Good day. The sagging U.S. stock markets, led by the fourth day of losses for the Dow Industrials, is weighing on technology company values. And no wonder. The Nasdaq composite is down about 26% since the start of this year. But at TPG, executives see buying opportunities emerging from the rout, as our Chris Cumming reports. 

Meanwhile, our Preeti Singh writes that Bain Capital just can’t let go when it comes to distributor Imperial Dade. After selling a stake to Advent, Bain Capital plans to retain a piece for an extended period by way of a single-asset continuation fund, people familiar with the matter say.

Finally, our Journal colleague Eliot Brown disects the battering the markets have given to Masayoshi Son’s $100 billion Vision Fund, which is lagging the overall market five years into its life. 

We have these stories and much more for you, so please wade in ...

Leaders of TPG Inc. said this year’s market declines have reshaped the investment landscape for high-growth companies, creating opportunities to invest at lower prices, Chris Cumming writes for WSJ Pro Private Equity. The firm, whose assets rose 26% to about $120 billion at the end of March from a year earlier, has been mainly a seller over the past year, a trend that continued in the first quarter. But the continuing stock-market decline, which has hit tech companies and high-growth businesses especially hard, is opening up a chance to become a buyer, firm executives told analysts in an earnings call Tuesday.

Bain Capital’s Private Equity strategy is preparing to launch a single-asset secondary deal for portfolio company Imperial Dade, just a week after agreeing to sell a partial stake in the company to Advent International, Preeti Singh reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. The firm aims to raise $500 million to $1 billion for a so-called continuation fund to support the deal, which would give it more capital and time to manage the Jersey City, N.J.-based distributor of food services disposables and janitorial products, according to people familiar with the matter. Private-equity firms typically raise such funds from secondary investors to finance the acquisition of assets they own through prior funds.

Five years after its kickoff, SoftBank Group Corp.’s $100 billion Vision Fund is being battered by the selloff in technology stocks, making for an embarrassing performance that lags the overall market, Eliot Brown reports for The Wall Street Journal. Started with a goal of funding a whole generation of future tech giants, the fund raised roughly 30 times more cash than the next largest venture-capital fund at the time. Now SoftBank and its chief executive, Masayoshi Son, stand out as perhaps the most visible victims of the tech rout.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset management arm led a $200 million investment in renewable energy data company Arcadia Power Inc., joined by three other new investors in the company, Keyframe Capital, Broadscale Group and Triangle Peak Partners, according to a news release. Several existing investors also chipped in for the investment round. JPMorgan invested in the Washington, D.C.-based company through its new sustainable growth equity strategy. The deal values the business at about $1.5 billion, Amrith Ramkumar reports for The Wall Street Journal.

KKR & Co. led a $200 million investment in payments infrastructure company Paddle.com Market Ltd., in a debt and equity deal that values the business at about $1.4 billion, according to a news release. KKR was joined by existing investors FTV Capital, 83North, Notion Capital and Kindred Capital, while Silicon Valley Bank provided debt financing. U.K.-based Paddle provides systems to software-as-a-service companies that integrate checkout, payment, subscription management, invoicing, international taxes and financial compliance processes.

Growth investor General Atlantic led a $105 million investment in digital asset trading technology company Talos Trading Inc. in a deal that values the business at $1.25 billion, according to a news release. General Atlantic was joined by Matrix Capital Management and more than a half-dozen other investors, including major banks and existing backers. The Series B round is expected to help the New York company, whose systems are used for trading cryptocurrency and other digital assets, expand into Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Partners Group Holding AG led an $85 million investment in enterprise contract lifecycle management company SirionLabs Inc., joined by existing investors Avatar Capital, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management, according to a news release. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company plans to expand its workforce by up to 200 positions using the fresh capital.

Blackstone Inc. is investing in environmental engineering and design company Geosyntec Consultants Inc., acquiring a majority stake in the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company through its Energy Partners strategy, according to a news release. Geosyntec has more than 1,700 engineers, scientists and key employees and works with government agencies, private companies and others on natural resources, environmental and infrastructure issues.

Peak Rock Capital is backing supply chain software-as-a-service provider Mojix Inc., according to an emailed news release. The Los Angeles-based company uses radio frequency identification technology to manage and trace inventories and shipments in industries that include retail, automotive, aerospace and food makers.

