Welcome back. This morning's newsletter kicks off with an interview by WSJ Pro's Rod James with retired Formula One driver Nico Rosberg. Rod spoke to Rosberg on the sidelines of the recent SuperReturn conference in Berlin about his venture firm, Rosberg Ventures. 

Meanwhile, global dealmaking fell to a two-decade low, Dean Seal writes for The Wall Street Journal, while the Journal's Corrie Driebusch brings us blockchain startup Republic’s plans to sell digital “tokens” that mirror the performance of private shares of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

We have these and more. Read on …

Nico Rosberg spent 10 years as a Formula One racing driver, a sport considered among the most physically and mentally demanding in the world. He won the circuit’s World Championship in 2016 and promptly retired at age 31. That same year, the German driver founded Rosberg Ventures, a venture-capital firm in Monte Carlo, Monaco, that invests the wealth of high-net-worth European families in other venture managers’ funds. Rosberg relies partly on his celebrity to get a seat at the table of the most successful managers and back what he calls “generational” companies. WSJ Pro's Rod James spoke to Rosberg on the sidelines of the recent SuperReturn conference in Berlin about his firm, the market and how his former life informs his current one.

Global dealmaking in the first half of the year fell to a two-decade low as tariffs, high interest rates, a choppy market and uncertainty around the Trump administration's policies stalled a rebound in M&A activity, Dean Seal reports for the Journal. The worldwide tally of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financings and joint ventures so far in 2025 was down 16% year-over-year at 16,663, its lowest level since 2005, according to financial data provider Mergermarket. This year’s flurry of tariffs have made it harder for dealmakers to accurately gauge a company’s worth while higher-for-longer interest rates have made buyers hesitant to finance a premium valuation while interest rates remain high.

An investment platform plans to use blockchain technology to sell investors exposure to SpaceX, another effort in an arms race to give regular traders access to hot startups, Corrie Driebusch reports for The Journal. Republic says it is starting to sell digital “tokens” that mirror the performance of private shares of Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company starting this week. The investment platform, which offers retail investors access to investments typically limited to the wealthy, plans to eventually expand its tokenization to other high-profile private companies like artificial-intelligence firms OpenAI and Anthropic.

WSJ Pro Private Equity is extending the deadline for our latest Survey of Secondary Market Buyers, which we use as the basis for compiling our annual special report on the latest trends shaping the secondary market. Secondary buyers can complete the survey by June 28 through the following link.

Black Lion Capital Advisors is leading a group that has submitted an $8 billion all-cash bid for the parent of Venezuela oil refiner Citgo Petroleum, Dean Seal reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Black Lion Citgo Group said in a court filing made public Wednesday that its offer is the highest stalking-horse bid so far in the court-ordered auction of Citgo's parent, PDV Holding. The offer also includes up to $3 billion for court and other fees that could push the value to as much as $12 billion. One of the largest oil refiners in the U.S., Citgo is being sold by the Venezuelan government, its bankrupt owner, to cover debts.

Kalshi, a startup prediction market that became a popular way to bet on the November election, has been valued at $2 billion in a new funding round, The Journal’s Alexander Osipovich reports.

ArcLight Capital Partners and DigitalBridge Group are backing digital and power infrastructure startup Takanock with a combined $500 million investment. Takanock was formed in 2023 and is led by Kenneth Davies, who helped establish Google Energy and later led Microsoft's renewable strategy globally.

Josh Harris's $28.41 billion 26North Partners is acquiring a controlling interest in unified audio-video communications technology company AVI-SPL Global from Marlin Equity Partners, which will retain a significant minority interest alongside other investors. Marlin acquired the Tampa, Fla.-based digital services provider in April 2020. Apollo Global Management co-founder Harris formed 26North in 2022.

Bow River Capital has backed a majority investment in Topia through the Denver firm’s software growth-equity strategy. Topia offers mobility management and distributed work compliance software that helps companies with tasks that include payroll, immigration tracking, regulatory risk management and tax withholding.

