Welcome back. In today's news, my colleague Luis Garcia reports that Franklin Templeton is betting on target-date funds as the best way to offer private assets to 401(k) retirement plans.

And WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova shares news of growth investment and late-stage venture-capital strategies gaining traction with investors.

Now on to the news...

Franklin Templeton is betting on target-date funds as the best way to include private assets in 401(k) retirement plans, Luis Garcia writes for WSJ Pro. San Mateo, Calif.-based Franklin Templeton, an asset manager with roughly $1.6 trillion in holdings, has been creating investment strategies that give individual investors and retirement plans access to private markets, including new target-date funds for 401(k)s introduced last month.

Interest in late-stage venture-capital strategies is skyrocketing as investors pursue a narrower set of fast-accelerating artificial-intelligence startups with hopes of exiting them relatively quickly, WSJ Pro’s Yuilya Chernova reports. U.S.-based growth and late-stage venture funds raised $23.6 billion this year so far—a figure that already exceeds the annual totals for any of the past dozen years, according to research firm PitchBook. Such funds invest in startups that are typically into their third or later growth investment rounds, according to the data provider’s definition.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign-wealth fund and Uber Technologies are supplying $750 million to electric-vehicle maker Lucid Group to fuel the Nasdaq-listed company's next phase of growth, Connor Hart reports for The Wall Street Journal. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund committed $550 million through its Ayar Third Investment arm, which previously put up $1 billion for the company in March 2024.

Wallenberg Investments led a €1.4 billion, or roughly $1.65 billion, commitment to green steel startup Stegra, joined by others including Singapore's Temasek Holdings, Dominic Chopping reports for the Journal. The fresh capital is expected to help the company complete a new steel plant in Sweden.

American Industrial Partners agreed to acquire publicly traded Avanos Medical in a deal that values the medical technology company at nearly $1.3 billion. The private-equity firm is offering $25 a share for the company, representing a roughly 72% premium over Monday's close. Avanos makes medical devices including feeding tubes and infusion technologies, among other products.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. is backing Samsung Group's Samsung SDS enterprise technology and services arm, investing to help the Korean company expand, including through acquisitions. As part of the deal, New York-based KKR is buying $820 million worth of convertible bonds newly issued by the company, investing mainly from its Asia Fund IV. Samsung SDS has about 26,000 employees and annual revenue of roughly 14 trillion won, or about $9.5 billion.

Investing through TWG Global Holdings, Guggenheim Partners co-founder Mark Walter and US Innovative Technology Fund founder Thomas Tull led a $650 million growth investment in electric pickup truck manufacturer Slate Auto. The startup aims to roll its first vehicles off an assembly line in Warsaw, Ind., later this year, priced in the mid-$20,000 range.

Everstone Capital in Singapore is investing close to $270 million in specialty formulations supplier Apothecon Pharmaceuticals in India and Navinta in the U.S., acquiring a substantial stake in the combined operations under the name Apothecon Group. Founders of both businesses are retaining stakes as well, according to a post on Everstone's LinkedIn page.

Buyout firm TPG is acquiring Learfield, a media and technology company focused on college sports. The company helps collegiate teams and athletes monetize intellectual property through sponsorship and media services, ticketing technology, licensing management, among other methods. Charlesbank Capital Partners, which has backed Learfield since 2022, is retaining a minority stake.

Biopharmaceutical-focused private-equity firm Jeito Capital led a $75 million investment in TPG-backed Adcendo, which develops antibody-drug conjugates for cancer treatment, Adria Calatayud reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Other new investors included Vida Ventures and BPI France. Jeito invested out of its second fund, which closed in late March with $1.2 billion.

New Enterprise Associates and Threshold Ventures led a $43 million growth investment in agentic artificial-intelligence marketing company Bluefish Labs. The New York company helps clients manage their brands in the output of AI inference engines such as Claude and ChatGPT.

Growth investor Revaia led a $40 million investment in Synera, an agentic artificial-intelligence company focused on industrial engineering. Capgemini participated through ISAI Cap Venture, as did existing backers including UVC Partners and Spark Capital.

Ally Bridge Group and Janus Henderson Investors led a $40 million growth investment in medical device developer Calyxo, joined by existing backers including Questa Capital and Avidity Partners. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company is developing technology to treat kidney stones.

Kingswood Capital Management has closed its investment in poultry processing company Soulshine Farms & Pearl River Foods. The three founders, Michael Farmer, Eric Reeves and Drew Hill, remain shareholders and hold executive roles. Kingswood Operating Partner John Niemann will become Gainesville, Ga.-based Soulshine's executive chairman.

Olympus Partners has acquired a majority stake in NTI Connect, a data infrastructure services and fiber installation company that does business as Network Connex. Olympus is buying the stake from the private-equity arm of Orix, which initially backed the Downers Grove, Ill.-based company in 2018.

A group of strategic investors led by BridgePeak Energy Capital acquired ACT Power Services, a third-party operation and maintenance provider for solar and battery energy storage. The transaction was completed through a bankruptcy acquisition.

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

Juniper Capital Management has sold aerospace and defense components manufacturer Precision Aerospace Holdings to a portfolio company of Centerbridge Partners. Juniper initially partnered with CIC Partners to form Precision Aerospace in 2022 through the acquisition and merger of Applegate EDM and Icon Machine.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is selling the Summerfield Battery Energy Storage Project near Adelaide in South Australia to Palisade Investment Partners. The fully built project is expected to become operational later this year. Copenhagen initiated construction of the project early last year. The firm has backed the project since at least 2024, investing through its fifth flagship fund.

