Good morning. Today our Maria Armental offers a look into a $165 million growth deal backing employee-rewards company Awardco led by Sixth Street and joined by Spectrum Equity. The deal vaulted the company's valuation to more than $1 billion.

Next our Journal colleagues report that Paul Atkins, the new SEC chair, said he plans to have staff take a second look at rules regarding investments in private funds. But he didn't say when.

Finally, the Journal also reports that 26North, the firm founded a few years ago by Apollo co-founder Josh Harris, is acquiring a minority interest in Cantor Fitzgerald as its former chief executive, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick takes steps to comply with a government ethics agreement. Oak Hill Advisors founder Glenn August also joined the deal.

We have these and many more stories condensed and linked for you below, so please read on ...

Sixth Street Partners led a $165 million minority investment alongside Spectrum Equity to back the growth of Awardco, pushing the employee-rewards company’s valuation to more than $1 billion, WSJ Pro’s Maria Armental reports. The latest cash infusion marks a step up from the Lindon, Utah, company’s roughly $900 million valuation in 2021, when it raised $65 million from venture-capital firm General Catalyst and tech entrepreneur Ryan Smith, also owner of the National Basketball Association’s Utah Jazz franchise. That deal provided the company with its first institutional capital.

Fund managers may soon be able to sell private-investment products to a broader swath of investors as Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins indicated that he intends to direct the agency’s staff to reconsider guidance that inhibits how much closed-end funds can invest in private funds, such as hedge funds and private-equity funds, the Journal reports. But the chairman, sworn in last month, didn’t provide a timeframe for the action. Currently, closed-end funds that invest 15% or more of their assets in private funds must restrict sales to investors who satisfy what is known as the accredited investor standard. A minimum investment requirement of $25,000 is also required.

Investment firm 26North Partners, which Apollo Global Management co-founder Josh Harris set up in 2022, has stepped in to back financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald by leading a minority investment as part of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s efforts to further a government ethics agreement. Lutnick reached deals to sell or transfer away his ownership interests in multiple affiliated companies, with trusts benefiting his children getting his interest in Cantor, Dean Seal reports for the Journal. The size of the investment led by 26North and joined by Oak Hill Advisors founder Glenn August, wasn’t disclosed. Cantor Fitzgerald continues to have controlling interests in both BGC Group and Newmark Group.

Asset manager Blackstone is expanding its flourishing infrastructure business with a deal to buy energy holding company TXNM Energy for nearly $5.7 billion in cash, Colin Kellaher reports for the Journal. Blackstone has agreed to pay $61.25 a share for the Albuquerque, N.M.-based provider of energy and electricity services in its home state and in Texas, a roughly 16% premium to Friday's closing price of $52.88. The New York firm is investing through its infrastructure strategy. The deal values TXNM at about $11.5 billion, including net debt and preferred stock.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. and Stonepeak pressed their £1.61 billion, or $2.14 billion, bid to acquire U.K. healthcare-property investor Assura after Primary Health Properties sweetened its rival bid to £1.68 billion in cash and stock on Friday, Cristina Gallardo reports for Dow Jones Newswires. KKR and Stonepeak faulted PHP's financing and said their 49.4 pence a share offer is superior while the PHP bid also could draw antitrust scrutiny.

Legal & General, the London-listed financial-services company, has acquired a 75% stake in real-estate private-equity firm Proprium Capital Partners as part of a push into private markets, Elena Vardon reports for Dow Jones Newswires. L&G plans to commit up to $300 million in capital to support Proprium's future fund strategies. Proprium spun out of Morgan Stanley's real-estate special situations team in 2013 and now manages around $3.5 billion.

Healthcare and life sciences-focused RA Capital Management led a $120 million growth investment in clinical-stage biotech CellCentric, joined by Forbion and Avego Bioscience Capital, among others. CellCentric is a spin-out of the University of Cambridge and is developing cancer treatments.

Ares Management has acquired a majority stake in commercial property maintenance company Landscape Workshop, investing through the firm’s private-equity strategy. The Birmingham, Ala.-based company operates from 38 locations across the Southeast.

Credit-focused Madison Realty Capital is providing a $720 million loan to support the conversion of Pfizer’s former 42nd Street headquarters in New York into 1,602 apartments. The project involves the former Pfizer building as well as two other properties at 219 and 235 E. 42nd St. and is under development by Metro Loft Developers and David Werner Real Estate Investments.

