Welcome back.

Today, we start off with a pair of fundraising scoops and another on infrastructure investment firm Morrison’s bet on prescription medicine distribution in the U.S.

Our Isaac Taylor got the details on New Mountain’s $1.2 billion fund for growth investments, and I have the news of H.I.G.’s fast-clipped $1.87 billion fundraising to invest in Europe’s lower midmarket.

Meanwhile, our Luis Garcia writes about Morrison’s new business, Fillex, which will provide prescription-fulfillment services to retail pharmacies, grocery chains, online medicine suppliers and health systems.

We have these and more for you below, so please read on …

H.I.G. Capital raised roughly $1.87 billion in a single close of its latest lower midmarket European fund, seeing strong investor demand as Europe’s infrastructure and defense investment push ripples through the continent’s economies, WSJ Pro's Maria Armental reports. H.I.G. Europe Capital Partners IV held a first and final close on about €1.6 billion in investor commitments, the firm said, adding that it wrapped up fundraising in about six months. 

New Mountain Capital has collected $1.2 billion for its latest fund focused on making minority growth investments in noncyclical businesses such as healthcare technologies, life sciences and financial services, WSJ Pro's Isaac Taylor reports. With New Mountain Strategic Equity Fund II, the New York firm collected nearly double the amount it raised for a predecessor vehicle, which New Mountain wrapped up in 2020 with about $640 million. The totals for both pools exclude anticipated fund-level leverage. The firm collected capital for the new vehicle as the overall amount raised globally by growth funds fell in recent years.

Midmarket-focused Morrison & Co. plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Fillex, a new business aimed at centralizing fulfillment of medical prescriptions across the U.S., as the infrastructure investor sees an opportunity to reduce burdens on pharmacy staff and finances, WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia reports. Fillex will provide prescription-related services to retail pharmacies, grocery chains, online medicine suppliers and health systems. The New Zealand-based Morrison managed more than $30 billion in assets as of last June. 

SoftBank Group led a nearly $1.4 billion growth investment in artificial intelligence robotics company Skild AI. Other investors included an investment arm of Macquarie Group and Coatue Management. The startup makes an all-purpose control device, or brain, designed to control multiple types of machines made to perform specific functions. The deal valued the Pittsburgh-based business at more than $14 billion.

Buyout firm EQT AB is in discussions with Oxford Biomedica regarding a potential take-private deal for the company, Oxford said Wednesday in a U.K. regulatory filing. Oxford shares jumped 8.8% Wednesday before the filing by the cell and gene therapy company, which added that earlier EQT approaches had been rejected as insufficient. Oxford had a market capitalization of about £892.4 million, or roughly $1.2 billion, at the end of trading while the shares rose to 804 pence in London Wednesday.

Multi-strategy asset manager TPG is expanding its partnership with subprime consumer credit provider OneMain Holdings, with the firm expanding its current commitment to purchase OneMain-originated loans to around $2.4 billion through June 2028. A previous forward-flow agreement ended last year. TPG is investing through its asset-based finance strategy.

The infrastructure arm of CVC Capital Partners has entered exclusive talks to acquire around 88% of digital services provider Celeste in France. The company serves over 20,000 businesses and 3,000 municipalities in France and Switzerland. The transaction would mark an exit for InfraVia Capital Partners.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. and renewable energy company RWE are forming a joint venture to develop and operate two U.K. offshore wind farms that will have a joint capacity of around 3 gigawatts. The projects will require more than $15 billion of total development and capital expenditure to make the windfarms operational by 2029 and 2030, respectively.

Neuberger Berman has agreed to take a minority stake in global tax services and software provider Ryan. The firm is investing through both its capital solutions strategy and its private markets group. Bloomberg News reported that the investment values Ryan at around $7 billion.

