Welcome back. Quantum Capital Group is in the process of collecting $4.5 billion for a new oil- and gas-focused fund, Luis Garcia reports. The firm has already scored a sizable exit deal involving assets held by the pool.

And Chris Cumming brings us two stories this morning. Two executives of bankrupt telecommunications business Mobileum conspired to inflate the company’s profit ahead of a private-equity buyout, federal prosecutors alleged in a criminal indictment.

And JLL Partners closed its ninth flagship fund with $1.4 billion, Chris reports. 

Now on to the news...

Quantum Capital Group is more than halfway toward its goal of raising $4.5 billion for a new oil- and gas-focused fund and has already scored a sizable exit deal involving assets held by the pool, WSJ Pro’s Luis Garcia writes, citing an investor letter. The Houston-based private-equity firm raised $2.3 billion for the new fund, Quantum Energy Partners IX, and parallel vehicles by mid-December, according to the letter, which was viewed by WSJ Pro Private Equity. Quantum has set a $5.75 billion limit for the fund, higher than the $5.25 billion it collected for a predecessor pool that it wrapped up in 2024. Quantum has already committed more than $1.1 billion from the new fund across five businesses.

Two executives of bankrupt telecommunications business Mobileum conspired to inflate the company’s profit ahead of a private-equity buyout, federal prosecutors alleged in a criminal indictment, Chris Cumming writes. Prosecutors for New York’s Southern District on Tuesday unsealed fraud charges against Andrew Warner, Mobileum’s former chief financial officer, and Kishore Vangipuram, its former chief of delivery, alleging they inflated the company’s financial metrics before its 2022 sale to H.I.G. Capital.

Midmarket private-equity manager JLL Partners closed its ninth flagship fund with $1.4 billion, the firm said Wednesday. As WSJ Pro’s Chris Cumming reports, the New York-based firm’s latest offering, JLL Partners Fund IX, surpassed its $900 million target, despite a tough private-equity fundraising market. JLL has already invested the new fund in four platform companies.

Xerox has struck a deal with investment firm TPG Capital to raise fresh financing backed by its intellectual property as the office technology company struggles with workplace digitization, Alicia McElhaney writes for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy. Investors led by TPG’s credit business agreed to provide $450 million through senior secured loans and preferred equity backed by Xerox patents, copyrights and trademarks, the company said. As part of the deal announced Tuesday, Xerox moved those intellectual property assets into a new joint venture to issue debt and equity to TPG, which wasn’t previously a creditor of the company.

Edison Partners is backing a $15 million growth investment in Payra, a business-to-business payments and accounts receivable automation technology provider serving blue-collar and construction-oriented businesses, the growth equity firm said in an emailed announcement. The company’s software uses AI technology to integrate directly with accounting systems such as Trimble Viewpoint, Foundation, Sage and Netsuite.

Macquarie Asset Management’s infrastructure strategy has agreed to acquire the South American wireless tower operations of a subsidiary of publicly-traded IHS Holding for an implied enterprise value of about 3.55 billion reals or about $685 million. Macquarie will acquire over 8,500 sites in Brazil and 270 sites in Colombia to capitalize on the expansion of 5G networks in the two South American countries over the coming years.

Greenbriar Equity Group has agreed to back global freight-forwarding company AIT Worldwide Logistics from fellow private-equity investor The Jordan Co., or TJC. TJC initially backed AIT Worldwide in 2021.

Ara Partners and APG Asset Management led a $100 million growth investment in industrial decarbonization company Utility Global.

Israeli private-equity fund FIMI would back a container liner business carved out of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services under an agreed deal by German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd to acquire ZIM for $4.2 billion, George Glover reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Israel's government holds a so-called golden share in ZIM, letting it control ownership decisions. That "golden share" would be transferred to the carved-out operations held by FIMI.

Blackstone is acquiring home services provider Champions Group Holdings from Odyssey Investment Partners, which is retaining a minority interest alongside company managers. The Irvine, Calif.-based company has more than 1,800 field technicians to handle residential repairs through a membership model.

