Good Thursday morning. It's only one more day until TGIF time, and the pace of activity this week makes us feel the need for a break. 

Our Maria Armental reports that Brookfield has collected around $15 billion in commitments for its first global energy transition fund, around twice the amount it originally targeted for the vehicle. It comes as other big fund sponsors have cited a tough market for capital raising. 

Also, our Preeti Singh reports on moves to bring in new leaders for Pennsylvania's biggest public pension system. It starts with naming a permanent executive director, and Preeti writes about efforts to deal with turmoil that followed a critical performance miscalculation and the federal investigations it helped prompt.

Finally, our WSJ Pro Bankruptcy colleague Akiko Matsuda reports that private-equity firm Parallel49 Equity is in line to help extricate Gold Standard Baking from bankruptcy.

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

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. raised $15 billion for its first dedicated impact fund that focuses on investments supporting the gobal transition to clean energy, including capital reserved for the firm’s private-wealth channel, Maria Armental reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. The final tally for the Brookfield Global Transition Fund exceeds a $12.5 billion cap Brookfield indicated last year, making it among the largest private funds dedicated to the transition to a carbon-free economy. Significant backers of the fund include the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, PSP Investments and the Investment Management Corp. of Ontario as well as Singapore sovereign wealth investor Temasek Holdings. 

Pennsylvania’s largest pension has made its interim leader permanent, cementing the role of a veteran of the system who returned after the departure of several senior officials in the wake of an investment performance miscalculation and the federal probes it helped prompt, Preeti Singh reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. Overseers of the $75.9 billion Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System formally named Terrill Sanchez as executive director to replace Glen Grell on a permanent basis. She is the first woman to lead the century-old pension plan. The staff changes followed a year marked by an error in calculating investment returns at the end of 2020, the launch of probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the disruptions that followed.

Parallel49 Equity-backed Gold Standard Baking filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing rising costs for labor and materials and is preparing to sell itself to investors and insiders that include the company's current chief executive and the private-equity firm, Akiko Matsuda reports for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy. The Chicago-based company has more than $140 million in funded debt, some of which has been in default since 2020, court papers show.

Join us on July 19 for a members-only virtual event to discuss portfolio management in turbulent markets with industry specialists and journalists from WSJ Pro Private Equity. The event will feature two panel discussions–one on how limited partners are adapting to current market conditions, the other looking at trends in the secondaries market. You can register here.

Thoma Bravo said it has closed its more than $10 billion buyout of software company Anaplan Inc. for $63.75 per share, following a renegotiation of the price last month from $66.00 per share the Chicago firm agreed to in March. The San Francisco-based company also said that Frank Calderoni is stepping down as chief executive and chairman, replaced by an adviser to Anaplan, Charles Goodman, on an interim basis.

Ardian- and MidOcean Partners-backed ingredients maker Florida Food Products LLC is buying coffee, tea and flavorings producer Javo Beverage Co. in Vista, Calif., according to an emailed news release. Ardian acquired a majority interest in FFP from MidOcean in September. The Eustis, Fla.-based company now generates close to $300 million in revenue.

​​Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has acquired life sciences-focused Technical Safety Services from Edgewater Funds and JZ Partners, according to a news release. The La Jolla, Calif.-based company provides regulatory compliance services involving controlled environments such as clean rooms, bio-safety cabinets, medical-gas systems, high-purity water systems and laboratory equipment to more than 12,000 clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries. The company said it had about 530 employees at the start of this year, when it acquired peer company AL-TAR Services Inc.

Bain Capital has backed a $150 million growth investment in data management technology provider Ataccama Corp., for a minority stake in the Toronto-based company, according to a press release. Bain is funding the investment out of the firm’s technology opportunities investment strategy, which is seeking $1.5 billion for its second fund, WSJ Pro Private Equity previously reported.

