Good day, readers! Sports franchises and companies that support them have attracted growing interest among private investors over the past several years, leading to the establishment of more new entrants by veteran investors or sports executives. In this morning’s newsletter, our own Isaac Taylor has news of one new sports-focused firm launched by sports and media business veteran Matt Rizzetta. Meanwhile, our Wall Street Journal colleagues look at a recent spike in hiring among Wall Street investment banks as dealmaking and initial public offerings pick up.

Dive in for more details on these stories and so many more…

Sports and media business veteran Matt Rizzetta is opening private-equity firm Underdog Global Partners to focus on investing in sports, real estate and media intellectual property, WSJ Pro's Isaac Taylor reports. Part of his pitch to investors includes “priceless experiences and access” to what the firm describes as “a global ecosystem of relationships, networks and influencers.” Among Underdog’s assets at inception are global sports and media properties as well as associated real estate such as stadiums and arenas. Early backers of the nascent firm include high-net-worth individuals and family offices.

A pickup in dealmaking and initial public offerings is helping fuel a hot job market on Wall Street. Big banks had been adding staff over the past year in strategic expansions, but now sudden jumps in activity have them seeking to hire even more and slowing layoffs they might have otherwise executed, The Wall Street Journal reports. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are only a few banks that have ramped up hires recently.

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Haveli Investments, the private-equity firm founded by former Vista Equity Partners President Brian Sheth, has closed its $1.5 billion all cash acquisition of publicly traded artificial intelligence database provider Couchbase. Haveli raised $4.5 billion for its debut fund, ranking the fund among the biggest, if not the biggest, independent debut private equity vehicles ever raised.

Tether, which operates the world’s largest stablecoin digital currency, is in talks with potential investors over an infusion of as much as $20 billion in equity capital, Vickey Ge Huang reports for the Journal, citing reports by Bloomberg News and the Financial Times. The investment for a roughly 3% stake in the business reportedly would value the company at $500 billion.

Janus Henderson Group-backed private credit manager Victory Park Capital Advisors in Chicago is selling a minority stake in itself to life and health insurer CNO Financial Group, which in turn is set to provide at least $600 million in capital to Victory Park for its investment strategies. Janus Henderson acquired a majority interest in Victory Park last year.

Eiffel Investment Group led a financing of as much as €323 million, or $379 million, for solar company Power Capital Renewable Energy in Ireland. An initial €168 million is being used to refinance existing debt and provide working capital as the company completes development of capacity totaling as much as 330 megawatts.

Existing backer Hercules Capital is providing $200 million in growth financing to financial technology company Tipalti. The Foster City, Calif., company works with major banks and credit card companies to automate various functions such as treasury management, tax compliance and purchasing, using artificial intelligence technology.

Battery Ventures is acquiring a majority interest in artificial intelligence company Signal AI in conjunction with leading a $165 million growth investment in the company. Existing investors Highland Europe, Mercuri and MMC Ventures are retaining minority stakes. London-based Signal's technology is used to flag reputational and emerging risks by analyzing unstructured data such as news reports.

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein's Declaration Partners and property-focused Pivotal Manufacturing Partners are acquiring an advanced manufacturing plant from investors including the Baupost Group for $74 million. The plant, located on the former Fort Devens Army base outside Boston, is under a long-term lease with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a developer of fusion reactor power-generation technology. Baupost and King Street Properties developed the 165,000 square-foot plant in 2022.

Northleaf Capital Partners is backing audit and accounting service provider de Jong & Laan with a senior secured credit line. The Dutch company, a holding of Waterland Private Equity Investments, aims to use the fresh financing to expand, including through acquisitions.

Antin Infrastructure Partners in Paris is acquiring U.K. marina infrastructure provider Aquavista Watersides & Marinas from private-equity investor LDC, investing through the firm's Mid Cap Fund I. The Nottingham, England, company owns and operates 32 inland and coastal marinas with more than 5,300 boat slips in all. Antin is investing alongside company managers. LDC, part of the Lloyds Banking Group, has backed the business for about seven years.

