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Private Credit Continuation Funds Hit Market; 23andMe to Request Auction Redo
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Welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Wednesday, June 4. In today's briefing, Antares Capital closed the latest of several private-credit continuation funds to hit the market recently, and 23andMe is due in bankruptcy court to seek a do-over for its sale process.
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Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters
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Antares closes $1.2 billion credit secondary deal to cash out fund investors. Antares Capital has brought in Ares Management to help cash out investors in two older funds, forming one of several large private-credit continuation funds to hit the market in recent months.
Chicago-based Antares, which mainly extends loans to midsize businesses under private-equity ownership, raised over $1.2 billion for a fund to acquire the holdings from investors that chose to sell their share of more than 100 outstanding loans.
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Private equity confronts swollen investment backlogs with dealmaking stuck. Midway through what was expected to be a recovery year, private equity’s dealmaking and fundraising remain in the dumps. Clearing the investment backlog—the roughly 30,000 companies held by firms globally—will take years.
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Thoma Bravo’s $34 billion fundraising haul bucks private-equity slowdown. Thoma Bravo said it raised a total of $34.4 billion across three funds, topping its last big fundraising year in 2022. The haul shows how top-performing firms are still thriving despite a broader industry slowdown.
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23andMe asks judge to reopen sale process. A bankruptcy judge is set to consider Wednesday whether genetic data company 23andMe can renege on its $256 million sale to biotech giant Regeneron.
After Regeneron was named the highest bidder in 23andMe’s auction, the company’s former chief executive Anne Wojcicki objected to the sale through her recently-founded nonprofit TTAM Research Institute. During the auction, 23andMe capped TTAM’s offer after raising doubts that it could secure financing to back a higher offer, according to court papers. The nonprofit is seeking to make another bid for 23andMe.
Although 23andMe is legally bound by Regeneron’s offer, the company said in court papers it could violate its fiduciary duty to shareholders if it doesn’t consider TTAM’s new bid.
23andMe has asked Judge Brian C. Walsh of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Missouri to reopen the sale process, allowing just two bidders – TTAM and Regeneron – one more chance at making the best offer for the company. 23andMe wants to choose the winning bidder by the end of the day on June 13. If it does not stick with Regeneron as the winning bidder, it has agreed to pay a $10 million breakup fee. –Alicia McElhaney
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ICoreConnect, ICore Midco unit file for bankruptcy. ICoreConnect and its subsidiary iCore Midco voluntarily filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Ocoee, Fla., cloud-based software company and its unit initiated the cases to retain control over their assets and operations, restructure their balance sheets and position themselves for long-term success, according to a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The companies intend to file additional first-day motions to continue operations, including applications to employ professionals and motions to use cash collateral and pay prepetition wages, they said. –Kelly Cloonan
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Eric Thayer/Bloomberg News
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U.S. to have slower growth, higher inflation due to tariffs, OECD says. President Trump’s tariff regime threatens to significantly crimp U.S. economic growth this year while boosting inflation, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a new forecast that sharply cut its outlook.
The Paris-based research group said Tuesday it expects U.S. gross domestic product to decelerate sharply to 1.6% in 2025 from 2.8% in 2024. The OECD previously expected U.S. GDP to grow by 2.2% this year, but cut its forecasts due to the effects of Trump’s tariffs, retaliation from other countries, uncertainty around economic policy and slower immigration.
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