Buyout firm Mutares in Munich has sold all the subsidiaries of European logistics provider inTime Group to Tawin Holdings Group, which owns international logistics services provider Priority Freight. Mutares initially acquired inTime Group in 2025.

Sherpa Healthcare Partners-backed biotechnology company Alamar Biosciences plans to sell nearly 9.4 million shares priced from $15 to $17 each through an initial public offering, a securities filing shows. Beijing-based Sherpa, which holds an 8.5% stake, first backed the Fremont, Calif.-based company in 2021, according to PitchBook data. Other investors include Sands Capital with a 7.1% equity interest, the filing shows. The offering is expected to price this week, according to market watcher Renaissance Capital.

Healthcare- and defense technology-focused firm Afterburner Capital and healthcare-focused firm Council Capital have exited their investments in Advanced Care Partners, an Atlanta-based provider of pediatric nursing and adult care services. The two firms initially backed the company in 2018.

Siguler Guff & Co. has raised at least $77 million so far for Siguler Guff Small Buyout Direct Opportunities Fund, according to a regulatory filing. The filing did not indicate a target, but documents posted by the Vermont Pension Investment Commission pegged the fund’s target at $200 million. The fund focuses on co-investments in deals with excess capacity that the firm has backed through its larger Siguler Guff Small Buyout Opportunities Funds, according to the Vermont pension documents.

Carlyle Group has collected $1.49 billion so far for its Carlyle Asset-Backed Income Fund, a perpetual vehicle for which the firm began collecting commitments earlier this year, as well as a parallel pool, a regulatory filing shows. The Texas County & District Retirement System committed $150 million in March to the new fund, though it invested through the Carlyle Asset-Backed Income Strategic Partnership. The Washington-based firm formed the new income fund last year, the filing indicates. Carlyle last month added RJ Madden as a managing director and deputy head of asset-backed finance to supplement its team running ABF assets. He joined from KKR & Co.

Mercer, a division of publicly traded Marsh & McLennan, is seeking $1.1 billion for Mercer Private Investment Partners IX, according to a regulatory filing. The firm has gathered at least $178.5 million so far through the offering, the filing indicated.

Midmarket growth investor THL Partners in Boston has appointed Dave Guilmette as an executive partner in the firm’s financial technology and services investment group. An expert in healthcare and employee benefits businesses, Guilmette currently serves as a director of Sword Health Technologies and advises nonprofit organization the Grey Area.

Infinedi Partners, a New York-based firm focused on founder- and family-owned businesses, has named Rohan Arora as a principal at the firm. Arora previously worked as a senior vice president on the private-equity team at H.I.G. Capital.

Private-equity firm Inverness Graham has elevated Chris Frystock to partner on its investment team, according to an emailed news release. He joined the firm in 2011.

Motive Partners has appointed Paul Compton as an industry partner at the firm. Compton also joins the board of directors at wealth-management-technology provider BetaNXT, which is also a Motive portfolio company.

Distressed exchanges or restructurings hit a record 65% of all defaults in 2025 and banks have begun pulling back from private-credit vehicles after marking down software-sector loans, according to a forthcoming report from Moody’s Analytics. However, the research provider estimates the default rate in private-credit direct lending excluding distress deals dropped to 1.6% last year. That's down from 2.2% in 2024, suggesting that “hard” credit events in direct lending may be easing even as distressed restructurings remain elevated.The average probability of default for all U.S. listed companies fell to 7.9% as of March from 9.1% a year earlier. The March figure is still more than double the 3.2% level for rated sub-investment-grade corporate debt.

BlackRock reported $9 billion of net inflows in private markets, where it has recently beefed up capabilities with a series of acquisitions, Jack Pitcher writes for the Journal. Speaking with analysts, Chief Executive Larry Fink said he’s still bullish on the long-term prospects for private lending, which has come under scrutiny amid a wave of withdrawal requests from funds marketed to individual investors. Institutional investors remain bullish on the sector, he said.

Banks sought to reassure investors on Tuesday by giving more detail on their lending to private-credit funds in their earnings reports, and described the steps they have taken to limit their risk exposure, Telis Demos writes for the Journal's Heard on the Street column. At Wells Fargo in San Francisco, for example, about $36 billion of its nonbank lending was related to the financing of corporate debt. Within that category, about 23% went to business development companies, or BDCs, representing about 0.6% of Wells’ roughly $1 trillion in first-quarter loans.

Conditions for private credit in the second quarter are likely to be as bad or worse than the first quarter, Elias Schisgall reports for Dow Jones Newswires, citing UBS analysts. Things could improve by summer, but only modestly, the analysts said. As this year began, the industry consensus assumed double-digit growth in nontraded business development company assets, but it now seems likely to shift to a low single-digit net decline, the analysts said.

Private credit is a top vulnerability in the global economy, but comparisons to the financial crisis of over a decade ago are misplaced, the top International Monetary Fund official watching over financial markets said during an interview with sister publication MarketWatch. Tobias Adrian, who heads the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, made the comments after months of public debate over the risk posed to the global financial system by private-credit issues, Greg Robb reports, citing loosened underwriting standards and banks’ exposure to private credit. But Adrian said fears of damage to banks are overblown.

Tender requests from investors in perpetually nontraded business development companies tracked by Fitch Ratings averaged 12.3% in this year's first quarter, and negative net capital flows surged as withdrawal requests rose 36% from the last quarter of 2025, the credit evaluator reported. Most BDCs stuck with a 5% redemption cap, but some, including Oaktree Strategic Credit Fund, redeemed more. Oaktree bought back 6.8% of its net asset value, while corporate parent Brookfield bought an additional 1.7% from an investor on top of that, Fitch said.

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