Today, I bring you news that Vista Equity Partners has acquired U.K. field service management software company Joblogic, a midmarket play that illustrates both the potential disruptive power of AI and North American investors’ expanding interest in Europe. North American investors account for nearly 40% of the largest transactions in Europe, driven by the U.K. and Ireland along with the DACH region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, according to private-markets data provider Gain.pro.

Meanwhile, in today’s newsletter, our Wall Street Journal colleagues report on the initial public offering for online payments provider Klarna, which has produced big gains, at least on paper, for early investors. The Journal also looks at a push by the Long Term Stock Exchange to convince the SEC to reduce the frequency of public company reporting to twice a year. 

Finally, today we remember the lives lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks 24 years ago. Among them were private-market professionals that included David Retik, Christopher Mello and Brian Dale. They are gone but not forgotten.

Now onto the news...

Technology specialist investor Vista Equity Partners is backing U.K. field service management software company Joblogic, betting that artificial intelligence will supercharge field work and property management, Maria Armental writes for WSJ Pro. Vista’s more than £100 million, or about $135 million, capital injection seeks to fuel Joblogic’s growth, as the Birmingham company boosts its AI offerings. The capital also supports the company’s expansion into computer-aided facility management, or CAFM, helping large building owners with in-house technicians and contractors manage their properties.

Early investors in online-payments provider Klarna—including Sequoia Capital, which first invested in the company 15 years ago—scored big wins in the company's initial public offering when the shares began trading Wednesday at $52 after pricing above the expected range at $40, the Journal reports. The shares gained 15% for the day, closing at $45.82, boosting the company's equity value to over $17 billion.

Public companies in the U.S. have dutifully shared financial results with investors every three months for the past 50-plus years. A new proposal hopes to change that, Corrie Driebusch writes for the Journal. The Long-Term Stock Exchange plans to petition the Securities and Exchange Commission to eliminate the quarterly earnings report requirement and instead give companies the option to share results twice a year, according to the group. It says the idea would save companies millions of dollars and let executives focus on long-term goals instead of worrying about hitting quarterly targets or prepping for earnings calls.

BlackRock led a $1 billion growth investment in fault-tolerant computer developer PsiQuantum, joined by others including Temasek Holdings and Baillie Gifford, in a transaction that valued the business at about $7 billion, Isabelle Bousquette reports for CIO Journal. The Palo Alto, Calif., company aims to produce a full-scale commercial-grade quantum processor by 2027 and plans to develop sites in Chicago and Brisbane, Australia, to host the machines.

Prysm Capital led a $250 million growth investment in agentic artificial-intelligence technology developer Replit, joined by several other backers including Coatue Management. The deal valued the Foster City, Calif., company at $3 billion. Replit's annualized revenue has risen to $150 million from $2.8 million in less than a year, according to the company.

Investors including TPG, Jeito Capital and Wedbush Healthcare Partners have joined existing backers of clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Odyssey Therapeutics in a $213 million growth investment. The Boston company is developing treatments for autoimmune diseases.

Cinven has acquired consulting business Grant Thornton Germany after winning a bidding war against Grant Thornton US and New Mountain Capital, its private-equity backer, Zoe Hu reports for sister publication Financial News in London. The target group has around 2,000 employees and generated revenue of about €249 million in its past fiscal year. Cinven acquired a majority interest in Grant Thornton UK in November.

Energy-focused Denham Capital in Boston has agreed to collaborate with utility-scale energy services provider Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises to convert coal-fired power stations to natural gas as a way to meet rising demand from data centers. Denham is investing through its ​​sustainable infrastructure strategy and also aims to develop renewable resources infrastructure with the Akron, Ohio-based company.

Vector Capital is acquiring a majority interest in enterprise artificial-intelligence company SingleStore, investing from its Vector Capital VI fund. Existing investors that include Google Ventures and REV Venture Partners will retain stakes in the company while co-investors are also joining the deal.

Financial services investor BharCap Partners in Greenwich, Conn., has recapitalized GCG Advisory Partners, a wealth-management services company that has been backed by LNC Partners for the past three years or so.

