Good morning and TGIF! Today's news is all about deals.

First, the Journal reports on an unexpected funding snag that may imperil a $2.7 billion deal to take private Soho House, the exclusive club operator controlled by billionaire Ron Burkle.

Next, the Journal's Lauren Thomas reports on L Catterton's majority acquisition of Good Culture, a cottage cheese brand, at a value of over $500 million.

We have these and many more deals, exits and fundraisings condensed and linked for you below, so please slide on down ... 

Yucaipa Cos., the private-equity firm of Soho House controlling shareholder Ron Burkle, has been told that MCR Hotels, which was leading an investment group seeking to take the luxury members-only club operator private, can't meet a $200 million commitment for the $2.7 billion deal by the closing deadline, the Journal reports. But MCR plans to hold a special shareholders' meeting for the deal on Friday and still hopes to come up with the cash. Soho shares fell 9.6% Thursday on news of MCR's difficulties.

Consumer-focused L Catterton is buying a majority stake in cottage cheese brand Good Culture as more Americans load up on the protein-rich food, Lauren Thomas writes for the Journal, citing company executives. The deal values Good Culture at more than $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Good Culture’s sales have risen almost fourfold over the past three years, while sales in the cottage cheese industry rose by roughly 60% over the same period, according to Jesse Merrill, company chief executive and co-founder.

European buyout firm Mutares in Munich is acquiring the regional engineering thermoplastics business of Sabic at an enterprise value of about $450 million, making it the firm's largest-ever deal. The operations include eight plants and around 2,900 employees, generating revenue of about $2.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close later this year. Mutares has also set up a new strategic group for chemicals and materials holdings, including the carved-out Sabic operations and Venator Ultramarine Blue Pigments. Chemicals manufacturer Sabic is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Blackstone led a $400 million growth investment in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity company Cyera at a $9 billion valuation, triple the level of just a year ago. Blackstone, a new investor, was joined by existing backers including Accel and Coatue Management. The rapidly expanding New York-based company has tripled its employee roster in the past year and more than tripled its revenue.

Warburg Pincus has obtained nearly 82% of the shares of Frankfurt-listed PSI Software in response to its €45 a share tender offer to take the utility and industrial applications developer private in a deal valued at about €702 million, or around $819.6 million. German utility E.ON plans to retain its nearly 18% stake.

The infrastructure arm of CVC Capital Partners is buying Iberian parking facilities operator iPark from Elliott Investment Management's private-equity strategy. The company has more than 30,000 parking slots in over 80 mostly urban facilities in Spain and Portugal. Elliott's legal adviser, Eversheds Sutherland Spain, posted on LinkedIn that the transaction was valued at over €300 million, or $350.3 million, citing public information.

Andera Partners in Paris, New Rhein Healthcare Investors and Omega Funds led a $159.8 million growth investment in clinical-stage biotechnology company Alveus Therapeutics. The Philadelphia company is developing obesity therapies.

Singapore's Temsek Holdings is extending its investment in the Roc360 Real Estate Income Trust with an additional $150 million commitment. Temasek and Roc Capital Holdings in New York formed the REIT in 2023 to back loans for residential investment properties. In the U.S., the REIT is focusing on residential transition and home renovation loans.

New investors such as OpAmp Capital have joined existing backers including Vensana Capital and Casdin Capital in an $80 million growth investment in healthcare-focused company Apella Technology, led by startup investor HighlandX.

Avenue Capital is supplying up to $50 million in financing to Nasdaq-listed Spruce Biosciences as the late-stage biopharmaceutical company develops therapies for neurological disorders. The firm is supplying the 42-month term credit through its second venture opportunities fund.

Brightwood Capital Advisors is buying a majority interest in Museum of Illusions Group from Croatia-based investment firm Invera Capital Partners. Constitution Capital Partners is co-investing in the deal alongside Brightwood. Invera and LOL Entertainment will continue to hold minority stakes in the private museum operator, which has nearly 70 locations across 27 countries.

Veritas Capital is acquiring a majority interest in supply-chain software company Global Healthcare Exchange, joining existing backers Temasek Holdings and Warburg Pincus. The Louisville, Colo.-based company works with suppliers and providers, offering systems to manage orders, inventories and payments.

Audax Group in Boston has acquired a majority interest in technology consulting company Keystone Strategy, investing through its private-equity arm. The deal also kicked off a spinout of Keystone's Deep Enterprise artificial intelligence business into a standalone company, Keystone AI, which is expected to close by the end of March.

Haveli Investments, a private-equity firm founded by former Vista Equity Partners President Brian Sheth, is taking a majority stake in Sirion, a software provider that helps large companies manage their commercial relationships and contracts.

Antin Infrastructure Partners in Paris and Dutch family office Gryphion are buying medical equipment rental company Emsere, based in Leiden, the Netherlands. The company supplies specialty laboratory gear to research clinics and drugmakers. Antin is investing through its first mid-cap fund.

