Happy Tuesday! Just days after Congress loosened the Volcker Rule restricting balance-sheet investing by banks, the Supreme Court has further weakened the post-crisis Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The court held the law put too much authority in the leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, one of former Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's signature initiatives. In a 5-4 ruling, the court said the president can replace the director of the bureau for any reason. The 2010 Dodd-Frank measure put the Volcker rule into law and created the CFPB. But the court didn't order the dismantling of the bureau.

With the summer fully upon us and despite a holiday-shortened week, there's plenty of news to offer today, including Chris Cumming's look at two new Summit Partners funds, which brought in more than $2 billion between them. Preeti Singh takes a look at why Rhode Island chose to make a direct investment in a venture capital fund rather than going through a fund-of-funds manager, as it has for more than a decade. And some on Wall Street are starting to wonder if the anticipated crush of corporate failures will ever arrive.

These articles and more await below, so please read on...

Growth-equity pioneer Summit Partners has raised new funds to focus on European and venture-capital deals, taking advantage of surging demand for vehicles that invest in fast-growing young companies, WSJ Pro Private Equity's Chris Cumming reports. The firm has completed raising Summit Partners Europe Growth Equity Fund III with €1.1 billion ($1.23 billion), and Summit Partners Venture Capital Fund V with $1 billion. 

Rhode Island’s public pension system broke with precedent to invest directly in a venture-capital fund as a way to expand its exposure to life-sciences startups after nearly 12 years of investing in the asset class only indirectly, WSJ Pro Private Equity's Preeti Singh reports. The Rhode Island State Investment Commission pledged $20 million to the DCVC Bio II LP fund on June 23. The fund, managed by DCVC Management Co. doing business as Data Collective, has a fundraising target of $275 million, a regulatory filing shows.

The tidal wave of corporate failures that in April seemed poised to come crashing down has yet to materialize, and some on Wall Street are starting to wonder if it ever will, Miriam Gottfried writes for the Journal. However, the new debt companies are taking on could come back to bite them if their businesses don’t recover quickly enough or fail to regain prepandemic levels. And a broad swath of midsize companies—many of them private-equity backed and highly indebted—lack access to public debt markets and remain at risk of falling victim to the slowdown.

After KKR & Co. agreed to acquire a 60% stake in Coty Inc.’s professional and hair-care business in a transaction valued at $4.3 billion, Coty is buying a 20% stake in Kim Kardashian West's makeup brand KKW for $200 million, valuing the business at $1 billion, Dave Sebastian reports for The Wall Street Journal. The transaction follows Coty's purchase of a 51% interest in a cosmetics startup owned by Ms. Kardashian West's half-sister, Kylie Jenner.

Warburg Pincus has agreed to invest $400 million in publicly traded payments technology provider Wex Inc. The deal includes $310 million in convertible notes and $90 million in common stock through a private placement, according to a news release. Warburg agreed to buy 577,254 common shares in the Portland, Maine-based company for $155.91 each, or about 0.26% more than the stock’s closing price on Friday of $155.51.

Carlyle Group Inc. has acquired cloud-based logistics services provider Unison Software Inc., returning to a business it owned from 2005 to 2010. The Dulles, Va.-based government contractor was sold by fellow private-equity firm Abry Partners, according to a news release. The acquirer invested in the deal through its Carlyle Partners VII fund, which raised $18.5 billion in 2018. Audax Private Debt, the credit arm of Audax Group in Boston, provided a credit facility to support the transaction.

Singapore sovereign investment manager Temasek has agreed to back German biotechnology company BioNTech SE through a $250 million private placement in the publicly traded company. BioNTech is developing immunotherapies to treat cancer and infectious diseases, according to a news release. Temasek will receive about $139 million in ordinary shares of the Nasdaq-listed company and $112 million in four-year convertible notes with a 4.5% annual coupon.

VE Partners, a Dutch private-equity firm, has agreed to acquire the European professional equipment-rental business of Fluor Corp.’s Stork unit, Colin Kellaher reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The sale is part of Fluor’s plans to dispose of its construction-rental businesses.

KKR & Co. led a $48 million investment round in stock video and music content provider Artlist, alongside existing backer Elephant Partners. The funds will be used to expand the company’s content library of more than 20 million assets. KKR is investing through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II.

TA Associates-backed Orion Advisor Solutions LLC is getting a major investment from Genstar Capital and combining with Brinker Capital Inc. Berwyn, Pa.-based Brinker provides services to financial advisers, with a focus on behavioral finance, and has $25.3 billion in assets under management. Omaha, Neb.-based Orion, which also works with wealth advisers and has $1 trillion in assets under administration, is adding Brinker capabilities to its menu of offerings to advisers and clients. TA acquired Orion in 2015.

Carlyle Group Inc. is negotiating to acquire a majority stake in Envea SA, a publicly traded French company that makes environmental monitoring systems for industrial and regulatory use. Carlyle would invest in the company through its Carlyle Europe Technology Partners IV, which has €1.35 billion ($1.52 billion) in commitments. It would acquire about 56% of the company’s shares for €110 each from founder François Gourdon, other executives and 15 institutional investors, valuing the company at about €186 million, and a mandatory public tender would follow for the rest of the stock outstanding. The company’s sales reached €100.4 million last year while pre-tax earnings came to roughly €14.7 million.

