Welcome back. A friend of mine bought gold late last year with modest expectations, but even he didn’t see a 13% spike coming so fast. After gold shattered records in January, reaching a peak of roughly $5,600 an ounce, the price has cooled. But he still made out like a bandit. It’s not just him. I’m hearing about a wave of young investors treating precious metals like the new crypto or sports betting. Is gold flipping the next big retail trend?

Anyway, in today's news, I share an exclusive on Ares raising roughly $10 billion for its opportunistic credit strategy. Meanwhile, OceanSound has banked $3.4 billion for its latest fund and related vehicles, my colleague Maria Armental reports. Maria also has news that Windjammer Capital has acquired  manufacturer PrecisionX Group from fellow private-equity firm CORE Industrial.

Finally, our colleague Luis Garcia shares news of Brazil’s Spectra Investments working toward its goal of raising about $308 million.

Now on to the news...

OceanSound Partners raised $3.4 billion for its third main fund and related vehicles, to capitalize on a broad-based technology push in sectors such as aerospace and defense, Maria Armental reports for WSJ Pro. The New York firm hit its upper limit for OceanSound Partners Fund III and closed the pool with about $3 billion, founder and Chief Executive Joe Benavides said. The amount is roughly double the size of a predecessor vehicle and includes a general-partner commitment.

Ares Management has raised over $9.8 billion for its opportunistic credit strategy, closing its third fund for such deals along with related transaction vehicles even as private credit as an asset class has come under increased scrutiny, WSJ Pro's Isaac Taylor reports. The firm collected $8.3 billion in equity commitments for Ares Special Opportunities Fund III, with the remaining capital coming from the related vehicles. The total doesn’t include anticipated leverage.

Windjammer Capital Investors has acquired precision manufacturer PrecisionX Group from fellow private-equity firm CORE Industrial Partners to capitalize on strong demand for specialized metal components in booming sectors, such as aerospace and defense and medical devices, WSJ Pro's Maria Armental also reports. The deal valued Waterbury, Conn.-based PrecisionX at $500 million to $1 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the transaction.

Brazil’s Spectra Investments is midway through its campaign to raise about $308 million for its latest flagship fund, as it looks to expand its reach among Asian investors interested in Latin America, WSJ Pro’s Luis Garcia reports. The firm has held a first closing on some $153 million for the new capital pool with support from its first Asian investor.

SoftBank Group joined strategic backers Amazon.com and Nvidia in leading a $122 billion growth investment in Chat GPT maker OpenAI at an eye-popping $852 billion valuation, The Wall Street Journal reports. Other participants included TPG, Blackstone, BlackRock and D. E. Shaw's venture investment arm, as well as accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and a host of others. Some $3 billion was invested through bank channels tapping wealthy everyday investors.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. has agreed to acquire publicly traded Japanese manufacturer Taiyo Holdings for ¥4,750 a share, or around $29.87 each. Directors of Taiyo have indicated support for the offer, which Reuters said is worth ¥528.56 billion, while the company’s largest shareholder, DIC Corp., founding family affiliate Kowa Co., and Oasis Management all have agreed to participate in the deal or transactions related to it. The agreements give KKR support for the deal from shareholders that control about 42% of Taiyo’s outstanding common shares.

Advent International, growth investor Balyasny Asset Management and Caffeinated Capital were among participants in a $1.75 billion growth investment backing autonomous ship company Saronic Technologies and led by Kleiner Perkins, Nicholas G. Miller reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The deal valued the Austin, Texas-based company at $9.25 billion.

HarbourVest Partners led investors in a $750 million continuation fund deal backing L Squared Capital Partners portfolio company BTX Precision, a manufacturer of critical components for the aerospace, defense, medical, automation, robotics and semiconductor production markets. L Squared also participated with a fresh commitment to BTX from the firm's fourth flagship fund, according to an emailed news release.

Mubadala and the Qatar Investment Authority joined a $575 million growth investment in wearable health-monitoring technology company Whoop led by Collaborative Fund at a $10.1 billion valuation. The Boston-based company's wrist-worn systems link to smart phones and work through a membership model.

Crosspoint Capital Partners led a $250 million growth investment in cybersecurity company Tenex.AI, Elias Schisgall reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The Sarasota, Fla.-based company uses agentic artificial-intelligence technology in its products and aims to add hundreds of jobs with the fresh capital.

Greenoaks Capital Partners led a $200 million growth investment in electric vehicle maker Also, joined by Prysm Capital and strategic backer DoorDash, Nicholas G. Miller reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The new capital will support Palo Alto, Calif.-based Also's continued investment in product development, manufacturing, and global deployment of its small autonomous delivery vehicles.