Lotus Infrastructure Partners in Greenwich, Conn., is acquiring a 365-megawatt natural gas-burning power plant on New York's Long Island from Caithness Energy. The Suffolk County plant began operating in 2009.

Buyout firm PAI Partners in Paris is acquiring a majority interest in environmental monitoring services provider Orion from Xenon Private Equity, investing through its PAI Mid-Market Fund II. The Padova, Italy-based company serves more than 1,000 clients through 13 offices across its home country, generating revenue of about €71 million. Luxembourg-based Xenon backed the company and its roll-up strategy out of its 2023 Xenon Fidec fund.

Blackstone has purchased the 352-room East Miami hotel from property investors Trinity Investments and Certares Real Estate Management. The structure, which opened in 2016 and anchors Brickell City Centre, has 89 apartments and a rooftop bar called Sugar.

Taurus Capital Partners is backing Primrose Schools franchisee Pathlight Learning, investing alongside company managers to recapitalize the business,  The deal represents the third platform transaction by Taurus since its founding in 2022.

New State Capital Partners supported fellow investment firm Hudson Glade's acquisition of audiovisual and security systems supplier ComNet Communications. The Bethel, Conn., company designs and installs systems for use in data centers, hospitals, schools and corporate offices.

Shore Capital Partners in Chicago is investing in procurement company Optis Consulting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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

A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company whose major investors have included RA Capital Management and TCG Crossover, Tourmaline Bio, is being acquired by strategic buyer Novartis for $48 a share in a transaction valued at around $1.4 billion, Adam Whittaker reports for the Journal. Healthcare-focused RA Capital held about 9.9% of the company's shares, worth about $121.9 million at the offer price, at the end of March while TCG had about 5.8% of the stock at that time, a regulatory filing shows. Both firms initially acquired stakes in the company in 2023, according to research provider PitchBook Data.

European buyout firm EQT AB has sold 10 million shares of New York-listed Kodiak Gas Services for gross proceeds of $344 million. The firm had held the shares in its third and fourth infrastructure funds. EQT first acquired the business when it was privately held in early 2019.

Atlas Merchant Capital is selling its stake in MarshBerry,  an advisory firm that serves the insurance brokerage, insurance distribution and wealth-management sectors, to Lincoln International. Atlas initially backed the company in 2022.

Apax Partners and Periphas Capital are selling down their stakes in Openlane, a publicly traded company that operates an online used vehicle marketplace as part of the company’s agreement to repurchase 53% of convertible preferred stock that it issued back in 2020. The roughly $559 million cash transaction will reduce preferred shares held by Apax by about 50% and preferred shares held by Periphas by roughly 80%.

Midmarket investor HCI Equity Partners is selling last-mile services provider Strategic Delivery Solutions to a unit of strategic buyer DHL Group. The company specializes in pharmaceuticals deliveries. HCI first backed the Tampa, Fla.-based company also known as SDSRx in 2018, according to the firm's website.

Sentinel Capital Partners is selling down some of its stake in publicly traded Holley Performance Brands in a secondary stock offering. The firm is offering up to 16,100,000 shares of the company, including an anticipated 30-day option to purchase up to 2,100,000 shares on top of the initial 14,000,000 shares being offered. Sentinel’s investment in the automotive products company dates back to 2015 when the firm acquired autoparts manufacturer Driven Performance Brands, which it merged with Holley Performance Products in 2018. The firm took the combined company public in 2021.

Montage Partners in Scottsdale, Ariz., has sold industrial water systems provider Puroflux to Purgo Holdings, backed by Wincove Private Holdings. Montage first invested in the Simi Valley, Calif., company in 2018.

Bain Capital in Boston has partnered with insurer and annuities provider Lincoln Financial to set up an evergreen fund tailored to individual investors, pursuing a strategy that several other private-markets firms have also entered in recent days. The Lincoln Bain Capital Total Credit Fund was established earlier this year as an interval fund invested by Bain Capital in nonbank loans, syndicated debt, collateralized loan obligations, asset-backed securities and real estate, among other things. Investors can purchase the fund's Class A shares on a daily basis with a minimum investment of $2,500, according to securities filings. The fund offers quarterly redemption windows limited to 5% or as much as 25% of the vehicle's net asset value. Sales commissions start at 3% of invested capital.