Ardian in Paris is investing in French food supplements distributor Nutripure SARL, joined by Bpifrance, according to an emailed news release. The company was started by brothers Florent and Christophe Carrio, a five-time world karate champion, in 2017. Ardian is backing the business through its growth strategy.

Granite Creek Capital Partners is backing property document preparation services provider Bundle LLC, joining Knox Capital as an investor in the company. Knox first backed the company, then known as ANADeeds, in 2020. The Clarence, N.Y.-based business provides deeds and other documents needed to close real estate transactions.

Impact investor HCAP Partners is backing staffing company FleetNurse Inc., according to a news release. The Eugene, Ore.-based company’s software is designed to connect health professionals seeking work with providers in need of staff.

ARX Equity Partners has acquired a majority stake in carbon-fiber product manufacturer Brebeck Composite SRO, according to an emailed news release. The company, based in Senov, Czech Republic, generates about €10 million, or $10.6 million, from making components and parts mainly for the automotive industry and auto sports competitors such as Porsche AG.

Keensight Capital is backing U.K. business software advisory firm Bedford Consulting, which is a partner with software-as-a-service provider Anaplan Inc., according to an emailed news release. The U.K. firm is investing alongside co-owners Ned and Cathal Doyle.

KKR & Co. has closed four debt investments with a combined value of about $234 million through the firm’s KKR Real Estate Select Trust Inc., according to a news release. The deals include mainly floating-rate debt backed by apartment buildings, hotels and office space.

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

A blank-check company backed by Tikehau Capital and Financière Agache has agreed to combine with private equity-backed FL Entertainment Group, which includes European sports betting company Betclic Everest Group and content production company Banijay Group, in a deal that gives the business an enterprise value of €7.2 billion, or about $7.6 billion, according to a news release. Pegasus Entrepreneurial Acquisition Company Europe BV, which raised €210 million through an initial public offering late last year, will provide FL Entertainment with a listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. FL Entertainment backer Financière Lov is investing €250 million into the transaction. The business generated about €3.5 billion of revenue and adjusted pre-tax earnings of roughly €609 million last year.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is officially taking a break from handling special-purpose acquisition company, or blank check, initial public offerings amid a sharp slowdown in the market over the past several months, Steve Gelsi reports for sister publication MarketWatch. The investment bank blamed a slew of new regulations proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to level the playing field between traditional IPOs and SPAC deals, in which a listed shell company combines with a private business to give it a public listing. But the move comes after the SPAC market has fallen off a cliff this year amid increasing market volatility as investors grapple with rising inflation and concerns over a potential recession.

A blank-check company led by Peter Yu, the managing partner of private-equity firm Cartesian Capital Group, has raised at least $230 million through an initial public offering of shares on the Nasdaq stock market, according to a news release. Cartesian Growth Corp. II plans to combine with a high-growth business with proven or potential transnational operations to bring it public, according to a regulatory filing.

Lead Capital Partners in Nashville, Tenn., has sold software provider Common Cents Systems Inc., which operates as ApolloLIMS, to Roper Technologies Inc. subsidiary CliniSys Group, according to an emailed news release. The Nashville-based company’s software is used in toxicology, molecular, public health and reference laboratories.

BlackRock Inc. has raised around $800 million of the $1 billion it is seeking for its BlackRock Impact Opportunities Fund, a multi-strategy alternative investment vehicle focused on backing companies or projects owned, led by or serving people of color, particularly Black, Latino and Native American communities. Investors that have contributed to the fund include Lincoln Financial Group and several corporations, according to an emailed press release. So far the fund has made three investments.

Madison Dearborn Partners on Tuesday outlined its leadership succession plans, naming Tim Sullivan and Tom Souleles as co-presidents and adding that the two will work closely with Paul Finnegan and Sam Mencoff, the Chicago buyout firm’s co-chief executive officers. Messrs. Sullivan and Souleles are slated to succeed Messrs. Finnegan and Mencoff as co-CEOs next year, when the firm plans to launch its next investment vehicle, Madison Dearborn Capital Partners Fund IX. At that time, Mr. Finnegan will become Madison Dearborn chairman and Mr. Mencoff will shift to a senior advisor role. Mr. Finnegan and Mr. Mencoff co-founded Madison Dearborn in 1992 and have served as co-CEOs since 2007.