HarbourVest Partners in Boston led a $170 million growth investment in debt-market-intelligence company 9fin, joined by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, among others. The London-based company aims to use the new money to enhance its use of artificial-intelligence technology and to further expand in the U.S.

Capital Dynamics is backing Solo Renewables as it develops a power storage system in Northern Ireland through a £100 million, or roughly $131.9 million, joint venture. The 150-megawatt Islandmagee project is expected to be able to store enough energy to power 36,000 homes for a day without recharging.

A Morgan Stanley investment manager took the lead in a $70 million debt and equity package to foster expansion of internet intelligence company Censys, joined by others including Decibel Partners. Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and the other investors are supplying $40 million in equity and $30 million in debt financing to the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based business.

Insight Partners led a $50 million growth investment in identity protection and governance company Linx Security. The company serves hospitals, banks and major corporations.

Ambienta SGR is acquiring a majority stake in Bridge, a developer and producer of plant-based dairy alternatives. The Italian company's founding family is investing alongside Ambienta. The firm is investing through its Ambienta Small Cap Fund.

Technology investor TA Associates in Boston is backing manufacturing software maker iBase-t with a growth investment . The Lake Forest, Calif.-based company specializes in programs used to manage aerospace and defense industry manufacturing operations.

Denver-based private-equity firm Mountaingate Capital Partners is investing in UpSwell Marketing, a technology-enabled direct marketing services provider for small, medium and enterprise-scale businesses. Mountaingate is backing the deal out of its Mountaingate Fund III, which the firm early last year said had held a $570 million final closing. Twin Brook Capital Partners provided debt financing for the deal.

Greenbelt Capital Management is backing electrical cable and associated hardware maker American Wire Group with a growth investment in the Aventura, Fla.-based company.

LongueVue Capital is leading an investment in Apex Dental Laboratory Group alongside Tampa, Fla.-based investment firm Swaney Group Capital. Based in Waco, Texas, Apex operates a network of 16 dental laboratories across 12 states and employs a total of around 400 people.

Midmarket firm Quad-C Management has backed Dane Street, a provider of medical evaluation and review services for the workers’ compensation, auto, disability and group health insurance markets.

Closed Loop Partners’ private-equity strategy has acquired a majority stake in Sutter Metals, a company based in the Seattle area that focuses on collecting, sorting and processing high-value metals for remanufacturing.

Fengate Asset Management has acquired a half interest in a group of 12 solar-energy projects, investing alongside listed strategic company Clearway Energy.

Decarbonization Partners, a BlackRock and Temasek Holdings joint venture, led growth financing of more than $100 million backing prefabricated data-center modules supplier EPG in Singapore.

Financial services-focused J.C. Flowers & Co. is backing reinsurance company Niyam Group in India and investing in its latest Lloyd's insurance syndicate in London. The company aims to be India's first AA-rated reinsurer. J.C. Flowers is acquiring a controlling stake in the business.

Stella Point Capital has backed Atlanta-based technology-driven payment processing services company TRX Services Partners.

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

Madison Dearborn Partners has agreed to sell cloud technology company Intermedia Intelligent Communications to fellow private-equity investor 26North Partners. Chicago-based Madison Dearborn initially acquired the company from Oak Hill Capital Partners in 2017. Intermedia offers artificial intelligence-driven systems to customers that include managed services providers, telecommunications and broadband companies, among others.

Sentinel Capital Partners is selling the Marioff fire-suppression systems business of its portfolio company Spectrum Safety Solutions to fellow private-equity firm Inflexion in London. The Vantaa, Finland-based operation supplies systems to marine and commercial property and industrial facilities. Sentinel acquired Spectrum through a carve-out from Carrier Global in 2024.

Blackstone has sold Fidere residential assets in Madrid to Brookfield Asset Management for €1.2 billion, or about $1.38 billion. Fidere in a regulatory filing said it received net proceeds of €1.05 billion from the deal, adding that the transaction also transfers €425 million in related debt. Fidere's holdings include 47 residential buildings with some 5,000 living units, and the firm has invested roughly €100 million in property improvements since investing.

Buyout firm HGGC and Monogram Capital Partners have both exited their stakes in Grand Fitness Partners as part of the company’s sale to strategic acquirer Flynn Group. HGGC initially bought a majority stake in Grand Fitness, which operates Planet Fitness gyms, from Monogram in 2021. Monogram had acquired the company in 2017 through the firm’s debut fund, but retained a significant minority stake in the 2021 deal. In a LinkedIn post about the deal, Monogram co-founder Jared Stein said the deal, including co-investment capital, returned all of Monogram’s first fund.