Drive Capital led a $150 million investment in Alpaca that values the brokerage infrastructure company at $1.15 billion. Alpaca also secured a $40 million line of credit. Other investors in the transaction include Citadel Securities, Opera Tech Ventures, MUFG Innovation Partners, Flat Capital and Endeavor Catalyst.

Growth investment firm PSG Equity and internet investment firm DST Global are backing a $60 million growth investment in Aikido Security that values the cybersecurity software provider at $1 billion. Existing backers Notion Capital and Singular also supported the latest investment.

Growth investor Provest Equity Partners and CTW Venture Partners are backing plant-based materials company Natural Fiber Welding. The Peoria, Ill., company is accelerating the development and commercialization of its low-carbon products that can replace plastics and other petrochemical-based compounds used in shoes, clothing and coverings.

Ribbit Capital led a $69 million growth investment in Listen Labs, a San Francisco-based developer of telephone survey systems that use artificial intelligence technology to conduct interviews and a prequalified pool of 30 million potential respondents.

Healthcare-focused private-equity firm 1315 Capital in Philadelphia is backing contract development and manufacturing organization Coating Place. The Verona, Wis.-based company specializes in Wurster fluid bed coating technology.

Tailwind Capital is backing Valor Fleet Services, a Leesburg, Va.-based provider of vehicle and equipment towing, specialized transport, recovery, storage and roadside assistance services. Bruce Dressel, an operating executive at Tailwind, will join the company’s board of directors as executive chairman.

Lower middle market healthcare investor Lead Capital Partners has made a strategic investment in PedsOne, joined by company owners and managers. The revenue cycle management services provider and consulting company based in Winooski, Vermont, serves pediatric medical practices across the U.S.

One Rock Capital Partners has acquired a majority interest in American Furniture Rentals, a Pennsauken, N.J., company that serves commercial and residential customers.

Nonantum Capital Partners in Boston is backing recruiting company Flatiron Search Partners. The New York company specializes in placing people in sponsor-backed, consumer-focused businesses.

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

Valor Equity Partners-backed BitGo plans to sell more than 11.8 million shares priced from $15 to $17 each in an initial public offering. Valor owns about 13% of the company's Class A shares, according to a securities filing. Valor initially backed BitGo in 2017, according to the private-equity firm’s website.

European private investment firm Capza has exited its stake in Novarc with a sale of the industrial company back to its management team and Croullet family owners. Capza initially made a minority investment in the company in 2021.

Midmarket investor H.I.G. Capital’s growth investment strategy is selling its minority stake in myKaarma to fellow private-equity firm Warburg Pincus. MyKaarma offers AI-driven software to help auto dealerships with tasks such as service leads, operations and payments. H.I.G. Growth initially backed the company in 2022. Warburg Pincus invested through its roughly $4 billion Warburg Pincus Capital Solutions Founders Fund.

Midmarket investor Bertram Capital in Foster City, Calif., has sold construction tools and supplies distributor Nefco Holding Co. in Hartford, Conn., to Leonard Green & Partners in Los Angeles. Bertram first backed the business in August 2022, investing from its fourth flagship fund.

Lumina Capital Management-backed Agibank's parent registered for an initial public offering in the U.S. as the Brazil banking company aims for a New York Stock Exchange listing. AGI Inc. didn't say how many shares it plans to sell or at what price in the registration filing, Elias Schisgall reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Brazilian private-equity firm Lumina invested 400 million reais, or about $74.1 million, in Agibank in December 2024, valuing the financial technology company at about 9.3 billion reais, according to local news reports and data provider PitchBook.

Sixth Street has raised €3.75 billion, or around $4.37 billion, for Sixth Street Specialty Lending Europe III. The fund will have a total of €7 billion in investable capital, including anticipated leverage. Investors that have disclosed commitments to the fund include Oregon Investment Council, Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System, State of Michigan Retirement System, State of Wisconsin Investment Board and Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Association, according to WSJ Pro’s LP Commitments database.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. has wrapped up its KKR Asia Credit Opportunities Fund II with about $1.8 billion in commitments while the New York firm also collected around $700 million in related separately managed accounts, giving the strategy about $2.5 billion in fresh capital to invest. The firm closed a predecessor Asia Credit fund with $1.1 billion in 2022.