Multi-strategy private investment firm GCM Grosvenor Inc. reported that its assets under management rose 10% to about $71.34 billion at the end of March compared with a year earlier, while fee-related earnings surged 26% to $31.7 million, according to a presentation filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Chicago firm said it had raised $8.2 billion in the 12 months through March, including $1.3 billion in the first quarter of this year. Assets dedicated to private markets climbed 18% to $46.3 billion at the end of March from a year earlier, while capital devoted to absolute return strategies declined 2% to $25 billion. Net income attributable to the firm jumped 86% to $4.7 million, or 8 cents a share, from about $2.5 million, or a loss of 5 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. GCM shares climbed as much as 4.6% in early Tuesday trading after the earnings report, but fell back later in the day.

Vinci Partners in Brazil reported 56.68 billion reais, equivalent to $11.04 billion, in assets under management at the end of March while adjusted distributable earnings rose 22% in the first quarter to 57.7 million reais, or 1.03 reais per share, from 47.2 million reais, or 0.83 reais per share a year earlier. The firm said it had 21 billion reais in private markets assets at the end of the last quarter, down slightly from 21.35 billion reais a year earlier.

Riverstone Holdings’ Talen Energy Corp. placed a collection of power plants into bankruptcy, planning to hand control of the business to bondholders after a cash crunch caused by surging natural-gas prices last year, Alexander Gladstone and Soma Biswas report for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy. Power generation unit Talen Energy Supply LLC has struggled to navigate weak electricity markets while spending heavily to meet clean-energy mandates, and accumulated nearly $4.5 billion in debt before a liquidity crisis forced the business into chapter 11 on Monday, court papers say. Riverstone formed Talen in 2014 out of a unit spun off from PPL Corp., and later merged the company with another independent power producer controlled by the private-equity firm, according to court papers.

An upstart financial firm backed by Peter Thiel and Bill Ackman has a message for American corporations: Focus on making money, not taking stands, Liz Hoffman and Charley Grant write for The Wall Street Journal. Vivek Ramaswamy, who made his fortune in pharmaceutical startups before writing a book last year called “Woke, Inc.,” says he has raised $20 million to start a fund manager that would urge companies not to wade into hot-button social or environmental issues. Mr. Thiel invested both personally and through his Founders Fund, joined by Palantir Technologies Inc. co-founder Joe Lonsdale and other venture investors. Mr. Ramaswamy’s ambitions speak to the culture wars nipping at U.S. corporate executives.

KKR & Co. and BlackRock Inc. have received Chinese regulatory approvals allowing their newly formed local units to raise funds for investing overseas, Reuters reported from Hong Kong, citing official filings. The two firms’ fund units cleared their final hurdles to secure quotas from China’s qualified domestic limited partnership program, according to filings. The action allows both to invest funds raised from high net-worth and institutional investors in China in offshore funds. The approvals signal that Beijing is forging ahead with opening its financial markets to foreigners despite worries over currency depreciation and prolonged Covid-related lockdowns in its financial center, Shanghai.

Adviser Meketa Investment Group’s second annual survey of private-equity managers found no improvement in terms of women and people of color advancing to decision-making roles, according to a news release. Women are least represented in portfolio management while diverse employees are least represented in equity ownership, the firm said, citing 420 responses from fund managers. Last year, 42% of new employees were either female, diverse or both, Meketa said. But 59% of those promoted were men and more than two-thirds weren’t racially diverse.

CVC Capital Partners is pushing back its plan to become a publicly traded business, the Financial Times reported, according to Reuters. The U.K. firm now plans an initial public offering later this year or early next year, the newspaper said, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. CVC didn’t immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

State and local government retirement funds started the year with their worst quarterly returns since the beginning of the pandemic. Things have only gone downhill since, Heather Gillers writes for The Wall Street Journal. Losses across both stock and bond markets delivered a double blow to the funds that manage more than $4.5 trillion in retirement savings for America’s teachers, firefighters and other government workers. These retirement plans returned a median minus 4.01% in the first quarter, according to data from the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service.

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