Good Thursday morning. There's just one more day before the long Labor Day weekend here in the U.S. Today, brings us news of what could shape up into one of the biggest buyouts of the year. Our Wall Street Journal colleagues Cara Lombardo and Miriam Gottfried report on a new offer from Blackstone and GIP to take private the Kansas City Southern railroad company, which has a market value of more than $18 billion. Full details are below. 

On a softer note, our Isaac Taylor has a look inside Insight Partners and how the firm dealt with the rigors imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. That story, as well as brief looks at the latest trio of PE-backed SPAC IPO filings, await you, so please wade in—the summer reading is still fine... 

Blackstone Group Inc. and Global Infrastructure Partners have made a takeover offer for railroad operator Kansas City Southern, which has a market value of more than $18 billion, Cara Lombardo and Miriam Gottfried write for The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. Blackstone and GIP submitted the bid after a previous approach was rebuffed, the people said. It is unclear whether Kansas City Southern will be receptive this time and details of the offer couldn’t be learned.

Insight Partners has seen its share of market downturns since the software-focused firm was formed in 1995. So when the coronavirus pandemic started to spread, the New York firm moved quickly and aggressively to position its portfolio, a lesson it had learned in past crises.

Centerbridge Partners led a €150 million ($178 million) investment in German credit marketplace Auxmoney, acquiring shares from existing investors to gain a majority interest in the company while earlier investors such as Index Ventures, Union Square Ventures and Foundation Capital remain, according to a news release. The Düsseldorf-based platform for peer-to-peer lending has grown rapidly over the past five years, with a more than 20-fold increase in loan volume funded through its marketplace.

Private-equity firms TPG and KKR & Co. increased their support for Singapore online listing company PropertyGuru Group with a new investment of 300 million Singapore dollars ($220 million). The company operates across Southeast Asia and the new investment will accelerate its growth, including for its mortgage services arm, PropertyGuru said. KKR, which initially backed the company in 2018, made the latest investment through its KKR Asian Fund III.

Bain Capital Credit has invested in insurance venture finance firm Beat Capital Partners, funding the creation of a new underwriting vehicle through Beat’s Lloyd’s of London Syndicate 4242, according to a news release. Beat acquired the syndicate in 2018 and it has £165 million ($231 million) in underwriting capacity this year. Lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis provided legal advice to the Bain Capital lending unit on the deal.

Carlyle Group Inc.’s credit arm led a $150 million preferred investment in insurance broker Alera Group, which is backed by Genstar Capital. Carlyle invested in the Deerfield, Ill., company through its $2.4 billion Credit Opportunities Fund. Founded in 2017, Alera has grown quickly and plans to use the fresh capital for further growth, including through new acquisitions.

Chicago-based midmarket buyout shop Wind Point Partners said it has acquired RTIC, a Houston-based direct-to-consumer online outdoor products company. RTIC sells coolers, tumblers, bottles, travel bags and other products for outdoor enthusiasts. The company has hired Bill Pond, a veteran consumer executive who previously worked with SwimOutlet.com and L.L. Bean, as its new chief executive, according to a press release.

Providence Equity Partners has made a growth investment in software maker Semarchy Inc. The San Francisco company’s cloud-based programs help businesses organize and use their data.

Oval Partners, a multi-family private-equity investment firm, is backing New Charter Technologies, which in turn has acquired four managed services providers in the technology sector. The former owners of the newly acquired businesses reinvested some of their cash into New Technologies alongside Palo Alto, Calif.-based Oval. The four businesses are PennComp Outsourced IT in Houston; ActiveCo Technology Management in Vancouver, British Columbia; Apex Technology Management in Redding, Calif., and DCG Technical Solutions in Los Angeles.

Graycliff Partners has made its first buyout from its fourth private-equity fund, acquiring metal products manufacturer Gerard Daniel Worldwide Inc. The Havover, Pa.-based company makes metal ducts, stainless steel wire and screens for industrial uses, according to its website.

