Welcome back! In this morning’s newsletter, our own Luis Garcia kicks us off with exclusive news that Orion Resource Partners has raised $2.2 billion for the firm’s largest mining fund yet. Meanwhile, Maria Armental looks at the rebound in midmarket dealmaking and how midmarket dealmakers are navigating the uncertainties of the current market. 

Delve on for more on these stories and more…

Orion Resource Partners has raised about $2.2 billion for a new fund dedicated to financing the construction and acquisition of mining projects, as the firm seeks to help governments secure supplies of metals and minerals critical to their economies, WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia writes. The New York-based firm has already committed 61% of its Orion Mine Finance Fund IV, backing projects around the globe, the firm said. Orion partners with the U.S. and other governments, giving the firm more confidence to enter developing markets such as Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo.

Private-equity dealmakers are facing some of the most volatile times in recent memory, with geopolitical risk spearheaded by the U.S. and Israel’s offensive in Iran, added to tariff turmoil and artificial-intelligence anxiety. Yet amid the turbulence many see buying opportunities, particularly in the middle market, which historically has represented a major share of private-equity deals and industry profits, Maria Armental reports for WSJ Pro.

The Trump administration is set to receive roughly $10 billion in fees from investors including Silver Lake in the recently completed deal to take control of TikTok’s U.S. business, the Journal reports. The payment is part of the agreement through which investors friendly with the administration gained control of TikTok’s U.S. operations from Chinese parent ByteDance, people familiar with the matter said. It comes in addition to the investments made to create a new entity to run the app in the U.S.

Bain Capital in Boston is paying more than $349 million to acquire an Australian wealth-advisory business from local investment manager Perpetual, Stuart Condie reports for the Journal. The private-equity firm has long sought to get into the Australian wealth management market and made an unsuccessful play for another adviser last year. Sydney-listed Perpetual said Bain Capital would pay 500 million Australian dollars, or about $349.1 million, up front in cash, while the deal calls for additional payments, including as much as A$50 million after two years.

Norvestor Advisory is leading a $226.6 million takeover bid for Norwegian human-resources and payroll-services provider Zalaris, joined by company management, Dominic Chopping reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The take-private offer followed a two-year strategic review to find the right partner to accelerate growth and strengthen its multicountry payroll and HR services, according to the company. Norvestor is investing through its Norvestor IX fund.

Growth investment firm Coatue Management led a $165 million investment in Sunday that values the robotics company at $1.15 billion. Other investors in the transaction include Bain Capital, Fidelity Management & Research and Tiger Global Management.

Debt investor Claret Capital Partners is providing €28 million, or roughly $32.2 million, to Cinclus Pharma Holding, a late-stage clinical pharmaceutical company developing treatments for gastric acid-related conditions. Claret is backing the deal out of its fourth flagship fund, which had raised at least €350 million as of last fall and was expected to hold a final close this year.

Oaktree Capital Management is acquiring a controlling stake in Atlantic Coast Life Insurance through a carve-out from Advantage Capital Holdings. The acquisition is subject to federal and state regulatory approvals. The deal also calls for Brookfield-controlled Oaktree to provide capital support to Sentinel Security Life Insurance.

Allen Media Group, the company owned and operated by businessman and entertainer Byron Allen, may encourage video streaming and cable channel operator Starz Entertainment to consider transactions such as a merger, reorganization or take-private deal, Josh Beckerman reports for Dow Jones Newswires, citing a regulatory filing Thursday. Allen recently acquired about 10.7% of Starz shares from Steve Mnuchin's Liberty 77 Capital for $25 million. Allen Media owns television stations as well as cable channels.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is acquiring a "participation interest" in private-credit manager Christofferson Robb & Co. and is creating a vehicle with the firm to back significant risk transfers as well as other strategies managed by the firm. SRTs provide nondilutive capital to banks.

Southeast Asia specialist growth investor KV Asia Capital has backed the management buyout of I Sprint Corp., a cybersecurity company focused on identity and access management.

