Good morning. The publicly listed private-equity shops may be taking a beating this month, but Carlyle Group has ambitious fundraising plans that it expects to achieve by expanding its reach among individual investors, reports Luis Garcia for WSJ Pro. 

Massachusetts' biggest state pension manager is budgeting up to $2.8 billion for new private-equity and venture-capital funds and deals this year, reports Laura Kreutzer for WSJ Pro.

Now on to the news...

Carlyle Group aims to amass $200 billion in fresh capital within the next three years, Luis Garcia reports for WSJ Pro. Top executives of the Washington-based firm said Thursday they don’t plan to make any big acquisitions to hit the ambitious fundraising goal, aiming instead to expand its strategies designed for wealthy individual investors. The firm raised $53.7 billion last year. 

Massachusetts's largest state pension system plans to commit $2.8 billion to private funds and deals this year, slightly less than the $3 billion upper limit it budgeted last year but above the nearly $1.8 billion it actually committed, Laura Kreutzer reports for WSJ Pro. Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management aims to be “incredibly selective” when investing, according to Board Executive Director Michael Trotsky. The Boston-based manager’s $19.5 billion in private-equity and venture holdings generated an 8.5% net return last year, short of its 10.3% one-year benchmark.

Pelican Energy Partners, Deerfield Management and Oaktree Capital Management joined in backing nuclear fusion technology developer Shine Technologies with investments totaling $240 million, led by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong's NantWorks, which contributed $150 million. The Janesville, Wis.-based company's products are used in testing parts for the defense and medical device industries, among others. Participants in the investment round also included Fidelity Management & Research and Sumitomo.

Weatherford Capital in Tampa, Fla., is backing the United Soccer League, joining BellTower Partners as an investor in the U.S. soccer organization. United Soccer League recently announced that it will start a new men’s Division One professional soccer league called USL Premier in 2028. BellTower Partners, which was founded by former Carlyle Group Chief Executive Kewsong Lee, originally invested in United Soccer League last year.

Summit Partners is investing $122 million for a minority stake in Stay22 to support future growth of the Montreal-based provider of technology for the media, events and travel sectors. As part of the deal, Summit Managing Director Colin Mistele and Principal Daniel Kim have joined Stay22’s board.

Springcoast Partners led a $75 million growth investment in cybersecurity company UpGuard, joined by existing backers including August Capital and Square Peg Capital. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company's software is used to assess and manage risks from vendors, workers and other sources.

Existing backer Thrive Capital joined a $150 million growth investment in applications developer Revel Software that was led by Index Ventures with Redpoint Ventures also participating. The Los Angeles-based company makes programs used in testing, measuring and controlling complex systems such as rocket engines, robots and nuclear power plants.

Growth equity investor Angeleno Group in Beverly Hills, Calif., is backing air pollution control systems provider Nestec. The investment is expected to help the Pen Argyl, Pa.-based company develop new technologies and expand into new markets.

Trive Capital in Dallas is backing fuel distributor Rolfson Oil, which subsequently acquired Flint Logistics Group in Oklahoma. Addison, Texas-based Rolfson operates in shale regions across Texas and other states.

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

KKR is splitting software company Corel, which it agreed to acquire in 2019, into two independent companies, with private-equity firm Vector Capital Management buying Corel's creativity and productivity programs, Kelly Cloonan reports for Dow Jones Newswires. KKR will continue to own Corel's Parallels business, which offers cross-platform and virtualization software.

KKR is selling a stake in post-trade services provider Osttra, which the New York firm acquired last year for $3.1 billion, to a group that includes Bank of America, Citigroup and Barclays. The banks are investing about $100 million, Bloomberg News reported, citing a statement from Osttra. KKR is retaining majority control of the London-based business.

The infrastructure investment arm of CK Hutchison Holdings is selling utility company UK Power Networks to strategic buyer Engie at an enterprise value of £15.8 billion, or roughly $21.42 billion. Engie said the equity value of the deal is £10.5 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company serves around 8.5 million customers in Britain and has about 6,500 employees. Hong-Kong listed CK Infrastructure Holdings first backed the utility in 2010.

Greenbriar Equity Group in Greenwich, Conn., has closed its seventh flagship fund with $5.4 billion in commitments, surpassing a $4.25 billion initial target. The firm wrapped up Greenbriar Equity Fund VII ahead of plan after a first closing in December. Greenbriar invests from the fund in industrial, logistics and business services companies. Fund investors included the New Mexico State Investment Council, which pledged as much as $100 million, according to the WSJ Pro Private Equity LP Commitments database. The firm's new fund is about 55% larger than its predecessor, which Greenbriar wrapped up in early 2023 with nearly $3.48 billion.

Credit-focused Arcmont Asset Management has closed its second Capital Solutions fund with investable assets of about €1.5 billion, or $1.77 billion, Sebastian McCarthy reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London. The Nuveen unit based in London has invested more than half the capital across over 20 deals.

Encore Consumer Partners has promoted Paul Rivenburgh to managing director at the firm. Rivenburgh joined the consumer-focused private-equity firm in 2016.

A listed business-development company affiliated with KKR & Co., FS KKR Capital, reported a 21% drop to $135 million in net investment income for last year's fourth quarter compared with the same period a year earlier as net assets fell almost 12% to about $5.95 billion, or $20.89 a share. Net asset value suffered mainly because of four underperforming companies backed by the BDC, while it also added five companies to its nonaccural list while taking one out of the category, according to executives on a conference call with analysts Thursday. Shares of the BDC tumbled over 15% in New York following the earnings, closing at multiyear low of $11.29.

Asset manager Victory Capital Holdings in San Antonio has submitted a new $57.04 cash-and-stock bid for peer firm Janus Henderson Group that Victory says is better than a $7.4 billion offer in December from rival Trian Fund Management and venture firm General Catalyst, Nicholas G. Miller reports for the Journal. Victory said the value represents a 37% premium to Janus Henderson’s unaffected share price as of Oct. 24 and a 16% premium to Janus Henderson’s deal with Nelson Peltz’s Trian and General Catalyst. Trian already holds about 20% of Janus shares and has two directors on the publicly traded firm's board.

Apollo Global Management-backed Atlas SP Partners and Castlelake are among U.S. nonbank lenders caught up in the collapse of London-based property finance firm Market Financial Solutions, sister publication The Times of London reports, citing local outlets and Bloomberg News. The lender's insolvency drew allegations of fraud, including double pledging of assets, at a court hearing, the Times reported, citing an account from 9fin. MFS founder Paresh Raja said earlier that its move into a form of insolvency didn't reflect the quality of its assets, and cited a procedural impasse that limited the lender's access to banking services.

Send us your tips, suggestions and feedback. Write to:

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