Emerging markets investor TVM Capital Healthcare Partners has raised $150 million so far for its TVM Healthcare Southeast Asia Fund, which has held a first close. Participants include Invest International. TVM aims to invest in underpenetrated market segments such as acute care facilities, women's healthcare and cancer treatment in the target region.

Apax Partners is planning to launch a debut software-focused fund, sister publication Private Equity News reports, citing people familiar with the situation. The London-based private-equity firm has held internal discussions about setting up a dedicated software fund to invest in larger companies.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said the Green Investments Partnership has held a first close with $510 million from global and regional private, public and philanthropic institutions. Pentagreen Capital, formed by HSBC and Temasek, will manage the fund, which is earmarked for investments in sustainable infrastructure to support energy transition in Southeast and South Asia.

Antin Infrastructure Partners in Paris has appointed Walid Damou as group chief financial officer and partner, starting in February. He will succeed Patrice Schuetz, who left the firm to pursue other opportunities. Damou joins from CVC Capital Partners.

Institutional investor British Columbia Investment Management Corp. has appointed Nikhil Hanmantgad as managing director for private equity, focusing on healthcare deals. He was most recently with Mubadala.

Real assets-focused Niam Group has tapped Axel Karlsson for the newly created role of chief executive and named Max Ilmoni as deputy CEO/head of capital formation & investor relations. Karlsson joins from McKinsey & Co. and Ilmoni comes aboard from Partners Group.

Credit specialist Polus Capital Management has added Joe Abrams as a managing director with its business development team in London, according to his LinkedIn page. He was previously with consulting firm Mercer.

TowerBrook Capital Partners has added Jack Azagury as a senior adviser for business services companies. He was most recently a senior executive with consulting firm Accenture.

Private-equity investment will be key to hitting the U.K. government’s “number one” target of economic growth, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves told a gathering of buyout bosses, Justin Cash reports for sister publication Financial News. The Labour government has taken particular aim at red tape during its time in power, including by firing the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority, an organisation that was seen as a blocker to U.K. deals. Reeves said she would continue to look to cut the regulatory burden on the City.

Antin Infrastructure Partners in Paris ended this year's first half with assets under management of €33 billion, or roughly $38.6 billion, up about 4.2% from a year earlier, while fee-paying assets rose 6.2% to €21.8 billion. The firm said it raised about €800 million in fresh capital during the year through June, although it had no funds in the market during the first half. The firm's Paris-listed shares fell about 2.2% to close at €10.74 Wednesday.

The value of secondary trades in private real-estate funds rose to a record $24.3 billion last year, representing a 3.8% increase from 2023, according to a CBRE Investment Management report. The $155 billion asset manager said that deals led by fund general partners accounted for 65% of last year's total, driven by a need to return cash to fund investors and demand for opportunities to invest in certain types of real estate. Multifamily and industrial properties “dominated activity,” CBRE said in the emailed report.

European midmarket firm Investindustrial has established a Tokyo office, saying the move is partly to deepen ties between Italy and Japan, according to an emailed news release.

New York Life Insurance Co. has combined its general account and third-party asset-management operations to create a single group with anticipated assets of about $785 billion at the start of next year, including $228 billion in private-markets assets.

There’s been no summer slowdown at Blackstone, Chief Financial Officer Michael Chae said at an industry conference this week, adding that in private equity alone, the firm made 20 new commitments for about $11 billion in the last 10 weeks. Also, in a sign of what’s to come, new deal screenings in the firm’s credit business were up about 50% year-over-year in August. As for exits, the biggest challenge in keeping the industry’s proverbial flywheel spinning, Chae said the firm expects a significant pickup and said Blackstone has a robust pipeline of processes. “Our IPO pipeline, if converted, could potentially make 2026 our largest year of issuance ever on a dollar basis,” he said.

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

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

Follow us on Twitter:@wsjpe, @LHVGarcia, @LauraKreutzer