Welcome back.  I kick off this morning's newsletter by zooming in on private equity’s exit problem, which has led to a nearly 33,000 (and growing) global portfolio company bottleneck. “We went through a winter of exits, which was horrible for the LPs,” General Atlantic co-president Martín Escobari said last week at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif. But, he added, “We think spring has arrived.”

Meanwhile, our WSJ Pro Bankruptcy colleagues Alicia McElhaney and Alexander Gladstone report that Clearlake-backed FinThrive’s lenders are re-engaging restructuring counsel amid a software slump.

Finally, Luis Garcia has a take column looking at how large publicly traded asset managers, faced with rising hurdles to expand credit strategies tailored to wealthy individuals, have once again emphasized the strenth of their longtime institutional investors to show their lending businesses remain strong.

Dive in for more…

Market volatility is creating a golden opportunity for new private-equity deals—but not for untangling a global bottleneck of almost 33,000 portfolio companies waiting to be sold, Maria Armental reports for WSJ Pro, citing industry executives. During recent quarterly earnings calls as well as at the Milken Institute Global Conference, senior executives from firms that include KKR, TPG and Leonard Green & Partners pointed to the investment opportunities that recent market volatility presents for firms that have capital to deploy. Yet many acknowledged the challenges that same volatility presents as firms look to exit some of the massive backlog of companies that remain in their portfolios.

Creditors to Clearlake Capital-backed software company FinThrive are re-engaging with restructuring counsel after an earnings miss sent its loans tumbling, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Alicia McElhaney and Alexander Gladstone report, citing people with knowledge of the matter. A group of lenders has been in discussions with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, which advised them in the previous liability management exercise, to prepare for another round of debt restructuring, the people said.

Big publicly traded asset managers, who face rising hurdles to expand credit strategies tailored to wealthy individuals, have turned to their longtime institutional investors to show their lending businesses remain strong, WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia writes in The Take column. Read here for more.

Thrive Capital and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz led a $5 billion growth investment in defense technology developer Anduril Industries in a deal that values the business at about $61 billion. The Costa Mesa, Calif.-based company more than doubled its revenue to $2.2 billion last year, according to an investor letter posted on its website. Anduril makes autonomous vehicles for naval, ground and aeronautical uses.

Swedish buyout firm EQT AB's British target, test and certification company Intertek, is likely to accept the firm's latest take-private proposal, which values the business at £9.4 billion, or around $12.73 billion, including future dividends, Anthony O. Goriainoff reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The London-listed company has rejected three earlier proposals but on Wednesday indicated its directors are likely to recommend EQT's most recent £60 a share offer.

Oak Hill Capital led an equity recapitalization of insurance brokerage IMA Financial Group, acquiring a minority stake alongside New Mountain Capital. HarbourVest Partners also participated in the transaction that valued the operation at about $4 billion. Employees of the company retained a majority equity interest, while SkyKnight Capital and Stephens Group exited their investments in the Denver-based broker.

Buyout target Kakaku.com, which EQT AB has offered to acquire, said it received a similar proposal on May 7 from Bain Capital in Boston and Japanese internet company LY Corp., Kosaku Narioka reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Both bidders are offering ¥3,000 a share, giving the operator of ecommerce websites an equity value of about ¥593 billion, equivalent to around $3.76 billion.

Providence Equity Partners is among participants in takeover discussions with London-listed Gamma Communications, adding there was no certainty that a deal would emerge from the talks. In April, the U.K. provider of telecommunications services said that it was in preliminary stages with a number of interested suitors, but didn't identify any of them. Gamma shares rose about 3.5% to 925.50 pence in Wednesday's trading, giving the company a market capitalization of about £838 million, or roughly $1.13 billion.

New investors including Meritech Capital and Incharge Capital joined existing backers such as Accel and Bain Capital in a $400 million growth investment in Mind Robotics led by venture firm Kleiner Perkins, Sean McLain reports for the Journal. The deal values the business at about $3.4 billion, according to a person familiar with the deal structure. The startup, founded by Rivian Chief Executive RJ Scaringe, supplies industrial robotics technology to manufacturers. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Mind uses artificial intelligence technology in its systems.

Factorial Funds, Accel and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led a $220 million growth investment in U.K. chip startup Fractile, Robbie Whelan reports for the Journal. Fractile makes specialized chips for inference, the process by which artificial-intelligence models respond to user queries.

Sparx Asset Management in Japan led a $150 million growth investment in vertical farming company Oishii. The Jersey City, N.J., company uses robots and process automation in growing fruit sold in retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

New investors including Clear Street and Cobalt Capital participated in a $100 million growth investment in naval drone and autonomous operations software developer HavocAI, joined by existing backers such as B Capital and Lockheed Martin. Providence, R.I.-based Havoc's software is designed to let multiple drones be controlled by a single operator using software to provide what it calls "collaborative autonomy."

Ambienta has acquired a majority stake in family-owned Disano Illuminazione, one of southern Europe's largest lighting manufacturers, Sebastian McCarthy reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London. The deal is understood to value the Milan-based business at more than €250 million, or about $293.5 million.

Financial technology-focused Bridgeport Partners is forming a joint venture with Nasdaq-listed Fiserv that gives the private-equity firm control over running the company's ATM Managed Services, Cash & Logistics and MoneyPass businesses. Until the deal closes, the operations remain a part of Milwaukee-based Fiserv.