Gryphon Investors has acquired Indianapolis-based Safety Management Group from fellow midmarket private-equity firm NMS Capital. Safety Management Group provides safety, compliance and risk management consulting, technology and implementation services for customers in the data center, pharmaceutical, utilities and manufacturing industries.

Broadview Group in St. Louis is backing Citadel Environmental Services, a Glendale, Calif.-based provider of health, safety and other services that operates as Citadel EHS.

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

Bain Capital has exited its financing commitment to aircraft and services provider Tenax Aerospace, which has been acquired by investment firm NTC Group. Bain Capital in Boston had backed the Ridgeland, Miss., company through its private-credit strategy, supplying $75 million in a mix of debt and equity to support NTC's acquisition of an 80% interest in Tenax for $218 million in January 2018.

Buyout firm Mutares is selling aluminum building materials supplier Kalzip out of portfolio business Donges Group to a unit of RPM International. Mutares acquired Tata Steel Europe in 2018, giving the Munich firm control of Kalzip, which generated revenue of about €75 million, or roughly $87.6 million, in 2024.

Bertram Capital is selling ReVamp Cos. to fellow lower midmarket firm Calera Capital. Bertram initially invested in the Freeport, Ill.-based provider of residential concrete coatings, fencing and decking installation services in 2022. The sale represents the firm’s first exit from its fourth fund, which closed with $940 million in 2021.

Buyout firm MFG Partners in New York has sold distributor AZ Wire & Cable to Nautic Partners-backed strategic buyer LindFast Solutions Group. MFG first backed the Northbrook, Ill., company in 2022.

Specialty investor Bruin Capital has amassed $1 billion from a group that includes the private-equity arm of 26North as well as buyout firm TJC and others to support sports industry investments, according to an emailed news release. White Plains, N.Y.-based Bruin backs what it calls enablers in the sector—or developers and providers of technology, data, media and commercial services to teams, their leagues, rights owners and others. Started in 2022 by Apollo Global Management co-founder Josh Harris, 26North now has assets of $32 billion. The managing partner of football's Washington Commanders, Harris also started and runs Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which has interests in pro basketball's Philadelphia 76ers and hockey's New Jersey Devils.

Guidepost Growth Equity has wrapped up fundraising for its fourth pool, closing Guidepost Growth Equity IV with $521 million, exceeding a $500 million target for the vehicle. The Boston firm aims to back founder-led technology companies with the fund, which it began raising in 2024, regulatory filings indicate. Guidepost ended that year with regulatory assets of about $1.54 billion, a separate filing shows.

Swiss investor LGT Capital Partners led backers of a $250 million vehicle to invest in the private debt strategy of Guggenheim Investments. Other limited partners on the fund weren't named. LGT managed over $120 billion at the end of September while Guggenheim oversaw more than $357 billion, including $108.2 billion under supervision.

Rolly van Rappard, a co-founder of buyout firm CVC Capital Partners, has accumulated a €1.4 billion fortune at his family office, worth about $1.6 billion, cementing his position as one of Europe’s wealthiest private-equity barons, Lars Mucklejohn writes for sister publication Private Equity News in London, citing recent public filings by the executive's Luxembourg-based company, Steflot.

Growth investor Left Lane Capital in New York has promoted Laura Sillman, Henry Toole and Magnus Karnehm to partner, along with a number of other moves. Sillman and Toole are based in New York while Karnehm works from London

Global alternative asset manager GCM Grosvenor in Chicago has added Cara Fixler as chief human resources officer. Fixler joins from LaSalle Investment Management.

Specialist investor Frazier Life Sciences has elevated Joe Cabral, Dr. Kevin Li and Jennifer Martin to partner, with Martin also named chief financial officer. She began with the firm in 2015 while Cabral and Li joined in 2021. Frazier also announced nine other promotions.

Private equity's global healthcare deals climbed to a record $191 billion in estimated value last year, surpassing the previous high reached in 2021, according to industry watcher Bain & Co. in Boston. Transactions worth $1 billion or more drove the surge, while the sheer number of buyouts at 445 was the second-most of any year since records began. Exits also jumped, reaching the second-highest level ever at an expected $156 billion, marked by a rebound in sponsor-to-sponsor deals.

Private credit sponsors raised $224.25 billion for funds worldwide last year through Dec. 16, up 3.2% from $217.38 billion in 2024, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Specialty vehicles typically focused on asset-backed financing strategies collected $45.69 billion while direct-lending funds brought in the largest amount of any segment, at $91.36 billion.

Defined contribution retirement plan managers are increasingly interested in finding out more about ways to give participants options to invest in private markets, with 57% of large plan sponsors saying they very much want more information, according to research from financial management advisory firm Cerulli in Boston. It defines large plans as those overseeing $250 million to $1 billion. Overall, 37% of plans want to hear more about the pros and cons of private markets, Cerulli said.

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