Cohere Capital Partners is backing internet of things software company Leverege with a growth investment. The investment is expected to drive the Rockville, Md., company's expansion.

Hillcore Industrial, a unit of Canadian investment firm Hillcore Group, has completed its purchase of Meridian Energy, which provides power generation, energy and operational support services across Western Canada.

Catalio Capital Management led a roughly $40 million growth investment in radiotherapy treatment device developer Leo Cancer Care. The company is developing machinery that enables upright patient scanning and treatment.

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 is selling its roughly 40% stake in software maker Integral Ad Science through a take-private transaction in which Brossard, Quebec-based Novacap is paying $10.30 a share, in a deal that values the company at about $1.9 billion. Vista in Austin, Texas, is in line to receive around $669.6 million for the roughly 65 million shares it held as of March, according to a regulatory filing that also shows Atlas Venture with a 14% stake worth about $234 million in the buyout. Vista reportedly acquired Integral at an $850 million valuation in 2018 and has previously sold stakes totaling $436 million, according to a spokesman. Novacap is buying Nasdaq-listed Integral for a 22% premium to Tuesday's close.

Growth investor PSG Equity is exiting its investments in two companies, one in Europe and the other in North America. The firm is selling its interest in Sellsy to London-based business management technology company TeamSystem. Boston-based PSG invested €55 million, or about $64.5 million, in the French customer relationship management technology company in 2022. The firm is also selling San Diego-based brand reputation management software provider Chatmeter to Alchemer. PSG initially backed Chatmeter in 2019.

Windjammer Capital has agreed to sell Paragon Energy Solutions to publicly traded Mirion for around $585 million. Windjammer initially acquired Fort Worth, Texas-based Paragon, which provides engineered parts and services to the nuclear power industry, in 2021.

Newfold Digital, owned by Clearlake Capital Group and Siris Capital Group, is selling Markmonitor to PX3 Partners-backed corporate registrar Com Laude. Boise, Idaho-based Markmonitor manages internet domain name portfolios for around 2,000 corporate clients. Newfold acquired the company for about $302.5 million in 2022.

Cimbria Capital has sold internet of things software company AMI Global to strategic buyer SJE. Cimbria had backed the business since at least early 2017.

Elda River Capital Management, a firm created by the spinout of the energy and infrastructure team at Magnetar Capital, has raised at least $302 million so far for Elda River Credit Opportunities Fund, according to a regulatory filing. Lazard is placing the fund, the filing indicates.

Coller Capital has added former National Hockey League player-turned-investment professional Sean Pronger as a director on the firm’s private wealth team in California, according to an emailed news release. Pronger joined the secondary-focused firm from Starwood Capital.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. has appointed Craig Arnold to its board of directors, bringing the number of the firm's independent directors to 11 out of 15 board members in all. Arnold is a former chairman and chief executive of power management systems maker Eaton Corp.

KSL Capital Partners has named Sara Roure to lead the firm’s capital formation strategy across Europe and the Middle East. Roure most recently served as managing director and co-head of real estate alternatives capital formation EMEA at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Polen Capital Management in Boca Raton, Fla., has added Drew Cupps and his small company growth investment team. Cupps was a portfolio manager with Cupps Capital Management previously. Others he has worked with that are joining Polen include analysts Kevin Leitner and Chris Bush.

Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor in data, AI, defense and weapons development technology companies, wants everyone to think more about the end of the world, The Wall Street Journal reports. For about a year now, Thiel has been publicly laying out his understanding of biblical prophecies and the potential for the rapid advance of technology to bring about an apocalyptic future.

A blank-check company led by Ares Management co-founder David Kaplan has combined with autonomous truck software maker Kodiak Robotics in a deal that valued the startup at about $2.5 billion, Liz Young reports for the Journal. Mountain View, Calif.-based Kodiak said as part of the deal with Ares Acquisition Corp. II, it has raised about $275 million in financing. The special purpose acquisition company sold shares worth about $500 million in an initial public offering in April 2023 but investors since then have redeemed about 89% of that cash, according to data provider Boardroom Alpha.

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