Reverence Capital Partners-backed wealth-management company Advisor Group Inc. is buying a smaller peer, American Portfolios Financial Services Inc., adding the Holbrook, N.Y.-based company’s more than 850 financial professionals and approximately $40 billion in client assets to its already ballooning operations. Phoenix-based Advisor Group has about 9,700 financial professionals and oversees roughly $515 billion in client assets. Reverence initially invested in the company in 2019.

Blackstone Inc. is backing data-security company Veza Inc., joining existing investors in a Series C round, according to the Los Gatos, Calif.-based systems-software maker. Veza said Blackstone, which invested through its innovations strategy, is also hiring the company to help modernize its data security and access controls. Other backers of the startup have included Accel, Bain Capital and Norwest Venture Partners.

One Equity Partners is acquiring a majority interest in Danish pump and environmental cleanup systems maker Desmi A/S, according to a news release. Founded in 1834, the company sells its products across six continents, providing equipment to the marine, industrial, utility, defense, fuel and environmental-services sectors.

Silver Lake is acquiring Italian online price-comparison website Facile.it SpA from EQT AB and Oakley Capital, according to a news release from EQT in Stockholm. Silver Lake said the transaction makes the company Italy’s second unicorn, or privately owned business worth $1 billion or more, without saying how much it is paying. The Milan-based company, which  provides prices for financial services such as car insurance as well as utilities, generated about €140 million, equivalent to $147.5 million, in revenue last year. EQT initially invested in Facile.it in 2018, buying a majority interest from Oakley in London through its EQT VII private-equity fund. Oakley first backed the business in 2014.

Ara Partners has purchased a majority interest in agricultural pulp and molded fiber products maker Genera Energy Inc. and made a commitment of as much as $200 million to support the company’s growth, according to a news release. Genera uses nonwood pulp and fiber to produce biodegradable food containers and packaging. Sellers WindSail Capital Group, Coppermine Capital and Stairway Capital all remain minority investors in the business.

Sagard Healthcare Partners and Oaktree Capital Management are acquiring rights to revenue from U.S. and European royalties and other interests tied to a skin ointment called tirbanibulin, or Klisyri, from Athenex Inc., according to a news release. The buyers are paying Athenex $85 million.

TriWest Capital Partners is backing family-friendly technology company A Parent Media Co. in a transaction that values the company at more than 600 million Canadian dollars, according to a news release. The Calgary, Alberta-based company provides technology to help parents ensure their children are able to safely stream media from various sources through brands such as Kidoodle.TV, Glitch+ and Safe Exchange Inc.

Sheridan Capital Partners in Chicago is investing in medical device servicing company RS&A LLC, backing the company alongside its founding managers, according to a news release. The Rural Hall, N.C.-based company specializes in maintaining equipment such as medical linear accelerators used to provide radiotherapy to cancer patients.

StepStone Group Inc. in Chicago and Blue Vista Capital Management have formed a $90 million partnership to invest in purpose-built student housing, starting with a 671-bed project in Atlanta called Theory Interlock, according to a news release. The overall Interlock project, which real estate investment firm Blue Vista began earlier, also includes retail space, a 161-room hotel, luxury apartments and townhomes. StepStone is investing through its real estate arm.

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

Battery Ventures has agreed to exit one life-sciences-focused portfolio company and acquired another, according to two separate press releases. The Boston-based firm’s private-equity team has sold life-sciences technology company SPT Labtech to fellow private-equity firm EQT AB for ￡650 million, the equivalent of $798.1 million. Battery initially backed the U.K.-based provider of consumables and instruments used in life-sciences research back in 2018. Separately, Battery said it has backed another U.K.-based company serving the life-sciences industry with a majority investment in Titian Software Ltd. London-based Titian offers software that helps life-sciences laboratories manage research sample data and related services.

Riverside Co. has sold its stake in U.K. contractor compliance services provider Brookson Group Ltd. to TPG Inc.-backed People 2.0 Global LLC, according to a news release. Riverside acquired the software-as-a-service company in November 2014. Based in England, Brookson works with employers and the freelance contractors they hire to offer support for such tasks as payment, hiring and providing insurance.

