Good morning. Data from the 451 Research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence appear to back up the notion that the pandemic injected some adrenaline into global tech M&A as aggregate announced deal value rose to a record $302 billion in the first quarter. The frenzied level of blank-check activity also helped. But the number of deals during the period, at 850, was the second lowest for any quarter going back three years, with only last year’s pandemic-hit second quarter providing a lower number, at 789. That period’s total deal value fell to a paltry $36 billion. What a difference a year can make.

In today’s news, Luis Garcia has a scoop on a new fundraising effort by energy infrastructure investor ECP, while Chris Cumming details a successful marketing campaign by Peak Rock Capital, which has $2 billion to show for it. Chris also offers a perspective on a move by federal agencies to examine the role of private-equity firms in the U.S. rental housing market and what it may portend.

And Toshiba said it received an offer from CVC Capital Partners that could be valued at more than $20 billion. If a deal is agreed, it would be one of the biggest leveraged buyouts ever. But government approval would be required because of Toshiba's involvement in infrastructure businesses such as maintenance of nuclear power plants.

We have all that and a whole lot more condensed for you below, so please read on...

Energy infrastructure investor ECP is seeking $500 million to $1 billion for a new fund to buy stock in clean energy-focused blank-check companies through private investment in public equity deals, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Luis Garcia reports, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Summit, N.J.-based firm also known as Energy Capital Partners began raising its ECP Energy Transition Opportunity Fund about six weeks ago, the person said.

Peak Rock Capital has closed its latest buyout fund at $2 billion, exceeding the firm’s initial $1.3 billion fundraising target despite nothing but virtual pitches to investors, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Chris Cumming reports. The vehicle, Peak Rock Capital Fund III LP, along with parallel funds roughly matches the total of three previous fundraisings: $1.3 billion collected for buyout and credit funds in 2017, and the $700 million for its debut buyout fund in 2013.

Japan's Toshiba Corp. said it received a proposal for acquisition from CVC Capital Partners, WSJ's Kosaku Narioka reports.  The industrial conglomerate said it would seek further details about the offer and consider it carefully. The Nikkei newspaper said CVC was offering a 30% premium, suggesting the proposal would value Toshiba at slightly more than $20 billion. A deal would rival in size the 2018 acquisition of Toshiba’s flash-memory unit led by Bain Capital. 

After a decade of growth, private-equity firms’ role in the rental-housing market is now facing government scrutiny. The industry is under the microscope over reports of illegal evictions of people from their homes during the coronavirus pandemic, making housing one of a growing number of sectors where the government is probing the role played by buyout firms. Chris Cumming digs into the implications.

Enterprise software company OneStream Software said it has raised a $200 million series B funding round that values the company at $6 billion. D1 Capital Partners led the latest round with participation from Tiger Global Management and Investment Group of Santa Barbara, according to a press release.

Walter Capital Partners is backing engineering test and quality systems company Averna Technologies Inc., investing alongside Investissement Québec and W Investments Group. The Montréal-based company serves clients in a variety of industries, from life sciences and medical devices to consumer electronics, aerospace and defense.

Blue Sage Capital is backing Cobra Legal Solutions LLC, a technology-enabled provider of services to lawyers and law firms to assist in processing contracts, doing due diligence and handling litigation discovery as well as other complex tasks. The Austin, Texas-based company is led by Candice Hunter Corby. Blue Sage, also based in Austin, typically writes checks of $20 to $40 million as control investments in companies with $20 million to $125 million of revenue.

Ardian has agreed to back Dutch home improvement products maker Deli Home. The Gorinchem, Netherlands-based company supplies builders, specialty retailers and homeowners with wood-based products, including doors, custom closets and flooring under brand names such as Lundia and Skantrae. The company generates more than €340 million (equivalent to about $402.9 million) in annual revenue and has about 1,250 employees.

