Happy Friday! As we head into the weekend, our own Chris Cumming looks at private equity issues on two different sides of the legal and regulatory industry. First, Chris dives deep into private equity’s growing interest in backing law firms and the regulatory and structural barriers facing such deals. Chris also brings us an update from yesterday’s meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee and its recommendations on how to ease ordinary investor access to private market funds while still ensuring there are sufficient guardrails in place to protect those investors. 

Read on for more details on these stories and so many more and have a great weekend!

In the past few months, American lawyers have been buzzing about the prospect of private-equity money flooding into their profession to snap up law firms. Many think it’s just a matter of time before an influx of private-equity cash reshapes their industry just as it has other professions once considered off-limits to corporate investors, such as medicine and accounting. But, as WSJ Pro’s Chris Cumming writes, institutional barriers in the U.S.—chiefly the ban on nonlawyers’ owning law practices—are slowing dealmaking.  Investors have developed workarounds, and firms are scouting the market more intensely than ever, but few deals have closed so far.

As private-equity firms push to offer their funds to ordinary people, a regulatory panel said the government needs to establish stronger investor protections, Chris Cumming reports for WSJ Pro. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee on Thursday approved a set of recommendations for how to best expand access to private markets, including putting in place guardrails to protect less-sophisticated investors.

Private investment firm Ames Watson on Thursday closed a deal to buy tween retail chain Claire’s for $140 million out of bankruptcy with plans to revive the struggling chain, The Wall Street Journal reports. The firm is acquiring about 1,000 Claire’s stores; roughly 300 other locations were closed during the bankruptcy proceedings. Ames Watson owns brands that include hat retailer Lids and clothing chain South Moon Under.

Consumer-focused firm L Catterton has agreed to invest in Japanese furniture company Seki Furniture, which sells directly to consumers through its 26 stores as well as through e-commerce platforms.

Vista Equity Partners’ Endeavor investment strategy has backed Akuvo, a technology company focused on debt collections and credit risk management. Akuvo’s existing backers also supported the investment, including Michigan State University Federal Credit Union.

Growth investor PSG Equity has backed Emotion Mobility, a Lisbon, Portugal-based software provider focused on mobility management, including rental car services, chauffeur leasing and other vehicle services across 90 countries.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners is buying a majority stake in German fire safety and access controls testing, inspection repair and installation services company ENTRO Service alongside the company’s management. Hamburg, Germany-based ENTRO operates across 16 locations with 170 technicians.

Healthcare focused firm GHO Capital Partners has agreed to buy Scientist.com, an artificial intelligence-driven research and development orchestration platform for pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

NGP has backed a $75 million growth investment in electric vehicle charging station developer EV Realty alongside the company’s management team. The cash infusion will help support construction of the company’s first multi-fleet charging station in San Bernardino, Calif.

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

KKR has agreed to sell tech-enabled insurance administration company Integrated Specialty Coverages to Canadian private markets giant Onex Corp. in a deal that promises to produce windfalls for nearly all of the insurance company’s 400 employees, according to an emailed statement from the firm. KKR initially backed the company, which designs, underwrites and distributes insurance products and services, in 2021 out of its KKR Americas XII fund, a nearly $14 billion pool that closed in 2017. The company was part of the Ownership Works program, an employee ownership program spearheaded by KKR’s Co-Head of Global Private Equity Pete Stavros that is designed to allow portfolio company employees to share in the returns when the private markets firm exits. Once the sale closes, Integrated Specialty Coverages' employees will receive payouts ranging from three months to more than two years of their annual pay, depending on employee tenure, according to KKR. Onex is backing the deal alongside co-investors that include Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board, Paris-based Ardian and others.

Cybersecurity company Netskope, which is backed by firms that include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel and Iconiq Capital, saw its shares post sharp gains after its initial public offering, demonstrating investor appetite for rare cybersecurity listings,WSJ Pro Cybersecurity reports. Netskope raised $908.2 million in its market debut on the Nasdaq after pricing shares at $19, the top of its revised range.

Publicly traded Radian Group has agreed to acquire private-equity backed Lloyd’s specialty insurer Inigo Limited in a deal valued at $1.7 billion. Inigo’s backers include private markets firms J.C. Flowers & Co. and Oak Hill Advisors as well as Canadian pension manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and sovereign wealth investor Qatar Investment Authority.

BharCap Partners has sold  Altus Commercial Receivables to fellow private investment firm Astira Capital Partners, marking the second distribution for BharCap Fund II, which wrapped up earlier this year. Altus is the commercial accounts receivable services unit of ARMStrong Receivable Management, which BharCap acquired in 2023.

European firm EQT is working with Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Royal Bank of Canada to explore a potential U.S. public listing for waste management company Reworld, Bloomberg News reports. EQT initially backed the company in 2021 out of its EQT Infrastructure V fund, according to the firm’s website.

Rothschild & Co’s alternative assets unit Five Arrows has closed its fourth direct lending fund with €2.4 billion, or around $2.8 billion. The final tally for Five Arrows Debt Partners IV came in above a €2 billion target and well above its €1.4 billion predecessor. The firm has already committed more than 50% of the fund, which focuses on senior and junior debt financing for midmarket companies, across 19 transactions.

Galvanize Capital, a new firm focused on investments in clean energy and companies that help lower carbon emissions, has launched a credit and capital solutions strategy anchored by $1.3 billion from an unnamed institutional investor. Managing Partner John Delaney, a former Congressman and entrepreneur, is co-leading the strategy along with Managing Partner Chris Creed, who spent two decades at Goldman Sachs but most recently served as chief investment officer of the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s loans programs office.

Michael Meagher has joined Carlyle’s direct lending team as a partner and head of direct lending origination, according to the firm. Also joining the firm is JP Seminario, who will serve as a managing director focused on origination. The firm’s direct lending platform has grown from $2 billion in assets under management in 2016 to more than $12.5 billion today.

Genstar Capital has named Jeff Hughes to the firm’s strategic advisory board to focus on its software industry vertical. Most recently Hughes served as chief executive of Enervus, a software company that was backed by Genstar.

Charlie Griffin has joined lower midmarket firm Summit Park as a principal. Griffin previously was a principal at Avesi Partners.

Octagon Credit Investors said in an emailed statement that it has added Sean Sullivan as managing director and head of private credit at the firm, while Michael Ahrens will join as a principal on September 22. Sullivan joins the firm from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he served as head of direct lending origination. Ahrens, meanwhile, previously served as a senior vice president at credit investment firm Antares Capital.

The U.K.’s antitrust regulator is open for comments on the acquisition of private-equity backed bread maker Hovis by Associated British Foods, asking interested parties to share their views on whether the deal could affect competition in the country, Dow Jones Newswires’ Elena Vardon writes.

New Mountain Capital is opening an office in Mexico City to help the firm serve its growing investor base across Latin America. The new office will be led by Director Carlo Lombardo, who joins the firm from LarrainVial, where he served as country head of Mexico and head of the alternative products team.

Investment firm KKR has signed a 15-year lease for over 132,000 square feet at Two International Place, an office space in Boston, where roughly 300 employees are based. The firm will relocate to the new space to accommodate its growth in Boston.

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