Good day! As you read this, I will be digging my way out from under our first big snowstorm of the winter season (or at least thinking about digging myself out). In this morning's news, WSJ Pro's Chris Cumming writes of efforts by two of the largest state pension managers in Pennsylvania to push back against a proposed state bill that would increase transparency over fees, investment performance and internal controls of managers they back.

Also, Will Louch reports on Dyal Capital Partners' new $9 billion record-breaking fund focused on acquiring stakes in alternative asset managers, and Ted Bunker has news of fresh accuations against investment firm GPB Capital Holdings from a Massachusetts auto executive. Finally, the newest edition of Coller Capital's Global Private Equity Barometer report shows that many limited partners feel their private-equity portfolios still need some tweaking to prepare for an economic downturn. 

For more details on these and other stories, read on...

Pennsylvania lawmakers trying to force more transparency around private-equity fees are getting pushback from state pension systems concerned that the changes could cut them off from the best managers, Chris Cumming writes for WSJ Pro Private Equity. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is considering a bill that would require the state’s two biggest public pensions to reveal new details about the fees and performance of investment firms that manage their funds, including private-equity firms. Among other changes, it would require regular online reports of each manager’s performance, fees and expenses charged, and any internal control failures.

New York-based Dyal Capital Partners, which owns stakes in some of private equity’s best-known firms including Robert Smith’s Vista Equity Partners, has closed its latest fund on more than $9 billion, Will Louch writes for WSJ Pro, citing people familiar with the matter. The fund is the largest ever raised for the investment strategy, surpassing the $5.3 billion Dyal raised for its predecessor in 2016.

Investors increasingly worry that an economic downturn isn’t far away. However, a new survey conducted by secondary investor Coller Capital finds that many of them don’t think their private-equity programs are ready should the downturn hit today, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Laura Kreutzer writes. Many of the investors surveyed, particularly those in North America and Asia, said their private-equity portfolios would need modifying against an economic downturn. Among North American respondents, 80% said their portfolios would need modifying, while 70% of Asia-Pacific investors and 45% of European ones said the same.

GPB Capital Holdings LLC faces renewed allegations of fraud by a Massachusetts auto executive whom the alternative asset manager forced from his leadership role earlier this year, Ted Bunker writes for WSJ Pro. David Rosenberg, the executive, in an updated complaint filed in Norfolk County Superior Court in Massachusetts, claims New York-based GPB engaged in fraudulent activities to finance its acquisitions of auto dealerships controlled by his family and which he led. Tab Rosenfeld, a lawyer at Rosenfeld & Kaplan LLP in New York representing GPB, described Mr. Rosenberg as an unhappy former employee “who is trying to tear down the company.”

KKR & Co.’s record-setting buyout of RJR Nabisco some 30 years ago helped build a popular private-equity narrative that still resonates on the hustings today, from the “corporate raiders” and “Barbarians at the Gate” of the 1980s to the more recent “vultures” and “vampires.” But KKR wants to put a decidedly different spin on the story today, at least with its industrial portfolio. Instead of job cuts at new industrial companies it buys, its focus has shifted to empowering workers. Read more in Bunker's Take.

Riverstone Holdings doubled the capital it invested three years ago in a pipeline linking Ohio to Canada, becoming the latest private-equity firm to benefit from foreign investor appetite for U.S. energy-infrastructure assets, Luis Garcia reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. The New York-based energy-focused firm said last week it sold its 50% stake in the Utopia pipeline to a consortium of South Korean infrastructure investors.

Bankrupt retailer Destination Maternity Corp. will shut down its remaining 235 retail stores under a deal that would see a licensing firm buy the company’s brand name and other assets for $50 million, WSJ Pro's Aisha Al-Muslim reports. A licensing platform backed by Neuberger Berman Group LLC has agreed to acquire the e-commerce business, brand name and intellectual property of bankrupt retailer, according to a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. offered about $5 billion for technology distributor Tech Data Corp. last week, but it was outbid by Apollo Global Management, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Warren Buffett, Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive. Tech Data late Wednesday said it has agreed to be acquired by Apollo for $145 a share in cash, or slightly more than $5 billion not including debt, a $15-a-share increase from Apollo’s offer earlier in November.

