Uncertainty over the extent of economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic continues to weigh on stock markets. That can be both good and bad for private-equity investors, potentially generating better pricing for deals even as it makes them trickier to value and negotiate.

In today’s top news, Andrew Scurria of WSJ Pro Bankruptcy has news that private equity-backed Travelport Worldwide has reached a settlement with its lenders over a $1 billion rescue package dispute. Meanwhile, our own Ted Bunker has news of a guilty plea from Michael Cohn, a former SEC examiner and ex-compliance officer at GPB Capital Holdings, for the theft of government information. Preeti Singh reports that one of the nation’s largest pension funds, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, has reversed an earlier decision that gave its chief executive responsibility over managing its chief investment officer. And SoftBank Group continued its exit spree.

Read on for more and have a great weekend...

Elliott Management Corp.’s Travelport Worldwide Ltd. reached a restructuring agreement that unwinds a disputed $1 billion shareholder rescue package and ends a standoff with some of Wall Street’s biggest debt buyers, Andrew Scurria writes for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy, citing people familiar with the matter. The settlement cools tensions between Travelport’s top lenders and its private-equity backers Elliott and Siris Capital Group LLC, resolving one of the highest-profile fights to break out between investors in companies hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. Elliott declined to comment.

Michael Cohn, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission examiner who faced felony charges that he shared information about a probe of private-equity firm GPB Capital Holdings LLC to land a job as its chief compliance officer, has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of theft, Ted Bunker writes for WSJ Pro. Mr. Cohn entered the plea of guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft of government property earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and faces as much as a year in prison, a Justice Department spokesman said. His sentencing is set for Jan. 11, 2021.

The overseers of the largest U.S. public pension system agreed late Wednesday to take a direct role in managing the retirement plan’s chief investment officer, walking back a previous decision to place the responsibility entirely in the hands of its chief executive, Preeti Singh writes for WSJ Pro Private Equity. The move by the Board of Administration of the $413.99 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System gives its members a formal role in hiring, evaluating and firing the CIO. The decision came in the wake of Ben Meng’s abrupt departure from the job last month amid an internal review concerning his personal investments.

Brightstar Capital Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in wireless technology company Brightstar Corp. from SoftBank Group in a deal that would reunite the private-equity firm’s managing partner, Andrew Weinberg, with a company he once helped manage. Before launching Brightstar Capital, Mr. Weinberg worked at midmarket private-equity firm Lindsay Goldberg, which owned Brightstar Corp. for some seven years before selling a stake to SoftBank in 2014 for some $1.7 billion. Mr. Weinberg also served as chief operating officer for Brightstar Corp. 

Fall is approaching and we are seeking nominations for our annual Women to Watch list. Know a talented senior female deal maker or rising star deal maker that deserves recognition? Or perhaps a woman that is making strides in the fundraising or limited partner world? Let the industry know by nominating her here. We are accepting nominations until Sept. 25.

Northleaf Capital Partners has agreed to sell a 70% economic interest in itself to an investment vehicle jointly owned by the Mackenzie Financial Corp. unit of IGM Financial Inc. and insurer Great-West Lifeco Inc. for an initial payment of about 245 million Canadian dollars (equivalent to $186.1 million), plus earn-out provisions over five years. Based in Toronto, Northleaf manages C$17 billion in assets across private-equity, credit and infrastructure strategies. The deal expands access to Northleaf products for Mackenzie clients, according to a news release, while IGM and Lifeco, both part of the Power Group, have committed to invest C$700 million in Northleaf funds over the coming 18 to 24 months.

Human-resource services provider 51job Inc. said it is reviewing a proposal from private-equity firm DCP Capital Partners LP to acquire the company for $79.05 a share in cash, or about $5.3 billion based on shares outstanding, Dave Sebastian writes for Dow Jones Newswires. The transaction price reflects a 16.05% premium over 51job's closing price of $68.12 Wednesday. DCP said it plans to fund the transaction using equity capital and debt financing. The company last month posted second-quarter net income of $53.31 million on revenue of $117.3 million, which fell 14% from the year-ago period.

KKR & Co., Providence Equity Partners and Cinven got some good news Thursday as Spanish authorities said their €22.50 a share bid to acquire MásMóvil Ibercom SA has been accepted by more than 86% of the telecommunication company’s eligible shareholders. The private-equity firms made the €3 billion ($3.56 billion) take-private offer in June. Hedge fund Polygon Global Partners had protested the bid, saying that the terms made it impossible to offer a competing proposal, according to Reuters. Shareholders must still meet to vote on delisting the stock, Reuters said Thursday.

Sun Capital Partners is backing family-owned Mancini’s Sleepworld, a northern California bedding retailer. Following the transaction, second-generation owner Randy Mancini will become chairman of the 33-store retailer and Marc Leder, co-chief executive, will be the company’s sole CEO.

Texas-based private equity firm Peak Rock Capital has acquired a majority stake in Halo Foods, a Welsh manufacturer of healthy bars and snacks, for an undisclosed amount, Elisângela Mendonça reports for sister publication Private Equity News. The company, founded in 1989, was backed by Dutch private equity firm Nimbus and Germany-based food group Lauren Spethman Holdings. Both are re-investing in the business to keep minority interests, a person close to the matter told Private Equity News.

