Good morning. As Americans prepare for the holiday weekend that unofficially kicks off the summer season, there's been no slowing of deals and other activities even as markets continue to gyrate to the erratic tune playing in Washington. There are even signs of an IPO revival.

Our Rod James reports that MassMutual's Barings unit has amassed $950 million to back smaller private-equity deals and infrastructure bets.

WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova reports that venture-backed companies are going public again, with two expected to list Thursday in New York.

But our Isaac Taylor offers a word of caution, at least as far as private credit goes. A report from the Boston Fed notes the rapid expansion of nonbank lending backed by bank financing could heighten systemic financial risks from market shocks.

Finally, we invite buyers of secondhand private-fund stakes to participate in our latest survey of secondary market buyers. Details below.

And now, on to the news...

Barings has collected $950 million for its diversified alternative equity program, WSJ Pro’s Rod James reports. The firm plans to invest from the new pool in smaller private-equity deals and high-growth infrastructure assets in sectors including energy, digital infrastructure and transportation. The Charlotte, N.C.-based firm, a unit of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, raised the latest capital across a commingled fund vehicle and separate accounts deployed on behalf of individual institutional investors. They include the roughly $70 billion Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, which last month committed $250 million to a Barings-managed separate account to invest in infrastructure.

Investment bank loans to private-credit firms could pose a growing risk to the stability of the financial system, WSJ Pro’s Isaac Taylor reports, citing economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The rapid expansion of private credit has been accompanied by rising bank lending to the industry, including loans to support firms and business development companies, or BDCs, that act as nonbank lenders. This tandem growth could be a cause for concern as banks could be indirectly exposed to higher risks taken on by private-credit lenders with riskier clients that banks wouldn’t finance, according to the Boston Fed economists.

Venture-backed tech companies are gearing up to go public again, after a halt caused by the global trade war and the ensuing market jolts, WSJ Pro’s Yuliya Chernova reports. But those startup debutantes are still likely to be priced below their private valuations. Ad-tech company MNTN, pronounced “mountain,” and digital startup Hinge Health are slated to list on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

WSJ Pro Private Equity is embarking on its latest Survey of Secondary Market Buyers, which we use as the basis for compiling our annual special report on the latest trends shaping the secondary market. Responses are anonymized and used only in aggregate. Secondary buyers can complete the survey by June 20, 2025 through the following link.

Blue Owl Capital is investing equity in a data-center project that startup Crusoe is constructing for OpenAI as part of $11.6 billion in funding, a mixture of debt and equity, for the development, Berber Jin reports for The Wall Street Journal. Crusoe is adding six buildings to a two-building data center in Abilene, Texas, with Blue Owl in New York providing an equity investment alongside Crusoe and with flexible financing provider Primary Digital Infrastructure also participating. The company began building the project about a year ago after Oracle agreed to the move and a long-term lease.

Private-equity firm Transom Capital Group is taking private contract electronics manufacturer SigmaTron International at an enterprise value of about $83 million, Colin Kellaher reports for WSJ Pro. The Los Angeles-based middle-market firm has agreed to pay $3.02 a share in cash for the Elk Grove Village, Ill., company, more than double Tuesday's closing price of $1.29. SigmaTron operates plants in its home town, as well as in California, Mexico, China and Vietnam.

Existing backers DST Global and Lone Pine Capital participated in a $300 million growth investment in Australian payments and financial systems provider Airwallex in a transaction that valued the business at $6.2 billion. Other investors included Square Peg Capital, Australian pension funds and strategic backer Visa Ventures.

Temasek Holdings’ SeaTown Holdings International is backing AddVita, a distributor of medical and life sciences equipment and disposable goods, with an investment of 115 million Singapore dollars, or roughly $88.8 million. The deal gives the Singapore company the resources to acquire other distributors of medical and life sciences products in Asia.

Iconiq Capital and General Catalyst led an $80 million growth investment in specialist software maker Legora, joined by existing backers. The Stockholm company provides software with artificial-intelligence technology for law firms and legal offices.

BlackRock buyout target HPS Investment Partners in New York is backing wealth-management and financial advisory company Lido Advisors, joining existing investor Charlesbank Capital Partners. Boston-based Charlesbank first invested in the Los Angeles company in 2021. Late last year, BlackRock agreed to acquire private-credit manager HPS for about $12 billion in an all-stock deal expected to close later this year.

Jeito Capital in Paris led a $65 million growth investment in therapeutics developer ReproNovo. The company is developing reproductive medicines and women’s health treatments.

