Good morning. It’s hard to ignore how AI has permeated our daily lives. In the last week, Google’s Gemini software has helped me find recipes and text a map of restaurants to my friends. Smart money like private-equity and venture firms were early to recognize the potential of the technology.

Speaking of AI, my colleague Maria Armental, has news of a $574 million fundraising campaign by Invictus Growth Partners to support the firm’s thesis of placing bets on artificial intelligence powering key sectors such as manufacturing, automotive and energy.

Meanwhile, our WSJ colleagues look at how Europe has lagged the U.S. and China in capitalizing on the technology boom. The European Union’s share of privately held tech companies valued at more than $1 billion is dwarfed by each of China and the U.S.

Read on for more on these and other stories.

Technology investor Invictus Growth Partners has raised $574 million for its second flagship fund and related co-investment vehicles, fueling the firm’s bets on artificial intelligence powering key sectors such as manufacturing, automotive and energy, WSJ Pro’s Maria Armental reports. Invictus collected $488 million for Invictus Growth Fund II, and an additional $86 million for co-investments. The firm had originally set a $450 million upper limit for the flagship fund.

The world’s technology revolution is leaving Europe behind, the Journal reports. Europe lacks any homegrown alternatives to the likes of Google, Amazon or Meta. Apple’s market value is bigger than the entire German stock market. The continent’s inability to create more big technology firms is seen as one of its biggest challenges and is a major reason why its economies are stagnating. The issue is even more urgent with the prospect of higher tariffs threatening to further curb economic growth.

Providence Equity Partners is nearing a more-than $1 billion deal to acquire a live-event logistics company that has worked on Taylor Swift and Beyoncé tours, Ben Glickman reports for the Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The private-equity firm is close to acquiring GCL, or Global Critical Logistics, from fellow buyout firm ATL Partners, the people said. ATL, which first backed the business in 2018, is expected to retain a minority interest.

Private-equity backed Authentic Brands Group has agreed to buy clothing brand Dockers from Levi Strauss for $311 million, the Journal reported. The purchase price could reach $391 million, the result of a potential $80 million earn-out opportunity tied to Dockers’s performance under Authentic’s ownership, Levi said Tuesday. Authentic Brands’ backers include CVC Capital Partners, General Atlantic and Leonard Green & Partners.

Bain Capital led a $2.1 billion investment in convertible senior preferred shares issued by insurance broker and business services provider Acrisure, joined by Gallatin Point Capital, Apollo Global Management and other investors. The capital is expected to help the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company refinance some earlier preferred shares and pursue acquisitions. The deal valued the company, which employs more than 19,000 people, at $32 billion.

Private-credit firm Liquidity is providing more than €75 million, or $84.6 million, in debt financing to pet food company Butternut Box, which has previously received backing from General Atlantic and L Catterton. Liquidity’s financing will be used for developing a second manufacturing plant in Poland. The U.K. company provides fresh dog food to customers in Europe and the British Isles.

Midmarket investor Kingswood Capital Management and consumer-focused Performance Investment Partners, formed last year, have acquired omnichannel retailer Vitamin Shoppe from Franchise Group. As part of the deal, the firms have returned former chief executive Sharon Leite to the helm of the Secaucus, N.J.-based business. She was CEO from 2018 to 2023.

Monroe Capital has agreed to buy $250 million in consumer recreational vehicle and marine loans from Source One Financial Services through a forward flow purchase agreement. Monroe has secured financing from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for the arrangement.

Eiffel Investment Group is providing financing for renewable energy company Enfinity Global to back projects across Europe through a €100 million bond facility, equivalent to about $112.4 million.

Midmarket firm Trivest Partners is joining forces with Canadian independent sponsor Vibrant Equity to form True North Dental Partnership Organization to support the operations of dental groups across Canada. The newly established business already has eight dental offices in Ontario.

Fifth Wall and Sunriver Capital Partners co-led a growth equity investment in Vero, a screening and leasing system used by property owners and renters. Special situations investor Rebuild Capital also participated in the deal.

Blackstone is seeking a buyer for trade show company Clarion Events, which could fetch around £2 billion, or about $2.67 billion, Reuters reported, citing four people familiar with the matter. The New York firm acquired the U.K. company in 2017 for roughly £600 million, Reuters said.

Impact investor o15 Capital Partners, through its o15 Emerging America Credit Opportunities fund, has made a $28 million senior secured debt investment in Simplify Compliance Holdings, an information services provider backed by Leeds Equity Partners.

Sixth Street Partners is backing software company Gravitee, leading a $60 million growth investment in the business and joined by existing backers. Sixth Street invested through its growth strategy in the provider of systems that unify security and governance of various applications to close blind spots and security gaps.

