Welcome back. Depending on where you are, you may have avoided the weekend blizzard. But here in New York, we bore the full brunt of it. Being born and raised in South Georgia, I still get a bit of a thrill when the first flakes fall, even if my snowman-making skills expose my warm-climate upbringing. 

In today's news, my colleague Luis Garcia delivers news that Canadian private-equity firm Novacap raised nearly $3.8 billion for a new buyout fund.

And the Journal's Corrie Driebusch writes about initial public offerings taking a hit from artificial-intelligence fears.

Now onto the news...

Canadian private-equity firm Novacap has raised nearly $3.8 billion for a new fund to buy midsize technology companies and said it sees artificial intelligence as more of an opportunity than a threat to its investments, Luis Garcia reports. The Brossard, Quebec-based firm wrapped up its Novacap Technologies Fund VII with more capital than an initial $2.75 billion goal and the roughly $1.87 billion it raised for a predecessor vehicle that closed about five years ago.

This was supposed to be a blockbuster year for initial public offerings. Artificial-intelligence fears spoiled the party, Corrie Driebusch writes for The Wall Street Journal. Investors have been thirsting for new issues, and big names including SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are readying debuts for later this year. The momentum created an opening for dozens of smaller, mainly private equity-backed software companies that had been waiting in the wings. Then fears that AI will upend the software industry sent stocks tumbling earlier this month. The selloff accelerated Monday after a viral blog post about the threat posed by AI. Bankers and investors now expect the few mega-offerings to dominate the year. Most private tech companies—many that have spent years biding their time—will be forced to keep waiting it out.

Vista Equity Partners and Cambium Capital led a more than $350 million growth investment in artificial intelligence-optimized chip developer SambaNova Systems, joined by many others including existing backer BlackRock as well as Mayfield Capital, Saudi First Data and Intel Capital. The San Jose, Calif., company designed its latest microprocessor, the SN50, to work with agentic AI applications.

Asian private-equity firm Quadria Capital led a group that has acquired Malaysian pharmaceutical company Apex Healthcare, taking the business private at a valuation of about $470 million, Ying Xian Wong reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Participants that joined Quadria in the deal include 65 Equity Partners, Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund and Silk Road Fund. Apex makes pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare products and medical devices and was listed on the Bursa Malaysia exchange.

Accel led a $100 million growth commitment to agentic artificial-intelligence technology developer Basis, with many additional backers participating in a deal that valued the company at $1.15 billion. The New York-based startup is working with major accounting firms to deploy its applications so they can work on complex tasks such as tax and audit services.

Sequoia Capital joined several others in a $96 million growth investment in marketing software developer Profound led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The deal valued the New York business at about $1 billion. Profound is developing programs designed to work with artificial-intelligence technology.

BayHawk Capital in Boston is backing electric utility and cable network services provider Gridco with a growth investment, joined by company management, which remains its majority owner. The Birmingham, Ala., company operates across the U.S. Southeast.

Victor Capital Partners has invested in high-security window and door maker Specialty Fenestration Group, acquiring the business from River Associates Investments in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Houston-based company makes pass-through windows for banks, stores, hospitals and other types of businesses, as well as bullet-proof doors and other portals. River Associates had backed the company since 2018.

Topspin Consumer Partners in Mamaroneck, N.Y., has made a strategic investment in specialty flooring and locker company Grid, backing the Dallas company out of its Topspin Consumer Partners III flagship fund. The company supplies floors and lockers for gyms and healthcare facilities.

Healthcare investor QC Capital Group has made an investment in My Pediatric Doctor, an urgent care pediatric telemedicine company. Eric Doherty, an executive with a background in healthcare and operations, will oversee the organization as chief executive.

Kava Equity Partners, the private-equity investment arm of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Colorado, is acquiring construction contractor Berg Group from the tribe's growth investment fund. Minnesota-based Berg operates across the U.S.

Arcline Investment Management in Nashville, Tenn., is buying industrial services provider and equipment manufacturer Hydraulics International. The Chatsworth, Calif.-based business supports aerospace and aircraft operations for the Pentagon, as well as commercial customers.

Shamrock Capital in Los Angeles is acquiring marketing services agency Mutiny, which connects publishers and brands to the gaming community. The firm is buying the company from Trailer Park Group, with an investment from its Shamrock Capital Clover Fund I.

Debt financing firm Yukon Partners is backing Riverside Co.'s Western Botanicals investment with junior capital. Riverside said it backed the Utah developer of vitamins, minerals and supplements earlier this month. Yukon typically makes commitments of up to $75 million per deal.

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

Morgan Stanley Capital Partners has acquired commercial security integration services company Security 101 from fellow private-equity investor Gemspring Capital. Gemspring initially backed the West Palm Beach, Fla.-based company in 2021.

Life sciences investor SK Capital Partners plans an initial public offering for Canadian pharmaceutical company Apotex, the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto reports, citing three people familiar with the matter. The firm plans to sell a minority stake in the IPO. Toronto-based Apotex has some 6,000 employees and sales in 70 countries, according to the report. The firm acquired the company in 2023.

Orix Capital Partners has sold the performance marketing business of portfolio company Optimal to a portfolio company of Crestview Partners. Orix initially acquired Irvine, Calif.-based Optimal in 2021.

