target, according to an emailed announcement. The new fund will seek to back growth investments in roughly 20 companies with an average expected ticket size of €25 million, the announcement stated. The fund will focus on areas that include space, air, land, maritime and subsurface by backing technology businesses with a mission focus for both defense and dual-use applications.

Realize Capital Partners has raised 276.7 million Canadian dollars, or around $197.3 million, for Realize Fund I, a finance and impact fund-of-funds aimed at tackling inequity while also seeking competitive risk-adjusted returns. The fund received a C$135 million anchor commitment in 2023 from the Canadian government and raised the remainder from private investors. Limited partners that backed the fund include Royal Bank of Canada, Concordia University, Trottier Family Foundation and McConnell Foundation. The fund has already pledged around C$111 million so far to 23 fund investments and one direct co-investment.

Lower midmarket firm GenX360 Capital Partners has promoted Pratik Rajeevan to partner. Rajeevan has invested in over 10 platform companies and 30 add-on investments during his tenure at the firm.

Natixis Investment Managers subsidiary Flexstone Partners in New York is acquiring smaller private-equity secondaries specialist Glouston Capital Partners in Boston to create a combined operation with assets of over $15 billion. The six Glouston partners will continue to manage the secondary business from Boston. Glouston manages about $3.4 billion while Flexstone has about $12 billion. Natixis is the asset-management arm of French banking company Groupe BPCE.

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