Existing backer Sunstone Partners joined Cressey & Co. to make a significant growth investment in women’s care provider ProgenyHealth. The unspecified investment is expected to fuel the Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based company’s expansion. Sunstone has backed the business since 2017.

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

Private-equity firm GTCR is selling data and analytics company Itel Laboratories to Thoma Bravo-backed Nearmap. GTCR first backed the Jacksonville, Fla.-based provider of claims information and analysis to property and casualty insurers in 2021, when it invested in Global Claims Services.

The estate of late TPG co-founder David Bonderman plans to sell 21 million shares in the listed private-equity firm through DB Holdings I. The estate plans to use the proceeds to settle certain obligations. TPG shares closed at $49.90 in New York, making the stake worth almost $1.05 billion.

Compass Group Equity Partners in St. Louis, Mo., has sold EPIC Systems to Vinci Energies, a subsidiary of Vinci Group. Compass initially acquired the provider of industrial automation technology and services back in 2018.

Hospitality-focused Trinity Investments has sold the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa to strategic buyer Ryman Hospitality Properties for $865 million. Trinity acquired the property for $602 million in 2019, backed by Elliott Investment Management, and invested nearly $100 million in renovations completed in 2023.

Impact investor HCAP Partners in La Jolla, Calif. has exited its investment in senior care provider Arosa, although the firm didn’t say whether it was sold or who the acquirer might be. The firm backed the North Carolina company then called Arosa+LivHome alongside Bain Capital’s Double Impact strategy in 2018.

Beach Point Capital Management has raised more than $1.25 billion of investible captial across two new credit-focused funds. More than $750 million of the total is tied to BPC Opportunities Fund V to invest across a range of midmarket private credit deals. Some $545 million of investible capital is connected to BPC Real Estate Debt Fund, the firm's first dedicated real estate credit fund.

Energy investment firm North Hudson Resource Partners in Houston has closed on $344 million for its fifth fund to invest in non-operated oil and gas assets, North Hudson Production Partners V. The closing brings the firm’s total assets to about $1.4 billion.

Specialist asset manager SV Health Investors’ dementia discovery strategy has raised $269 million for its second fund, which targets venture investments in companies developing or enabling novel therapeutics for dementia. So far the firm has backed four companies out of the new fund. Investors in the fund include AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, British Business Bank and Gates Frontier, as well as pharmaceutical companies Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Pfizer as well as the Alzheimer’s Association.

Asset-based finance specialist Crayhill Capital Management has added Katherine Taylor to the firm as managing director and head of marketing and investor relations. She was previously with First Eagle Alternative Credit.

Lateral Investment Management in San Mateo, Calif., has added Phuong Ninh as a principal, according to an emailed news release. He was previously with K1 Investment Management.

A chip-component supplier backed last year by Apollo Global Management, Baupost Group, Fidelity Investments and Capital Group is preparing to file for bankruptcy within a matter of weeks, WSJ Pro’s Alicia McElhaney and Alexander Gladstone report. The Apollo-led group holds $1.5 billion in senior secured loans made to the company, Wolfspeed, and has the right to approve any new secured financing, according to securities filings.

Investors with sufficient capital need to put money into private markets “to ensure proper exposure to the real economy," according to Sitara Sundar, head of alternative investment strategy in the private banking unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co. That’s because few U.S. businesses are going public and nearly 90% of those with revenue of over $100 million remain private. Just this year, the bank said more than 4,500 clients invested in private markets evergreen funds for the first time. Chase’s private bank oversees more than $2.9 trillion in client assets.

European buyout firm EQT AB is reportedly proposing a €220 million capital injection, equivalent to $247.4 million, for financially troubled nursing home operator Colisée Group in France, which credit ratings provider S&P Global Ratings said last week was in default on a €1.2 billion loan. Multiple reports including in the Financial Times said the firm is forming a rescue package for the company it acquired in 2020 alongside Canadian pension investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Private-equity placement agent Aqueduct Capital Group has agreed to be acquired by banking company PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh, Katherine Hamilton reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Founded in 2003, Aqueduct focuses on raising capital for private equity, private credit and real asset managers. PNC said it would complement its Harris Williams investment banking unit.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. has priced $550 million in subordinated 20-year notes, raising capital with a 6.875% interest rate. Underwriters of the issue have an option for an additional $82.5 million of the notes to cover over-allotments. The New York firm said it intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.

Garnett Station Partners has set up a business called Grizzly MEP to back providers of plumbing, electrical and building mechanical services providers such as Stiles Heating & Cooling, which operates in Georgia and South Carolina. Grizzly focuses on services to commercial and industrial properties.

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

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