Net asset value finance specialist 17Capital has collected about $7.5 billion for 17Capital Credit Fund 2, including affiliated mandates. The new vehicle is more than twice the size of its predecessor, which the firm closed about four years ago with $2.9 billion. Much of 17Capital's financing activity backs private-equity deals.

Blackstone closed its sixth fund dedicated to investing in developers of medicines and devices with commitments totaling about $6.3 billion. The firm closed Blackstone Life Sciences VI at its hard cap, with about 40% more capital than its predecessor. Investors in the vehicle, which had a $5 billion target, include the public school teachers' pension systems in Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky, according to the WSJ Pro Private Equity LP Commitments database.

London-listed ICG has closed on €1.4 billion, or $1.6 billion, to invest in European logistics and industrial assets, surpassing a €1 billion target for the ICG Metropolitan Fund II and related vehicles. About €600 million of the total was raised during this year's first quarter, according to the firm.

Emblem Investments, a Boston-based private-equity firm co-founded by Patrick Cook and Ryan Duffy, two former managing directors from Baupost Group, has closed its debut fund with $600 million. Lincoln International placed the fund.

Apogem Capital in New York has wrapped up its seventh vehicle for secondary investments, closing Apogem Secondary Fund VII at its hard cap with $1.43 billion. Including commitments from firm employees, the pool has over $1.45 billion to invest. The firm had targeted $1 billion for the fund, which invests in transactions led both by general partners and limited partners in North American midmarket private funds.

Blue Owl Capital has collected about $2.9 billion for Blue Owl Asset Special Opportunities Fund IX, surpassing the New York firm's $2.5 billion target for the asset-backed lending strategy. The firm acquired asset-based lender Atalaya Capital Management under a $450 million deal disclosed in 2024.

Lime Rock Partners has promoted Jeffrey Sofield, formerly chief operating officer of its investment team, to president as part of a leadership transition at the Boston-based energy investor. With the start of Lime Rock’s next fund, firm co-founders Jonathan Farber will transition to senior advisor and John Reynolds will move to chairman.

European investment firm Wendel, which has majority stakes in Monroe Capital and IK Partners, has appointed Harper Mates as chief executive of Wendel North America, succeeding Adam Reinmann, who is retiring after 13 years but remains a senior advisor during a transition period. Mates joined the firm in 2015 in New York after stints with MidOcean Partners, Citigroup Private Equity and JPMorgan Chase.

Carlyle Group is buying a majority stake in wealth adviser MAI Capital Management, investing through various funds in a deal that values the business at over $2.8 billion, Andrew Welsch reports for sister publication Barron's. The Washington firm invested in Galway Holdings in 2021, and that business acquired MAI in the same year. Galway, Harvest Partners and Oak Hill Capital are all exiting their holdings in MAI through the transaction, while MAI employees are retaining a significant minority interest in the company. Cleveland-based MAI operates from 40 offices with more than 700 people overseeing about $72.6 billion.

Ares Management cut its net performance income forecast for the first quarter to $75 million from around $100 million expected earlier, citing the timing of realizations by certain of the firm's European-style funds. Ares stuck with its previous full-year forecast of over $350 million. By comparison, the firm generated $41 million in realized net performance income during last year's first quarter and $169 million for all of 2025.

Alberta Investment Management Corp., or AIMCo, generated a 7.5% total fund return for 2025, bringing the provincial pension manager’s total client assets to 194.7 billion Canadian dollars, or $139.51 billion. AIMCo’s private-equity holdings generated a 3% return, lagging its more than 19% public equity return.

Data developed with Cambridge Associates and Mercer have been worked into a system by S&P Global to give private-markets investors a way to evaluate private credit and real assets using standardized data. The S&P Global, Cambridge Associates, Mercer Private Markets Performance Analytics system offers datasets covering thousands of funds and their holdings. Similar datasets for private equity and other types of assets will be released later this year, according to S&P.

Private-credit interval fund manager Cliffwater said its Cliffwater Direct Lending Index returned 9.3% last year, and has averaged a 9.5% annual gain over the past two decades. Cliffwater said the gauge only had one loss-making year, in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. The firm said the index had interest income of 10.4% last year while measures of distressed debt remained stable or improved. Recently, Cliffwater joined a bevy of credit fund managers getting hit with outsized withdrawal requests from its $32.5 billion corporate lending interval fund, and joined those firms that limited redemptions to maintain the pool's stability.

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

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