Growth investor Updata Partners has wrapped up fundraising for Updata Partners VIII, closing the vehicle with $875 million in committed capital and reaching its hard cap in about six months. The Washington-based firm primarily invests in business software companies.

Multistrategy asset manager GCM Grosvenor in Chicago has raised $625 million so far for its structured alternatives-investment fund to make secondary investments in both equity and credit.

Aerospace- and defense-focused firm ATL Partners has hired Bob Biesterfeld as a senior operating executive. He was most recently president and chief executive of logistics services provider C.H. Robinson Worldwide.

Specialist firm VSS Capital Partners has made a series of promotions, including elevating Brad Corbin to managing director and naming Aditya Govil and Sai Parepally as principals, according to an emailed news release. New York-based VSS focuses on investing in healthcare, education and business services companies.

Raine Group has added initial public offering veteran Anthony Kontoleon as a partner at the firm, which offers both merger and acquisition advisory services and invests directly in technology, media and telecommunications, Corrie Driebusch reports for the Journal. Kontoleon spent decades as an equity capital markets banker specializing in the tech sector at Credit Suisse. He was most recently with Monaco-based wealth manager Azura Partners.

Genstar Capital has named John Kufner to the firm’s strategic advisory board. Kufner has served as chief operating officer at Platinum Equity-backed Cook and Boardman Group and as COO at Blackstone-backed Noho Commerce. Earlier in his career, he was a managing director of procurement and supply chain at Bain Capital.

Ara Partners, a private-investment firm focused on companies that help reduce carbon emissions and pollution, has promoted James Chiu to partner in the firm’s energy strategy. Chiu has been with Houston-based Ara Partners since at least 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Angeles Equity Partners has added Eric Dunn as a vice president in its operations group. He joins from Boston Consulting Group.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in Toronto has appointed David Colla as senior managing director and global head of credit investments, effective April 1. He will replace Andrew Edgell, who continues as a senior adviser to CPP Investments, as the organization is also known. Colla joined CPP Investments in 2010. The organization managed about 780.7 billion Canadian dollars, or roughly $569.92 billion, at the end of last year.

Private equity, investment banking, equity research and financial analysis were among the latest “plug-ins,” or customizable agents, released Tuesday by artificial-intelligence technology developer Anthropic, whose legal work-focused agentic AI product unveiling a few weeks ago rattled markets, Isabelle Bousquette reports for CIO Journal. Anthropic pitched the new products as tools that could aid in the analysis of potential financial deals, dissecting investment holdings and updating legacy computer programming languages such as Cobol, used in mainframe data processors made by International Business Machines. IBM shares sank 13% Monday ahead of the potentially disruptive announcement, Mackenzie Tatananni reports for sister publication Barron's, but rose almost 2.3% Tuesday. The company still relies on Cobol programs for some of its revenue.

New Mountain Capital-affiliated business development company New Mountain Finance plans to sell $477 million of assets at 94% of fair value as of Dec. 31, in part to reduce "payment in kind," or noncash, income, according to a securities filing. The BDC also permanently reduced its incentive fee to 15% over an 8% hurdle rate. The Nasdaq-listed direct lender's net asset value fell about 8.2% to $11.52 a share at the end of December compared with a year earlier, while net investment income of 32 cents a share for the fourth quarter was unchanged. The BDC also plans to cut its dividend about 22% from the fourth quarter to 25 cents a share, starting in this year's second quarter. The shares were little changed Tuesday, closing at $8.16 in New York before the results were reported.

Over half of the 35 biggest U.S. corporate bankruptcies filed last year involved private equity-backed companies, according to research from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, citing 19 cases with liabilities of at least $1 billion. Private equity was also tied to more than half of the 41 cases with liabilities of at least $500 million, the activist group said. Jim Baker, the group's executive director, cited highly leveraged transactions that put pressure on company finances.

Private-credit monitoring company Morningstar DBRS said the quality of the issues it watches continued a deterioration trend that began last year, with the number of downgrades exceeding upgrades by a factor of 3.3 times for the 12 months through Feb. 6. The researcher's data show a 27% rise in credit downgrades of U.S. and Canadian issues, along with a 17% drop in upgrades. Morningstar also noted that it had cut the ratings of 17 borrowers to default status over the past 12 months compared with nine default ratings issued in 2024.

Carlyle Group's listed private-credit business Carlyle Secured Lending earned 33 cents per common share in net investment income, or 36 cents on an adjusted basis, in last year's fourth quarter, down about 30% and 23%, respectively, from the year-earlier period. Net asset value fell 3.26% to $16.26 a share at the end of December from $16.80 a year ago. The New York-based direct lender to sponsor-backed midmarket companies said the total fair value of its investments rose almost 37% to about $2.5 billion as the year closed compared with the end of 2024. Shares of the lender gained almost 3.2% Tuesday to close at $11.45 in New York.

Renewable energy developer and operator Energea Global also invests, and to that end has set up a new vehicle called the LATAM Energy Portfolio, according to an emailed news release. Chester, Conn.-based Energea's strategy is to back distributed solar power installations and already has made a $100 million anchor investment with Helios Energía in the form of a secured credit facility. Helios is a Colombian utility company.

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