Good morning and TGIF! Washington's war on Tehran may have suppressed some dealmaking last month, particularly IPOs, but there was still plenty of headline-worthy news this week, especially in the private-credit sector. And the conflict's disruptive effects likely hobbled some fundraising efforts, as our Chris Cumming reports below.

On the credit front, our Isaac Taylor delves into the software-related woes of a Blue Owl BDC called Blue Owl Technology Income Corp., whose investors sought to cash in a massive 41% of its shares in the first quarter. The BDC stuck with its 5% quarterly limit for repurchases, however.

Meanwhile, the Journal writes that the wave of withdrawal requests flooding into BDCs and funds tailored to wealthy investors has rocked shares across the industry and there could be more to come. 

We have those and many more stories condensed and linked for you below, so please read on...

The private-equity industry’s fundraising slump continued in the first quarter amid turmoil in the private-credit and software markets and uncertainty over the war in Iran, WSJ Pro's Chris Cumming reports. Private-equity firms globally raised $86 billion for buyout, growth and turnaround funds in the first quarter, putting the industry on pace to fall short even of last year’s disappointing total of $423.4 billion, data-tracking firm PitchBook said Friday. The new assessment confirms a glum outlook for the industry as the year began and puts private-equity fundraising on track for the worst year since 2016.

Fears of disruption in the software sector are hitting Blue Owl Capital’s technology-focused business development company particularly hard as the firm seeks to convince shareholders those fears are unfounded, Isaac Taylor writes for WSJ Pro. Blue Owl Technology Income Corp., or OTIC, is limiting shareholder redemptions to 5%, after receiving quarterly redemption requests of roughly 41% of the BDC’s shares outstanding. The move reverses the firm’s stance in the prior quarter when it allowed higher-than-usual shareholder redemptions. Blue Owl-affiliated BDCs received a total of $5.4 billion of redemption requests across two funds, both of which will cap redemptions, the firm disclosed Thursday.

The rush of investors trying to pull cash from private-credit funds intensified this week, hitting unprecedented levels and raising the specter of prolonged pressure on the firms that had become the new kings of Wall Street, the Journal reports. So far, investors have sought to withdraw nearly $14 billion from the vehicles that targeted wealthy individual investors. Requests to pull $5.4 billion from two Blue Owl Capital business development companies, disclosed Thursday, came after weeks of elevated redemption figures trickling out from competitors including Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, BlackRock and Cliffwater. Each saw funds receive requests of more than the typical limit of 5% of shares outstanding.

Antin Infrastructure Partners in Paris has acquired Sapphire Gas Solutions from Apollo Global Management, investing through its fifth flagship fund, which closed on €10.2 billion, or about $11.82 billion. The Conroe, Texas, company provides compressed natural gas and liquefied gas services, including transportation and storage for more than 120 end-users of the fuel in 30 states. Apollo has backed the company since late 2021.

European private-equity group Argos Fund is taking private Milan-listed technical content publisher and marketing services provider Star7 at an equity value of about €107.1 million, or around $124.1 million, paying €11.90 a share, or roughly 49% more than the share's €8 close on Tuesday. Argos manages over €2.3 billion.

CenterOak Partners in Dallas backed a majority recapitalization of Grismer Tire & Auto Service, a Dayton, Ohio-based operator of service shops in major Ohio cities with 28 locations.

BlackPeak Capital, Cogito Capital and Taiwania Capital led a $50 million growth investment in physical access control system developer Alcatraz, joined by others including existing backer Almaz Capital. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company is developing systems that use facial recognition technology to grant access to secure locations.

White Mountains Insurance Group-backed buyout firm White Mountains Partners has acquired a majority interest in fire protection and security services provider Basesix Systems, describing the move as its second platform investment. The Marietta, Ga.-based company designs, installs and maintains building systems. The Hanover, N.H.-based insurer set up the private-equity firm in 2023 with $500 million in committed capital.