Ardian in Paris is selling its majority stake in information-technology management services provider Trustteam NV to Rivean Capital in the Netherlands, according to a news release. Ardian first backed the Belgian company in 2018 through its expansion strategy and helped the business acquire six other operations, adding to its market presence in France, where it now derives almost a third of its revenue.

Patient Square Capital, a healthcare-focused firm co-founded by Managing Partner Jim Momtazee, former head of the Americas healthcare team at KKR & Co., has rounded up at least $2.6 billion so far for Patient Square Equity Partners LP and related parallel funds, according to a regulatory filing.

St. Louis-based midmarket firm Thompson Street Capital Partners has rounded up at least $1.31 billion so far for Thompson Street Capital Partners VI LP and related parallel funds, regulatory filings indicate. The amount raised puts the fund close to a $1.5 billion goal indicated in the filings.

Sagard Private Equity so far raised 400 million Canadian dollars, the equivalent of $309.6 million, for its first midmarket fund focused on Canadian companies, bringing the fund to its initial target, according to an emailed press release. The firm has already backed at least one company out of the new fund with an investment in LOU-TEC, a Quebec-based company that rents out heavy machinery and special equipment.

RedBird Capital Partners is picking up Haig Ariyan, the head of Raymond James Financial Inc.'s Alex. Brown unit, who is stepping down to help RedBird build a new asset and wealth-management platform, Andrew Welsch reports for sister publication Barron’s citing people familiar with the matter. Mr. Ariyan has worked at Alex. Brown since 1996. Founded in 2014 by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Partner Gerry Cardinale, RedBird has more than $6 billion in assets and invests in sports, financial-services and consumer companies, according to its website. It relies on a network of more than 400 entrepreneurs and family offices for its investment sourcing strategy.

Stellus Capital Management in Houston has hired Bill Haverland as a principal and Casey Carroll as a vice president in investor relations, according to an emailed news release. Mr. Haverland was most recently an executive director in the technology, media and telecommunications group at Fifth Third Bank, focusing on private equity. Mr. Carroll was most recently in a similar role with Comvest Partners.

Consulting firm Cambridge Associates has named Pamela Boone as its chief financial officer, according to a press release. Ms. Boone has more than 30 years of experience, including nearly two decades with State Street Corp.

J.F. Lehman & Company, a midmarket firm focused on defense, aerospace, maritime, government and environmental industries, has named Dr. Will Roper, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, as a member of its operating executive board.

Football season is months away, but Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones already has notched a big win this year betting on natural gas, The Wall Street Journal’s Ryan Dezember reports. Mr. Jones took control of gas producer Comstock Resources Inc. four years ago at the depths of a price bust with an eye toward liquefied natural gas export terminals along the Gulf of Mexico, just south of the company’s drilling fields. Now, because of booming LNG exports and the highest gas prices in years, his stake is worth about $2.6 billion, more than twice the roughly $1.1 billion he invested.

Apollo Global Management Inc. in New York has formed an Asia-Pacific credit strategy with Australian pension fund Hostplus, which is run by Host-Plus Pty. Ltd. as its trustee. The new strategy has $1.25 billion in initial assets, including a $500 million commitment from Hostplus, and is focused on private credit investments in Australia, India, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong.

Blackstone Inc.'s roughly $6 billion bet on acquiring beleaguered Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd. yielded an early dividend for the American private-equity giant after a local regulator gave the company permission to open its new casino in Sydney, Stuart Condie reports for The Wall Street Journal. The provisional license lets Crown operate the $1.53 billion waterfront resort’s casino. The company had faced questions over an investigation concerning money laundering and other improper actions involving gamblers in China. But the regulator said the company had reformed its operations and could open the venue.

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Maria Armental; Ted Bunker; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Laura Kreutzer; Preeti Singh; Chitra Vemuri.

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