Good day! This week much attention focuses on climate related news as the Climate Week NYC conference is expected to attract more than 100,000 people to New York. A few big climate related announcements have already hit the newswires today, including from a couple of large climate focused funds (see our fundraising section below). In this morning’s newsletter, we also have a piece from our Wall Street Journal colleagues that looks at the challenges that have stymied America’s energy transition efforts.

Meanwhile, WSJ Pro Venture Capital’s Marc Vartabedian explores the possibility that recent interest rate cuts by the Fed will spark a buying spree among cash rich software unicorns.

Also, KKR executive Pete Stavros is leading the formation of a new coalition that will advocate to update a 1974 federal law to make it easier for workers to own a part of their public or private company, Miriam Gottfried writes for The Wall Street Journal. The coalition, which is named Expanding ESOPs, is made up of more than 50 foundations, academics and service providers such as law firms and banks. The Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, the Ford Foundation and the National Center for Employee Ownership have been involved.

Dive in for more details on these stories and many more…

Venture investors both cheered the Federal Reserve’s half-percentage-point interest rate cut last week and acknowledged its effects would take time to ripple through the startup ecosystem. But once they do, look for software unicorns to be on the hunt for mergers and acquisitions, WSJ Pro Venture Capital’s Marc Vartabedian reports.

Higher costs, pushback from businesses and consumers, and the slow rollout of technology are delaying the transition from fossil fuels to meet U.S. objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Journal reports. Renewable energy production is growing faster than expected. But surging demand for power is sucking up much of that additional capacity and forcing utilities to burn fossil fuels, including coal, for longer than expected. With greenhouse-gas emissions continuing at record levels, scientists expect floods and heat waves to get worse.

A new coalition is pushing to expand employees’ stock ownership of U.S. companies, saying it would help ease the country’s wealth inequality, WSJ's Miriam Gottfried reports.

The group was assembled by KKR executive Pete Stavros and will advocate to update a 1974 federal law to make it easier for workers to own a part of their public or private company. Stavros, the son of a construction worker who unsuccessfully sought profit-sharing, said the goal is to achieve Congress’s original intent for the law.

“The vision was: How much better would our economy be if workers owned a piece of every company in America?” said Stavros, co-head of KKR’s global private-equity business.

Apollo Global Management has offered to invest as much as $5 billion in Intel, providing the semiconductor chip maker an alternative to a potential takeover bid by Qualcomm, Bloomberg News reports. The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that Qualcomm had approached Intel about a possible takeover offer in recent days.

Blackstone led a $2 billion refinancing for insurance provider Fidelis Partnership, joined by others including Oak Hill Advisors, Barings and Barclays. Blackstone invested through its credit and insurance strategy. The roughly 400-employee managing general underwriter said it generated $4.1 billion in gross written premiums across more than 100 lines of business over the 12-month period ended in June.

Asia-Pacific private-equity firm Affinity Equity Partners is buying the Lumus Imaging unit of Australia’s Healius for 965 million Australian dollars, or about $657 million, as part of a strategic realignment by the seller, Stuart Condie reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The sale is expected to let Healius focus on its pathology operations. In August, Healius reported an A$645.8 million loss for the past year and said it was taking steps to cut its debt. Based in Hong Kong, Affinity manages about $14 billion, according to its website.

Vista Equity Partners is backing logistics software supplier Gnosis Freight with a growth investment. The Charleston, S.C.-based business legally named Gnosis Cos. focuses on programs to help manage shipping containers, including tracking and working with shippers.

Los Angeles-based firm Butterfly said it has closed a $300 million second lien term loan facility from GoldenTree Asset Management for portfolio company Milk Specialties Global. Butterfly acquired the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based raw dairy ingredient manufacturer in February 2023.

Alantra Private Equity in Madrid has acquired a majority interest in SPW Fabrics, a supplier to specialty clothing manufacturers including providers of workwear, sportswear and healthcare garments. SPW’s revenue recently surpassed €20 million, or about $22.3 million. Alantra invested through its fourth buyout fund.

Penta Capital is joining Ares Management and Searchlight Capital Partners in backing a £520 million, or around $694.1 million, preferred equity investment in U.K.-based environmental, engineering and technical services provider RSK Group. Penta is investing £20 million to a £500 million transaction that was initially announced in June.

Barings said it is providing senior debt financing and an equity co-investment to support Long Point Capital’s investment in BKF Engineers. New York-based Long Point announced its investment in the civil engineering and land surveying services company earlier this month.

Alternative investment manager Arcapita Group Holdings in Bahrain and strategic acquirer Dgpays are buying a majority interest in United Arab Emirates payments company Neopay from UAE bank Mashreq, which is retaining a minority stake. The deal implies an enterprise value of about $385 million for Neopay.