Sound Growth Partners has recapitalized retail identification services provider Bars. The Lakewood, Colo.-based company's ID-checking system is used by retailers to check customer ages for alcohol and tobacco sales compliance.

Midmarket firm Court Square Capital Partners bought a majority stake in Houston-based DCCM, which offers design, consulting and construction management services. The company has more than 1,100 employees and operates across 46 states.

Existing backer RA Capital Management joined Mingxin Capital, Forbion, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners and others investing in a $175 million private investment in a public equity deal for Vor Biopharma. The Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical-stage biotech aims to use the proceeds to fuel development of its autoimmune disease treatments.

The Riverside Co. has invested in Dingo, a provider of analytics software that helps customers monitor their equipment and identify when and where that equipment needs maintenance or servicing.

Buyout firm STG Partners in Menlo Park, Calif., is acquiring the Yodlee finance and data analytics subsidiary of wealth-management technology company Envestnet in Berwyn, Pa. Bain Capital acquired Envestnet last year.

Private-credit supplier Lafayette Square Holding in Miami has provided debt financing to school foodservice manager Genuine Food Lab

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

Sands Capital Management in Arlington, Va., has sold its stake in software startup Brightflag to strategic buyer Wolters Kluwer, which acquired the company for about €425 million, or roughly $493.4 million, from Sands and other backers, including One Peak Partners. Sands is reaping more than eight times its investment in the company, a person familiar with the deal told WSJ Pro's Maria Armental. The firm first invested in the maker of software to manage legal offices through its venture arm in 2019. One Peak said in May that it scored a sixfold return on its significant minority stake.

Aria Growth Partners in New York has closed on $152 million for its second fund focused on backing fast-growing providers of consumable products, Aria Growth Partners Fund II. The firm founded in 2020 writes checks of $10 million to $30 million or more to invest in food, beauty, personal care, dietary supplements and home products businesses. Aria began raising its sophomore fund in late 2023, a regulatory filing shows.

European firm Astorg appointed Jérôme Triebel as partner to head its mid-cap investment efforts in the France and Benelux region. Triebel, who will start on July 7, previously focused on midmarket investments at Sagard.

Law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has hired Thomas Verity as a Houston-based, energy-focused M&A partner. Verity previously worked for Latham & Watkins.

Credit-focused Aequum Capital Financial in Chicago has added Bill Drmacich as head of originations beyond the greater Midwest. Drmacich's previous employers include Ares Management.

Apollo has hired Celia Yan as a partner. Based in Hong Kong, Yan will lead the expansion of Apollo's hybrid platform across the Asia Pacific. She previously worked for BlackRock.

Apollo Global Management-backed crafts retailer Michaels has gotten a new lifeline thanks to the recent demise of Party City and Joann after President Trump’s tariffs had threatened the company’s future just months ago, WSJ Pro's Soma Biswas reports. The company told creditors Tuesday that same-store sales rose 2.3% during the fiscal quarter that ended May 1, according to people familiar with the matter. The retailer acquired intellectual property and some brands held by Joann out of bankruptcy proceedings earlier this month.

Eric Adler, chief executive of Legal & General Group's asset management division said infrastructure could emerge as the dominant private markets asset class, as some of the U.K. group’s rivals continue to pile into other booming investments such as private credit. “It could ultimately be the biggest of the private asset classes because of needs we have around the world, and because of the greying of the line between real estate and infrastructure,” Adler told sister publication Financial News.

British Columbia Investment Management Corp. notched a 10% return for the fiscal year ended in March, based on the results for the six largest pensions it manages, short of a 12.3% benchmark's performance. Also known as BCI, the organization ended the year with assets of 295 billion Canadian dollars, or $214.93 billion. BCI's returns on private-equity investments at 13.4% trailed public equities, at 14.3%, in the just-ended fiscal year.

An index based on private-credit funds posted a 2% return for the first quarter, beating out a private-equity index return of 1.8% for the same period, according to index creator MSCI. The PE return was matched by a real assets index.

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