Welcome back to the start of another week! I am fielding this morning’s newsletter as Luis Garcia has been busy producing both of its top stories, both related to the world of infrastructure. Kicking off this morning’s newsletter, Luis looks at how demand for data centers and the power to support them is driving more infrastructure investors to so-called “powered land” deals.

Also, Luis has an exclusive on a new infrastructure fund from Hamilton Lane that will target investments in both secondaries and co-investments across the asset class.

Dive in for more details on these stories and many more…

Infrastructure investors see opportunity in backing businesses that help power-plant and data-center developers secure potential sites and grid connections for new projects—basic building blocks that the artificial-intelligence boom has made increasingly difficult to assemble, WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia writes. A race among large technology companies to create ever more advanced AI tools is fueling an accelerated build-out of sometimes vast AI-oriented data centers and a scramble to secure the power supplies needed to run them. But the surge in both areas is overwhelming electricity grid operators, lengthening the time it takes to establish grid connections. Enter the “powered-land” strategy aimed at finding suitable development sites and preparing them for power-plant or data-center projects.

Hamilton Lane has raised about $1.9 billion to buy secondhand stakes in infrastructure funds or invest alongside their managers, as the private-markets investor see opportunity in backing less capitalized, midsize asset operators across sectors such as logistics, data centers, natural gas and renewable power, Luis also writes for WSJ Pro. The final tally for Hamilton Lane Infrastructure Opportunities Fund II exceeded both its $1.25 billion target and the $590 million collected for a predecessor fund that closed in 2022.

A group led by KKR & Co. is nearing a deal to acquire Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centres in a deal that would value the business at more than $13 billion Singapore dollars, or over $10 billion, P.R. Venkat reports for the Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. Singapore's giant telecommunications operator Singtel is part of the effort. The group already owns a 20% interest in the data center company.

Creditors including Elliott Investment Management, Silver Point Capital and Farallon Capital Management stand to sacrifice as U.K. utility company Thames Water prepares for a debt restructuring that would cut over £13 billion, or about $17.8 billion, from its books, Britain's Sky News reported. In exchange, the creditors taking a haircut would get a 10% slice of the company's equity. Thames Water serves around 16 million customers in the London area.

BlackRock's $23 billion plan to acquire more than 40 ports worldwide from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison was thrown for a loop by Panama's Supreme Court when it voided the company's contract to operate two key ports on the Panama Canal, The Wall Street Journal reports. The court's termination of Hutchison’s license to operate the ports of Balboa on the Pacific Coast and Cristóbal on the Atlantic side of the canal throws a wrench into the Hutchison deal led by BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co. as the two container terminals were the crown jewels of the transaction.

Permira has agreed to buy a minority stake in Carne Group in a deal valued at €1.4 billion, or $1.67 billion. The acquisition provides an exit for fellow private-equity firm Vitruvian Partners, which initially backed the company in 2021 alongside other minority shareholders. Carne Group will remain majority owned by founder and Chief Executive John Donohoe and the company’s employees. Carne provides third-party management, fund regulation and governance technologies.

RedBird Capital Partners has completed a refinancing of the capital structure for European professional soccer team AC Milan. Comvest Credit Partners is backing the new debt financing, which recapitalizes financing originally provided by entities advised by Elliott Advisors UK as part of RedBird’s initial acquisition of the club in 2022.

Buyout firm EQT AB's deal to acquire the ground stations of French satellite operator Eutelsat has fallen apart, as the company said that all the required conditions to complete the sale had not been met. Eutelsat said the deal involving EQT's sixth infrastructure fund was expected to provide net proceeds of roughly €550 million, or $653.3 million.

Ally Bridge Group and Janus Henderson led a $175 million private investment in public equity issued by clinical-stage biotechnology company ProMIS Neurosciences. Other participants in the deal backing the Nasdaq-listed business included Deep Track Capital, Great Point Partners and Wellington Management.

Credit provider Medalist Partners has agreed to acquire up to $150 million of home-equity agreements from Nada Holdings through a forward-flow commitment. Nada offers home-equity agreements to residents in 14 states.