Life sciences-focused SV Health Investors has acquired contract research organization EpiVax. The Providence, R.I., company specializes in bioanalytical risk assessments for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

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

Growth Catalyst Partners is selling brand marketing company Opus Group to EagleTree Capital. The Beaverton, Ore., company specializes in experiential and live events. Growth Catalyst first backed the business in 2015, according to the firm's website.

BV Investment Partners is selling down its stake in cloud-based communications technology provider CallTower to fellow private-equity firm Court Square Capital Partners. BV, which initially invested in CallTower in 2023, is retaining a minority stake in the company alongside management.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. defied industry trends by hauling in its largest-ever North American-focused private-equity pool, collecting about $23 billion for KKR North America Fund XIV, Nicholas G. Miller reports for The Wall Street Journal. The New York firm began raising commitments for the vehicle in June 2024. Investors in the fund include the state investment boards in Washington and Minnesota, the retirement systems of New York city and state, and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, according to the WSJ Pro Private Equity LP Commitments database.

Buyout firm L Squared Capital Partners has wrapped up L Squared Capital Partners V at the fund’s $2 billion upper limit. One investor that disclosed a commitment to the fund is the Rhode Island State Investment Commission, according to WSJ Pro’s LP Commitments database. The new fund’s final tally came in at more than double the $840 million that the firm raised for the fund’s predecessor back in 2023.

Circulate Capital in Singapore reached a first close with $220 million for its Circulate Capital Asia II fund, putting the impact investor near its $300 million goal for the vehicle. Investors included Impact Fund Denmark, which said it pledged $20 million. The firm raised $188 million for a predecessor fund and invests in supply chains and recycling businesses in South and Southeast Asia.

Royal Bank of Canada has established its RBC BlueBay Credit Opportunities Fund, which is pursuing an income and total return strategy and has been tailored to attract high- and ultrahigh-net-worth individual investors in the U.S., Robb M. Stewart reports for Dow Jones Newswires. RBC Global Asset Management will invest from the fund mainly in high-yield corporate bonds, loans and structured credit.

Ares Management has raised $5.3 billion across two real-estate funds, and related vehicles. The firm closed  Ares US Real Estate Fund XI with a total of around $3.5 billion, including a general-partner commitment. The firm wrapped up Ares European Property Enhancement Partners IV with around $1.9 billion, including related vehicles.

So far, the outflows from private-credit funds have been largely offset by inflows, Telis Demos writes for the Journal's Heard on the Street column. Reported inflows from October to February were sufficient to offset redemptions, reported as of a week ago, for the past two quarters. But how long can that last?

Citing "recent developments in private credit markets," the Treasury Department announced plans to convene a series of meetings with other financial regulators, starting with overseers of the insurance industry. Insurers provide substantial capital to private-markets lenders. Treasury officials plan to start the series by meeting with state insurance regulators to discuss emerging risks and ways to manage them.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, speaking in an interview with Reuters, has cautioned that the private-credit sector's opacity could magnify the effects of what may seem to be isolated failures. Echoing comments of JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, Bailey said the private-credit industry's "fairly opaque" nature can transform the collapse of one or two lenders into a transformative event if they are seen as canaries in the proverbial coal mine, recollecting the start of the financial crisis nearly two decades ago.

Private-equity firms worldwide raised $106 billion last year for infrastructure-focused funds that invest in data centers and other digital assets as part of their strategies, WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia reports, citing industry researcher Preqin. The total is nearly double the $54 billion such funds collected in 2024 and represented about half of the capital raised for all infrastructure funds in 2025.

Hillhouse Investment Management's new Abu Dhabi office is open for business after the Singapore-based firm received a license from local authorities in the United Arab Emirates. Hillhouse manages over $100 billion, according to Reuters.

Healthcare-focused TT Capital Partners is changing its name to Truehelm. The Bloomington, Minn.-based firm, which spun out of investment bank TripleTree in 2021, closed its most recent fund last year with $230 million.

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

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