Welcome back.

Today, I bring you a bright spot in deal-making, initial public offerings. Private equity-backed companies account for about half of the companies in the so-called shadow IPO pipeline and are expected to come to market in the second half of the year. Public listings won’t be enough to relieve private equity’s swollen backlogs, but IPOs are considered a bellwether of market sentiment and a proxy for other exits.

As I report in this morning’s newsletter, the pain has been widespread since, according to bankers, many firms and companies,“are just sitting on their hands” as they await some clarity from the Trump trade disputes and policy changes.

“There has to be a spark,” says Michael J. Mufson, a founding partner of midmarket investment bank Mufson Howe Hunter.

Laura Kreutzer, meanwhile, scoops the news that Pact Capital Partners acquired a minority stake in Accel-KKR, its first GP stakes deal.

One final note, the WSJ Pro Private Equity newsletter will not publish on Thursday, June 19, in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. We will resume publication on Friday, June 20.

We have these and more. Read on…

Private equity-backed companies’ initial public offerings appear poised to take off in this year’s second half as the exit channel reopens and emboldens businesses, WSJ Pro's Maria Armental reports, citing industry insiders. Among several sponsor-backed companies expected to go public soon are Roark Capital’s Inspire Brands, owner of fast-food chains Dunkin’ and Arby’s. Debt collector Jefferson Capital, controlled by private-equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co., is expected to price its roughly $1 billion IPO next week. Private equity holdings account for about half of the roughly 200 companies in the so-called shadow pipeline, which are ready to go public but haven’t disclosed IPO plans, said Mike Bellin, U.S. IPO leader at consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Pact Capital Partners, a New York firm that invests in the managers of private-markets funds, has made its first deal with the acquisition of a minority stake in software-focused Accel-KKR, Laura Kreutzer reports for WSJ Pro. Pact founder and managing partner Christian von Schimmelmann got to know the technology investment firm in Menlo Park, Calif., during his time at Goldman Sachs’s Petershill Partners, where he co-led its strategy of investing in fund managers and providing seed capital to their funds.

WSJ Pro Private Equity is embarking on its latest Survey of Secondary Market Buyers, which we use as the basis for compiling our annual special report on the latest trends shaping the secondary market. Secondary buyers can complete the survey by June 20 through the following link.

Investment firm Prima Materia in Stockholm led a €600 million, or around $689 million, growth investment in defense technology startup Helsing, joined by U.S. investment bank BDT & MSD Partners and existing backers including Accel. Spotify founder Daniel Ek, who is also a Prima founder and Helsing's chairman, said the company's artificial intelligence technology will help the European defense industry ensure the region's autonomy.

CVC Capital Partners is backing resort developer Therme Group through a joint venture valued at more than €1 billion, or roughly $1.16 billion, that aims to build a water-based destination in Manchester, England. The partners hold equal stakes in the venture, Therme Horizon, which also operates resorts in Germany and Romania.

BlackRock and venture investor Kleiner Perkins led a $600 million growth investment in autonomous driving software developer Applied Intuition through a transaction that values the business at about $15 billion. The firms were joined by other new investors such as Franklin Templeton, the Qatar Investment Authority and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council as well as existing backers including Fidelity Management & Research and Bond Capital.

Duration Capital Partners, a transportation infrastructure investor that spun out of Oaktree Capital Management last year, is backing a more than $600 million investment in Watco Cos., a transportation services and logistics company that operates across North America and Australia. The investment will support Watco’s long-term business objectives, including its ownership of Industrial Rail Services, which operates rail assets at six Dow Chemical facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

Garnett Station Partners has launched residential and commercial roofing and exterior services company FirstRidge Service Partners with Abe Hidary, who will serve as the company’s chief executive. The newly formed platform has backed its first deal with Ashton McGee Restoration Group, a founder-led roofing and exterior services company in Minnesota.

Lee Equity Partners in New York is acquiring a majority stake in financial consulting business Shackleton Advisers, providing an exit for Sovereign Capital Partners. Sovereign first backed the U.K. provider of financial advice in March 2021, when it invested in predecessor company Skerritts.

Viking Global Investors acquired a majority stake in Swedish software company Voyado. European growth investor Verdane first invested in the retail technology provider in May 2021.

Allied Industrial Partners has invested in Pride Dynamo, a Texas-based provider of distributed power services. The company’s founders Bill and Nicholas Wood will retain a stake in the company and continue to lead it.

Nuveen Energy Infrastructure Credit has provided an additional $100 million debt facility to Budderfly, an energy-as-as-service company that is also backed by an equity investment from Partners Group. The latest debt facility builds on a $400 million prior debt facility from Nuveen.

Surgery Partners has rejected Bain Capital's buyout bid, determining that it is better off on its own to deliver long-term growth and value, Dow Jones Newswires’ Adriano Marchese reports. In late January, Surgery Partners received a non-binding proposal from Bain Capital to acquire all of the outstanding shares it didn't already own for $25.75 a share.

NewView Capital is backing software maker Coralogix with a $115 million growth investment, joined by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, NextEquity and existing investors including Advent International, Brighton Park Capital and Greenfield Partners. The company's programs are used to monitor digital assets to help identify, diagnose and remedy system glitches. The transaction pushed the company's equity value to more than $1 billion.

HV Capital led a $70 million growth investment in clinical-care software developer Nabla, joined by Highland Europe and DST Global. Other participants included existing backer Cathay Innovation. Nabla's artificial intelligence-enabled applications are used by more than 130 healthcare organizations, including hospitals, medical schools and other providers.

Savitr Capital and Hayfin Capital Management led a $36 million growth investment in medical software developer Glytec. The Boston-based company's applications include insulin management and glucose monitoring.