CF Private Equity has closed its latest co-investment fund, CF Private Equity Co-Investment Opportunities V, with $187 million, above the fund’s $175 million target.

Bain Capital in Boston has elevated John Connaughton to chair of the firm, replacing Jonathan Lavine, and making David Gross the sole managing partner, according to its website. Connaughton, who joined the firm in 1989, served as co-managing partner from 2016 through last year, joined by Gross in 2024. Gross came to the firm in 2000. Lavine, who joined in 1993, has moved over to senior advisory partner.

Tower Peak Partners has appointed Simon Knowles and Paul Hockel as managing partners, based in London, according to an emailed news release. Knowles leads the firm's technology strategy while Hockel leads defense and aerospace.

Adams Street Partners has appointed Michael Kurlander as chief operating officer, adding to his duties as a partner and chief financial officer. In addition, Peter Andersson, Ali Cliff, Kristina Milberg, and Steve Montag have been promoted to partner.

Lexington Partners has promoted Peter Grape, Simon Oak and Michael Skelly to partner.

Chicago-based GTCR has hired Rohan Ranadive as the firm’s chief financial officer to succeed Anna May Trala, who will become a senior adviser at the firm. Ranadive joins GTCR from Vista Equity Partners where he was a managing director of finance operations.

Investment firm Partners Capital has made a series of promotions, including elevating three executives to partner level. They are John Beil, Sam Hufton and Emmanuel Pitsilis.

Wellington Management in Boston has hired Alex Behm as head of secondaries, venture growth evergreen, private investing. He was previously with Hamilton Lane.

Blackstone has joined the private markets investment partnership program of Empower Annuity Insurance Co. in Greenwood Village, Colo., letting the company include the New York firm's funds among its offered investment options through collective investment trust structures, or CITs. The arrangement is expected to let 401(k) plan sponsors include CITs among investment choices for participants. Empower oversees about $2 trillion in assets for more than 19 million investors through defined contribution retirement plans, wealth advisers and through other arrangements.

Haywood Lane Capital Management in Dallas said it has landed a significant financial commitment from DGRJ Ventures, an investment subsidiary of the Rees-Jones family office.

Class-action litigants against GPB Capital Holdings would collectively receive over $66 million to divvy up if a judge approves a settlement agreement that would resolve some of the pending lawsuits against the defunct private-equity fund manager, whose founder and chief marketer were convicted of fraud in 2024, according to an emailed news release. Receiver Joseph Gardemal of Alvarez & Marsal proposed the deal to the judge in the Securities and Exchange Commission's civil case against the firm. The consolidated class action represented investors who said the roughly 17,000 people who put money in GPB funds lost over $1.8 billion. Gardemal said resolution of the class-action case would enable him to distribute more of the roughly $700 million remaining from GPB investments to fund investors.

Blackstone’s flagship real-estate fund aimed at individual investors notched its strongest performance in three years in 2025, boosted by its investment in data centers, Peter Grant reports for the Journal. Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust posted a total annual return of 8.1% and ended with over $54 billion in assets, according to the firm. That compares with a 2% return in 2024 and a loss of 0.5% in 2023.

Partners Group in Switzerland raised about $26 billion for its private-equity, credit and other funds last year, about 22% more than it collected in 2024, and added assets of about $4 billion through acquisitions, according to a presentation to investors. The firm said realizations rose to $26 billion in 2025, with about half of that coming from transactions involving direct investments. The firm's assets under management rose 21% to $184.9 billion at year-end from the end of 2024.

Send us your tips, suggestions and feedback. Write to:

Maria Armental; Ted Bunker; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Laura Kreutzer; Isaac Taylor; Chitra Vemuri.