Baird Capital has invested in life-sciences firm Blue Matter Consulting LLC. The business mainly provides product and portfolio strategy advice to drug makers. The deal marks the fifth private-equity investment by Baird Capital this year. The firm is part of Milwaukee-based financial services group Robert W. Baird & Co.

Midmarket firm Inflexion has acquired a 40% stake in Auxadi, a Spanish accounting business, for an undisclosed sum, Private Equity News’ Elisângela Mendonça writes.  The investment is being made by Inflexion’s dedicated minority investment fund, Partnership Capital II, closed in 2018 at £1 billion ($1.33 billion).

Carlyle Group Inc. has agreed to acquire a 5% equity stake in publicly traded generic drug maker Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals Co. through an affiliate of CAP V Mauritius Ltd., an investment fund managed by Carlyle affiliates. The Carlyle group is paying 1.78 billion yuan ($261 million) for the equity, according to a statement in Chinese from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange quoted by Reuters. The deal will add to the more than $13.4 billion that Carlyle has invested in the global health-care sector.

Investindustrial has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Della Toffola S.p.A. and DT Invest S.r.l. Co-owners and brothers Vittorio, Francesco and Luciano Della Toffola remain minority investors in the group, collectively holding a 26.5% interest. The Treviso, Italy-based company manufactures industrial automation systems used by bottlers, in water treatment and packaging. It had sales of €144 million ($170.7 million) last year.

Social-focused Turner Impact Capital has acquired 270 units of affordable housing in the Dallas market, buying the Ventana Apartments assets through its Turner Multifamily Impact Fund II. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based firm, which has raised almost $1.5 billion in capital, plans to spend as much as $2 billion to own as many as 20,000 affordable housing units around the U.S. The Dallas deal brings its total to more than 10,330, including nearly 1,700 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,

Main Street Capital Corp. has invested $26 million to fund a minority recapitalization of Superior Rigging & Erecting Co., which provides rigging, steel erection and crane and equipment rental services throughout the southeastern U.S. 

Symphony Technology Group, alongside AlpInvest Partners and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, has closed its carve out of the RSA Security unit of Dell Technologies for about $2.1 billion. Symphony Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer William Chisholm joined the company as its chairman.

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 blank-check company sponsored by Oaktree Capital Management aims to raise $225 million through an initial public share offering targeting a private business in the industrial or consumer sectors, a regulatory filing indicates. Oaktree Acquisition Corp. II will be guided by the private-credit firm’s Value Equities team, which also guided the firm’s first special purpose acquisition company, Oaktree Acquisition Corp., the filing shows. The team was created and led by Patrick McCaney, an Oaktree portfolio manager, in 2012. He serves as the SPAC’s chief executive. Alexander Taubman, an Oaktree managing director, is president of the SPAC, the filing shows.

Multi-strategy investment firm Bluescape Energy Partners in Dallas is sponsoring a special purpose acquisition company that seeks to raise $700 million through an initial public offering of shares to provide capital that can be used to finance deals. Bluescape Opportunities Acquisition Corp. is led by John Wilder, Bluescape Energy Partners founder and executive chairman, and a colleague at the firm, Jonathan Siegler, who is president and chief operating officer of the SPAC and is a managing director of the firm.

Middle-market private-equity firm Acon Investments is backing a blank-check company that aims to raise $250 million through an initial public offering of shares to acquire a sustainable midmarket business with a proven track record and significant growth potential, according to a regulatory filing. The special purpose acquisition company plans to acquire a business through a transaction with a value of $500 million to $2 billion. The SPAC is led by Acon Investments executive partner Adam Kriger as chief executive and John Roush as chairman and chief financial officer. Mr. Roush is an executive adviser to the private-equity firm.