Middle-market growth investor Kinderhook Industries has acquired Prairie Dog Pet Products, its second in the pet-care sector, according to a news release. Grand Prairie, Texas-based Prairie Dog makes canine treats at plants in Texas and Colorado.

KKR & Co. is in the process of acquiring an 11.9% stake in publicly traded First Gen Corp., one of the largest independent power companies in the Philippines and a unit of First Philippine Holdings Corp. First Gen has the capacity to produce 3,492 megawatts of electricity from a variety of fuels, from natural gas to hydro and solar rays. The deal would require KKR to pay 22.50 pesos ($0.45) a share, for a total investment of 9.6 billion pesos ($192.2 million).

The CA Clover Intermediate II Investments fund tied to Carlyle Group Inc. has agreed to purchase a 20% interest in the drug business of India's Piramal Enterprises Ltd. for $490 million, according to a news release. The deal gives the unit, Piramal Pharma Ltd., an enterprise value of about $2.78 billion, the company said.

Main Post Partners has invested in Dr. Dennis Gross Skin Care LLC, a brand of products created by the Manhattan dermatologist.

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

General Atlantic plans to sell more than 19.5 million shares in XP Inc. through a secondary offering by the Brazilian brokerage, Reuters reported on Monday. The sale follows the company’s initial public offering by roughly six months, when the stock was priced at $27 a share. Since then, it has risen about 60%.

Summit Partners has agreed to sell Normec Group to European private equity firm Astorg, based in Paris. Normec provides test and measurement services in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Summit initially backed the company in 2017.

CIVC Partners has sold a majority interest in GPRS Holdings LLC to Kohlberg & Co., retaining a significant stake in the business. Toledo, Ohio-based GPRS provides subsurface infrastructure scanning services for maintenance and repair inspections. Chicago-based CIVC initially invested in the company in 2017.

French investment firm Andera Partners has raised more than €500 million for its ActoMezz IV sponsorless mezzanine fund, according to a news release. The fund is the largest ever raised by the firm and exceeded its €500 million hard cap. The firm’s predecessor vehicle collected €315 million to close in July 2017.

H.I.G. Capital has brought John Harper on board to head its London-based leveraged buyout team, which focuses on lower middle-market investments in the U.K., Ireland, Holland and Scandinavia. Mr. Harper joins as a managing director from Inflexion, Miami-based H.I.G. said.

Credit Suisse Group AG has named Rob Santangelo as a global co-head of its health-care investment banking group, Reuters reported, citing an internal memo. Mr. Santangelo, who is based in New York, reports to Robin Rankin, advisory head of global health care, and will work alongside David Kostel, who remains a global co-head of the healthcare investment banking division. Mr. Santangelo was global head of equity capital markets origination.

CenterOak Partners in Dallas has made several promotions, including naming Lucas Cutler and Jason Sutherland as managing partners. Both joined the firm as partners from Brazos Private Equity Partners.

Private-equity investment financing firm 17Capital has hired Martin Munte as the director of investor relations in its London office, according to a news release. He joins from CVC Credit Partners, where he was a director of investor relations.

Secondary investment market provider Forge Global Inc. is expanding into Hong Kong on the heels of a May deal to acquire competitor SharesPost Inc. for $160 million in cash and stock. Both firms have taken advantage of a trend among startups and growth-stage companies staying private longer, WSJ Pro Venture Capital has reported. Forge said the expansion will provide regional professionals with early access to stakes in some 473 privately owned technology companies with valuations of more than $1 billion.

Crestwood Equity Partners, a Houston-based master limited partnership that operates midstream energy businesses, said it was prepared for Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and expects to maintain full services to the oil company in the Powder River Basin and the Northeast Marcellus shale region. Chesapeake sought court protection from its creditors on Sunday. The fracking pioneer is trying to shed about $7 billion in debt as it navigates an oil market rout caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Rebecca Elliott reported Sunday for The Wall Street Journal.

Carlyle Group Inc.’s Glenn Youngkin, co-chief executive of the firm, has helped start a foundation to aid Virginians thrown out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout. The Virginia Ready Initiative, which Mr. Yougkin leads as chairman, plans to help jobless Virginians obtain training to qualify for in-demand jobs in high-growth sectors, Colin Kellaher reports for Dow Jones Newswires.

TPG, Fosun International and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, who have owned Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group since 2015, are trying to preserve the business by making a $300 million bid for the company which sought bankruptcy on Monday. Cirque has asked a bankruptcy court in Montreal to approve a so-called stalking horse bid—which is meant to put a floor under the price in an eventual sale—that would provide the company with $300 million, including a $200 million loan by the province of Quebec, and would let the current owners keep control of the company. Creditors who have lent the company more than $1 billion would get a 45% stake, Vipal Monga reports for The Wall Street Journal.

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