Healthcare property investor Vital Capital Partners has acquired an in-patient rehabilitation hospital in Temple, Texas, which is located about an hour north of Austin. The hospital includes 36 licensed beds and is operated by LifePoint Health. Vital plans to structure the property as a Delaware statutory trust (DST) offering for accredited investors participating through broker-dealers, registered investment advisory firms, family offices and financial advisers in the private-wealth retail channel.

Communications infrastructure investor TPG Peppertree in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, has committed up to $1 billion of investment in Connected Infra Group, a south Florida-based telecom and technology infrastructure company.

Growth investor Scottish Equity Partners has committed $50 million to insurance technology company Mea Platform, acquiring a minority stake in the Hamilton, Bermuda-based business, according to an emailed news release. The company uses artificial-intelligence technology in its systems that are designed to help carriers and re-insurers improve their financial performance.

Existing investor Georgian Partners in Toronto led a $100 million growth investment in software development tools provider Render Services, joined by other backers of the company. Render's cloud-based systems are used by more than 4.5 million software developers

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

Sverica Capital Management has agreed to sell cybersecurity technology provider Defy Security to Booz Allen Hamilton. Sverica initially backed Defy Security in late 2020 and under its ownership helped the company expand into the western and central regions of the U.S.

Main Capital Partners has sold testing and assessment company Paragin Group to fellow private-equity firm ECI Partners. Main Capital initially invested in the Netherlands-based company, which serves around 1,250 customers across Europe, back in 2021.

HarbourVest Partners has collected over $1.1 billion for its Private Equity Continuation Solutions Fund, completing its fundraising for the firm's first vehicle to back single-asset continuation deals.

Tikehau Capital in Paris has closed on over $1 billion for its Tikehau Private Debt Secondaries II fund, surpassing the firm's initial $750 million target. Tikehau invests from the vehicle to provide liquidity to fund managers and their limited partners across North America and Europe, with about half of its capital committed so far. The new fund is more than twice the size of its predecessor. Overall, at the end of September, Tikehau managed about €51.1 billion, or around $60.56 billion.

Veritas Capital has reached $15.3 billion raised for its flagship investment strategy, thanks to capital raised across separately managed accounts and co-investment vehicles that have closed since last fall, when the firm announced it has wrapped up Veritas Capital Fund IX with $14.4 billion.

Felicitas Global Partners has rounded up at least $93 million so far for Felicitas Secondary Fund III, according to a regulatory filing. Pasadena, Calif.-based Felicitas backs net asset value based financing transactions, credit secondaries and structured credit transactions such as collateralized fund obligations.

Battery Ventures has raised $3.25 billion for its 15th fund that will back technology companies, according to an emailed press release. The global fund will primarily focus on the U.S., Europe and Israel.

Pantheon has elevated four executives to its partner ranks and named 11 new managing directors. The new partners are Scott Hong in South Korea, Ana Zarruk in Bogota, and Victor Mayer and Kunal Sood in Singapore.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has promoted four people on its finance and administration teams, including Rashma Patel, who was promoted to chief financial officer, and Bradley Lai, who was elevated to controller.

Renovus Capital Partners has combined three companies it holds to form a managed services organization designed to serve law firms, banks and other professional services providers. The Wayne, Pa., firm merged K2 Services, Epiq GBTS and Forrest Solutions under the Opensity Solutions banner, giving the Chicago-based operation about 4,500 employees with annual revenue of around $400 million and over 500 clients.

Japan is planning roughly $36 billion in U.S. investments spanning critical minerals, oil and gas infrastructure, and power generation as part of a $550 billion strategic trade and investment agreement, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Commerce Department officials.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority has held a host of meetings with alternatives firms in a bid to get a better grip on data covering the sector, Justin Cash reports for sister publication Financial News in London, citing FCA communications seen by FN. The quality and availability of data on the booming market for unlisted assets has shot up the regulatory agenda in recent years, as watchdogs across the world struggle to monitor an opaque sector. Data providers such as Preqin, now part of BlackRock, have become hugely valuable companies.

Asset manager Barings is supporting the launch of Pinion Insurance with a preferred equity commitment of up to $180 million through its capital solutions platform. Pinion, a specialty insurance carrier, will provide insurance capacity in the U.S., U.K. and Europe and will offer insight into underwriting performance.

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