Main Capital Partners has sold its majority interest in Denit Hosting Solutions to strategic investor Uniserver Groep, a Dutch cloud-services company. Amsterdam-based Denit provides internet services and cloud-based digital infrastructure to customers. Based in The Hague, Main Capital initially invested in Denit in 2016.

Danish private investment firms Blue Equity Management A/S and Chrispa ApS have sold Controlled Polymers A/S to strategic buyer Americhem Inc. Blue Equity initially backed the company in September 2015.

Mountain Capital Management, a Houston-based firm focused on energy investments, has rounded up at least $414.8 million so far for Mountain Capital Partners II LP, according to a regulatory filing. Mountain Capital was founded by President and Chief Investment Officer Samuel Oh, who had previously been a senior partner in the natural resources group at Apollo Global Management, The firm typically invests $50 million to $150 million in energy deals across North America, according to its website.

Munich Private Equity Partners (MPEP) has launched its fourth buyout-focused fund-of-funds with a €250 million ($296 million) target. The announcement comes a month after the Germany-based firm held a final close at €162m of its third strategy, Elisângela Mendonça reports for sister publication Private Equity News. MPEP IV targets private equity fund investments in Europe and North America with a focus on buyout capital investments in the mid-market. So far, the new fund has made 10 commitments, according to Christopher Bär, managing director at MPEP.

Health-care focused firm OrbiMed Advisors LLC has rounded up at least $486.9 million so far for OrbiMed Asia Partners IV, LP, according to a regulatory filing. The amount raised so far puts the fund more than half way toward a $750 million offering amount indicated in the filing. The new fund comes around three years after OrbiMed closed its previous Asia focused health-care fund, which wrapped up with $551 million. That fund focused on health-care deals in Asia, namely growth-stage product- and services-oriented companies in China and India, according to a press release issued at the time. OrbiMed is also pitching its latest flagship health-care fund with a $1.4 billion offering amount.

TA Associates has added three vice presidents to its professional ranks, all of them previous employees. Benjamin Bold and Daniel Gold are returning to the firm as vice presidents in its Boston headquarters while Harry Mahadevan rejoins as a vice president in London.

Silverfleet Capital has hired Stephan Prym as an investment executive in its Munich-based team to help expand the firm’s investments in the DACH region, Elisângela Mendonça reports for Private Equity News. Mr. Prym joins from private equity firm Alpina Partners, where he spent the last two years as an investment manager. Prior to that, he worked for the transaction services team of Deloitte, lastly as a manager.

Bespoke Partners said it has hired Brian Waivada as a partner at the firm. Mr. Waivada has more than 20 years of experience in the executive search industry, including with executive search firm True Search, where he led a team of associates focused on executive searches for a broad range of private equity backed software companies.

Bank of America plans to incorporate diversity analysis as it reviews all existing and new asset managers on its highly prized platform for brokers and private bankers, Leslie P. Norton reports for sister publication Barron’s. The bank's chief investment office is used by nearly 20,000 Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank wealth advisers serving clients with around $2.9 trillion in balances. The bank has "been getting a huge amount of requests [from clients] for diverse-owned managers," said Anna Snider, head of due diligence for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank. She cited "multiple studies" that link diverse, inclusive organizations to stronger performance. Embedding diversity and inclusion considerations—in addition to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ones—will play a greater role in the bank's selection of managers and strategies, Ms. Snider said.

U.S. private equity firms vying to buy British roadside recovery group AA have been granted another month by regulators to strategize and make a bid for the debt-laden company, Jack Denton writes for sister publication Private Equity News. Bids for the London-listed company have been extended until Sept. 29, giving firms another month to make a play for AA. Last month the company said it had received three offers. The three bidders are Platinum Equity, Warburg Pincus International and a joint effort from TowerBrook Capital Partners and the European arm of Centerbridge Partners.

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

Ted Bunker; Laura Cooper; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Laura Kreutzer; William Louch; Preeti Singh; Chitra Vemuri.

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