Midmarket firms Haven Capital Partners in New York and Altaline Capital Management in Los Angeles are joining forces to form Ascend Safety Collective, a network of independent elevator services providers.

Stone-Goff Partners in New York is backing property management technology developer 5Q Partners, which concurrently acquired support services provider One11 Advisors. The Alpharetta, Ga.-based company's products are used by more than 80 clients to help manage over 950 properties.

Andera Partners in Paris led a $20 million growth investment in urology device developer Rivermark Medical. The Milwaukee-based company makes a non-surgical device to treat lower urinary tract symptoms stemming from benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Citation Capital in Dallas is backing technology-enabled World Travel Holdings with a strategic investment. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company provides systems for operating membership and rewards networks as well as booking cruises and other vacations.

Lower midmarket firm Boyne Capital in Miami has backed YXY Fragrances, a company that formulates, manufactures and distributes perfumes, colognes and body mists.

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

Capricorn Investment Group-backed geothermal power developer Fervo Energys shares soared in their Nasdaq debut Wednesday, rising 35% from a $27-a-share initial public offering price, Benoît Morenne reports for the Journal. The Houston company uses oil-drilling technology to create underground reservoirs that store heat and crank out electricity. New York-based Capricorn held nearly 17% of the company's Class A common shares before the IPO, a securities filing shows. Other investors include Centaurus Capital, the family office of Houston hedge fund billionaire John Arnold, which held a roughly 6.2% stake. The IPO valued the company at about $7.7 billion.

Argus Management's G.O.I. Energy arm in Cyprus is selling the holding company that owns the Priolo Gargallo oil refinery in Italy to a unit of strategic buyer Ludoil Energy. The refinery, located on the island of Sicily, represents over 20% of Italy's refining capacity, Reuters reported. Argus acquired the operation from Russia's Lokoil in 2023, investing through G.O.I.

KKR-backed GMR Solutions raised nearly $479 million in its initial public offering Wednesday, after selling more than 31.9 million shares at $15 apiece, below the expected range of $22 to $25, Colin Kellaher reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The shares fell 6.8% in their first day of trading. The Lewisville, Texas, company provides emergency medical services. KKR in New York held about 90% of the company's common shares, and BlackRock had roughly 6.1% before the IPO, a regulatory filing shows.

Midmarket-focused Quad-C Management in Charlottesville, Va. is acquiring wallcoverings, fabrics, rugs and furniture designer Thibaut from Norwest Equity Partners. The 140-year-old company in Union, N.J., offers products under the Anna French, Coraggio and Rosemary Hallgarten brands. Norwest has backed the company since 2021.

Lone Star Funds in Dallas has sold a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., shopping center to strategic buyer DLC. The private-equity investor bought the 419,936-square-foot property known as Legacy Place in 2021.

Core Spaces, a real-estate investment manager, developer and operator, has raised a $1.64 billion fund focused on the student housing sector.

Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman and BlackRock's Larry Fink went to China with President Trump this week as part of his official delegation, Philip Wegmann reports for the Journal. Also on the trip was David Solomon of Goldman Sachs and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

Technology investor Anzu Partners has promoted Jennifer Ting, Rebecca Chimwanda, and Kalyn Schieffer to principal. Ting leads fund accounting for the firm, while Chimwanda leads people operations and Schieffer is in charge of public relations and external communications.

Beringer Capital appointed Yuriy Boykiv as operating partner and executive chairman of portfolio company Perfom[cb].

The Securities and Exchange Commission is keeping an eye on a series of defaults and losses playing out in the private-credit industry, Max Fillion reports for Dow Jones Risk Journal, citing the agency’s new enforcement chief. “There are stresses in some portfolios and developments playing out more broadly across this sector, and we are monitoring the situation,” David Woodcock, who started his new role at the SEC last week, said in a Wednesday speech at a legal conference in New York.

Technology investment firm SoftBank Group more than quadrupled its annual net profit to ¥5.003 trillion, or roughly $31.74 billion, as its investment in artificial intelligence technology developer OpenAI produced gains of $43.9 billion for the fiscal year that ended in March, the Journal reports. SoftBank's Vision Funds operations recorded a profit of ¥6.445 trillion for the period, compared with a loss of ¥115.02 billion a year earlier.

Disclosures about fund valuations by business development companies are often opaque and hard to understand, Jonathan Weil writes for the Journal's Heard on the Street column. That helps explain why investors have a hard time determining how much a private-credit fund is really worth.

Congressional Democrats introduced bills to ban private equity from youth sports. The Let Kids PLay Act, introduced in the Senate by Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) and Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and in the House by Rep. Chris Deluzio (D., Penn.), would force private-equity firms to sell their stakes in youth-sports leagues and facilities and refund parents for “junk fees,” and would make private-equity investors personally liable for safety violations, among a number of other changes.

Cerberus Capital Management has committed $100 million to Frontier Power USA, a newly formed energy storage development and investment business that also expects to receive a commitment of around $150 million from Nasdaq-listed manufacturer Eos Energy Enterprises.

GoldenTree Asset Management in New York has wrapped up a $602 million collateralized loan obligation. GoldenTree Loan Management US CLO 29 brings the total number of CLOs issued by the firm to 38.

Brookfield Asset Management-backed Pinegrove Credit Partners and Temasek have formed a joint venture to provide credit to growth-stage startups. Pinegrove, which is also backed by HRTG Partners, has a strategic lending relationship with Silicon Valley Bank, now part of First Citizens Bank.

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

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