General Catalyst and Drive Capital have led a $106 million funding round for Olive, an artificial intelligence based technology company catering to hospitals and health organizations. Other investors in the funding round include Ascension Ventures, Oak HC/FT and SVB Capital. Olive has raised a total of $220 million to date.

Swedish buyout group EQT has agreed to buy Italian online real estate classifieds group Casa.it from Oakley Capital, Private Equity News’ Elisângela Mendonça reports. Financial details of the transaction, expected to close in December, were not disclosed.

Clearlake Capital Group said it has agreed to purchase software company Zywave Inc. from fellow private-equity investor Aurora Capital Partners. Zywave offers software used by insurance companies to manage customer relationship management tasks.

JMI Equity has made a strategic growth investment in Bloomerang, a software provider that helps nonprofit organizations manage donor relations.

KKR & Co. has acquired an industrial warehouse in Phoenix for about $43 million through its core plus real estate strategy. It is the third industrial property acquired by the core plus fund. Describing it as a fulfillment center, KKR said the property began operating last year and is fully leased. The firm now has about $12 billion in real estate assets under management.

Apollo Global Management is weighing a takeover of German plastics manufacturer Covestro AG, Bloomberg News reported, adding that deliberations are still in the early stages.

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

Richard Handler, the chief executive of investment banking company Jefferies Financial Group Inc., has joined with Houston entrepreneur Tilman Fertitta to lead Lancadia Holdings III Inc., a special purpose acquisition company that plans to raise $50 million to acquire a private hospitality, entertainment or gambling business, a regulatory filing shows. Mr. Fertitta’s Fertitta Entertainment Inc. company has assets of more than $6 billion, including the NBA’s Houston Rockets, the Golden Nugget casino business and some 75 restaurant brands, including Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., and steakhouses Morton’s and McCormick & Schmick’s. Mr. Handler has led Jefferies as CEO since 2001. Both men previously led two earlier SPACs, Lancadia I and Lancadia II, which raised $250 million and $316 million, respectively, in initial public offerings of shares in 2016 and last year.

Alpha Healthcare Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisitions company, hopes to raise $100 million to focus on venture or private-equity backed disruptive health-care technology, medical devices and biotech companies. The SPAC is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rajiv Shukla, and Chief Financial Officer, Patrick A. Sturgeon. Mr. Shukla’s previous SPAC, Constellation Alpha Capital Corp., raised $143.75 million in its initial public offering in June 2017 and acquired DermTech Operations Inc., a non-invasive genomics test for skin cancers in 2019.

Investors including Centerbridge Partners and FFL Partners have agreed to sell managed vision care provider Versant Health Holdco Inc. to MetLife Inc. for roughly $1.67 billion in cash. Versant, the parent of Davis Vision Inc. and Superior Vision, serves about 35 million members. MetLife said the acquisition will sharply increase the number of its members with access to Versant vision care through group health plans, bringing the total to 38 million. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year, subject to regulatory and other approvals.

PPD Inc. investors including Hellman & Friedman and Carlyle Group Inc. plan to cash in some of their chips in PPD some seven months after returning the contract research organization to the public equities market, Colin Kellaher reports for Dow Jones Newswires. A 38 million-share secondary offering priced at $32.25 per share includes 21.2 million shares from Hellman & Friedman and 9.3 million from Carlyle, a regulatory filing shows. In addition, sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi and Singapore are selling about 3.6 million shares apiece. PPD's February IPO priced at $27. Unless the underwriters opt to sell more, Hellman & Friedman will still hold a 39.3% stake in the company and Carlyle will own a 16.4% interest.

The private equity arm of Egypt-headquartered investment bank EFG Hermes has sold a controlling stake in Vortex III, a UK solar energy portfolio, to the Malaysian utility TNB International in a deal that values the asset at £500 million ($646.2 million),

Scandinavian financial institution SEB said it has formed SEB Greentech, a new investment unit that will focus on venture investments in mature Nordic companies that can improve the use of natural resources and reduce negative ecological impact. SEB is allocating an initial 300 million Swedish krona ($34.2 million) to the unit, which it aims to increase to 1 billion krona, according to a press release.

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe has hired health-care executive Karey Witty as an operating partner at the New York private-equity firm. He brings three decades of industry experience to the role, after most recently serving as chief operating officer at Envision Healthcare and CEO of Corizon Health Inc., WCAS said.

Nuveen LLC affiliate Churchill Asset Management has hired Christopher Freeze as a senior managing director and head of investor relations. He reports to David Heilbrunn, Churchill’s head of product development and capital raising. Mr. Freeze joins from Carlyle Group Inc. where he was most recently a managing director and co-head of investor relations. Churchill has about $24 billion in committed capital. Nuveen is part of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund.

Ara Partners, a private-equity firm focused on investments that promote decarbonization, said it has hired Tuan Tran as a managing director at the firm. Mr. Tran was previously a partner at energy focused firm Intervale Capital.

Private-equity backed governance software provider Diligent Corporation said it has expanded its Modern Leadership initiative to include 11 more private-equity firms and four executive recruiters. The initiative is aimed at promoting racial and gender diversity on corporate boards. TPG, Francisco Partners, ICV Partners, GI Partners, New Mountain Capital, The Jordan Company, The Riverside Company, Palladium Equity Partners, Argand Partners, Sumeru Equity Partners and Blue Point Capital Partners join 10 other private-equity firms that have already signed onto the initiative.

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