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

Carlyle Group-backed aviation engine repair and maintenance provider StandardAero plans to sell at least 46.5 million shares through an initial public offering priced from $20 to $23 each, giving the company an equity value of as much as $7.54 billion, a securities filing shows. Washington-based Carlyle acquired the Scottsdale, Ariz., company from Veritas Capital in 2019 and held nearly 80% of the company’s equity as of Monday, while Singapore’s GIC held about 18%. StandardAero reported net income of $8.6 million on revenue of about $2.58 billion for the first half of this year.

Energy specialist Vortus Investments Advisors-backed oil and gas company Point Energy Partners II has sold assets worth $1.1 billion to strategic buyers Vital Energy and Northern Oil and Gas. The company founded in 2017 focused on the Delaware Basin region of Texas.

Exits and other forms of monetization of its investments during the current quarter have so far delivered more than $450 million in total realized performance and investment income to KKR & Co.’s asset management group, split roughly 70% to 30%, respectively. Since the end of June, the firm’s strategic holdings segment produced about $85 million in net realized investment income as well. The monetization activity includes secondary sales and strategic deals., KKR said.

A Brookfield unit has raised $2.4 billion for its climate-focused Catalytic Transition Fund, anchored by a $1 billion commitment from Altérra funds in the United Arab Emirates and putting Brookfield Asset Management nearly halfway to its $5 billion goal for the vehicle. Toronto-based Brookfield plans to invest from the fund in clean energy and energy transition assets in emerging markets in Central and South America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Investors in the fund include Temasek Holdings and GIC in Singapore and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in Canada.

TPG said its TPG Rise Climate strategy has amassed an initial $1.25 billion in commitments for its new Global South Initiative investment strategy, which is anchored by United Arab Emirates-based Altérra funds. Late last year, TPG said it would seek $2.5 billion for its Global South Initiative and that the strategy would receive up to $500 million from Altérra. At the time, the firm said it would also channel approximately $1 billion from its TPG Rise Climate II fund to co-invest alongside the initiative. The initial $1.25 billion includes commitments from Altérra, which activate as TPG raises additional capital, an unspecified amount of capital from TPG Rise Climate II, and money from third-party investors through a  fund dedicated to the strategy.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. closed its $4.6 billion KKR Ascendant Fund for its midmarket investment strategy in North America, wrapping up fundraising for the vehicle more than two years after receiving its initial commitment as reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors in the pool include the Minnesota State Board of Investment, which pledged $150 million, and the School Employees Retirement System of Ohio, which chipped in $50 million. The New York firm aims to invest from the fund in seven sectors, including consumer, health care and financial services, and will implement its employee ownership strategy in all the control investments made from the fund.

Miura Partners in Barcelona has collected €475 million for its fourth flagship fund, closing Miura Fund IV at its hard cap and 44% more than the €330 million attracted by a predecessor vehicle. The firm manages around €1.5 billion, according to its website. Earlier this year, Miura banked €135 million for its first impact-focused fund and €200 million for a single-asset continuation fund.

Small business backer Heritage Holding has raised $220 million for its first institutionally backed fund, completing its fundraising efforts in about four months. The Boston-based firm started in 2015 focuses on acquiring and expanding services providers.

Bridge Growth Partners, co-founded by former data storage giant EMC chief executive Joe Tucci, has named Howard Elias as a senior advisor, focused on technology businesses backed by the New York firm. Elias was previously chief customer officer and president of services and digital at computer maker Dell Technologies, which acquired EMC in 2016 through a $60 billion deal.

Alberta Investment Management Corp, which manages more than 168.9 billion Canadian dollars, or around $124.8 billion, of assets, said it has promoted two executives as its chief investment officer Marlene Puffer leaves after less than two years. Justin Lord has been named senior executive managing director and global head of public markets, while David Scudellari has been appointed senior executive managing director and global head of private assets and strategic partnerships.

King Street Capital Management in New York is adding Terry Ing as a partner and head of U.S. research, serving the firm’s credit and hedge fund strategies, including derivatives. He is joining from KKR & Co., where he had a similar role.

Milestone Partners in Villanova, Pa., has promoted Emily Cooney to chief financial officer from controller, according to an emailed news release. She joined the private-equity firm in 2019.

Canadian pension investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, or CDPQ, said it is partnering with Chinook Forest Partners to launch a new investment strategy focused on forestland investments in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. As part of the partnership, CDPQ is taking a minority stake in Chinook, which was founded in 2018.

Industrial giant Siemens plans to set up its electric vehicle charging unit as a standalone business after combining it with a related Dutch business that the German manufacturer acquired earlier this year, Dominic Chopping reports for the Journal. Siemens eMobility is being merged with eBus and eTruck fast charging station provider Heliox, giving the newly separated business production and research and development sites in Germany, Portugal, the U.S., India and the Netherlands.

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