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The Journal’s inaugural sports investing forum delivered plenty of food for thought for investors: growth, opportunity and, crucially, leadership lessons.

Take Spain’s World Cup victory. Success stemmed from a values-driven coach, not just a boss. It’s a lesson that applies as much to business as it does to sports, particularly as private-equity firms position themselves as trusted, long-term caretakers of key assets, from a sports team in Italy to Americans' retirement savings.

Our top stories today: WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia delivers a scoop on Congruent Ventures and 8VC backing Fluxco, a startup whose AI-driven systems help power-hungry data centers and others buy transformers—the link to the electrical grid and a key bottleneck delaying hook-ups for new data centers and other projects.

Also, the Journal's Jack Pitcher reports on Blackstone’s new private-market funds offered with two big traditional asset managers, Vanguard and Wellington, in push for everyday investors’ cash. Meanwhile, Blackstone’s earnings surged in the second quarter, as it reaped revenue from its investments in the massive AI build-out that span all of the firm’s major businesses, including its private-equity, private-credit and real estate units, WSJ's AnnaMaria Andriotis reports.

Please dive in for more…

Congruent Ventures and 8VC led a roughly $26 million seed investment in Fluxco, betting the startup can open a bottleneck that slows power grid connections for newly built energy-intensive data centers and factories by helping developers acquire commonly used but relatively complex devices called transformers, WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia reports. For some, the wait for the vital but mundane equipment can stretch to as long as five years. Fluxco’s artificial intelligence-driven systems help users specify the various features of the particular transformers they need and receive price quotes from manufacturers, accelerating a back-and-forth that often takes weeks, said Chief Executive Brian Tochman. The company, founded earlier this year, is currently processing purchases of more than 1,000 transformers for 34 projects, he said. Orders in just the past four months totaled about $30 million, he added.

A partnership formed by Blackstone, Vanguard Group and Wellington Management rolled out its first products for everyday investors on Wednesday, Jack Pitcher reports for The Wall Street Journal. One of the limited liquidity funds will combine public and private assets, and another will hold only private assets, including private equity, private credit, real-estate and infrastructure investments. Investors in the new funds will face constraints when withdrawing from the funds. The products represent private equity’s latest push to bring money from individuals into high-risk managed investment pools.

• Blackstone’s Profit Surges on AI Investments

BlackRock's HPS Investment Partners led a £550 million debt financing for luxury sports car maker Aston Martin, providing the equivalent of about $735.6 million to the struggling English company. The package includes a £450 million senior secured term loan that comes due in 2031.

The RedBird Capital Partners-backed combination of entertainment giants Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery won approval from European Union regulators Wednesday after the companies offered concessions related to film distribution in Europe, the Journal reports. Other investors in the transaction include Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi 's L'imad Holding Co. But the deal still faces an antitrust lawsuit from a dozen states including California and New York.

Nestle agreed to offload half of its water unit—home to Perrier and San Pellegrino—to private-equity group Platinum Equity in a $3.4 billion deal as it continues to shoulder hefty costs from its restructuring efforts, Aimee Look reports for the Journal. The Swiss consumer-goods company said it would create a joint venture with billionaire Tom Gores’s Platinum Equity and shed a 50% stake in its Waters and Beverages business for 3 billion euros in cash ($3.42 billion). The new business—called Peranel—is valued at 4.9 billion euros, including cash and debt, with the deal expected to close in the first half of next year.

Bain Capital and Fifth Wall participated in a $1.7 billion growth investment in robotics startup Atoms led by venture investor Andreessen Horowitz. Fifth Wall in Santa Monica, Calif., put $135 million into the deal, firm founder Brendan Wallace said in a post on his LinkedIn page.

Inflexion in London has acquired a minority stake in Spanish electronic locks manufacturer Salto Systems, Sebastian McCarthy reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London. The deal, which includes a group of existing backers, values the business at roughly €1.5 billion, or about $2.01 billion.

American Industrial Partners won shareholder approval for its purchase of technology company Avanos Medical for $25 a share, giving the Alpharetta, Ga.-based business an equity value of around $1.17 billion. American Industrial Partners agreed to acquire Avanos in April in an all-cash transaction at an enterprise value of about $1.27 billion. The profitable company has reported long-term debt totaling about $87.3 million at the end of March.

Ron Shaich’s Act III Holdings invested another $50 million in entertainment venue operator Level99, bringing its total commitment to $100 million.

Carlyle Group in Washington is discussing a deal that would hand over its sustainability consulting firm Anthesis to Bridgepoint Group, Sebastian McCarthy reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London. Carlyle acquired the London-based firm three years ago at a £400 million valuation, equivalent to about $535 million.

Butterfly Equity and Graham Partners backed Custom Flavors, a San Clemente, Calif., developer and manufacturer of flavorings. The firms are adding Custom Flavors to a new flavorings platform alongside Target Flavors, which Graham backed last year.

European buyout firm Cinven agreed to buy Boston-based Salsify, which operates software that helps brands manage and share product information with online retailers that sell their products.

Madison River Capital Partners backed Pro-Max, a Miami-based repair business for condominiums and commercial properties. The New York firm was spun out from Tony James' family office, Jefferson River Capital, and closed its debut fund last year at $370 million.

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

Blackstone is selling utility-scale storage battery developer Aypa Power to Brookfield Asset Management at an enterprise value of about $7 billion, Grace Yoom reports for Dow Jones Newswires. New York-based Brookfield is buying Aypa's operating, under-construction and contracted projects, as well as its development group, through the deal, which has an equity value of $3 billion. The transaction is expected to give Brookfield a major presence in the North America battery storage systems market. Blackstone acquired the business through its Energy Partners strategy in 2020.

Goldman Sachs Alternatives has agreed to buy commodities-data provider Aegis Hedging Solutions from Greenbelt Capital Partners and Baird Capital. Greenbelt invested in Aegis, which manages a risk-management platform for commodities producers, in 2020, and Baird invested in 2019.

Growth investment firm Athena Capital added Francesca Cornelli, dean of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, as an operating partner, and Karim Bousta, cofounder and managing partner of DVx Ventures, as an investment partner.

Motive Partners, a midmarket firm focused on financial services and tech-enabled business services, has appointed Jennifer Nason as an industry partner. Nason previously spent nearly 40 years at J.P. Morgan, most recently as global chair of investment banking.

Digital bank Revolut held a secondary share sale that boosted its valuation to $115 billion, or about $154 billion, up from $75 billion, or about $100 billion, Corrie Driebusch reports for the Journal. The British company has become the most valuable startup in Europe since its founding in 2015, and its valuation now tops that of the U.K.’s largest bank, Barclays. Coatue Management, Greenoaks and Dragoneer Investment Group were among firms that led a November investment round that valued the startup at $75 billion.

EasyJet shares fell nearly 12% following a Reuters report that the European Union is preparing a review of airline ownership rules, putting Apollo Global Management's proposed takeover at risk, Joe Stonor reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The review will look to prevent foreign investors from gaining controlling stakes in European carriers, according to an unnamed EU official cited by Reuters. EasyJet has agreed to a £5.7 billion offer from New York-based Apollo after previously backing a lower bid from rival Castlelake in Minneapolis. The budget airline's shares fell nearly 12% Wednesday to close at £5.85, a steep discount to Apollo's £7.15 a share offer.

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