EMK Capital, a London-based midmarket private-equity firm, has acquired wireless communications systems company Cardo Systems from fellow private-equity firm Fortissimo Capital and Dr. Abraham Glezerman, the company’s founder and chairman. EMK is currently investing out of EMK Capital Partners II, which closed at €1.56 billion (the equivalent of $1.85 billion) in June 2020.

H.I.G. Capital said it has made a growth investment in technology consulting and digital services provider Concord USA LLC in conjunction with the technology company’s acquisition of healthcare consulting firm Upton Hill Inc.

Runway Growth Capital said it has closed a $25 million senior loan to Allurion Technologies, a provider of technology used in weight loss, including a device called the Elipse Balloon, a swallowable, procedureless gastric balloon.

CNL Strategic Capital and Levine Leichtman Strategic Capital have backed a holding company that has acquired ATA National Title Group, a full service title insurance agency that has 60 offices across four states in the midwestern U.S.

Värde Partners has provided construction financing for two office projects in Hyderabad, India. Combined, the two projects encompass more than 2.5 million square feet of class A space in the city’s Gachibowli financial district.

Mill Rock Capital has invested in recruiting company Execu|Search Group, joined by Intermediate Capital Group PLC and company founder Ed Fleischman. The New York-based company provides hiring and contract staffing services across a variety of industries around the U.S.

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

Madison Dearborn Partners-backed baseball-card maker Topps Co. is going public through a combination with a special-purpose acquisition company that sees potential for Topps’ expansion in the digital collectibles market, Dave Sebastian writes for Dow Jones Newswires. The deal with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II values the combined entity at about $1.16 billion, the companies said. Former Walt Disney Co. leader Michael Eisner will remain as chairman of Topps.

A slowing in the frenetic pace of blank-check company share offerings has been accompanied by a deflation in market values for the special purpose acquisition companies that have already listed their stock, and that may create an arbitrage opportunity for investors, Nicholas Jasinski writes for sister publication Barron’s. For SPAC stocks that trade below their IPO price, an investor can lock in a gain if the price remains submerged even after the blank-check company finds a deal by exercising the right of redemption.

Alpine Investors said it has agreed to sell telecommunications data and analytics provider Comlinkdata to Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire Partners. Alpine Investors initially acquired the company in 2018, the firm said in a press release.

Kainos Capital, a food and consumer-focused private-equity firm announced the sale of specialty foods distributor Ferraro Foods to a portfolio company of fellow private-equity firm Kelso & Co. Kainos originally backed Ferraro Foods, which mainly supplies Italian restaurants and pizzerias in the Eastern U.S., in 2018.

Ironclad Energy Partners LLC, an energy investment affiliate of Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, said it has agreed to sell its interests in energy utilities company RED-Rochester, LLC to SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust plc for $260 million. Stonepeak and Ironclad initially acquired the assets in 2016.

Dallas-based midmarket firm Trive Capital has sold veterinary clinic chain American Veterinary Group to Oak Hill Capital. Trive initially backed the formation of the company in 2015 alongside Latticework Capital Management, a healthcare focused growth-equity firm.

Madrid’s Magnum Capital and other investors have sold Global Release Liners SL to strategic buyer Neenah Inc. for about €205 million (equivalent to about $240.5 million) in cash. Global Release unit Industrias de Transformacion de Andoain SA’s products are used in fast-growing hygiene, tapes, industrial, labels, composites and other end-markets.

Grain Management, a private investment firm focused on telecommunications and digital infrastructure, said it has rounded up $3.75 billion across two new funds. The firm raised $2.25 billion for its latest main fund Grain Communications Opportunity Fund III LP, which had a $1.5 billion target. Late last year, it also raised $1.5 billion for Grain Spectrum Holdings III, LP, ahead of a $1 billion goal, according to a press release. The latter fund’s closing preceded the firm’s participation in a U.S. Federal Communications Commission auction of 5G broadband spectrum, the release stated.