White Star Capital led a €38 million, or $42.9 million, growth investment in machine vision and surveillance technology provider Veesion, joined by co-investors Bpifrance and Red River West, as well as others. The company’s products are designed to easily integrate with existing video surveillance hardware and use gesture recognition and artificial-intelligence technology to help retail store owners curb theft.

Vista Equity Partners is backing specialty software maker RollKall with a growth investment. The Irving, Texas-based company’s programs are used to schedule and manage side work done by off-duty police, including billing, location monitoring and arranging insurance.

European buyout firm Main Capital Partners has acquired a majority stake in software developer Fraxion and backed the Seattle company’s combination with office software maker Centreviews as an add-on acquisition, according to an emailed news release. Fraxion’s applications are designed for procurement and managing spending. The combined business has about 500 clients.

Lower midmarket-focused McNally Capital in Chicago and Nio Advisors have acquired defense contractor Quiet Professionals. The Tampa, Fla.-based company supplies technology and services to military special operations units, as well as defense and national security agencies.

Wendel’s London-based private-equity investment firm IK Partners is backing sterile flexible medical packaging supplier Sterimed Group, joining long-term investor Sagard, which is increasing its investment in the company. Other new investors are also committing to the company, including Société Générale CP and Capza.

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

Sterling Group in Houston has sold a majority interest in aircraft maintenance and repair company West Star Aviation to Greenbriar Equity Group in Greenwich, Conn. Sterling acquired its stake in the business in 2022 from Norwest Equity Partners.

Skyline Global Partners in Chicago has sold its growth investment in industrial waste recycler Beneficial Reuse Management, with Canadian firm Clairvest Group investing and recapitalizing the Chicago company. Skyline first backed the business in 2019. The company converts utility, municipal and industrial waste into fertilizer for agricultural use as well as construction products. The Toronto-based buyer invested through its Clairvest Equity Partners VII fund.

Crestline Investors has rounded up $1.7 billion for its Portfolio Finance Sentry Fund, including parallel vehicles and anticipated leverage. The fund focuses on providing net asset value financing to private-equity and other private asset managers seeking liquidity for a range of purposes. So far the fund has closed nine transactions.

Growth-stage investor Emil Capital Partners, which is rebranding as ECP Growth, has closed its fourth fund with $100 million. The Greenwich, Conn.-based firm plans to invest $5 million to $20 million per deal from the vehicle to back companies generating revenue of more than $10 million and a clear path to profitability within 18 months.

Intermediate Capital Group in London collected $24 billion for its various funds over fiscal 2025, which ended in March, bringing its assets under management to about $112.4 billion, up 14%, with fee-earning assets rising 8% to $75.1 billion. Management fee income climbed 19% to £603.8 million, or about $808.7 million, for the period. But earnings fell 13% to 157.5 pence a share from 181.5 pence in the previous fiscal year. The firm began fiscal 2026 with about $32 billion in dry-powder assets ready to invest.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in Toronto ended its fiscal year in March with assets of 714.4 billion Canadian dollars, or roughly $513.4 billion, up about 13% from the previous fiscal year. The gain included C$59.8 billion in net income. CPP Investments generated a 9.3% net return for the year and a 10-year annualized net return of 8.3%.

Nasdaq-listed TPG priced a secondary offering of 21 million class A shares from the estate of late co-founder David Bonderman at $47.25 each, or a roughly 5.3% discount to the stock’s most recent closing price of $49.90. The shares are held through DB Holdings I and a JPMorgan Chase & Co. unit is underwriting the offering.

London-listed asset manager Ashmore Group is establishing an office in Qatar to become the latest financial services group to set up shop in the region, David Ricketts reports for sister publication Financial News in London. The emerging markets-focused firm with assets of about $46.2 billion counts the Qatar Investment Authority as an anchor investor in its Ashmore Qatar Equity Fund, set up last year. Ashmore also manages around $10 billion on behalf of clients in the Middle East, spread across equity, fixed income and thematic private-equity strategies.

StepStone Group in New York is opening a new Dublin office to house its StepStone Group Europe Alternative Investment operation, which oversees about €29.1 billion, or $33 billion, and employs 110 people. The operation is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Sheikh Saoud Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah, who leads the nearly $1 trillion Kuwait Investment Authority, said that the fund remains committed to investing in the U.S. and that other investors shun the country at their own risk, Steve Goldstein reports for sister publication MarketWatch. Al-Sabah cited the depth and breadth of U.S. markets, as well as its resilience and reliance on the rule of law.

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