Growth investor St. Cloud Capital in Los Angeles is providing financing to waterfront entertainment provider Santa Monica Amusements, investing from the firm’s fourth fund. The company operates Pacific Park on the Santa Monica pier, which draws more than 10 million visitors annually.

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

Vista Equity Partners-backed software maker Finastra is selling its Treasury and Capital Markets applications business to Apax Partners, which plans to set it up as a standalone operation. The unit has more than 340 customers for its software that clients use for risk management, compliance and capital markets functions. The deal leaves Finastra with a custom base of roughly 8,100 financial institutions, including most of the world’s biggest banks. Vista has backed Finastra since 2012.

Specialist investor Fusion Capital Partners in Los Angeles has acquired a majority stake in equipment and engineered-products provider Relevant Industrial in Houston from LKCM Headwater Investments, which remains a minority backer.

Multi-strategy firm KKR & Co. has rounded up more than $11.3 billion so far for its KKR Global Infrastructure Investors V fund, including parallel vehicles, according to a regulatory filing. The new pool’s predecessor closed on $17 billion in March 2022. Investors in the fund include the roughly $110.5 billion State of Michigan Retirement System, which pledged $100 million, and the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, which kicked in as much as $50 million, according to the WSJ Pro Private Equity LP Commitments database. The Minnesota State Board of Investment committed $200 million.

Eagle Merchant Partners in Atlanta has collected $415 million for its sophomore buyout fund, which is now closed to new investors. The firm aims to invest from the vehicle, Eagle Merchant Partners Fund II, by taking control stakes in family-owned businesses in the southeastern U.S.

Five Point Infrastructure in Houston has added Jeff Eaton as a partner and executive vice president. Previously he led placement agent Eaton Partners for nearly two decades.

Specialist private-equity firm TSG Consumer Partners has moved up Jessica Duran to chief operating officer, based in San Francisco. She remains the firm’s chief financial officer as well.

Bridge loan specialist Pender Capital has added Andrew Tran as chief financial officer and Will Dyer as senior vice president of loan operations. Tran was previously CFO at Coast Asset Management while Dyer was with Bay Mountain Capital.

Altamont Capital Partners has hired Ailyn Fun as a director and head of investor relations. Fun previously worked for Altaris in New York.

A challenging fundraising environment has placed a premium on investor relations and capital formation talent, according to a report from executive recruiter Jensen Partners. During this year's first quarter, Jensen tracked 1,124 senior level capital formation moves across private markets, up from 937 of such shifts in the year-earlier period. Within private markets, private equity and private credit each experienced around 20% year-over-year increases in senior capital-formation talent moves during the most recent period, according to the Jensen report. During the first quarter of the year, Jensen tracked 262 such moves for private equity and 174 for private credit.

Secondary investor Committed Advisors in Paris has acquired stakes in 35 private-equity funds managed by 22 general partners from Peugeot Invest for about €227 million, or roughly $253.4 million, according to the seller. The transaction also transferred €68 million in unfunded commitments. About three-quarters of the funds involved were launched in 2019 or earlier, according to Peugeot Invest.

New Mountain Capital in New York is forming healthcare-focused Smarter Technologies by combining portfolio companies operating as SmarterDx, Thoughtful.ai and Access Healthcare. The newly formed business will specialize in automating workflows and strengthening client company finances and is expected to generate revenue of over $800 million. New Mountain said last month it was backing SmarterDx and Thoughtful while it announced its investment in Access in January.

Infrastructure-focused Stonepeak joined development-focused Arab Energy Fund in an agreement to invest in energy infrastructure across the Middle East. The $1 billion partnership will focus on businesses that support the region’s energy security. The Arab Energy Fund is backed by 10 oil-exporting countries. New York-based Stonepeak manages assets of about $73 billion.

Carlyle Group has set up an energy infrastructure business, Revera Energy, backed by the Washington-based firm’s infrastructure strategy. Revera focuses on developing, owning and operating assets such as utility-scale battery storage, renewable power and green hydrogen, including projects carved out of Amp Energy in Australia and the U.K.

Property-focused TriPost Capital Partners is backing private-credit provider Veleta Capital, which specializes in multifamily and mixed-use assets. The deal includes an anchor commitment to Veleta Fund II.

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

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

Follow us on Twitter:@wsjpe, @LHVGarcia, @LauraKreutzer