Ares Management Corp. has collected about $1.7 billion for a fund to invest in distressed and selected development opportunities. The Los Angeles firm said the amount pulled in for its Ares U.S. Real Estate Opportunity Fund III LP exceeded a $1.5 billion goal for the vehicle and is the largest fund targeting U.S. real estate investments it has raised so far. The new fund is about 70% bigger than its predecessor.

Angelo Gordon & Co. has collected at least $660 million and possibly as much as $920.3 million so far for its latest opportunistic energy lending strategy, regulatory filings show. The New York firm invests across North American energy production assets, including oil field services, transportation, pipelines, refining and distribution, according to its website. The firm aimed to acquire distressed debt of energy companies with its new AG Energy Credit Opportunities Fund IV LP and had a $1.5 billion fundraising goal for the vehicle, Reuters reported in June 2020, citing an investor presentation. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows the firm had raised more than $660 million for the fund as of April 1, while it had also collected almost $260.3 million for AG Energy Credit Opportunities Offshore Holdings IV LP as of Tuesday, a separate filing shows. Both funds reported receiving their first commitments in August 2019. Neither indicate whether there is any overlap between the vehicles.

Hedge fund manager D.E. Shaw & Co. has collected about $1 billion for its fifth private credit fund. The New York firm plans to target stressed and distressed assets, financings, and special situations with its new D.E. Shaw Alkali Fund V LP vehicle, according to a news release. The firm listed the Alkali fund as a hedge fund in a March regulatory filing. D.E. Shaw said more than $100 million raised for the new fund came from the firm’s principals, employees and related entities, while outside investors in previous Alkali funds contributed more than $450 million. Since 2012, the firm has raised $2.9 billion for Alkali funds.

SkyKnight Capital said it has closed SkyKnight Capital Fund III LP at the fund’s $600 million hard cap, ahead of a $500 million target. SkyKnight plans to invest $50 million to $250 million per portfolio company across sectors that include healthcare, financial services and technology-enabled services. The firm said it has already backed two deals out of the fund, including IMA Financial Group, an independent specialty retail insurance broker, and NearU Services, a leading home services platform.

Dinale Management, a growth equity firm that does business as Denali Growth Partners, rounded up $203 million for its debut healthcare technology fund, Denali Growth Partners Fund I, LP, according to an emailed press release from the fund’s placement agent Strathmore Group. Jesse Lane, a former principal at Summit Partners, founded the firm in 2020 to primarily invest in asset-light, privately held capital-efficient businesses, serving the technology and healthcare industries, according to the firm’s registered investment adviser filing.

McNally Capital has collected about $92 million so far toward a $150 million goal for its McNally Capital Fund II LP, a regulatory filing shows. The Chicago firm, which invests alongside family offices, started raising capital for the vehicle late last year.

Lee Equity Partners said it has added James Rothstein as an operating partner to source and evaluate investments in the fire and security services industries. Mr. Rothstein was most recently senior vice president of global security solutions at Wesco/Anixter, where he led a more than $2 billion business unit, the private-equity firm said in a press release.

Ara Partners, a private-equity firm that backs industrial companies that seek to lower carbon emissions, said it has added Greg Zuboff as a vice president and Abhiram Karuppur as an associate at the firm. Mr. Zuboff previously worked as a principal at energy-focused growth investor WindSail Capital Group, while Mr. Karuppur was an analyst in the investment banking group at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Healthcare-focused Patient Square Capital has set up a research and due diligence operation and hired Laura Furmanski as a partner to lead the unit, called Patient Square Insights. She was most recently a managing director and  partner at Boston Consulting Group, where she worked with biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm’s new unit will focus on delivering insights into technically complex areas of health care, including disease areas, epidemiology and market sizing, regulatory, policy and reimbursement.

Commonfund Capital Inc., the private markets subsidiary of Commonfund, has hired Mark Radville as a managing director on the business development team, overseeing the expansion of Commonfund Capital’s relationships across pension plans, nonprofits, multi-family offices, insurance companies and registered investment advisors. Mr. Radville was previously at HarbourVest Partners and Guggenheim Investments.