Architect Capital in San Francisco is in talks to acquire a nearly 60% stake in OnlyFans, an online platform popular with sex workers and celebrities, in a deal that values it at around $5.5 billion, including debt, the Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. OnlyFans is owned by billionaire Leo Radvinsky.

David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures is joining with Main Street Advisors in partnering with Ikon Capital to acquire the Red Bull KTM Tech3 motorcycle racing team, investing alongside other participants.

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

Bain Capital in Boston is preparing for an initial public offering of Australian business Estia Health at an anticipated market capitalization of over $2 billion, the Australian Financial Review reported from Sydney, citing people involved in the transaction. The buyout firm took the aged care services provider private under an August 2023 proposal offering A$3.20 per share in a deal that valued the company at 826.8 million Australian dollars, or about $575,7 million.

Francisco Partners has closed its roughly $2.2 billion acquisition of publicly traded enterprise technology company Jamf, providing a full exit for previous backer Vista Equity Partners. Vista initially took a majority stake in Jamf in 2017 in what was widely reported to be a roughly $730 million deal before taking the company public in 2020. Jamf offers enterprise-management technology for Apple-based devices.

Bain Capital and property investor Freo Group have sold the 52,000-square-meter Estel Building in Barcelona, Spain, to a unit of CriteriaCaixa, an investment manager, according to an emailed news release. Bain Capital and Freo acquired the property in 2021 and renovated the commercial building.

MiddleGround Capital has sold flow-control products manufacturer Vytl Controls Group to an affiliate of industrial automation components and systems distributor SunSource. MiddleGround first backed The Woodlands, Texas-based company in July 2022, when it acquired the business through its second flagship fund.

Iconiq Capital in San Francisco has collected at least $635.8 million so far for its Iconiq Strategic Partners VIII fund and related vehicles, a securities filing shows. Investors include Fubon Financial Holding in Taipei, Taiwan, which committed up to $75 million from its insurance operation, Reuters reported. The firm closed on $5.75 billion for a predecessor vehicle in 2024.

Warburg Pincus in New York has set up a fund designed for individual investors that the firm expects to invest mainly alongside its other private-equity strategies. The Warburg Pincus Access Fund hasn't collected any commitments yet but the firm said those eligible investors who invest in the fund are expected to make long-term commitments with no regular distributions of capital. However, the firm expects to make as much as 5% of the fund available for redemptions each quarter.

Desjardins Global Asset Management has set up the DGAM Global Private Equity Fund for accredited Canadian investors and tagging Ardian as the vehicle's investment manager.

The United Arab Emirates sovereign-wealth fund, Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Co., or ADQ, has a new leader, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, son of the oil-rich country’s president, Eliot Brown reports for the Journal. The $263 billion fund is backing Paramount Skydance's hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros. in the U.S. and the change in leadership was disclosed by Paramount.

Monument Group has promoted Chris Webber to partner, based in Boston. He joined the advisory firm in 2017.

Carlyle Group's sale of Arctic Glacier to packaged ice competitor Reddy Ice for at least $126.4 million can proceed although a settlement with the Justice Department's antitrust division requires the divestiture of operations in California, New York, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington. The settlement is subject to court approval. Both companies sell packaged ice at the retail level and supply cubes to airlines and caterers, with Reddy Ice booking annual sales of about $511 million and Arctic registering $306 million, according to a Justice Department complaint.

The playbook of private-equity firms American Securities and Lindsay Goldberg stands out when it comes to building up Amentum Holding as a government services play, Reinhardt Krause reports for sister publication Investor's Business Daily. With acquisitions, the private-equity firms transformed Amentum from its roots in labor-intensive maintenance of military bases and managing nuclear waste sites into a company with expertise in advanced engineering and technology solutions.

Fundamental Advisors has rounded up117 renewable energy projects scattered over 27 states and bundled them into MorningSky Power with an eye toward expanding the group by adding to it from across the U.S. MorningSky's sites include utility-scale battery storage and have total planned output capacoty of 20 gigawatts once completed.

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

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