Warburg Pincus and KPS Capital Partners are still discussing a potential takeover bid for medical products and cosmetics packaging company Gerresheimer, according to the Düsseldorf, Germany-based manufacturer. The company issued a statement on the discussions late Tuesday following reports that KPS had broken off the talks with its New York neighbor. 

Dragoneer Investment Group led a $235 million growth investment in software supplier Teamworks Innovations in a transaction that valued the business at more than $1 billion. Durham, N.C.-based Teamworks supplies applications used to manage sports teams, including talent acquisition and development.

Founders Fund led a $200 million growth investment in financial operations services company Ramp Business. Other investors included Thrive Capital, Iconiq Capital, GIC and D1 Capital Partners. The deal valued the provider of spend-management software, credit cards and other systems at $16 billion.

Growth equity firm Silas Capital is backing apparel brand Dôen to help the retailer expand its physical outlets. The company recently opened stores in California and on Massachusetts' Nantucket island.

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

London-listed 3i Group is selling pet food business MPM Products to Partners Group in a sale that is expected to generate gross proceeds of about £400 million, or around $543 million. The seller said the deal values the business at about 29% more than its December valuation and represents roughly 3.2 times invested capital. 3i first invested in the business in December 2020.

Audax is selling CW Advisors, a registered investment advisory firm managing $13.5 billion in fee-only client assets, to Reverence Capital Partners-backed Osaic. Audax initially invested in CW Advisors, formerly known as Congress Wealth Management, through its private-equity strategy in 2023.

Buyout firm EQT AB sold shares of mortgage provider Enity Holding in its initial public offering of shares last week, which priced at 57 Swedish kronor a share, or about $6.01, and began trading Friday in Stockholm. EQT sold shares worth about 1.7 billion kronor, or roughly $179.2 million, in the IPO. Enity's stock closed Tuesday at 71.88 kronor, for a gain of about 26% over the IPO price. EQT acquired the mortgage company then known as Bluestep Bank, in November 2017.

ClearLight Partners has sold cybersecurity and information technology services provider TechMD to Integris, a managed services provider backed by Canadian pension investor Omers Private Equity, which invests on behalf of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. ClearLight had recapitalized TechMD with the company's management in 2020.

HCI Equity Partners and minority shareholders of TSM Corp. have agreed to sell the U.S.-based precision components manufacturer to Walor North America, which is owned by a portfolio company of Mutares. HCI, which targets lower midmarket investments in manufacturing, services and distribution companies, initially backed TSM in 2017.

Hosen Capital-backed Kilcoy Global Foods has registered for an initial public offering without specifying how many American depository shares it plans to sell or at what expected price, a regulatory filing shows. The Australian company also backed by Asia Alternatives Management plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq stock market. Kilcoy sells food products to businesses as well as directly to consumers. Hosen controls about 39% of the company's shares while Asia Alternatives has about 5%, the filing shows.

Kayne Anderson’s real estate investment unit has raised nearly $1.7 billion for Kayne Anderson Real Estate Opportunistic Debt II, above the fund’s $1.5 billion original target. The fund focuses on commercial real estate debt investments and secondary investments in the real estate sector.

Post Oak Energy Capital has amassed $764 million for Post Oak Energy Partners V and related co-investment capital. The fund, which wrapped up with $600 million, focuses on lower midmarket deals in the North American upstream oil and gas industry. It has already backed commitments to five portfolio companies across the Permian, Utica and Haynesville basins.

Bow River Capital's multistrategy vehicle, Bow River Capital Evergreen Fund, has reached $850 million in assets and notched a nearly 17% annualized return from inception through May 31. The Denver firm set up the fund in 2020 and requires a minimum $50,000 commitment for accredited investors. The fund is invested in private equity and credit as well as liquid securities.

Clearlake Capital has added managing directors Josh Lederman and Tasha Pelio among recent hires. Lederman joins the firm’s investment team from KKR, where he focused on debt capital markets. Pelio joins Clearlake’s operational improvements, or O.P.S., team to focus on marketing and communications. She had spent 17 years at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Partners Group in Switzerland named Suhail Albaz as chairman Middle East, Africa and Central Asia to lead its new office in Abu Dhabi. Partners described the office as a new regional headquarters.

Los Angeles-based Angeles Equity Partners has added Eshang Saini as a vice president of operations. Saini previously was a principal at Boston Consulting Group in the corporate finance and strategy and digital practice areas.

For years, Brian Rolapp was talked about as a potential successor to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Instead, he’s taking his playbook to professional golf, Andrew Beaton writes for The Journal. As the National Football League’s chief media and business officer, he was one of the main architects of its growth, overseeing deals worth well over $100 billion and leading the league’s private equity arm.

Tel Aviv, one of the top global startup hubs, has been a regular target of Iranian missiles for the past several days, fired in response to Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear and other facilities, WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova reports. "Missiles are landing in the heart of Israeli high tech,” said Shalev Hulio, chief executive and co-founder of Bain Capital-backed cybersecurity company Dream. Israeli entrepreneurs and venture investors say the heavy fire has made business travel impossible and affected productivity for some employees. Some foreign investors are hesitating on deals.

The Saudi Industrial Development Fund is backing an Investindustrial private-equity fund through its SIDF Investment arm, with a goal of bringing more manufacturing businesses to Saudi Arabia.

Credit investor Värde Partners is forming a fund finance strategy in partnership with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, or CPP Investments, which is pledging $300 million of equity capital. The strategy will support fund subscription line facilities and other fund financing deals.

U.S. life insurers have a large and growing investment allocation to private credit. Based on a survey of insurers rated by Moody’s Ratings, nearly a third of the sector's $6 trillion in cash and invested assets was allocated to private-credit investments at the end of last year. This broad category includes private placements, mortgage loans and similar instruments.

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

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