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

Vista Equity Partners has rounded up at least $1.5 billion so far for its first permanent capital private-equity fund, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing didn't indicate a target for the Vista Equity Partners Perennial LP. At least one limited partner that has disclosed a commitment to the fund is the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which approved a $500 million commitment last year. Vista plans to invest the fund in midsize-to-large enterprise software companies across North America, according to the firm’s latest registered investment adviser filing. The firm primarily backs companies it believes are operationally mature, according to the adviser filing.

H.I.G. BioHealth Partners has rounded up around $128.8 million so far for H.I.G. Biohealth Partners III LP, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The amount raised thus far puts the fund nearly halfway to a $300 million offering amount indicated in the filing. H.I.G. BioHealth Partners backs a range of life sciences companies, across sectors that include big pharma, small biotechnology companies, medical devices, diagnostics, clinical research and technology transfer, the firm said on its website. It also invests in companies developing products for unmet medical needs, primarily in therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics, the website said.

Atlanta-based growth-equity firm Fulcrum Equity Partners is seeking $250 million for its newest fund, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The offering amount for Fulcrum Growth Fund IV LLC is modestly larger than the $203 million that the firm raised for its prior fund in 2017. Fulcrum typically invests $3 million to $20 million to fund growth for companies across sectors that include health-care services, health-care technology, software, and technology-enabled services, according to the firm’s website.

BlackRock has held a first close for its European Middle Market Private Debt Fund II with a total of €1.2 billion ($1.32 billion) in commitments, and a further €300 million in separate mandates, Elisângela Mendonça writes for Private Equity News, a European trade publication of Dow Jones & Co. Launched in June, the fund has so far attracted capital from 24 investors. The asset manager's second European midmarket private debt fund is focused on relatively low risk, primarily first lien loans. It will provide debt to strong-performing midmarket companies in defensive industries such as health care, business services and technology, it said.

Hamburg-based private-equity firm BID Equity has closed its debut fund at the €125 million ($137.3 million) hard cap, Private Equity News' Ms. Mendonça reports. BID Equity Fund II focuses on majority investments in established business-to-business software providers in Europe—especially in Austria, Germany and Switzerland—with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of between €500,000 and €5 million.

U.S. private-equity firms, armed with a record amount of cash, are struggling to find ways to spend it, Miriam Gottfried writes for The Wall Street Journal. A year ago, fears of an economic slowdown and worries about trade tensions with China sent a tremor through markets and put some leveraged buyouts on hold. But while stocks rebounded in the new year, buyout activity never fully recovered. The aggregate value of U.S. buyouts fell 25% year to date through October, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data provider Preqin. Deals totaled $155.2 billion during the first 10 months of the year—the lowest since 2014.

Silver Lake is rejiggering its top leadership ranks, elevating two longtime executives to lead the firm as it enters a new chapter in its growth, Ms. Gottfried reports. The firm, which has been run since 2011 by four managing partners, has named two of those executives, Egon Durban and Greg Mondre, to the newly created role of co-chief executive officer, according to people close to Silver Lake.

A federal appeals court ruled private-equity firm Sun Capital Partners Inc. isn’t on the hook for a multimillion-dollar penalty for withdrawing from a bankrupt brass manufacturer’s pension fund, Soma Biswas reports for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston reversed lower court rulings—both district court and bankruptcy—in a recent decision saying Sun isn’t responsible for a $4.5 million penalty after it withdrew from a pension fund for a bankrupt portfolio company.

Graham McDonald, the head of global private equity at Aberdeen Standard Investments, is leaving the company following a review of the division, Selin Bucak reports for Private Equity News. A spokesman said the U.K. asset manager undertook a review to make sure the private-equity arm had “regional agility and independence.” Mr. McDonald joined Aberdeen Asset Management before its merger with Standard Life, having previously worked at Lloyds Banking Group and the Bank of Scotland.

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