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

An investor group that includes RedBird Capital Partners and Otro Capital, which former RedBird executives started in 2023, is negotiating to sell a 24% interest in the Alpine Formula 1 racing team, the Associated Press reports from China, citing Flavio Briatore, the French team’s executive adviser. The selling group, which also included Maximum Effort Investments and several U.S. pro sports stars, acquired the stake in late 2023 for €200 million, or roughly $230.3 million.

Swedish buyout firm EQT AB said its final exit from Zurich-listed skincare company Galderma capped a deal that ultimately returned 21 billion Swiss francs, or about $26.71 billion, to its funds and co-investors, the firm's largest-ever investment result. EQT carved out Galderma from Nestlé in October 2019 and led a group that took the company public in 2024, with its share price nearly tripling since then.

SoftBank Group-backed employment startup Remote Technology is considering an initial public offering and could pull the trigger when market conditions become more appealing, Mauro Orru reports for Dow Jones Newswires, citing a co-founder of the business. San Francisco-based Remote provides tools spanning recruiting, payroll and human resources that can be used to hire globally, manage and compensate their workers and even expand into new markets, while remaining compliant with regulations. The company was valued at about $3 billion in a 2022 investment round that included SoftBank and Accel.

Munich-based investment holding company Mutares has agreed to sell Polish public bus transport company Relobus Transport Polska to Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&G. Mutares initially acquired the company in 2023.

Actis has sold its interest in power generating company Orygen, which is Peru's second-largest electricity producer, to industrial conglomerate Grupo Romero. Actis formed Orygen in 2024 with assets acquired from Enel.

The private-credit engine that powered massive growth on Wall Street is sputtering, with investors trying to pull money out of big funds, forcing firms into uncomfortable decisions and endangering their future profits, the Journal reports. The latest example came Wednesday when Cliffwater told clients that investors in its largest fund asked to cash out 14% of their money this quarter. The $33 billion fund will pay out about 50% of the requested amounts. Cliffwater sold its funds primarily to individual investors, a playbook that larger competitors like Apollo Global Management, BlackRock, Blackstone and Blue Owl Capital adopted, making them all increasingly dependent on retail investors for growth.

Nordics-focused Celero Capital has closed Delore Fund (D), a special-purpose vehicle set up to let certain investors in the firm's facilities management company Reledo Holding cash out. Participant investors in the new vehicle were led by Schroders Capital. Celero formed Reledo in 2023 by combining four portfolio companies and began a buy-and-build strategy.

Blue Owl Capital Corp. II investors should reject offers for their shares from hedge fund Saba Capital Management and Cox Capital Partners as the price is inadequate and acceptance would be damaging to the interests of all investors in the nontraded Blue Owl Capital business development company, according to a securities filing Friday by the BDC's management. Saba and Cox offered $3.80 a share, or about 33% less than net asset value as of Feb. 24, for 8 million shares. The BDC also pointed out that it plans to pay out $2.50 a share in cash to holders of record March 24 by the end of this month. The filing also noted that the BDC plans additional steps to return capital to investors at no discount. Saba and Cox are trying "to capture value at the expense of OBDC II shareholders," Blue Owl said.

A chip designer backed by firms including Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management, Cerebras Systems, won a major contract with Amazon.com for processors to power inference engines in its Amazon Web Services operation, the Journal reports. The multiyear deal underscores a major shift in the market for computing power, with artificial-intelligence technology driving demand for inference functions, which allow AI models to respond to user queries. Cerbras, whose backers also include Fidelity and Atreides Management, specializes in designing chips to be used for such applications.

Private-credit funds that make loans to companies are also themselves borrowers, often from banks, using debt to boost their returns, Telis Demos reports for the Journal's Heard on the Street column. But in times of market stress, banks might need to re-evaluate the commitments they have made to those funds and turn off the credit taps.

Industry consulting firm Bain & Co. is joining forces with International Business Machines to advise private-equity and corporate clients on post-quantum cryptography risks and strategic mitigations. The two aim to help organizations address the growing risks that quantum computing presents for encryption standards used in protecting companies' sensitive data, proprietary expertise and intellectual property.

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

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