Prospect Hill Growth Partners, a midmarket private-equity firm based in Waltham, Mass., said it has promoted Jeff Miller to partner and Kyle Casella to principal. Mr. Miller joined the firm in 2012 while Mr. Casella joined in 2016.

Thornburg Investment Management has named Blair C. Naylor as independent director. She is the founder of Palace Capital Management, a registered investment advisor and family office specializing in managing alternative investments, primarily in hedge funds and private equity.

Healthcare-focused Chicago Pacific Founders has promoted Jackson Lai to principal. He joined the Chicago-based firm in 2018.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, is in advanced talks to sell up to a 49% stake in its oil pipelines to a group of U.S., Chinese and local investors for $10 billion to $15 billion, Ben Dummett and Summer Said report for The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The investor group could include Apollo Global Management Inc., energy investment firm EIG Global Energy Partners, China's Silk Road Fund, which focuses on infrastructure, and China Reform Fund Management Co., a private-equity firm, along with Saudi pension funds, the people said.

An appeals court has upheld the conviction of Canyon Bridge Capital Partners co-founder Benjamin Chow for tipping a friend to his firm’s planned $1.3 billion acquisition of Lattice Semiconductor Corp. in 2016. The three-judge panel said a nondisclosure agreement Mr. Chow signed while in talks with the Oregon-based chipmaker made him a “temporary insider,” Reuters reported.

A handful of Wall Street firms that bet big on the power sector made millions in paper profits when a winter storm in Texas boosted demand for the electricity generated by their plants, Juliet Chung and Katherine Blunt write in The Wall Street Journal. SoftBank Group Corp.’s Fortress Investment Group LLC and hedge fund manager Kennedy Lewis Investment Management were two of the biggest winners. Other significant investors include Avenue Capital Group, Guggenheim Partners, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset-management arm and Pacific Investment Management Co.

Ares Management Corp. has priced an offering of 9.5 million common shares at $54 each and has granted underwriters options to buy more than 1.4 additional shares. The deal is expected to close Thursday. The Los Angeles-based firm is also selling $250 million of common stock in a concurrent transaction at the offer price, adjusted for commissions and underwriting discounts. The fresh capital from the offering will be used to finance the cash portion of the firm’s purchase of secondaries specialist Landmark Partners, according to a news release. Ares agreed to acquire the private-equity firm with about $18.7 billion in assets under management from BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. and Landmark in a deal valued at about $1.08 billion.

The global economy is likely to expand this year at the fastest pace in at least four decades as Covid-19 vaccine rollouts accelerate and advanced economies spend aggressively to counter the coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns, the International Monetary Fund said. The IMF raised its 2021 growth forecast to 6% from a January projection of 5.5%, Yuka Hayashi reports in The Wall Street Journal.

California plans to fully reopen its economy on June 15, assuming adequate vaccine supplies and that Covid-19 hospitalizations remain low, Ian Lovett and Christine Mai-Duc report for The Wall Street Journal. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who may face a recall campaign this fall, laid out the plan on Tuesday. A reopening would let Californians return to indoor dining, museums, movie theatres and other businesses that have been largely or entirely shut down for the past year. It could also cut into the biggest state’s 8.5% unemployment rate.

Credit Suisse Group AG took a $4.7 billion hit from the meltdown of Archegos Capital Management and slashed its dividend, saying its investment banking and risk chiefs would leave the bank, Margot Patrick writes for The Wall Street Journal. The Swiss lender has been the hardest hit by the collapse late last month of Archegos, a U.S. family office, suffering a major loss in its unit that services hedge funds. The Archegos crisis emerged just weeks after Greensill Capital, a U.K. finance firm that was deeply entangled with the investment bank filed for insolvency, sticking the lender with losses.

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