Good morning! An expected executive order by President Trump that would make it easier for 401(k) plans to invest in alternative assets could also include cryptocurrencies along with private-equity funds, our Chris Cumming writes, citing lobbyists and other people in Washington who work with Wall Street firms. Some private-equity leaders aren’t happy with the idea.

Also, our Isaac Taylor reports on Ares Management’s new fundraising efforts to bolster the credit investment firm’s sports, media and entertainment strategy. They include a new fund that so far has raised $1.4 billion.

Meanwhile, Florida’s Brightline high-speed rail line, which is owned by private-equity firm Fortress Investment Group, is in talks with a group of bondholders to extend a debt repayment deadline, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Now onto the news..

A major policy win for private equity could now come with unwanted strings attached, WSJ Pro's Chris Cumming writes. For months, Wall Street has been expecting the Trump administration to issue an executive order that will help private-fund managers get into Americans’ defined-contribution retirement accounts. But now the Trump administration appears intent on expanding 401(k) access even more broadly, letting in digital assets such as cryptocurrencies along with private funds, according to lobbyists and other people who work with Wall Street firms on Capitol Hill. The addition of digital assets to the administration’s plans has caused consternation among some private-fund firms, who tried to push back on the idea, say people involved in the discussions.

Ares Management is bolstering its sports, media and entertainment investment strategy with a new fund, WSJ Pro’s Isaac Taylor reports. The Los Angeles-based credit specialist so far has raised $1.4 billion for its second pool dedicated to the strategy, or more than 70% of the firm’s target for the fundraising drive, Chief Executive Michael Arougheti said during an earnings call Friday. He added the firm is also getting a strong response for a fund that began accepting investors in June through monthly subscriptions and targets the same sectors.

Florida’s Brightline high-speed rail line, owned by Fortress Investment Group, is in talks with a group of municipal bondholders to extend a bond repayment deadline, as the owner seeks fresh capital to pay down debt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reports, citing people familiar with the matter. A group of municipal bondholders has hired a law firm for talks over an Aug. 13 deadline the project faces to redeem $985 million in so-called commuter bonds. Those are tax-exempt securities linked to financing for interconnected commuter trains, the people said. The coastal rail line runs from Miami to Orlando.

Brookfield spinoff Brookfield Wealth Solutions has agreed to acquire U.K. insurer Just Group for 220 pence a share in a deal that values the business at about £2.4 billion, or roughly $3.19 billion. The deal represents a 75% premium to the stock's 126 pence price at the end of trading Wednesday. Bermuda-based Brookfield Wealth would gain a foothold in the U.K. market for pension asset transfers and other retirement services. Just shares were little changed on Friday, closing at 210.5 pence in London.

Sixth Street is acquiring a roughly 38% stake in an renewable company called Sorgenia, which is owned by Italian infrastructure investor F2i, according to an emailed announcement. The Sixth Street investment gives Sorgenia an implied valuation of more than €4 billion, or $4.62 billion. As part of the deal, F2i is also merging its wind and solar power generation companies EF Solare, Renovalia, and Renovalia Tramontana into Sorgenia. Sorgenia operates about 1,700 megawatts of installed renewables capacity and has development projects totalling an additional 5,000 MW.

Advent International in Boston has raised its take-private offer for London-listed Spectris to £41.00 a share, including £40.72 in cash and an expected dividend of 28 pence a share, valuing the business at £4.2 billion, or $5.55 billion, Andrea Figueras reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Advent's latest offer for the precision-measurement company tops a £4.1 billion bid entered by rival buyout firm KKR & Co. in New York, which had succeeded in gaining Spectris's support over an earlier Advent proposal valued at £3.8 billion. Advent's latest bid won back support from Spectris directors. KKR said it is considering next steps.

Private-equity firm Progressio SGR in Milan has agreed to acquire a roughly 74% equity interest in publicly traded Italian information-technology-management services provider Spindox from third-party investors, according to a regulatory filing. The firm is investing €57.8 million, or $66 million, in the deal through its €335 million Progressio Investimenti IV fund and expects to take the company private through a follow-on tender offer. Spindox shares climbed 7.3% to close at €12.55 in Milan Friday.

Canadian pension investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, or La Caisse, has agreed to buy a nearly 50% interest in Terrion from publicly traded Telus Corp. for about C$1.26 billion, or $909 million, Robb M. Stewart reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Montreal-based Terrion is a newly created cell tower operator that Telus is carving out of its business.

New Mountain Capital-backed healthcare payments intelligence company Machinify has agreed to acquire publicly traded Performant Healthcare for around $670 million, Chris Wack reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Machinify is paying $7.75 a share for Performant, which offers technology that helps healthcare payers analyze and mitigate improper payments. The price is more than double Thursday's closing price of $3.55 on Nasdaq. Performant shares surged to close at $7.64 Friday.

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

Accel-KKR has agreed to sell its majority stake in Smart Communications to fellow private-equity firm Cinven. Accel-KKR, which initially backed the cloud-based enterprise communications company in 2016, will retain a minority stake.

Midmarket firm Acon Investments has agreed to sell Latin American packaging company Amfora Packaging to cosmetic packaging business Albéa Group. Acon formed Amfora back in 2015 through the merger of two family-owned businesses: Bogotá-based Intecplast and Lima-based Pieriplast.

Carlyle Group’s Carlyle Aviation Partners unit has raised at least $214 million so far for its latest aircraft leasing fund Carlyle Aviation Partners Fund VII and related parallel vehicles, according to regulatory filings. The fund has a $1 billion offering amount, according to the filing.

Excellere Partners promoted Mike Vieth to partner at the firm and added Nolan O’Rear and Eric Speicher as associates on its investment team. Vieth has been with the Denver-based midmarket firm since 2014.

Secondaries specialist Devon Park Advisors has agreed to be acquired by investment bank Perella Weinberg, marking the bank's first foray into the expanding market for continuation funds, Lauren Thomas reports for The Wall Street Journal. Secondary private-equity deals, which include continuation funds, are on pace to exceed $200 billion in value this year alone, which would notch a fresh all-time high after a record haul of such deals in 2024. Jonathan Costello, who previously ran PJT Park Hill’s global secondaries business, started Devon Park in 2021.

Late summer is typically one of the slowest times for dealmakers. Not this one. As the Journal’s Lauren Thomas writes, last week alone was the highest-volume week for mergers and acquisitions for U.S. companies since 2021, according to LSEG.

Ares Management's assets under management surged 28% to $572.4 billion at the end of June from $447.2 billion a year earlier, while fee-related earnings rose 26% to $409.1 million during the second quarter compared with the same period of last year. The firm reported raising $26.2 billion in the just-ended period, when net income jumped 44% to $137.1 million, or 46 cents a share, from the like period a year earlier.

Ceres Partners, a farmland investment specialist with about $1.85 billion in assets, has agreed to be acquired by New York fund manager WisdomTree for as much as $500 million, Jack Pitcher reports for the Journal. The deal marks the latest push into private markets by an investment firm previously focused on publicly traded securities. South Bend, Ind.-based Ceres manages funds invested in agricultural land and related assets. WisdomTree, which has about $128 billion in funds such as ETFs that invest in publicly traded securities, said the move will bolster its ability to offer investors assets that are largely uncorrelated to traditional securities markets. The firm agreed to pay $275 million upfront for Ceres, plus as much as $225 million in earnouts.

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

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

Follow us on Twitter:@wsjpe, @LHVGarcia, @LauraKreutzer